| Their profile looms larger, foreclosure homes are | | | | investor who knows his state foreclosures laws, has |
| coming out of the shadows to be more of an | | | | access to a line of credit or hard money, and knows |
| opportunity as a way to buy your family home | | | | when to stop bidding. Auctions scheduled on many |
| sooner than you expected. Just how familiar with | | | | courthouse steps are cancelled or postponed, as |
| investors' gambits do you have to be to buy at a | | | | owners anxious to save their homes work out a |
| price that means you will have cash for the inevitable | | | | way. The competition at the auction is not just from |
| repairs and replacements yet still pay less than you | | | | the real estate investor pros in town, but from the |
| would for a home you could walk into tomorrow? | | | | lender or lenders who determine the upset price. |
| Of the three stages of foreclosure, the final stage, | | | | Buying a home in pre foreclosure, before the auction |
| when the home has failed to sell either before or at | | | | is certainly more challenging, there are many pitfalls to |
| auction, is usually recommended for the beginner or | | | | avoid, and unless you want to pay close to fair |
| first-time foreclosures buyer. That's because REO | | | | market value in order to avoid a complicated short |
| status has some benefits over pre foreclosure such | | | | sale situation, you will have to know the various |
| as a title free of debt and straight forward | | | | ways to structure a deal that will work for three |
| negotiation with unemotional lender-owners, and over | | | | parties. |
| first time buying at auction or sheriff sale. If you are | | | | You are going to find opportunities to buy at a |
| buying with the intention of a long term investment in | | | | discount at both ends of the foreclosure timeline. |
| a family home, then, apart from some precautions to | | | | Your challenge will be to preserve a big part of that |
| take over the state of the property, then the | | | | discount and not squander it on nasty surprises. |
| differences in procedure and paperwork will be | | | | Common sense, smart searching of foreclosure |
| efficiently dealt with by your realtor, and much of | | | | listings and the prudent use of expert advisors, your |
| that investor speak can pass you by. | | | | realtor, appraiser and attorney, will get your new |
| Buying at the auction may seem like a challenge that | | | | home soonest. |
| once met carries a swagger, but is best left to the | | | | |