are foreclosed homes a blessing or boon for 2nd owners?
By SomeCowgirl
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
United States
July 31, 2010 12:35am CST
I was wondering if homes that have been foreclosed upon recently are a blessing to the next person to move in, or not. I am not sure what questions I want to ask about this to be honest, so anyone who has any information about homes that have been foreclosed upon please let me know.
Other then possible conditions of the home (I mean the damage done), what else could be wrong? Pipes, the land it's on? Any hidden costs that a 2nd owner would have to handle instead of the previous foreclosed upon? You see all these ads about foreclosed homes and how cheap they are, but are they really worth it?
1 person likes this
8 responses
@Memnon (2170)
•
31 Jul 10
I've seen the side effect of this in a block of rented flats, where a lease was repossessed. The flat below was flooded when the residents stripped everything out, leaving the plumbing live.
On the one hand you can feel for those who have been forced out- since you don't really know how this came about (I have suffered similar because a 'mate' went bankrupt and left me unable to pay), but it does not justify trashing the place.
Conversely, you are getting a property at a knock down (unintended pun)so you expect that not everything is going to be in best order.
I would want to see the property vacant before I considered a purchase for the very reason of damage.
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
31 Jul 10
You make a valid point. You could look at a home that's about to be foreclosed upon before everything is moved out, and then buy it, but when you actually get it, it's damaged to the point of costing you more then the house itself did.
So I am a bit confused, why would the resident's strip everything out? I suppose you mean sink and tub as well?
@calai618 (1773)
• Philippines
31 Jul 10
Well we recently bought one and the day the old owners went away, they destroyed the entire kitchen. they even took some of the roofings. i know it is not permitted and that they could be sued or something but my father just let them. I didnt really understand that. Now we have tons of things to do to repair the house. Argh.
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
31 Jul 10
Hmm, maybe your father isn't going to sue them because they're anger isn't directed at you and your family but at the bank that foreclosed the home. Now it's aggravating and a headache, as well as more money for you and your family, but if your father were to sue the family that destroyed the kitchen they would have to pay for it. While they should have to, it would incur expenses they may not be able to pay for, and it would also cost your father for the lawyer fee and all other legal fees.
So in the long run it's probably cheaper to fix it up yourself, and you can make the kitchen your on. Congratulations on the new home, I hope you enjoy making it your own!
@anne25penn (3305)
• Philippines
1 Aug 10
It actually depends on the property to be acquired, if it will generate income or will increase in value over the years. This is how I look at property, be it foreclosed or not. Sometimes here in my country, I don't really look at foreclosed properties because they have a lot of problems, so its better to get those that are not.
@dawnald (85130)
• Shingle Springs, California
12 Aug 10
It just depends. If a house was foreclosed, first of all the person had money problems, do you can expect that they weren't spending money to keep things maintained. So the older the house, the more likely that you will find problems. But second is that a person losing their home due to a foreclosure could be mad and sabotage things. So it's really important to make sure that you have an inspection done, since foreclosures are usually "as is". I'm not aware of any hidden costs.
@minx267 (15527)
• Hartford, Connecticut
2 Aug 10
I actually purchased my house about 7 years ago. It was in the process of foreclosure so the realtor showed us the house which although not what I would call trashed. It wasn't cleaned out yet either.. but we loved the kitchen and the back yard and we got it for a steal.
Now 7 years later.. we make our payments but money is so tight that we can't afford the upkeep and the house really need a lot of work. It's a old house from lat 1800's so it is showing it's age now.
But other than that.. the mortgage company took care of the things that needed to be done before we moved in. They removed an old oil tank (only because they filled it up first after neglecting to find out the house was heated by gas!) and they also repaired a leaky water heater.
Other than that... knock on wood. we haven't had any major problems. We did have to buy all appliance for the kitchen.. there weren't any.
But I guess with the size of the yard - which my dogs love.. we got a good deal.
@nightrose1981 (40)
• United States
1 Aug 10
Some forclosures are worth it. Depends on the part of town they are in and one thing to look at is how many forclosures in the area and appraisal values of the house you are looking into and the values of the houses in the area around the house. One thing that happened with me is I bought a forclosed home and no problems other than the a/c and the area was great. But as a year or so went by the value dropped sharply with the housing market crash. The best advise I can give is do your research and make sure the house is going to hold its value.
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
31 Jul 10
Hi Cowgirl, some are genuine others might not be it depends really I suppose
You need to get it surveyed then work out if it is worth it if you need to get it repaired
Compare it to how much it would cost to buy a non foreclosed Home to a foreclosed one that is all that I can suggest
@purplealabaster (22094)
• United States
31 Jul 10
I am not an expert on the subject, but I think that there are different reasons for foreclosure. The most obvious reason is that the person did not keep up with the monthly mortgage payments. However, I think there are other reasons as well, such as having a lien placed on your house as collateral for a loan or not paying taxes on the property or even not paying your income taxes. Depending upon the reason for foreclosure, I do think there could be "hidden costs", such delinquent taxes owed on the property. That is why it is best to have an attorney look over everything before taking on such a huge responsibility, because otherwise you might be agreeing to a lot more than you realize.