Jason Braddock

There are clauses that say you might be able to include basement square footage, like if it is 3/4 above the grade of the yard or a walkout basement. Ask a local Realtor to be sure. - Mon Aug 4 2008, 16:30

If you look up the foreclosure information on the county website that it is being forclosed in it will have an attorney contact. That's where I would begin. Many times the attorney can cancel a foreclosure if the debt is repaid. If there is no attorney information, then call the sheriff's department in that county and ask for the sheriff's sales person and ask them for the information. - Mon Aug 4 2008, 07:26

It's not uncommon. It all depends on the bank. Some banks drag their feet, some are eager to get it off their books. It all depends on what they were owed on it. If they bought it back for $168,000 because of appraised value but were only out $125,000 most likely they would sell it for cheaper than that $168,000. In Ohio, if a house goes to the Sherriff's sale it will be sold for no less than two-thirds of its value, not what was owed on it. - Thu Jul 17 2008, 19:22

I live very close to Alliance. A HUD home if you really like that one may take 8,000 but I wouldn't want you to lose the house to a higher bidder. I would need to look up how long the address and the days on market to advice you further. You can buy the house and the repairs needed to the house with the 203k Streamline loan. The good thing about this loan is you do not need to complete the repairs before you close on the loan. However, the major repairs such as electrical, roof, plumbing and foundation need to be done by a contractor. You should have 3 professional bids for all the work needed to be done to the house when the FHA appraiser comes out to go through the house. If you are doing cosmetic work or appliances are needed you need to get a quote from Lowe's, Home Depot or Sears for the parts and material to supply to the appraiser as well. The appraiser will do an AS-IS cost appraisal and a Finished product appraisal to let the bank know what they will be loaning on. If you have any further questions contact me. - Wed Jul 16 2008, 08:58

Your steps to buying a home:

1.) Talk to a lender to get a pre-approval letter for the amount of money you wish to borrow or the amount you can borrow.
2.) Contact a Realtor to find a house that meets your needs and wants. I work in the Aurora area.
3.) Write an offer and get it negotiated to terms that you and the seller agrees upon with the help of your Realtors. It is customary to put a $500 non-refundable earnest money check in with your offer. This earnest money is used towards your downpayment if the deal goes through. If the deal does not go all the way through because you backed out for no just cause the money remains the sellers.
4.) Make a loan application with your bank with copies of the accepted contract in hand. Your bank/lender will probably require several documents such as taxes for 2 years, paystubs and bank statements for 6 months among other documents.
5.) Get your inspections done in a timely fashion.
5.b) If anything comes up in the inspections that causes worry then see if you can renegotiate terms with the seller.
6.) Have your Realtor submit all the paperwork to the Title Company of your choice so they can prepare all the documents that need to be filed at the County level and tell you how much money you have to bring to closing using a HUD-1 settlement statement.
7.) Bring that money in the form of a cashier's check or certified check to the closing with you.
8.) Move-in and enjoy. - Mon Jul 14 2008, 11:04