Circe,

There are many ways of buying foreclosures. You can buy before it gets foreclosed, at the auction or frmo the bank that did the foreclosure (if it reverts to them at the sale)

Each has pluses and minuses and your reasons for purchasing, financial postion etc. may dictate which of these options is best for you.

Buying prior to foreclosure often involves a short sale - that takes time and it isn't guaranteed that the bank will agree with your price.

Buying at the auction requires cash in most cases, but I have access to methods of buying without huge outlays like this.

Buying from the bank after the auction is actually one of the cleanest ways to buy these homes, but the banks are well-known for frustrating negotiating tactics and lengthy seller-biased purchase agreements.

So, a lot of what you want to do will revolve around where you want to go.

I work with clients at each stage of these processes and would be glad to assist.

I hope that helps!

Actually, there are very few forclosures on Mercer Island right. The wonderful deals are being found in Corporate Owned property aka RELO. These homes are priced to sell and the companies are making deals. The original sellers have been relocated for a new job, so you do not run the risk of angry sellers trashing the house...as in many forclosures. You are going to need a local agent to help you negotiate the deal, and one who is familiar with the current market (changing daily).

Hope this helps.

Circe
There is a wonderful group of Windermere agents that specialize in purchasing foreclosures including
classes to do this. They can even provide "bridge" financing to pay for the purchase. If you are
interested e-mail (msunde@windermere.com) or phone me 206-227-1915 and I can put you
in touch with them.
Mary

First step is to set a price range so that you can target homes that will eventually sell in that zone. The 2nd step depends on that price range, so if you can post that here or email it to me, I can give you more info.

There are three types of sales that most people call "foreclosure". Pre-foreclosure = Short Sale, Foreclosure = at the courthouse steps and does not come with the same kind of warranty deed and has a higher risk factor as to unknown problems at time of purchase (but cheaper for that reason), Post-Foreclosure is Bank Owned and the easiest as to process and less risk than a Foreclosure.

At least two of the best values this year on Mercer Island were Estate Sales vs. Foreclosures, so don't rule those out. A very low % of homes sold and for sale are "distressed properties" on Mercer Island. The best values have been Estate Sales or people who bought so long ago that they had no mortgage and lots of equity.

It would be wiser to look for a house in your price range that is a deep discount as to value, than to target "foreclosures" in particular or solely. That is not true everywhere, but is true on Mercer Island. Nothing is "cheap" there, even if it is a huge discount under peak or under current market value. So if your price range is under $600,000 your options will be extremely limited for a single family home. "bargains" there may be the $1.3 million home selling for $950,000, so if your price range is $300,000 to $400,000, Mercer Island would not make sense except for a townhome or condo.

Hope that is somewhat helpful...price range is key, so if you provide that I can give you more specific info.

You really should specify whether you mean buying at foreclosure, or buying a property the bank has foreclosed on, and is now trying to sell.

I wouldn't recommend that anyone without significant wealth buy at foreclosure. There are a lot of risks, and the financing options are limited. Just recently there was a thread here about someone buying a bank owned property where the bank backed out because the foreclosure had been done incorrectly. If that sale had gone through, the buyer would at least have title insurance to rely on. If they'd bought at the foreclosure instead, I'm not really sure where they'd be, except in a world of hurt.

Get with an agent like us that has experience buying foreclosures. There are some definite things to be aware of before you consider purchasing a foreclosure.