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So, i still have yet to find a house that i like....well that is a lie there is plenty that i like, they just cost several hundred thousand dollars more then i have lol.

I found one that i would like to check out this weekend but my real estate agent says it is a foreclosure. Does anyone have any experience with buying a house that was a foreclosure. Is there anything i should be aware of, old bills that they make me pay etc?

ANny help is always greatly appreciated.

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\"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives\"

Dunno Racegal, buying foreclosed properties can be a minefield as well as a time consuming and frustrating process.

Keep in mind you're buying the property \"As Is\" so any repairs needed are up to you. It's also doubtful you'll be able to get title insurance, something your bank may insist on.

If you're absolutely in love with the property and it seems in reasonable shape there's lots of info out there on how to buy, what the pitfalls are and some ways to enhance your chances of getting the property at the price you want to pay.

I'd start by Googling \"Buying a house in foreclosure\" and go from there.

OC

Good advice Chief. About the only thing I'd add to that is to check with a local Title Company and ask them about the pit falls. Since they don't work directly for banks or anyone else, they're a great source of information about laws and responcibilities in these matters.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

I'm spending the next few weekends working on electrical problems with our new place up in WY. Oh the joys of home ownership.

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Slow is Fast, Fast is Slow
Violence may not be the best option, but it IS an option

Thanks guys, i really appreciate all the help. This is just so new to me, i've never owned a house before and really am lost at all of the things i keep running in to.

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\"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives\"

No worries Lass. We've been where you are now, and learned many of these lessons the hard way. Anything we can do to save you the pain we've experienced, just ask. Like I always told my CATM classes, \"The only stupid question, is the one you don't ask.\"

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Slow is Fast, Fast is Slow
Violence may not be the best option, but it IS an option

\"The only stupid question, is the one you don't ask.\"

IP...you've obviously never taught 1 levels.......LOL

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Gravity's not just a good idea.......its the LAW!

Actually, my last year on active duty was running the basic range at Lackland, or as I called it, HELL. Basic trainees are far worse than any 1 level you could think of. I still stand by my statement though, as I'd rather have them ask something stupid, than DO something stupid. It just takes patience and remembering that once, I was the trainee.

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Slow is Fast, Fast is Slow
Violence may not be the best option, but it IS an option

Ok.......basic trainee's with a gun.......NOT a pleasant thought!!!

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Gravity's not just a good idea.......its the LAW!

What year was that, IP?

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\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

Back to Racegal's question...

If you go look at foreclosed houses...REALLY look at the house. In my house hunting over a year ago I looked at a few foreclosed houses and with just my own eyes I found faults with all of them.

For instance...one house I thought kicked butt! Huge place on an acre, great for entertaining...even had a spare mother in law place attached in the rear. When I stopped by to check it out I soon found out that most of the electrical wiring and most everything that could be recycled had been stripped. For goodness sake the damned garage door tracks had been removed and the doors were nailed shut.

Bottom line, if somebody has been kicked out of their house for forclosure or evicted from a rental...they're going to be pissed and mess up the house 90% of the time (from what I've seen). Definately look hard at one of these types of homes!

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SoWW #2485
Cave Putorium!

Heather i told you once already but i'll tell you again...the market has NOT bottomed out. Do not buy now. It would be a hugely expensive mistake.

Ah yes, my year in HELL. That was '86/87. After a year at Lackland I quit and went to the CO ANG. Happy days since.

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Slow is Fast, Fast is Slow
Violence may not be the best option, but it IS an option

No worries, i didn't buy anything yet, its looking like i can't find a place with out having a $1600.00 mortgage, i'm still saving my pennies.

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\"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives\"

Sorry OT...

I went to basic 3 Feb 1986...and one of my details one day was working at the range cleaning up the target boards. Heck, maybe I saw you...heh.

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SoWW #2485
Cave Putorium!

That's your best bet. There are many UGLY months ahead of us all. If the commercial real estate market crashes next- it is absolutely teetering on the brink- we will all get to see the what real market panic looks like.

These are not pretty times.

It seems like it is already in a market panic, i got an email fro my real estate agent saying that FHA has increased the amount of down payment you need and also increased the percent of fees that they get at settlement. This is all due to the fact that people can't afford to pay the mortgage and the amount of foreclosures has skyrocketed and there is no on to buy them....scary is what it is.

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\"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives\"

It will get worse before it gets better. But there's nothing wrong with save today, buy tomorrow.

Dec. home sales sink; prices plunged in 2009

By ALAN ZIBEL, AP Real Estate Writer – 1 hr 27 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Sales of previously occupied homes took their largest drop in more than 40 years last month yet managed to end 2009 with the first annual gain in four years.

Still, prices plunged by more than 12 percent last year — the sharpest fall since the Great Depression. The price drop for 2009 — to a median of $173,500 — showed the housing market remains too weak to help fuel a sustained economic recovery. Total sales for 2009 were nearly 5.2 million, up about 5 percent from 2008.

Last month's worse-than-expected showing underscores concerns that the housing market could weaken further after March 31, when the Federal Reserve is set to end its program to buy mortgage securities to keep home loan rates low. Once that program ends, mortgage rates could rise. Adding to the worries, a newly extended homebuyer tax credit is scheduled to run out at the end of April.

The numbers \"clearly indicate that the rebound in housing demand observed so far has been largely supported by government programs,\" Anna Piretti, senior economist at BNP Paribas, wrote in a research note Monday.

The poor December showing occurred after Congress extended the tax credit, easing pressure on buyers to act quickly. The credit of up to $8,000 for first-time homeowners had been due to expire Nov. 30. But Congress extended the deadline and expanded it with a new $6,500 credit for existing homeowners who move.

December's sales fell 16.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million, from an unchanged pace of 6.54 million in November, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Sales had been expected to fall by about 10 percent, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

The report \"places a large question mark over whether the recovery can be sustained when the extended tax credit expires,\" wrote Paul Dales, U.S. economist with Capital Economics.

The median sales price for December was $178,300, up 1.5 percent from a year earlier and the first yearly gain since August 2007. But some of that increase could be due to a drop-off in purchases from first-time buyers who tend to buy less expensive homes.

Sales are now up 21 percent from the bottom a year ago. But they're down 25 percent from the peak more than four years ago.

A healthy real estate market is needed to help the economy continue recovering from recession.

Last year, first-time buyers were the main driver of the housing market. But their role is shrinking. They accounted for 43 percent of purchases in December, down from about half in November, the Realtors group said.

The inventory of unsold homes on the market fell about 7 percent to 3.3 million. That's a 7.2 month supply at the current sales pace, close to a healthy level of about six months.

Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist, cautioned that the recovery will depend on whether the economy starts adding jobs in the second half of the year.

Total sales for 2009 closed out the year at 5.16 million, up about 5 percent from a year earlier. And some real estate agents say they feel encouraged. More buyers are shopping around this month than in a typical January, said Kevin O'Shea, an agent with Homes of Westchester Inc. in White Plains, N.Y.

\"There are indications that the economy is coming back, and that makes buyers feel more secure to purchase,\" he said.

But many analysts project that home prices, which started to rise last summer, will fall again over the winter. That's because foreclosures make up a larger proportion of sales during the winter months, when fewer sellers choose to put their homes on the market.

Despite fears that home prices are starting to fall again, some analysts still say the worst is over.

\"We do not believe it is fair to consider this a double dip in the housing market,\" Michelle Meyer, an economist with Barclays Capital, wrote last week. \"The recovery is still under way but hitting some bumps in the road.\"

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AP Real Estate Writer J.W. Elphinstone contributed to this report

Home Sales Tank: What it Means for You

By Luke Mullins , On Monday January 25, 2010, 3:07 pm EST

Existing home sales plunged in December, falling nearly 17 percent from November in their largest month-over-month drop since record-keeping began. Meanwhile, December's inventory represented a 7.2-month supply of unsold homes, notably higher than the 6.5-month supply recorded in November, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. Although the monthly decline was larger than expected, the figures are much less jarring when compared with December 2008. Existing home sales remain 15 percent higher than a year earlier, while raw unsold inventory fell 11 percent from December 2008 to its lowest level since March 2006.

Although the monthly drop-off was steep, it had been expected for some time. Buyers scrambled to close transactions by November to qualify for the $8,000 first-time home buyers' tax credit, which was originally set to expire at the end of November. The credit--which was later extended through June--worked to juice home sales figures in November at the expense of December. \"The collapse in sales simply reflects the bringing forward of transactions to beat the originally planned expiration of the first-time buyer tax credit,\" Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a report. Here's a look at what the December existing home sales report means for homeowners, home sellers, and home buyers:

[See Getting a Mortgage in 2010: 10 Things to Know.]

For homeowners: Property owners who have watched home values at the national level drop roughly 30 percent from their 2006 peaks will see some optimistic-looking data in the report. First, the national median existing home price increased 1.5 percent, to $178,000, from a year earlier. That's the first time median home prices have posted an annual gain since August 2007. Home values began stabilizing in the back half of 2009, thanks to increasing demand linked to cheap mortgage rates, more affordable prices, and Uncle Sam's tax credit. However, the increase in median home prices is also tied the tax credit's original expiration, which resulted in a larger percentage of sales to higher-end buyers in December, said Patrick Newport, an economist with IHS Global Insight, in a report. \"Going forward, prices are likely to fall from December's level because of rising foreclosures,\" Newport said.

How much further will home prices fall? Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, argues that home prices have another 10 percent or so to fall before they hit bottom in the third quarter of 2010.

[Also see Expanded First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Becomes Law.]

For home buyers: Those looking to purchase a home this year should be encouraged by the report, which signals that buyers will at least retain leverage in the real estate market through the spring season. Buyers already have a number of things going for them. The tax credit has been extended and expanded to include even current homeowners who close a transaction by the end of June. Thirty-year, fixed mortgage rates fell below 5 percent for the week ending January 21. And the housing bust has dragged home prices down to more affordable levels and reduced the risk of another crash. \"You never know 100 percent whether you are at the bottom in prices, but prices are very stable right now,\" said Zach Pandl, an economist at Nomura Securities. \"Low prices, low mortgage rates, and stable price expectations are major positives and probably more important fundamentally than the first-time home buyers tax credit.\"

But would-be home buyers should keep their eyes on mortgage rates, which are likely to head higher as the year progresses. The Fed was able to pull rates on 30-year fixed mortgages to historic lows by launching a program to buy up debt and mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The program, however, is slated to expire at the end of the first quarter. And if private buyers don't step in, mortgage rates could increase significantly, perhaps by a half a percentage point, to 5.50 percent. But Pandl isn't overly worried about this potential to drive rates higher because the Fed could always decide to buy more securities if need be. \"[The Fed is] exiting the market but they also have been hinting that they can return if mortgage rates rise too high,\" Pandl said. \"And that's a very credible [possibility] because they have bought so many [mortgage backed securities].\"

For home sellers: Although home sales should rise from December's depressed levels, those looking to sell property this spring will still have to have to work for it, said Guy Cecala, the publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. \"[Home sellers] should feel probably better than last year, but it was so bad last year that that's not a real fair comparison,\" Cecala said. \"Anything is going to look better probably in the first half of this year than it did last year.\" That means home sellers will have to price their home aggressively, ensure the property is in tip-top condition, and be willing to entertain offers that aren't quite as strong as they would like. \"I don't think anybody is going to be raising their prices,\" Cecala sad.

[ See 10 Cheap Ways to Boost Your Home's Sales Price by Spring.]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Home-Sale ... l?x=0&.v=1

Thanks for all the info sniper. It still looks like some prices may jump up and it looks like we won't end up getting that tax credit.

Its ok, i'm not settling on a house, i'm sure i'll know the one that is to be mine when i see it.

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\"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives\"

I think they're going to extend the 1st time buyers credit for political reasons. I also think prices will dip anywhere from 5-15% lower before the market bottoms out. Especially if the 1st time buyer subsidy does expire. That will really cause prices to drop.

The only thing i am sure of, this is not a good time to be buying a house.

I'm not sure you meant to say "not"...this is a great time to buy. Low prices and very low interest rates that are almost sure to go up.

I bought my house in May 09 and it has already increased in value. Interest rate below 5% and the first time buyer rebate was pretty sweet icing on the cake!

Coach

i'm hopeful

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\"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives\"

This is a terrible time to buy. Right now the market is being propped up by the fake federal subsidies. Once that stops values are going to start free-falling again. In some places, they haven't even stabilized yet.

If you'll note the pieces i posted predict a decline of 10% in values this year in most areas.

Couple that with a job market that is shedding jobs like crazy, and the glut of foreclosures that will be hitting home the rest of the year, and conditions will be prime for yet another free fall in values.

It may not happen, but the risk at this time is huge.

While I agree with Snipe that the bottom hasn't been found, you have to balance that with what Coach pointed out. Even if house prices fall another 10%, you'd still be money ahead by locking in a 5% loan versus something above 6%. The first time home buyer credit is set to expire on 30 June and it's doubtful it'll be extended. While that will be considered taxable income on your 2010 return, it's still a fair chunk of change.

OC