Basic Info

Foreclosed Homes

Foreclosure is a legal process that allows a bank or other lienholder to take back a home from it’s owner, usually because the homeowner has not made the mortgage payments.

Typically, the bank which owns the mortgage will try to sell the home as quickly as possible, sometimes through a public auction. To make a quick sale of the foreclosure property the bank may offer the property at a discount from going prices … and this is what get investors excited about buying foreclosure properties in the first place.

Buying Foreclosure Properties

So, a foreclosed home is basically a property that a bank wants to sell quickly, so it may be a good investment opportunity. But how do you go about buying a foreclosure property and take advantage of the opportunity?

Here is the basic process of buying foreclosure homes.

1. Finding Foreclosures In Your Area

Before you can buy a foreclosed property, you have to know it exists. Right? Right! So the first step to buying a foreclosure is to start tracking them in your area.  The best foreclosure property deals usually sell quickly, so it’s important to stay on top of the market and be able to make a quick offer.

There are several foreclosure-tracking services you can use, some which will charge for their services. Foreclosure.com and RealtyTrac are two of the services available. We don’t discourage our clients from using these services, but these services are national and it’s not always easy to figure out from the information provided whether the advertised properties are good deals, or whether they´re even up to date.

This is where we at Southern-Oregon-Foreclosures can give an advantage to our clients.  As soon as a newly foreclosed property becomes available for sale in Jackson or Josephine Counties we know about it immediately, and pass along the information to our clients.  We also know this market inside and out, and we know which foreclosures are the best deals and which ones are the most likely to sell quickly.

2. Signing Up for Foreclosure Tracking

It’s easy to sign up for our foreclosure tracking service.  You’ll get to see the best deals as soon as they are available, and there is no cost to you and no obligation to purchase a home.  CLICK HERE TO GET A FREE LIST OF FORECLOSURE HOMES IN YOUR PREFERRED GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS. After looking at this list you can decide whether you want to continue using our service.  There is no charge for our service, and no obligation to buy.

3. Oregon Foreclosure Process

Foreclosure proceedings and laws can be complex. So before you start bidding on foreclosed homes you should do some homework on foreclosure laws and procedures. Start by using Google or another search engine to research “Foreclosure laws in Oregon.” Be sure to consider the source when conducting such research — the closer you get to the source (Oregon State government), the more accurate the information.

4. Choosing a Foreclosed Home to Invest In

Like any other type of investment, there are risks involved in buying foreclosure properties. If you buy a foreclosed property that later proves hard to sell, you will be stuck with a mortgage payment longer than you want. Additionally, if you pay too high for the foreclosure, you will reduce your profit potential on selling the property.

So how can you purchase a foreclosure property and still keep your risks as low as possible?  What are the safest deals to go after?  Well, like anything else in real estate investing, this is not a black and white issues. There are many factors to consider.

Generally speaking, however, bank-owned properties carry the least risk for investors seeking foreclosed homes. When the bank takes ownership of the foreclosure property, you know that there will not be any taxes or liens to deal with, and that the home will not have homeowners or tenants still living in it.

5. Making Your Offer / Bidding on the Property

So you’ve investigated a particular foreclosure property, lined up your financing, and you’re ready to bid on the home. Work with your Realtor to understand what the current market value of the property is.  Then estimate the costs of fixing any problems.  That will give you an idea of the maximum amount you should pay for the home.  You can adjust your offer from there, depending on how long the property has been on the market, how much the bank has already lowered the price, and whether there are any other bids on the property.  Your Realtor can help you to understand the relative effects of those items when making an offer on a foreclosure property.