Claudia Littrell

I know that the big franchises buy territories from search engines such as Trulia, Google, Yahoo etc and then every listing is branded with their franchise. I saw that a few years ago with Yahoo when Prudential bought the area rights and my listings stopped showing up. Yahoo placed a note on their server reply that "certain" listings would not show up due to relationships with other clients!! They then turn around and sell leads to their own agents at 35%. - Fri Jun 13 2008, 05:55

That's interesting, I'd like to know, too! Sometimes it's the local boards that, for their own "political" reasons, exclude certain members. That's one way to keep the competition down. - Thu Jun 12 2008, 04:21

To your question: Where did you get the "current market value" from? Sales in our area have been very slow and an appraiser would have to go back longer to find comparable sales to establish current market value. If they continue to reduce it means they haven't found a buyer and I would wonder why. Have a realtor look up how many days this property has been on the market and how many realtors had it listed. Foreclosing banks often change realtors after 3 months if they cannot sell the property. So, there could be quiet a number of DOM (days on the market) which, in turn, would make me want to lower my offer even more. These sellers also pay closing costs and you may still get a 100% loan if you need it and your credit is good. You really need to talk to a good mortgage banker for input here before making the offer. In any case, you should not try to do this without a realtor. Remember, the listing agent represents the seller. Have the inspector take special care with the structural integrity of the house, termite infestion (even prior) and other issues that could influence your decision like pending assessments, developments in and around the neighborhood. As a closing note: We pay a portion of our commission back to our clients. - Fri May 9 2008, 10:05

You can sign up to set your own searches and always be the first to know when a new property comes on the market on my website http://www.UpstateMLSforLess.com under MLS Searches. Please call if you need help. I sold a small house on 10.5 acres a year ago for $125,000 near the lake. Your property is out there, but it depends on the house. Prices for land are approx. $4,000 to $4,500/acrea (or less). - Fri May 9 2008, 09:52

the term "cost range" is too wide open. In order to be successful in your search, you first need to sit down with a mortgage professional. Then you find a realtor who is experienced with foreclosed properties. At the moment, buyers can make good deals by purchasing properties from the banks and HUD. There is just too much inventory they have to maintain and it's costly. The sooner they sell, the better. In areas where you have a lot of foreclosures due to over building, these sellers reduce their list prices monthly and are still willing to negotiate down from there. You have to find a realtor who knows how to handle that. - Fri May 9 2008, 09:47

Be careful. Unless you see the tax record and deed, you may up for an unpleasant surprise. There could be liens, back taxes and other unpleasant things like wrong surveys etc. which you would have to take care of and pay. These TV ads make only one person rich: the one who sells this kind of advice to so-called real estate investors who are, usually, not knowledgeable about real estate and tax and estate issues. That's why realtors use experienced real estate attorneys for their closings. - Fri May 9 2008, 09:40