How to Buy a Foreclosure: REO, Courthouse, HUD, Online Auction

For many years I was an REO real estate agent selling foreclosures for banks and HUD. I also have bought many foreclosures over the years as an investor. We used to buy many house flips from the public trustee auction when there were more foreclosures and less competition.

There are many ways to buy a foreclosure and each state is different in how they complete a foreclosure and have a public sale for that foreclosure. Each bank is different in how they sell a foreclosure after they take possession of the property.

So many people think the way to make money investing in real estate is to go buy a foreclosure. However, we have bought 75 homes in the last three years and I think 3 of them were foreclosures. You can get a good deal at the auctions, the sales, the courthouse, and even online auctions, but not always. There is a lot of competition and the banks are not looking to just give away the properties.

When buying on the courthouse steps or at the foreclosure sale you usually need cash that day or very soon after the sale, there is no inspeciton, and you might have to buy houses that are occupied. There is no guarantee of clear title and there may even be a lease you must honor. It is not easy and there is a lot of risk involved.

When buying REOs the banks almost always use a real estate agent and give owner-occupants first dibs at the homes. There are not looking to take pennies on the dollar and the list price is what they think the home is worth. They do not like to play games with inspections or negotiations and hate low offers.

There are also online auctions that banks use to sell homes and they are tough to buy from as well. There is often no inspection, and sometimes no guarantee of clear title either!

It is also almost impossible to buy foreclosures before they are listed for sale. The banks have strict policies on how they sell the homes and they use real estate agents to sell them.

Here is the article that goes over even more details on foreclosures.

investfourmore.com/how-to-buy-a-foreclosure/

Here is a house I bought from the foreclosure sale: youtube.com/watch?v=BCk0RLoPqJk

Here is a house I bought from Auction.com: youtube.com/watch?v=0_jadzjb1uM

Here is a regular REO I bought: youtube.com/watch?v=yCmteFficEA&t=3s

Here is a link to the HUD video: youtube.com/watch?v=aw3hJ-BLdQw&t=6s

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