Any foreclosures?
Almost every buyer I come across will ask me, “What do you think of foreclosures? Can I save money by buying a foreclosure?”
There certainly was a time when you could get a house at a reduced price by buying a foreclosed property. You have no doubt heard of or even attended seminars that taught how to find and buy REOs, or Real Estate Owned property from banks and lenders. I believe below market prices can be had in the right market conditions.
In my area in Southern California, I am still seeing a seller’s market. There is still a demand for homes where if a house is decently priced, there will be multiple offers on it. This means if a seller is delinquent in his mortgage payments, his best option is to put it on the market, and it will sell. So why should he allow it to go into foreclosure and lose everything? By selling it, he can at least salvage his credit. While we are certainly not seeing 20% gain in value of homes, there is still some rise in property value. So there may even be some equity left for him to get some cash out of it.
So, the answer is, there isn’t much of a chance of getting a deal from foreclosures now. Perhaps the market conditions will change.