Advertisements pushing lists of foreclosure real estate with the promise of making money in purchasing real estate that has been foreclosed on and the several services selling online subscriptions for lists of foreclosure real estate is on the obvious rise for obvious reasons.
It's really not that hard to gather together public information and offer a service and in reality, the low monthly fees for the subscriptions are well worth the time they save for anybody interested in Foreclosure real estate even though the accuracy of some of these services can be suspect at best. While I was certainly interested in foreclosure real estate years ago before huge increases in artificial appreciation rates, I'm certainly not interested in it during a buyers market. When I've been contacted from clients to look into a Bank Owned home for sale, I've often found a better deal from a home seller without all of the "AS IS" requirements... and in better shape.
The big question though is if buying bank owned real estate is even worth the time right now. Are they really good deals when all of the risks and unknown headaches are factored in?
I've actually been focusing more on New Chicago homes and the beautiful Luxury Chicago condominium developments and keeping an eye on what new home builders are doing. New home builders need to sell the inventory they have coming online and can't afford to sit on inventory and will offer incentives, price slashes, whatever it takes to sell the inventory. Many of the large homebuilders have been through not so favorable markets before and will make it through another one. Being able to keep track of new Chicago homes and resale homes is a very important aspect for any real estate agent to provide a superior service for their clients. I've been able to compare brand new home sales and find a brand new resale home or two priced lower and vice versa.
The news and debate has started on what will probably be the first of many "New Home Fire Sales" across the country with the Fire Sale starting this weekend with Hovnanian Homes with six figure and up to 20% discounts on it's inventory. You can read about it here. I personally think it will not be the only and last time that it will be done and I'm fairly certain that many more national homebuilders will be following suit since I'm already seeing it.
I spend a lot of time talking to new home builders and the sales staff and always make sure they keep me informed of current and future incentives. While some of all the great deals are not openly advertised, they are already out there.
Foreclosures or New Chicago Homes? I'll focus and stay on top of all the new Chicago homes and new Luxury Chicago condos and keep my clients informed of the next big "fire" sale.
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