Foreclosures

Cleaning & Other Fun Stuff
When you purchase a foreclosure, taking possession of the house and moving in can be a different experience than buying a new home. We are very lucky in that the house that we have purchased is in exceptionally good condition for a foreclosure. Many foreclosures are real disasters that require major work before they are fit to live in. While we were prepared to do some work on a home, our knowledge was limited. This house allowed us to increase our purchase price some since it didn't need any immediate work done to it.

With all foreclosures you probably will find that the house does not meet your idea of a clean house. This was especially true in our case. The bathrooms in particular reminded me of some of the worse old gas stations I have ever seen in my life. I know that the real estate agency that was selling the property had cleaned the house, but as with many professional cleaning services, they clean at things instead of really cleaning it. (If you know what I mean) Luckily for me, my youngest daughter volunteered to clean the bathrooms for me. She even did the guest bathroom one day and then returned the next day for more punishment by doing the master bath, which was worse. Go figure! She's some kid. There were some really nasty people who were living in here.

The kitchen isn't much better. There are grease splatters and cooking buildup all over the cabinets that obviously hadn't been cleaned in quite awhile. The inside of the cabinets had two layers of shelf liners that had to be pealed off and the interior of the cabinets are in need of repainting but I am not up to that right now. There were bugs of such a variety that we set off bug bombs in the whole house the weekend before we closed and that has greatly helped. There was brillo pads stuffed in various holes in the cabinets and other places, so I assume that previous owners were attempting to deal with mice. We'll see when the weather gets cooler.

Offer to Purchase Accepted - House Pending

Surprise, Surprise!

I thought I was going to have a nice quiet day. We were sure that because of the Labor Day Holiday that nothing would happen with the paperwork we had done late yesterday afternoon. I guess that just shows you how business can be conducted when someone really does want to sell a house. With this house being a foreclosure the paperwork was different, so the Seller came back with "addendums" to our Offer to Purchase. These were added paperwork that the Seller wanted signed. Nothing that surprised us or that we hadn't expected, just basically more of the same "CYA" from the Seller. (Typical and to be expected with an AS IS purchase) They were really making sure that we understood what we were getting into. All of the paperwork was signed and is being overnighted back to the Seller's Agent.

While I was in our agent's office, we went ahead and called to schedule the termite inspection which the bank will require. That is set for Tuesday afternoon. The mortgage banker was also contacted when I got home, the appraisal will be scheduled and our new lower interest rate will be locked in Tuesday. Full speed ahead!

WOW! What a Selection of Homes!

Three Up, and All Three Winners
Yesterday was really a good day in the "home search" for us. Our agent took both of us to see one house that was was on my list, which turned out to be a foreclosure. Then the agent and I went to see the house that hubby and I had already seen on Sunday, plus one other that I had put on my list of possibilities. All three homes met our "needs" with the latter two being 'move-in ready.' The foreclosure is missing some light fixtures, and since the utilities are off, there of course are some questions as to whether this works and that works, but it appears to be in very good condition just from looking at it. When I returned home after seeing the last home, I went over all the houses and our agent's input on each with my husband. We then discussed the pros and cons of each house and came to a discision to get more info on the foreclosure.

According to my research, foreclosures are on the increase these days due to several factors, one of which is those ARMs over the last few years. Buyer's who jumped in on those low "bait" interest rates are now finding they have mortgages that have 'adjusted'...just as stated... with increases of hundreds per month as the Fed has increased the interest rate. Buying a foreclosure will be different from buying a "regular" house from a seller. There definitely may be delays since the buyer would be dealing with a bank or mortgage company via a Real Estate agent. Our agent was quick to point out that I was breaking my #1 rule about "No more business owners" but if we know what is expected ahead of time and the reason for the delay, it is much different than what appeared to be 'disinterest' and just down right bad manners that we experienced with the Rosewood Valley house. (Something Southerners don't take kindly to!) There are also very specific methods/steps for purchasing a foreclosure depending on what kind of foreclosure it is. HUD, VA and various titleholders will have different methods and restrictions related to everything from how to see a house, how and when to do inspections, making an Offer to Purchase and whom can make the offer and so on. This is where having your own agent to guide and assist you really pays off.

I am not ruling the other two houses out yet since dealing with a foreclosure is "hazardous" by nature in my opinion and requires extra care, but if things should turn out in our favor, we would have a wonderful home. We'll see. I have to admit....when I started this blog, I didn't expect to be "learning first hand" so much about buying various types of property. This always seems to happen to me though. I'll end up knowing much more about this process than I ever thought I would....or really want to! I am just after one house!