Buy a House Fast

The housing market is swollen with distressed homes.  Should you buy one?

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.

While investors are an important part of the housing picture, opening up home ownership to American families is the avowed intent of most Federal programs.  In the current environment, bank owned homes that are priced right to appeal to families are often the target of investors, who use their greater experience and greater pool of funds to outbid home owners.  This takes many homes out of the grasp of owner-occupants who tend to stabilize the neighborhoods.  Some investors buy homes to hold onto until the price increases, while buyers who live in the homes have a greater stake in maintaining them.

As a result of a new program unveiled in August by Fannie Mae (FNMA) in certain areas, individual home buyers, public entitles, non-profits, and certain for-profit entities that use public funds have the first option to look at and purchase FNMA properties during the first 15 days a property is on the market.  Offers from investors will be considered only after the first 15 days have passed.  After successful trials in Arizona, Minneapolis, and Florida, the program went public on November 24.

Some buyers who use Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, HOME Investment Partnerships Program funds from HUD, local housing trust funds, or charitable foundation funds may also qualify for the following benefits:

In addition to First Look, buyers using NSP funds also gain a few other benefits:

• Deposit Waivers -Individual home buyers who have qualified for public funds  through NSP and want to purchase a Fannie Mae-owned property do not have to meet the usual earnest money/deposit requirement. Fannie Mae will now waive the earnest money/deposit requirement for public agencies who use public funds to purchase a Fannie Mae-owned property.    Deposits for these buyers can be as low as $500.
• Reserved Contract Period – Once seller receive an acceptable offer, buyers have the ability to renegotiate their offer after obtaining an NSP-required appraisal.
• Extra Time for Closing – Buyers receive up to 45 days to close — 15 days more than waht is usually allowed for purchases of Fannie Mae-owned properties.

See the Fannie Mae press release for more details.

This program provides prospective home owners with a clear shot to buy a foreclosed home, especially those who have been cleaning up their credit, saving their money, and positioning themselves to buy.  If you are interested in this program, Express Realty Services can help you find a qualifying property.  Aside from our foreclosure listings, we have a special stock of renovated, refurbished, or remodeled homes from our sister company Express Homebuyers.  Check out the many affordable home values we have to offer.