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RealtyTrac, Inc., the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, provides all the resources that home seekers, investors and realtors need to locate, evaluate and buy properties at below market value. Founded in 1996, RealtyTrac sets a new standard for online real estate services by offering the largest database of pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties, with more than 650,000 properties across the country, comprehensive property data, productivity tools and extensive professional resources. RealtyTrac hosts close to 2 million unique visitors monthly, and is the exclusive foreclosure data provider to AOL, Home Gain, MSN House and Home, The Wall Street Journal Real Estate Journal and Yahoo! Real Estate.

Buying a Foreclosure Property Below Market Value: Five Tips from the Pros

House hunting can be a very daunting experience, especially in today’s real estate market. Both investors and home buyers have been priced out of the market by escalating costs, and good real estate deals are increasingly difficult to find.

But there are bargains out there, for people who know where to look.

“For people willing to do some homework, the foreclosure market offers some of the best opportunities in real estate today,” explains James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer at RealtyTrac, the leading online foreclosure marketplace.

Web-based services such as RealtyTrac give consumers access to foreclosure and pre-foreclosure information that was previously available only to professional real estate brokers and investors. Today, homebuyers can use these services to assist them identify and research potential home purchases, as well as the tools and professional resources they need to help them close the deal.

With interest rates ticking up and ARMs adjusting upward, experts predict an increase in the number of foreclosure properties on the market. RealtyTrac, which provides all the foreclosure data for both MSN House and Home and Yahoo! Real Estate, has already compiled a list of over 550,000 foreclosure properties across the country.

“Foreclosure properties can be a terrific investment, or give home buyers a much more affordable option than traditional properties,” notes Saccacio. “But they’re not a way to get rich quick, and a foreclosure purchase needs to be approached in an educated, intelligent manner.”

Saccacio offers five tips to help you close a deal on a foreclosure property:

1. Learn about the different types of foreclosure properties, and the foreclosure process.

There are three basic types of foreclosure properties, representing different stages in the foreclosure process: notice-of-default (NOD) and notice of trustee sale (NTS), which are both pre-foreclosure properties; and real-estate-owned (REO), a foreclosure property which has been re-purchased by the bank.

For most consumers, buying a pre-foreclosure property from a private homeowner is the best option. It’s important that both the buyer and the seller see the situation as a win-win situation, in order to ensure a smooth process. In this case, the seller is able to get out from under a mortgage without destroying their credit rating, the lender is saved the time and expense of foreclosing on the property, and the buyer gets a below-market price on a home.

Foreclosure auction sales are typically the domain of the professional investor. These properties are formally in default, and sold to the highest bidder at an auction. Buyers are required to be physically present at the auction, and must pay 100% of the sale price in cash, on the spot. Though foreclosure auctions can offer significant savings, they are not for the feint of heart or the uninformed. Unless the buyer is already familiar with a particular property, there is usually little time to examine it. And the buyer will be competing against professional investors—and sometimes even the lender—at the auction.

Once the lender officially reclaims a home, it becomes a real-estate-owned property (REO). While REO properties typically offer more time for evaluation and a more standard bank-managed transaction, their prices are usually very close to full retail market value.

CHART: Stages of the foreclosure process

Stage
Positive
Negative
Pre-foreclosure:
Notice-of-Default,
Notice-of-Trustee Sale

– Highest potential savings
– Potential win/win scenario benefits all parties
– Chance to evaluate property
– Buyer / Seller negotiations can be difficult\
– Time pressure to complete transaction before auction

Foreclosure:

Auction sale
– High potential savings
– Immediate property ownership
– 100% of the sale price required in cash
– No time to evaluate property
– Competing with professionals

Foreclosure:

Real Estate Owned (REO)

– Affords significant time to evaluate property
– Traditional bank financing
– Lender often rehabs property
– Lowest potential savings

2. Secure financing early

It’s important for a buyer to be pre-qualified before engaging in discussions with a seller. This ensures that the buyer is in a financial position to purchase the property, and is in the strongest possible position to negotiate. It’s best to work with a lender who understands the foreclosure process, and can guide the buyer through certain steps, such as ensuring that a property is FHA-compliant. Another reason to consider pre-qualification is that not all lenders finance foreclosure properties. Having approved financing in-hand makes negotiations with both the seller and the lender easier, and may even make it possible for the buyer to simply cure the default and take over the existing loan to reduce loan processing fees.

3. Engage a real estate agent as a “buyer’s representative”

Most people hire a real estate agent to sell their home. These “seller’s representatives” are charged with making the sale and negotiating the best deal for their clients. “Buyer’s representatives” have the home buyer’s interests at heart, and are charged with finding the right property and negotiating the best price for their clients. Picking the right real estate agent will make a buyer’s life much easier. There are agents who specialize in the foreclosure market, with specific experience in REO properties. Look for an agent with foreclosure transaction experience, as well as knowledge of local, regional and state laws. But it’s also important to consider the agent’s knowledge of the area; their ability to close a deal; and their access to other professionals (attorneys, lenders, mortgage and title professionals) to ensure that the buyer is in good hands.

4. Do your homework

Stocks offer higher potential returns for investors than traditional savings programs, but are also riskier. Similarly, purchasing foreclosure properties is somewhat more risky than buying traditional real estate properties, but offer much higher potential savings. With the right examination and due diligence, buyers can significantly reduce the risks. It makes sense to give any property under consideration a thorough examination. Here are eight steps for doing a professional-level exam.
CHART: Examination process steps

· Identify desirable neighborhoods – Identify specific neighborhoods where you’d like to live or own a home. This will limit your search to a manageable size for you and your real estate agent, and give your a sense of relative property values.

· Cast a wide net – There are a number of Web-based services that can put hundreds of thousands of foreclosure properties at your fingertips. Since the best savings are often found in pre-foreclosure properties, it’s important to check the percentage of pre-foreclosure (vs. REO) properties in any database before subscribing.

· Determine the property value –Look at the original purchase price, and recent comparable property sales to determine the current value of the property.

· Find out the amount in default and the remaining loan balance – In order to determine a reasonable offer price, you’ll need to know—at a minimum—how much money it will take just to satisfy the debt to the lender.

· Run a legal investing report – Before purchasing any foreclosure property, make sure it is free and clear of any bankruptcies, tax liens or other financial liabilities.

· Assess the condition of the property– If at all possible, visit the property, ask your realtor’s opinion, and review pest and structural reports to make sure that the property is in acceptable condition, or to determine how much of a rehab budget you’ll need to build in to your deal.

· Build a positive relationship with the seller – Before purchasing the property, try to make sure that you’re entering into a win-win situation with the seller, so that they’ll do what they can to make the process easier and leave the property in good condition.

· Leverage your timing – Knowing when a property is going to be auctioned gives you an extra bargaining chip when negotiating with the seller or the lender.

5. Make a realistic offer

Despite what you may see on late-night cable TV, investing in foreclosure properties isn’t a sure fire “get rich quick” formula. Lenders aren’t likely to give properties away, particularly in a real estate market where prices continue to rise. And homeowners in financial distress may be difficult to deal with, particularly early in the foreclosure process. The keys to a successful foreclosure property purchase are diligence and patience.

As a rule of thumb, the best savings can be made at the pre-foreclosure stage, where home owners can avoid a foreclosure and lenders can save the time and cost involved in going through the process.

Another critical point in the process is immediately prior to the auction date, when all parties might be most open to a last-minute solution. It’s not unusual to save from 10-30% of the market value on a foreclosure property, and certain properties offer savings of 50% or even more. An educated buyer—one who knows how much is owed on the property and what its market value is—can usually come up with a realistic offer; one that offers significant savings, while meeting the requirements of the lender.

Now go out and familiarize yourself with the resources and tools available to take advantage of the opportunities offered by this formerly-hidden real estate market. With the experts pointing toward significant growth in available foreclosure properties, there’s never been a better time to line up your resources and get informed.

Free access for 7 days, try it out! No strings, no contracts, no hassles and you can cancel at any time. Hurry! Foreclosures sell fast. Visit RealtyTrac.com. With virtually every Bank, Government and Institutional property you’ll find your next home waiting for you

Auction is the stage of the foreclosure home process when the pre-foreclosure phrase of a foreclosure home has ended. Lenders will bring the title of the foreclosure home for auction and looking for new owner of the foreclosure home. The purpose of the lenders putting the foreclosure home on auction is to recapture the losses that the previous owner caused. There is only business in auction. People bid and the highest bid win the foreclosure home.

To win in auction, you must have understood the process of foreclosure home auction. In most of the cases, lenders are the first mortgage holder of a foreclosure home. Thus, the fund collected from auction has to first give to the lenders. Once the first mortgage holder has been satisfied, any extra funds will be used to settle any other remaining obligations. Then only the funds will be disbursed to the foreclosure homeowner if there are any remain.

1) Foreclosure Home Title Research

Who don’t want to make money if there are chances? To make money through buying foreclosure home in auctions, there are a few preparations you must do. If you are seeing a foreclosure home, you must first do a title research on it. The goal of doing the title research is to determine all the liens or judgments against the foreclosure home. These can include civil lawsuit judgments, unpaid personal property taxes and state and federal tax liens. This is because if you got the hammer knock on the foreclosure home, you will be granted the title to the foreclosure home subject to all liens and encumbrances. If you misjudge the hidden liens, there will be extra costs in your planning.

2) Getting Finance

Secondly, after doing the foreclosure home research and info collections, you need to be ready with financing. This is because in order to bid in auction, you need cash or cash equivalent to show you’re affordable to participate in auction. They will record your cash amount and that will be your limit to bid. If your bid exceeds the limit, your bid will be counted as invalid. Besides, when you present the winning bid, you will need to pay a 5-10% deposit on the spot as the conclusion of the auction while the balance of the purchase price due within a few days. You will need financing to back you up immediately.

3) Psychology Preparation

Thirdly, the psychology preparation you need is to get yourself used to the auction environment. It’s recommended that you attend the auction for a few times before making the first bid. This act will help you to get comfortable with the auction process and give you confident. Auction is very intense during the process. People will easily get controlled by the intense environment and get high in auction. This is always the cause of mistakes. For foreclosure home, if your bid exceeds the value of the house, you will earn nothing though you’ve won the auction. Thus, you have to set a bottom line in your bidding and stick to it. Most importantly, stay firm with your bottom line in auction and don’t easily get affected by the intense environment there.

Buying a foreclosure home in auction could really be a great bargain. Because a foreclosure home is being sold based on the balance of the loan but not on the market value. That means a foreclosure home is more profitable if the differences between the balance of the loan and market value is huge. Buying foreclosure home in auction can bring you fortune. If you are a home buyer, you save money; if you are an investor, you make money when reselling the foreclosure home with market value. Either way, to enjoy the profit from foreclosure home, you need to first start your research with foreclosure listings now.

For being involved in both home loan and real estate career offline, Shawn Daren is experienced to share his knowledge with us. His buying foreclosure website provides info on picking up great foreclosure bargains. Visit his site to learn more on free foreclosure listings.