How Find a Foreclosure Home for Sale

Foreclosure is a process that banks and other lenders use to get their money back when a homeowner has defaulted on their loan. This process is put in motion when the borrower defaults on the loan. After the borrower has missed a couple of payments the lender will file a public default notice. If you want to keep your home, you will have to act fast to keep from losing it to a forced sale. Your home will then be listed as a foreclosure home for sale.

Once the borrower has been issued the Notice of default, he/she has three months in which to rescue the default. The payments owed have to be paid in full plus the interest that has accrued. If the time expires without the borrower making good on the defaulted payments the property goes into foreclosure, and will be listed as a foreclosure home for sale.

Cashing in on a foreclosure home for sale can be a little risky. It is always good to hire an attorney and an agent that specializes in foreclosure properties when acquiring a foreclosure home for sale. It is possible to purchase a home that is in foreclosure for as much as a 30 percent discount, because the bank wants to recoup as much of the amount owed as possible.

Finding a qualified agent that is experienced in handling foreclosure properties is very important, because the original homeowner (seller) may be leery of being scammed by an unrepresented buyer. If you are interested in locating a foreclosure home for sale in your area, you may call the lender real estate owned (REO) properties department at your local bank and ask for a list of foreclosed properties. When you contact an REO you may or may not be able to negotiate an estimate. The rules pertaining to price negotiation varies from bank to bank, and some banks will stick with the broker’s estimate.

When you find a foreclosure home for sale that you are interested in, never buy it sight unseen. Take a look at the property. Some homes may be in good shape, and others may be in a bad state of disrepair, so it is always better to inspect the home inside and out to know just what shape the property is in. You also need to know if you are truly getting a bargain for the price of this foreclosure home for sale. Your agent should check some other homes in the area that are in foreclosure to see if their asking price is similar to the price of this particular foreclosure home for sale. If you are still interested you can then proceed to negotiate for the foreclosure home for sale.