BuyRenovatedForeclosures.com

At the closing, we handled all of the legal and financial doings and Jan was the proud owner of a nice, affordable property. She paid a little more than what she would have from a bank-owned foreclosure. But, the property was ready for her to move into, allowing her to focus on her work and life instead of breakdowns, renovation, and repairs. When we got finished at the settlement table and shook hands, she actually gave me a big hug. I was taken aback by this and a little embarassed.

She then said the words that will stick with me for the rest of my life: “Thanks for selling me your property. I looked at a lot of houses before finding yours. Every one I saw had too much wrong with it for me to handle with my situation of available cash, approved mortgage amount, and housing need. You gave me the chance to put the housing part of my life back on track with no major worries.”

Wow.

(more…)

After five months of looking, Jan and her family were at their wits end. Complicating the situation, the loan amount she was approved for as a single person was in a range where she could only afford the lower-priced houses in her area. The few deals on reasonably good conditioned homes she did find were bid up by other buyers who had the means (maybe) to do the fix-ups needed to the properties. Seeing as many houses as she had, Jan — and even some of the agents she came across — felt that people were overpaying for these bank-owned properties, even though they were discounted from the high-priced market at the peak of the bubble.

(more…)

As someone who has fixed up a lot of properties throughout my career, I sometimes take for granted the real difficulty of it, thinking that it’s not such a big deal. Just don’t ask me to load songs onto an iPod or software onto my computer — that is as traumatic for me as things could possibly be!

Well, over the past year I realized that not everyone has had the good fortune of cleaning up really nasty properties and transforming them into vibrant, nice homes for a new owner/family. What really opened my eyes was the experience of working with the buyer of one of my investment properties.

Let’s call her Jan: a single woman in her early thirties who was going through a lot of life changes at the time we met. After selling her beautiful home to move on to a new life, a few things happened that drastically changed her plans. One major plan was to find another home to live in. She had temporarily moved in with her parents after these unfortunate incidents occurred, but we all know how difficult that would be after being on our own for a while.

(more…)

If you are looking to get into the “game” of buying a foreclosure to flip for profit right now, and you don’t have a lot of experience, take a chill pill and tune into ESPN or Oprah. In the world of distressed real estate, including foreclosures, you are playing with a tiger on steroids and very well may get mauled physically, emotionally, and financially. Even experienced real estate investors are having a difficult time with this market, and the numerous uncertainties that go along with our country’s current financial turmoil.

If you are looking for a home to live in, there are still deals to be had out there. But, that tiger on steroids is still lurking for unsuspecting buyers who get all pumped up emotionally about buying a foreclosure. Buying a house often turns into an emotional transaction. And many people who make money on these transactions bank on just that. DON’T, DON’T, DON’T make this an emotional transaction!

(more…)