Anyone know of any good home forclosure sites?

[Anky]

I'm looking at houses and all the ones that we can afford well they're icky.  (I hate NH and it's high cost of living) someone suggested forclosed homes to me and I was so excited to see all these homes for so cheap.  But all the listings I find just say how many bed rooms and baths they have, the town and how much.  Any more and I have to register which I don't want to do.  SO I guess my question is two fold.  ONE) Has anyone bought forclosed homes and can they give me tips?  And TWO) Know of any REALLY free listings?  Thanks

Ang

[fcsantos]

Ang,

I used to work in banking and by the time most of the houses that are in foreclosure make it to a site they are already sold. I know here in CA there is no such thing as a foreclosure because most houses are appreciating fast so people are selling them and walking away at a break even or with some money in their pockets before they get foreclosed upon. My advice to you is do some creative financing just to get into a home(any home that will have appreciation even if you are not too fond of it) and then when your two year capital gains tax goes away sell it and make some money that you can put down on a house that you really want. Good luck

[shangrila]

You have to pay for all of the foreclosure sites. Your best bet is to get a good realtor that you trust who will run searches for affordable houses for you. Most will email you daily with their listings and take you to see any that you want.  You really do have to check daily, because the good deals are going to sell that fast! We have two homes, both of which we got good deals on, and both of which we purchased the day they went on the market (other people made offers too but were too late).

If you have a realtor, they should give you full access to the MLS (where realtors list houses). Otherwise, you're stuck using places like www.realtor.co m which give you some info but not all of it

[shangrila]

Is it just me or is it really weird that there's no divider line between my last post and the one above it?

[lins_saving_grace]

be careful buying a foreclosure.   a lot of hidden costs involved.  may want to visit your local register of deeds and check out the property before you bid.  Once you get a bid registration (in some states) you can't back out of the deal. 

[brandon]

We bought our house at pre-foreclosure, on a short-sale (we paid less than they owed the bank).  There are distress listings for free on the web, I think I have some sites bookmarked on my computer at home.  If you and your hubby-to-be are handy a fixing up stuff, I'd highly recommend something like we did.  You have to know what you are getting into though, because most of the houses come with no warranty as-is type of sales.  But if you play your cards right you end up with a house that is worth a heck of a lot more than you paid for it.

I'll see if I can dig up some links, no promises, but I will try.

Might want to look here also for foreclosed property:
http://www.hud.gov/homes/homesforsale.cfm

[lins_saving_grace]

Good point!  You can also do that fixer up without the property being in foreclosure or in HUD.  In some states it's called a FHA 203K program.

[brandon]

I'd definetly buy a fixer again, but I enjoy this stuff.  We had a fews ups and downs at the beginnings, lots of downs. 

The front door wasn't closing right.   Further investigation revealed that water had been allowed to go under the sill and had destroyed the joists under the sill.  I lifted up the rug by the front door and could see the earth beneath the house.  Ripped up the carpet, sistered the old joists with new 2x12's, and put in new ply.  Reinstalled the door frame.

The A/C unit had a dead compressor, and it was probably 30years old, so fixing it was out of the question. We were moving into the house in July in Alabama, so it's HOT real hot.  Solution: We got a 5 ton unit off ebay for $500. 

I've discovered all sorts of creative wiring issues that I had to iron out because I didn't want the house to burn down. 

The house was basically abandoned for 2 years, the water was off, so the o-rings in the faucets dried up and most of them leaked. 

A leak behind the chimney that had obviously been going on for a while, so there was some hidden wood/sheetrock damage. 

And you wouldn't believe the ungodly paint and wall-paper that was in this place.  There were other issues also, but we've worked through most of them, things have been coming together and it's really shaping up and we love it.  We went from ~1700sf to ~3100sf and did not have to get second jobs.
 
If you can see pasts the ugly paint, untrimmed hedges, overgrown lawn, etc.. you can find some good values for your time/money.

[Anky]

We want a fixer upper.  We're not afraid of hard work and Matt's really handy and i'm good with the cosmetic stuff.  I was telling him we just get a starter house, fix it up and rent it out or sell it later on but he's adamant that we don't.  This house was supposed to be his parent's start house.  25 years later......   So we're looking at a DEF fixer upper.  Probably won't even be able to live there for a while.  New Hampshire's out of the world property prices don't help, and relocation at the moment is out of question.  Thanks fo rthe tips guys! 

[lins_saving_grace]

you can alos go to your local register of deeds/county registrar and get a list of houses in foreclosure.