-ZW-

I've been looking into buying a home in the Katy Cinco Ranch area. Anyone on here have experience with buying a forclosed or pre-forclosed home? What was your experience with it and do you feel it was worth it? Any reason against doing it? Some of the houses i've been looking into don't seem to be listed too much below market value for being a foreclosure. Any good online tools?

Thanks

99zee

iTrader: (4)

We bought a foreclosure 14 years ago. House was in good shape but had a few issues. Nothing that was a deal breaker. We ended up getting most of them fixed by the bank. They wanted the house gone! I would not hesitate buying other foreclosure. Just do some research and find as much history about the house as possible. To this day I still believe we "stole" this house. Another plus was that our equitity build up very fast because we bought so low. Oweing so little compared to what its worth also feels good in this economy. Good Luck

ProStreet_632

You can find good deals, just look in the right places and research. The bank wants them gone, but wont give them totally away. Find a property that has equity in it. Most banks will let it go for what is owed on it. If a house is valued at $250k and the outstanding loan is 180K you can most of the time get it for what is owed.

-ZW-

That was my understanding as well. Where is the best place to get this info. Most websites that I have seen want you to pay to see which I'm not opposed to doing as long as I know the info proves useful

Corvee

You should be able to obtain a "Notice of Intent to Foreclose" listing from the county clerks office. Ft. Bend or Harris depending on your locale. The banks and mortgage servicing companies have to post the notice with the court a certain number of days prior to the actual foreclosure. It will list the property address and holder of the mortgage. You can negotiate with the mortgage company but may have to wait until after the foreclosure to cut a deal.

BizZzatch350

iTrader: (33)

My sisters friend's bought one up in Round Rock that was a foreclosure but only a few years old, other than basic cosmetics, house was fine. Great thing is, with so many new houses people bought and went under on, if it's under 5 years old, whats the chances of it really needing any thing major. Now you start talking about some 20 or 30, thats been bounced around, used as a rental property, then who knows what your getting in to.

ZLEEPER

iTrader: (24)

I've been looking as well. Is there anyway to find out exactly what is owed or what the original purchase price was? Might be a repeat question, but just looking for a better understanding.

camAro242

iTrader: (4)

i have no idea about foreclosed houses but what part of cinco ranch is the house at? I just live in the area

Spazdout

i don't know if there's an exact way to go look at the price of the house thats owed...since thats still private. But you can take the address and go to your county tax assessors website and look up what they tax the house as in property value.

As for me, my house is a foreclosure actually a HUD house, when buying a house thru the gov't you just gotta make sure everything is correct...I had the contract kicked out 3 times due to stupid stuff. Pens Color, how i signed my signature, and the date was wrong b/c of my realtor. So just go slow and also make sure you have the financing lined up.

-ZW-

There are a few in the area, the one I particularly like is near cinco ranch highschool

imma_stocker

iTrader: (19)

county clerks office
bank itself
seeing "FORECLOSURE" sign (not that common)
and the LEGIT site for finding homes for distressed sale

Shoot me a PM with some more details and we can discuss some things.

ggriffin59

iTrader: (7)

On pre-foreclosure, you can look up the owner thru the taxing entity (appraisal district) website, make direct contact with the owner and offer them an 'out' by giving them a little cash to walk away without foreclosure. This only works when there is equity in the home. On foreclosures, looking up the owner's deed-of-trust with loan amount and purchase date, allowing you to estimate the loan balance. Keep in mind, the foreclosure process may mean alot of late fees etc added to the balance.

95TXTA

Don't expect them to help with closing costs or any repairs. You can ask but if they are in foreclosure or on a short sale, they don't have the money which is why they are selling it in the first place. Get a good inspection for sure and an appraisal or at least a comparsion of the surrounding houses value.

Then expect to wait a while before you hear back on your offer. The home owner does not have the say so to accept it. It can take a while but I think it's worth it and can save you some money if it doesn't need a lot of repair.

aggiez28

iTrader: (19)

i am closing on a forclosure in katy on monday. its a ncei house in a nice area at a pretty good price. there are a few things wrong with it and the bank would not fix it but the bank agreeed to buy a home warranty for it (cost was $350) anf I am going to use that to fix it

7420NW7TH

iTrader: (8)

I've always wanted to get into buying foreclosures strictly to make profits. But it all seemed to good to be true. Though I can see buying one, living in it a couple of years (so you don't have to pay capital gains tax), then reselling it to make a profit, then move onto the next one. Then, after about 10 years of flipping, you can roll the equity into your dream home.