subject: Buying a House in the current Market [print this page] Buying A house in the current Market Buying A house in the current Market
Florida is a state with one of the highest Foreclosure rates in the country. So you would think that you can find a bargain and be able to carry a lower mortgage amount. Not so! Think again. First of all some lenders will not give you a mortgage for under $100,000 and if you do find one that will give you a mortgage under $100,000 the interest rate would be higher and the points will be higher. It seems that the lenders are going back to the same situation that caused the housing bubble in the first place by pushing you to buy at a price beyond your means. Many of the realtors are following the same line, they don't want to sell you a home at bargain prices because it would affect the amount of their commission. Now I don't mean to say that all realtors follow this practice.
Second, many of the houses are not actually in foreclosure but are listed as short sales. A short sale as I understand it is a home whose value is less than the mortgage that is being held on it. Any offer has to be accepted by the seller and the lender but, again as I understand it, if an offer is accepted by the seller and the lender the seller would be relieved of the difference between the accepted offer and the amount owed on the mortgage. In a short sale the lenders credit will be affected but at a lesser rate than if the house went into foreclosure. Short sales generally take anywhere from two to six months before a closing can be made.
Bank owned (foreclosed property) Homes are usually disasters with floors destroyed, fixtures and appliances removed and whatever else could be taken out by the previous owner. The prices that these properties are offered at after you consider the cost of putting the house back to it's original condition would bring the overall cost back to or close to the original cost of the home.
Most realtors will start to work with you until they realize that you want to take advantage of the current market and get a home at bargain prices which has the possibility of a significant increase in future value, but most of all has a greater amount of living space and other amenities that you could not previously afford.
The big question is which direction is the housing market heading, up or down some more. We have only been looking for a good bargain buy for about two months. So far about three or four realtors stopped contact with us
And only one remains, for how long remains to be seen. You hear a lot of stories about some great bargains buyers got on buying a foreclosed or short sale property and I guess there out there but you have to find a great realtor with lots of integrity to find one.
