With such a big inventory of bank owned homes in Cleveland you can expect a reasonable pricing. When I say "Reasonable", I mean priced differently or similarly FOR REASON, not just based on square footage or comparable sales in the neighborhood.

First of all, do they compare apples to apples when price these properties? 

Let me tell you the story. Thanks to blogging at Active Rain I've got this wonderful client from overseas who hired me to assist him in distant buying of few investment properties in Shaker Heights, University Heights and Cleveland Heights. I am previewing all these houses which look like great DEALS to me and to my client. I am taking numerous pictures, creating PDF slide shows, composing very detailed reports about the houses, and sending them to my client.

I am freezing outside and inside because there is no such thing as heated GREAT DEAL (a.k.a. Bank Owned Property, or REO) in Greater Cleveland. I am feeling sad while taking the pictures of far-from-prfect bathrooms and messy, moldy ceilings and walls.  I am falling in love again and again with amazing architectural details, wonderful wood work, charming fireplaces and smart floor plans of used-to-be-gorgeous Shaker Heights homes.

I keep wondering what kind of CMA appraisers and brokers used to price these houses? Let's start from the fact that most of bank owned properties are not in fact the Houses - already or yet. They are the Projects to Become  the Houses After Additional Investment of Time, Efforts, and Money. May be it's not true for Florida or California,  but it's so in Greater Cleveland.

Why then the house which needs some plumbing check out, painting  and re-decoration is priced the same as total mess with rotten window frames, leaking roof and stolen pipes? Only because they have the same square footage and are on the same street?

Banks need a good reality check when they price the houses. They need to categorize their REO better. At least they need to distinguish Almost-The-Houses from Big-Project-to-Do-Before-Bringing-This-Back-to-The-House. It's not correct to compare these two categories of Real estate!

My clients get surprised why I am not sharing their enthusiasm regarding great foreclosure "deals" which they find time by time over the Internet. I was always very precautious about the bank owned and short sale properties on our Greater Cleveland Real Estate market. The reason is simple. We have real winters here in Cleveland! 

Most of the bank owned properties in Cleveland have been winterized and just few of them have heat and electricity turned on. Without the utilities turned on you have no chance to diligently inspect the property. In Greater Cleveland, You 'd be better assuming the worst while buying the vacant house with no utilities. Although it sounds like a good idea to winterize the vacant house, there is a big problem with winterized properties for the buyers. Unfortunately, we never know when exactly the house has been winterized and how long it stayed vacant before winterization. When it's almost sub-zero, like it's now, there is a big danger of pipes being frozen and water and sewer lines being severely damaged - BEFORE the winterization.

However, we have few very solid bank owned homes in great neighborhoods of Shaker Heights, University Heights or Cleveland Heights, which are priced just right. It's a great opportunity for serious cash investors.

Need a serious, diligent Real Estate agent to represent your interest in buying the investment properties in Greater Cleveland?

Call Svetlana directly 216-548-4663   or call Local-n-Global 24/7 Real Estate Hotline 877-770-5551.