Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - Article by: Peter_Lindquist - Guaranteed Rate NMLS #2611 -
Are you planning on buying a home in Shoreview MN this year? It's pretty clear that you will find a high number of properties that are foreclosures. These properties can often represent a good deal, but many people make mistakes when making offers on Shoreview foreclosures that can easily be prevented.
One of the questions I am most often asked is how to buy a foreclosure. It is simply not as difficult as you might think right away and almost definitely a great deal more certain than trying to buy a short sale.
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When a property in Shoreview, MN is for sale as a foreclosure this means that the home is currently owned by the bank that had the loan on it. The previous homeowners were unfortunately not able to make the mortgage payments on the home anymore. The bank was forced to take back the property and list it for sale with a real estate agent. In almost all of these cases, this is a losing proposition for the bank that is selling the real estate.
As the owner of the real estate the lender is responsible for making all of the utility and property tax payments. I bring this to your attention so that you understand that the bank has a high motivation to sell the property. This is very different from a short sale where the selling lender can take several months to even answer your offer! In the case of a foreclosure sale you can often get verbal acceptance from the selling lender within a few days.
If you want to make an offer on any one of the Shoreview foreclosures you will certainly need to <a title="get preapproved for mortgage financing" href="http://www.rivercitymortgage.com/index.cfm/event/officerdetail/id/90">get preapproved for mortgage financing</a> well ahead of time. When making an offer, time is of the essence. The selling bank simply will not even look at your offer unless they have your preapproval letter attached to the offer.
Getting preapproved to buy Shoreview foreclosures usually starts with a phone call in which I will ask about your income, assets, debts. From there I will see what you might qualify to. I understand how foreclosure negotiators work and have seen how they have begun to limit how much they are willing to build in the offer to pay your closing costs. I have strategies that I will discuss with you to help reduce the amount of down payment as much as possible.
Most websites now have a feature where you can limit what you are searching for to foreclosures. Additionally your agent can help you by setting you up on an automated emails that send you Shoreview foreclosures in your price range.
When you go look at the listings you will need to be prepared for seeing properties that have not been well cared for. It is not uncommon to find a rather messy looking home inside. I encourage you however to look for value, not cleanliness!
We've all heard the great fish tales about buyers who offered half-off the listing price and by golly the selling bank was so overwhelmed with joy that they just took the offer.
If that's what you are expecting to happen, think again.
The issue of properties in foreclosure is not a new one. Over the last three years, Shoreview foreclosures have been selling all along. The selling lenders have learned a lot about the process and they usually list the property at a good value right from the start.
They have a specific plan on how long they will wait to accept reduced offers. The reason I tell you this is that you need to be realistic with any offer in order to get a good deal on a foreclosure!
If a property is just listed on the market the bank will likely not respond to those offers of thirty or forty percent off the asking price. The only time they might even respond to such an offer is if they have been sitting on the property for nine to twelve months or even longer. If you find a good home just listed at a good price, you might end up in a multiple offer situation in which case you might need to make an offer over the listing price.
If the property is worth it, then expect to pay the price for it. If it's brand new on the market you might generally stay within ten per cent of the listing price if you want the home. If you purely want a "fish tale", look for a home that has been on the market for twelve months or longer. That's the only type of that is likely to respond to even drastically low offers.
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