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A novice guide to buying Baltimore foreclosures

By
Real Estate Agent

 

Buying Baltimore foreclosures can be lucrative. A lot of people have made fortunes doing this. There are quite a few types of foreclosure condition, in the midst of the most widespread ones being late mortgage payments, tax liens, and homeowner association dues.

Tax foreclosure sales are more often than not conducted by law enforcement officers (such as a sheriff) or other officials of the taxing jurisdiction. Mortgage foreclosures are characteristically carry out by a trustee selected by the mortgagee or lender. These sales take place in a public auction where bidders may bid to buy the home. The normal foreclosure sale takes place at a public site, such as a county court house.

A lot of home buyers would want to bid on foreclosed homes but for one simple reason: lack of money. The foreclosure auction is almost all the time on a cash-only basis and most people do not have many thousands of dollars in discretionary cash on hand. The majority banks and other lenders are very hesitant to loan money to buy homes at foreclosure auctions. As a result this leaves for the most part just people with deep pockets or who have private associates to do the lion's share of the bidding.

Foreclosures present a chance for the investor who is bright to buy low and sell high. They keys is to know the real estate market, a skill to do public records research, understanding construction, and be acquainted with what repairs will cost. Countless investors have discovered to their dismay that a home they purchased actually needs lots of thousands of dollars in major structural repairs that they did not know about. This is greatly more likely to happen when a home cannot be inspected carefully previous to purchase. Despite the facts that a foreclosed home infrequently does not need any repairs, these homes typically do require considerable cosmetic work to get them into adequate shape for marketing.

An investigation of public records will also expose additional liens or encumbrances that add to the cost of buying a home. It is not unusual for the total amount of unpaid loans, taxes, and other debt to exceed the market value of the home. It pays to do your research.

An option to buying homes at foreclosure auction is buying them beforehand to foreclosure from the existing owner. People confronting foreclosure will often be enthusiastic to sell at a discounted price to get out from under their mortgage. This provides the investor the possibility to closely inspect the home prior to purchasing and to negotiate a price.

Notices of houses facing foreclosure can be located at county court houses and often can be purchased from lists collect from those records and sold confidentially. There are even on line web sites of both pre-foreclosures and homes already repossessed by HUD, VA REO and bank foreclosures.

David Petrovich
S.P.O.C.H. a 501c3 Charitable NP - Oakhurst, NJ

Maryland has enacted anti-predator laws which extend to pre-foreclosure purchases. I was invited to a seminar sponsored by the Baltimore Homeownership Preservation Coalition. Their legal advocate would happily provide guidelines to assure a lawful and ethical transaction.

Of course, this wouldn't necessarily apply to those purchasing property having been through the foreclosure process and now offered as REO.

 

 

Feb 10, 2007 01:37 AM