Thinking outside the box...

Ok, truth be told, I previously posted under the heading of REO. I don’t currently rent the condo in question, but live in Birmingham AL. I was actually, and truly trying to find out info for a good friend of mine who is currently in the condo in Aspen. I thought it was sound like one of those stories, “yea, I gotta friend who has this infection…”. I was just trying to get the most straight forward answer for my buddy as I could…

But now, I’ve just learned from the realtor who showed us our current house, that there’s a house in foreclosure in my neighborhood. Here’s the situation, most of the houses in my neighborhood sell in the $350k to $450k neighborhood. I initially asked my realtor what the deal was on the house then, but she couldn’t find any info on it. I noticed about a week ago, that there was a For Sale sign (by a realtor) in the yard, and called my realtor on it. The house was sold for $310k in 2000 as a builder spec (all the houses here are) and the house has been in shambles, which is really not the norm in our thriving and new, neighborhood, since we moved in, in Nov. 05. Now, just today, she tells me that the house is being sold for $499k, by the bank, and the right of redemption on the place, ends Sept. 1st. I’m curious if it would be worth my time at all, to try and find the current owners, and try to help them get out of foreclosure. I live 5 houses down the street from this house, and the houses near me, it’s a newer street, all sold for $425k - $450. This house is not a $499k house, it’s a $375k at best.

Here’s my question, if I could find the owners, is there anything that I could really do to get them out of foreclosure and turn around and sell the house. Obviously it’s worth $499k to the bank, but I’m not sure why, and since it’s still got a redemption period on it, it may have liens out the wazoo on it. Just curious if anyone can shed some light or direction on this.

Thanks.

Howdy Arvana:

You need to find the redemption price. If the owners owe $499K then the deal is hopeless unless the bank will do a short sale. It is possible to make some money on short sales but if the bank will not accept less than the market value you will not be able to make any money.