Buying a short sale, foreclosure or bank-owned property (REO) is an appealing option for buyers looking for a deal, and those trying to stretch their dollars and get more home for their money. Searching for a short sale, foreclosure, or bank-owned property (REO) can however be difficult and maddeningly frustrating as short sale listings are typically poorly advertised on account that the banks pay reduced commissions on these sales which requires that the listing agents reduce the advertising budgets on these listing. Furthermore, newspaper notices of foreclosure sales are disorganized, foreclosure listing websites charge hefty monthly fees, lenders post only minimal information on the properties they’ve taken back and the vast majority of the banks require that these properties not be advertised as ‘bank-owned’ because of the negative connotation this carries and the expectation it creates.
In addition, many real estate agents have little if any experience with these types of transactions and attempt to discourage their clients from considering these types of properties suggesting that they are not as deeply discounted as they may have heard, they can take months and months to close, or that they are typically in a state of disrepair and require significant improvements and carry additional expenses. This simply isn’t true and in fact most of these properties sell at discounts of 20% or more! While many foreclosed properties lack appliances and may require cosmetic improvements, there are loan products such as FHA’s 203K loans which allow buyers to include these costs in their mortgage. The banks are closing these transactions much more quickly these days and while it often took as long as 4 months to close a transaction, they can now be closed in as little as 60-90 days. The simple fact is these transaction are more labor intensive for the realtor and in most instances the banks offer reduced commissions on them, which means more work for less pay to the agent but also an opportunity for the agent to get their client an outstanding deal!
If you’re a buyer, or an investor, interested in purchasing short sale or foreclosure properties, please give us a call or send us an email as we’d be happy to assist you by sending over a an inventory of properties matching your criteria.
The Opland Group Specializes in Real Estate Sales, Luxury Home Sales, Short Salesin; Bexley Columbus Delaware Downtown Dublin Gahanna Grandview Heights Granville Grove City Groveport Hilliard Lewis Center New Albany Pickerington Polaris Powell Upper Arlington Westerville Worthington
