Zillow Advice: Buying Foreclosures - How do you go about buying a home in foreclosure, for a 1st time home buyer?

I teach first time buyer ...

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:42:00 GMT

I teach first time buyer classes, they are free and you have them in your are, this is not self promotion.
I'm on the board of directors of a local non profit group and we are HUD certified, and our classes are required by many lending institutions to qualify for first time buyer programs. Purchasing a home is a very complex process and although there are great responses there is no replacing an experienced agent familiar with the loan requirements so when you look for the house you don't get a house that doesn't qualify for the loan.
Non profits are everywhere, go to the HUD wesite and look up your are and as I mentioned the classes are free.
Personally I wish somebody had told me this when I purchased my first home, surprises were everywhere.
I wish you Luck.

Las Vegas Real estate

It depends what the current ...

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:13:00 GMT

It depends what the current status of the home is. Homes in foreclosure are scheduled for an auction in Oregon, an auction that you can only pay cash in. Mostly banks and investments companies buy them and relist them for sale.
It is important to note, most of these 2nd market homes will not negotate much below their offered price. It is a numbers game to them and most are willing to wait.

Basically, I would help you find the best deal possible - short sale - before market foreclosure - or 2nd market home. I have access to all of these homes and can guide you through each different senario.

As of a few days ago, the 8K dollar first time home buyer credit changed to be available for your downpayment.

Let me know how I can help.
503-975-6853

Hi again - I just answered ...

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:20:00 GMT

Hi again - I just answered your FHA question! Whether you are buying a foreclosure or short sale or a traditional seller home, best advice I can give is to start with a good lender and get your loan approval. There will be criteria for your loan that you will need to know prior to writing an offer - first piece will to be to determine how much you can spend on your home and have a payment that you qualify for and that meets your budget. Another main factor being whether you need the seller to contribute to your closing costs and pre-paid expenses. And, if you do - you'll need to know how much those are going to be....the loan officer will calculate that for you.

Once you have your financing lined up - it's time to talk to a good Realtor and have them set up a customized search meeting all the details about what you are looking for in your home, where you'd like to be, and that meets the requirements of your approved loan. Usually what you'll get first is a list of everything currently meeting your criteria - after that you'll get new and price reduced listings as they hit the market. You just need to then start looking and pick the one you like best.

One new factor that came into play this week for First Time Home Buyers - sounds like an approval has come out allowing certin organizations to loan you up to the $8,000 FTHB Tax Credit upfront to be used towards buying your home. They haven't got all the quirks worked out yet - but it's in the works. The word I heard yesterday is that it can't be used for your 3.5% FHA down payment requirement, but can either be used as additional down payment, or to buy your rate down or closing costs. Check with your lender on this - it should be available very soon.

Hope all this helps.

Kelly Gebler