House Forclosures?

[Vance]

Anyone here ever tried, or successfully purchased a house in a state of foreclosure anytime in the last year or two since the market fallout?

I'm trying to figure out how the whole process works so I can know if actively looking at / into foreclosures when I'm ready to buy next spring is a valid avenue to pursue.

Any input, translation, advice, directives, etc is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[salsashark]

My house was a foreclosure... no different than any other purchase except the selling agent has a bank to deal with instead of a personal owner.

My suggestion is to avoid buying or even looking at houses in any state of foreclosure (pending foreclosure, short sale...) except for completed (lender owned). Reason being is that the owners can still jack with the house even if it's under contract. Once the owner's are out of the picture, then the property should be secure and in the state that you can expect to remain.

When I was shopping I went back to a couple of properties and the owners had put holes in the doors, garbage everywhere, just nastiness... all since the first time we looked at the property.

Hope that helps.

[JustSomeDude]

My coworker snagged a foreclosure at the City auction yesterday for $99k. I can get you whatever info you need. Whadya wanna know?

[t_jolt]

Warning for buying bank owned, They dont/wont disclose anything. I found tons of mold and boken water pipes in the one i bought.

[bodhizafa]

Just getting into the market myself. I'll have to watch this thread.

[sergio]

I second the dont buy a pending foreclosure if the current owner still lives there, too much risk of additional damage or missing items.

If you havent already, take a look at HUD's, not bad pricing and they have the homes inspected revealing any issues that need to be resolved. I personally purchased a condo for 41,000 when the market value was around 60k for comparable units in the complex.

www.mcbreo.com (http://www.mcbreo.com) if you wanna check them out.