Will More Foreclosures Help You as a Buyer

An increase in foreclosures in the Sequim and Port Angeles areas will not help buyers as most of them hope or think it could. After working with hundreds of buyers in this recession, I can tell you why--according to buyers themselves. (This does not apply to Las Vegas or Phoenix where the foreclosure market is completely different.)

The vast majority of buyers (98%) have no interest in the foreclosures that come across their radar. Of the few who are interested in pursuing the idea of buying a foreclosure, most of them will give up after great frustration and months of searching.

Those who would buy a foreclosure are almost never those who would buy a nice three bedroom, two bath home in a nice area here. Or perhaps that should be said the other way around. Those who are in the bell curve of buyers who want a nice three bedroom, two bath home with an attached garage in a nice area are not likely to find those parameters in a foreclosure.

And those buyers who retire here and are serious about finding their prefect retirement home often cannot find it in the regular MLS listings. These buyers will purchase a lot in the perfect location with a mountain view or water view, and hire a custom home builder so they can live the rest of their days in a castle of their own design. (See Sequim Custom Home Builder)

Here's my recommendation. I would urge you to narrow down precisely what it is you want and can afford, as well as your timeline. Then scour the market with your Realtor’s help and find the best home for you. That might turn out to be a FSBO, a regular MLS listing, a foreclosure listing, or building your own retirement home. What matters is that you live in your dream home for the rest of your days in peace.

In other words, don’t focus all your energy on finding a foreclosure. That can turn out to be a very frustrating failure. Instead, focus all your energy on finding that ideal home in the ideal location. That may or may not be a foreclosure, but with this strategy your probability of success just went up dramatically. A great tool online for finding a home or land in the MLS, whether it is a foreclosure or not, is this online MLS search: Search the Sequim and Port Angeles Homes and Land Listings.