How To Purchase A Foreclosure

Once upon a time, buying a foreclosed home was easy. The real estate market was saturated with foreclosed homes, there were just not enough people to buy them, and therefore a buyer could purchase a home for next to nothing. While you may still buy a reasonably priced foreclosed home, the days of steep discounts are gone.

Because it’s now a seller’s market, both sellers and lenders know they don’t have to drastically cut prices. Even if they did, because there are so many buyers looking for homes, by the time all the bidding is done, the sale price usually ends up being about the same as other homes on the market.

You need to be careful when considering buying a foreclosed home. You may find a diamond in the rough or you may get stuck with a financial black hole. Knowing the best way to purchase a foreclosure, puts you one step closer to owning your dream home. Have the real estate lawyer that Las Vegas trusts go over the best buying option for you.

Buying at a Foreclosure Auction

To buy at a foreclosure auction, you typically may do so at your County’s courthouse. In Clark County, these sales are statutorily held in the rear parking lot of the Office of Nevada Legal News. In some cases, auctions are handled online. While prices may be lower, there also tends to be a lot more risk involved. You will typically be placing a bid without ever having seen the inside of the home. That may pose a plethora of problems for the buyer.

First, you won’t be able to determine the extent of repairs necessary to make the property liveable. If there are any financial complications such as liens, multiple mortgages or code violations, you won’t know about them until after you own the home. There is also a chance that someone may still live in the home. If that is the case and you want to evict them, it will be your responsibility to do so. All of these things quickly add up,turning that decently priced home you thought your bought into something uncomfortably expensive.

Another important fact to remember is that when you buy at an auction, you have to pay for the house in cash. As you are usually expected to pay within 24 hours of your successful bid, you are out of luck if you find anything wrong a week later. In this situation, it is recommended you seek the advice of a competent real estate lawyer in Las Vegas to advise you how best to proceed.

Buying Directly From a Lender

An alternate way to buy a foreclosure property is to buy from the lender that foreclosed. You can think of this as buying from an individual and thus it doesn’t pose quite as much risk as an auction. There are still a few major considerations that make buying a home this way different from buying from an individual.

First, even buying in this manner, you still may not know the condition of the inside of the home. That is because the lender has probably never seen it and is not legally required to disclose conditions. If possible you should request a viewing and only make your offer after determining the condition of the property.

Unfortunately, a viewing, without a formal inspection, is no guarantee of the condition of the house. Foreclosed upon homes often have no working utilities, which means that you can’t check any of the items that could lead to big ticket repairs. Occasionally, a lender will turn on the utilities for a brief time so you can properly inspect the property. However, this usually only occurs once the home is under contract to purchase.

If you do find major property condition issues, you may still be able to negotiate. However, such won’t always yield results in a sellers’ market. If you don’t want the house, there is probably someone else who will take it as is. To be fair, many lenders are actually making needed repairs before putting the house up for sale.

Don’t let the idea of buying a foreclosed home scare you away. With the right real estate lawyer, Las Vegas doesn’t have to be an overwhelming market. Contact Simon Law, with over 30 years of experience in Nevada and real property law. For more information about this Las Vegas lawyer contact 702.451.7077 or info@marcsimonlaw.com.