Other than the possible complications that arise with buying a home "as is," are there any other headaches that we should worry about?
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My friends bought a foreclosed house. The only problem they had with it was they had a pipe burst because a nail went through it. It took a while to rust and then it burst.
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We bought a bank owned home. The only issues we had were on the lending side (FHA loan). Because it was a foreclosure there were no appliances and there were some outlet covers missing, and a broken window. All of them had to be fixed/ resolved in a very quick time before they would continue with the loan.
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@pinkb: The house we want to buy has been completely gutted and renovated by the bank. You can definitely tell that they cut corners, but it doesn't seem like it would be anything that would need to be addressed immediately (although the inspection may say differently). Luckily, it comes with all of the appliances with the exception of the washer/dryer.
Did you find that it was easier to negotiate with the bank because they wanted to get rid of the house quickly? Or was negotiation more difficult?
The house has only been on the market for 45 days and they already dropped the price $15,000. We are hoping to drop it down another $18,000 or so though...
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We bought a short sale. It was actually easier then I expected I think. First there was an extremely long wait to see if they accepted our offer and that sucked. And then the inspection was pretty bad..... the house needed a new roof along with many other things that we just couldn't afford if we were putting so much money down on a house. So we said no and started looking for houses again, but they came back and said they'd lower the price. And the house is ours
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We bought a foreclosure. It was a headache buying it because of the FHA loan. There was so much paperwork and we had similar issues to @pinkb: with needing to get things fixed before the loan could be completed.
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We bought a foreclosure. The biggest problem was the price negotiations. The bak had it priced way above what it was worth, and only after it failed to sell at auction did they agree to our price.
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@pinkb: ours was similar.
We had nothing but trouble from our lender and the bank that owned the house from the start. Our situation was a little different because we were working against a date that wasnt possible for the house to close by so the night before we closed they basically said "jk here is a huge list of stuff you have to fox tonight" so DH and I had to go in and work all night long on a house we didn't even own just so we could buy it.
I'd do it again but I'd use different people!
We put in an offer in July and CLosed late Sept
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Thanks everyone!
We REALLY want this house but think it is overpriced. I'm hoping it isn't more trouble than it's worth!
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@rahlyrah: I just left my job where I worked in foreclosures. In our area, copper theft is a huge thing so we always warned potential buyers that thereay be more damage to the home than is worth repairing.
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We bought a foreclosure 5 years ago and luckily haven't had many problems. It is an old house, but there wasn't anything awful and the process of buying it wasn't any different that if it wasn't bank owned.
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@Mrs. Polish: This house is in a really nice neighborhood and the bank has completely gutted and restored the house (it is 116 years old). The house appears to be in move in condition with updated wiring, plumbing, and HVAC (dual zoned).
My only concern would be any foundation/structural issues as far as inspection goes.
I'm just wondering moreso about the negotiation process. We looked at a similar property (without nearly as many updates--but in a better location) that was listed as $329,000. This house was originally listed as $405,000. After 45 days they dropped the price $16,000 so it is now at $389,000. We are hoping to get it somewhere between $360,000-$370,000 (if the inspection goes well). I'm just not sure how much negotiation a bank will be willing to make.
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@rahlyrah: the worst they can say is no, right?
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@Mrs. Polish: True. Although, it would probably break my heart a little!
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@rahlyrah: Ours was owned by Bank of America and they definitly wanted to get rid of it fast, it had already been on the market for months.
ETA: They were not really willing to negotiate on the price though. They had just dropped it the day before I found it online close to 15k if i remember correctly. (but that was the second time they dropped it). It was fairly priced but we were trying to save the $1500 we needed for the appliances. They said no so we paid full price, wasnt a big deal, we just wanted to try.
So even if they decline your offer keep an eye on it cause it might sit and the price might drop again!
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