I know about Google, but seem to be having trouble finding a real estate agent that specializes in these types of deals. I am sure most of them are investors themselves, but there must be someone locally that knows the ins and outs of landing a good foreclosure. Any input on where to look? Online resources? I checked the listings here…none for Ohio.
Thanks!
What are you trying to accomplish?
Trying to accomplish purchasing an o/o house for the wife and I with equity in it so I can sell it easily in 2-3 years instead of renting since we may move out of state. If it needs work, that’s fine. I have the cash to fix it as long as the equity will be there when I am done. I’m basically looking for a house most investors would flip, but will live there for 2-3 years. I would like to work with an agent that knows foreclosures. We just lost a deal because we were unaware that since a house was re-listed twice from fannie mae, likely due to financing or inspections falling through, that if someone made a cash offer over asking price, they would automatically accept (not sure if automatically is correct, but this is what I was told. Someone else just said they would likely accept it…its not automatic) the contract and close other bids. It was only relisted for two days. Nice house…someone remodeled 40% of it and the rest was all cosmetic. PP probably 83k - comps 135-150k after 10-15k cosmetic work. If I knew this was an option, I would have seriously considered doing what the smarter realtor/investor did with the bid.
I guess I could look for some wholesalers in the area too…
The best way to do this is to find a short sale and bribe the owner to accept your low offer by purchasing the seller’s stove. That way you do not need to worry about higher offers and you know the inside of the home and any issues you might have.
Obviously the mortgage balance would need to be quite less than market value in this case, correct? Otherwise, wouldn’t the bank will need to make that decision on accepting the offer? Sorry, not too familiar with short sales and what I did read…usually the owner owes more than its worth.
The mortgage is more than what the home is worth and the lender will need to accept the low purchase offer. However, the lender usually does a BPO (appraisal) and the BPO looks at 3 active and 3 sold properties. You will need to find the lowest priced properties and base your offer below the lowest number you find and then make sure the bank sees your low comparables. Hopefully then the bank will release the lien for the low offer you gave the seller.
So I need 3 conservative comps from an appraiser - and base my offer off from this presented to the bank? The problem is getting a hold of the sellers. I have tried to contact the listing agent. I also contacted the bank with the mortgage. They said they can’t talk about anything because they do not own it yet and that I would have to get the sellers information somehow to be able to see the house.
Otherwise, there is a sheriff’s sale set at the end of August. Their appraised value is 130k and starting bids are at 86.6k. I likely would be bidding from pictures and this is not something I feel like doing. I also heard most of the banks end up going to these auctions and outbidding everyone anyways so they can foreclose on the home. I could be wrong, but this is what I read. Thank you for your input. I appreciate it.
You and the sellers will need to conduct a short sale. Since that is not going to happen, you will need to either pick it up at auction, or hope the bank takes it back and see what the REO price will be.
If the property is vacant, picking it up at the auction might be the best bet.
A real estate agent will not help you with auctions as they won’t get paid. So you can enter into broker buyer agreement which promises the agent that you will pay them no matter what they help you with, whether it be a REO, For Sale By Owner, etc.
If you buy short sales, which I recommend, then find a great real estate agent that knows how to buy short sales. Contact me and I will send you a link to a blog I wrote on how to buy a short sale.
Instead of Googling foreclosures in Ohio, try Googling REO in Ohio. BofA alone currently has over a hundred bank owned foreclosures in your state. And, to answer your original question, search for REO agents in Ohio.
The word foreclosure has become such a broad term on the internet. It’s also a very popular search word that can take you in many different directions. If you’re looking for properties that have already completed foreclosure, they’re more than like bank owned. These are called REO property.
There are real estate agents and brokerages that specifically deal with nothing but REO properties. Seek those out in your local area.
There are great local organizations that deal with investors that work in short sales and foreclosures. I know of hundreds of investors near me in Florida that work with clients who are looking for good foreclosures. There are real estate agents that specialize in just foreclosures and short sales in your area, I promise.
There are many people out there that want foreclosures and with that kind of economics, there are bird dogs and realtors that will gladly help you.