Why buying a foreclosure may be bad

If you are a home buyer sometimes the best deal may not be a foreclosure.  Right now  in the Metro Detroit real estate market I am seeing some relocation homes at tremendous deals.  One of my clients bought a 4000 square foot Plymouth home built in 2000 with granite counter tops for $385,000.  Under a $100 a square foot for a home under ten years old!

But more importantly as a home buyer you really need to look at how much work is needed to bring a foreclosure up to par. 

What would you buy?  A Plymouth home ($200,000) that has an updated kitchen, updated windows, and new roof or a Plymouth foreclosure that has no updates for $170,000?

If the windows cost $7,000

   the kitchen cost  $25,000

   the roof cost $8,000  what would you buy?

It would cost $40,000 to make the Plymouth foreclosure be as worth as much as the other Plymouth MI home.  So the other Plymouth home that was updated would be the better bargain.  So as a home buyer that is just one consideration to think about.

The other consideration is where would you get the money to do the updates?  One of the things I would suggest you to do when looking at two different homes you like is to compare what one has and how much it would cost to be on par.

The bottom line is if you could afford both house payments the updated Plymouth MI home would be the best deal.

Russ Ravary your Plymouth MI realtor - feel free to call me with questions anytime

or Check out my Plymouth MI real estate blog