Foreclosure House vs. Pre Foreclosure and which one makes more sense

Foreclosure House vs. Pre Foreclosure and which one makes more sense

If you've been reading online, you've noticed that more and more homes are reverting back to the lenders.

Here's the dilemma for the investors like us:
1- Do we approach and offer the homeowner while the house is in pre-foreclosure
or
2- We only go after homes AFTER they been taken back by the bank and some work has gone into them.

Here is my take...

A home in pre-foreclosure requires alot more analysis and research because there might be all sorts of hidden liens and problems attached to it.

Also, the owners might have been in it a while, incurring back interest and penalties, as well as repair costs and combine that with the fact that many homes in foreclosure are the direct result of the homes being purchased at high prices with little or no money down.

Ok, on the other side, buying from the REO department of the bank.
Well, those days are gone when you could buy at low prices from the friendly banker.

Nowdays, some banks turn over their Foreclosed Real Estate holdings to local Real Estate comapnies and you need to deal with them.

So the decision is, where can you get a safer and a better deal.
From my own experience, I find dealing with the bankers (if they have their own foeclosure department and/or the Real Estate comapny handling the foreclosed properites) is the better way to go.

Banks realize that interest rates are on the rise and they are also privy to data showing decreasing values and increasing inventory and inventory hold times.

No bank wants to hold foreclosed homes on their books and they'll make deals if you can show them a win win situations.

You are also better protected because once the bank takes over and offers the property for sale, all other liens have been taken care of.

However, don't let this stop you from looking for pre-foreclosed homes in your target area. Everything is fair game in this game.

Happy investing.

Visit House Foreclosure and Investing Blog to read Forclosure Experts discuss Foreclosure Investing and Strategies on a daily basis.

Foreclosure Investing Success Steps and Principles

Foreclosure Investing Principles of Success
By Paul Wells

During my years of foreclosure investing I've identified four key principles that have led to my success. This article describes those principles--do you have them?

1. You need to make a commitment to succeed. Real estate investing is simple, but it is not easy. Many, many long hours--punching in numbers, looking at houses, evaluating deals, talking to people, constructing deals, seeing where your profits will come from--are going to have to be spent in order to become proficient at buying and selling real estate. You need to have a plan and execute your plan to succeed. Remember, those who fail to plan are planning to fail. The investors I know around the country who are wildly successful have overcome challenges, stuck with it when times were tough, never gave up, and had a true belief in themselves that they would succeed and that failure was not an option.

Side Note: As author accurately points out, investing in foreclosure homes takes time and effort and don't let those late night TV commercials fool you. However, foreclosure buying is one of the most rewarding businesses I've ever been involved in.

2. You need capital or a way to raise capital. You can buy real estate with little or nothing down, as many people have indicated over the years. However, the person that has capital at the ready is the person that is able to pull the trigger quickly and potentially reap very large rewards. So you need to have money for your real estate transactions in some way, shape, or form. You might think that your resources are extremely limited. Through perseverance, ingenuity, creativity and enthusiasm, though, you can find all the capital you need through what is known as "private funding".
Private funding is the use of individual investors' money to fund your deals. These individuals are far less critical than banks when it comes to funding deals. Private investors look for a lower loan to value ratio than lending institutions do. Of course, it's easier to find willing private investors when you have a solid track record of success in real estate. But there are proven ways to find private investors as a beginner, too.

Side Note: Funding has been one of the least of my concerns. Getting a loan to buy the foreclosure home is easy if the Loan to Value is low enough. First things first... Find that below market home and then the loan will find you.

3. You need to leverage your resources. Real estate creates wonderful leverage for the investor, allowing them to parlay their investment into bigger and better real estate transactions each and every time, through shrewd research and prudent investing.

Side Note: One of the best ways to leverage yourself and your time is to find ways to adverise for sellers. Once you have a systematic way of finding foreclosure homes, then all you do is put deals together.

4. You need to take massive action. This means doing whatever it takes to make tons of offers and create massive activity that drives your investing business forward. If you do not create massive amounts of action in the first six months to get your property funnel filled with deals, you more than likely are going to lose your initial start-up money.

Side Note: Action is the name of the game. It does no good to read and read if you don't actually go out there and find something to invest in. Having said that, always be careful and always seek professional advise especially if you are just starting out.

Paul Wells has been investing in foreclosures full-time for more than 5 years. For more foreclosure investing secrets like the one in this article, subscribe to Paul's Free Foreclosure Investing course here: http://www.FreeForeclosureInvesting.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Wells

Conclusion: Author notes many solid points but one of the things he does not mention is the HOW TO of actually finding foreclosure homes. In all fairness, this was not the intent of his article and I completely agree with all his points. We'll cover the HOW To's in future blogs.

Visit House Foreclosure and Investing Blog to read Forclosure Experts discuss Foreclosure Investing and Strategies on a daily basis.