Archive for buying foreclosure homes
Differences Between Buying a Foreclosure vs a Regular Sale
There are lots of bank owned foreclosures on the market in Tampa Bay but you may have reservations about making an offer on one. While buying a foreclosure is slightly different than buying a regular home, it may be worth it. Bank owned homes are typically 10-15% below market and with knowledge of the process [...]
Importance of Title Insurance
If you’ve ever bought a home, you’ve probably noticed a fee on the HUD for title insurance. Most people don’t have a clue what it is or why your lender requires it. Title insurance protects the buyer and their lender against loss arising from problems connected to the title. As a home is bought and [...]
Negotiating? Don’t post it on social media.
I just read an interesting article about a couple who cost themselves quite a bit of money for posting too much information. Who would have ever thought a social media site could cost you while you’re negotiating on a house?
5 Tips for Buying a Foreclosure
When lenders take over a home through foreclosure, they want to sell it as quickly as possible. Since lenders aren’t in the real estate business, they turn to real estate brokers for help marketing their properties. Buying a foreclosed home through the multiple listing service can be a bargain, but it can also be a [...]
Investors Are Back! Why Is That A Good Thing?
If you ask most people, they’ll tell you that investors drove prices up and caused the housing boom. Well, that’s sort of correct. At the beginning of the housing boom investors were purchasing properties and making wise business decisions, and then the “get rich quick” amateurs came in. These are the people who saw the [...]
Appraisal Relief
Finally, it looks like we may a have little help with some of the horrible appraisal issues. For the last few years lenders have been undervaluing properties. They would not only order an on-site appraisal but many times they would also do a “desktop appraisal” which is slightly better than checking Zillow. Upon receiving the [...]
It’s a Short Sale Not a Rubish Sale!
It seems that there’s a little confusion about and the purpose of a short sale and the owner’s responsibility. The advantage to doing a short sale is that the impact on your credit is typically far less with a short sale than with a foreclosure. Therefore, it’s to a homeowner’s advantage to help their Realtor [...]
New Guidelines for Short Sales
As of April 5th, lenders have new guidelines for the short sale process. These new guidelines have been put in place in an attempt to speed up the process which can take an average of 4-6 months. Along with speeding the process, the new guidelines also offer monetary incentives to both the banks and the [...]
Where are the deals?
Where have all the great real estate deals gone? If you’ve listened to the news you would think the sky has fallen and everything is a blue light special. There are still deals to be had but you’ll have to look a little harder and act quickly. Depending upon where you are you’ll likely find [...]
Now is the time… Time Magazine & Trump agree!
Time magazine recently posted an article, “Recession Shopping: 10 Things To Buy Right Now” and included along with cars and stocks is housing! During recent interview with Goodmorning America, Donald Trump was asked about the housing market. Trump’s advice today is, “This is a great time to go out and buy a home”. Do you [...]