First, before you fall in love with that low, low price, the savvy buyer of a “distressed home” should follow the same guidelines as a conventional buyer. Where is the home?  Is it convenient to work, school, church, shopping, mama – any place where proximity is a necessity.  Is the neighborhood appealing to you?  You may like suburban sprawl or tightly packed town homes, but the physical layout of the neighborhood should be appropriate.

Will the amenities of the area disrupt your life or prevent future resale?  A place across from a dump, next to a freeway, or under a railroad bridge may not be  a great place to live even though house is a palace.  Location, location, location is still a tried-and-true mantra when investing in a home.  It always rings true that you can change the house but you can’t change the location.

One interesting tip, whether you are buying any home, distressed or not: visit your potential home at various times of the day.  Just as light changes the tones of paint inside a home, you may find that the neighborhood experiences different “tones” at different times of the day.  Train, airport, or commuter noise can be a post-purchase surprise if you were shown the home during off hours.  Is there a noisy day-care or school in the neighborhood?  Do the neighbors have dogs that bark at night that you never noticed when you were shown the home at 9:00 a.m.?  One buyer lamented that his Realtor® took him to see a property from one direction.  When the buyer took his own vehicle back to that same property he traveled the opposite way and there was a junk yard across the road that could only be seen from a certain vantage point – the Realtor® had failed to disclose the “minor” problem.  It was a deal breaker.

Remember the movie Money Pit?  It was a very funny movie, but not if that house were really yours.  If you have the skill sets to tackle a major or minor remodel–and by skill sets I mean more than watching one show on HGTV–by all means, consider a fixer-upper!  If your dream house is the worst house on the block, you can add real value and have that great house that others passed by because they couldn’t see past the 1960′s wallpaper or avocado green shag carpeting.  If the problems are greater than what you can handle, make sure to get some professional estimates of the cost to renovate.

If the location is right and you have the skills or money to fix it, buy that distressed property! You’ll not only improve a neighborhood but bring a great house back to life!  Express Realty Services can help you find a distressed house that needs work or one where the work has been done for you. Contact Express Realty Services for information.