There are no bigger buzz words in real estate today than "Short Sale" and "Foreclosure". Everyone wants to buy one of these two gems because they believe that they are the best deals on the market.
You might be surprised to find that this could not be further from teh truth. Although, there are many great deals out there in these two categories, there are equally as many great deals in the market that are not short sales or foreclosure properties.
If you are interested in pursuing a short sale or foreclosure there are some things that you shoud first take into consideration:
Once you make an offer you wait weeks, sometimes months to get a response. Not having an answer can be stressful.
You have no real idea what you are buying. You won't get any information. You have no history on the house. Is there something hidden about its condition? Even inspections do not reveal everything. You could be buying a money pit.
These home sare customarily sold "As Is" and most lenders do not make any repairs to the homes before they close. Many times there has been significant damage done to the homes by the previous owners that will result in costly repairs.
The closing process can take month.
The lenders do not return the signed documents sometimes for weeks. Meanwhile you don't have an executed contract. Lenders can and sometime do change their mind and refuse your offer after accepting it. There are usually pages of lender addendum's that will accompany an accepted offer and ALL of these documents are in the lender's favor and will usually allow them to accept other offers up to the day of closing. Again, this leaves you not knowing if you really have a deal.
The one thing that we can be sure of when dealing with Short Sales and Foreclosure properties is that they are setting the market value of homes. When Realtors educate their sellers to these facts, motivated sellers will price their homes in accordance with this new information.
The lesson to learn here is that there are many real "Bargains" out there that are well maintained, have an available history, have fair, realistic market prices and motivated, realistic sellers.
Christine Stalsonburg, Realtor
Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors
"A Tradition Of Sound Advice"
231-944-0854
www.northernmichiganrealestatecs.com
Christine Stalsonburg, Broker/Owner
Cherry Wings Realty
231-409-4140
