From the Courier Post Online:
You’re a would-be buyer who’s been sitting stubbornly on the sidelines, having seen home prices soar to nonsensical levels, waiting for their inevitable fall back to Earth. Eventually, you say, the time will be right to tiptoe into the market.
Lately, you’ve seen prices slipping. And you’ve heard about foreclosed homes being thrown on the market at bargain prices.
Well? Are we there yet? Should you check out a discounted home in foreclosure? After all, there will be more than 1 million foreclosures over the next two years, according to the National Association of Realtors. A house in foreclosure might well offer a great deal.
Michelle Mangione knows. She and her husband, Jeff Haag, are living in a home in Fallbrook, Calif., that she bought from the owner about three years ago, just before it went into foreclosure. Having paid about $680,000, she estimates she saved about $200,000.
Still, her savings came at a price: a lot of needed work on the house. “You have to be willing to live in a mess for a while,” Mangione said recently, as painters were working in the home.
Buying a home in foreclosure isn’t easy, and it’s hardly without risk. Before you consider plunging into the foreclosure market, be sure to do some in-depth research.
Interesting article. I’ve been watching a few foreclosure/REO properties, but it’s not the mess that scares me, it’s the price.
I too am looking forward to the forclosure market but feel there is a long way to go still before picking something up. Even if you can get a forclosure for under 20% market there is no guarantee the market will not drop 20%.
In a way the forclosure market might be higher than demand. This will certainly put a damper on real estate agents too.
What also scares me is that the house prices are trying to hold thier own instead of dropping about 3% to underbid the mass competition out there which could cause a large drop in the fall when the majority of the homes going up dont sell.
I think What I am trying to say is I think and hence the word think is in there the time to look at forclosures will be in the fall of this year.