Thread: Vacant House for 1 year

The first step is to determine how are you paying for this home and talk to a lender. WHY? This home sounds like a foreclosure, and if it is, the bank may NOT consider an offer unless it is submitted with a pre approval letter or proof of funds.

Now, will your lender be able to approve you on a home that may not be liveable? Many will not fund unless there is a heat source, and it is quite possible the copper theives have already struck.

My suggestion is to ASAP talk to your bank. Get your financing questions resolved before you ever look at the first home. Now the lender may still, even in this day and age, approve you for more than you want to spend based on a monthly payment that fits your budget. And if you are spending all your money on the payment, how will you pay for the repairs? There are some programs out there that will finance the rehab into the mortgage.

If your girlfriend's mom is really wanting to buy a home, she should take the first step in figuring out her financials.

Shs is wasting time looking before becoming pre approved/pre qualified. Many agents will not work with you until you show you are a truly serious and motivated buyer by doing exactly what I have suggested.

But to answer your question, I would suggest getting a GOOD LOCAL REALTOR to comp the property for you. Then subtract all repair costs. That should be your absolute maximum offer since you may run into unexpected costs/repairs.

Mr Teddybear,

Thanks for your post. Here is what we tell our clients. First step in determining what to offer: have a top real estate agent in your area run a market analysis on the home to see what it is worth. This will be a good gauge for you to determine what to offer. Depending upon the market anaylsis comes in at, this will help you guage what to offer.

A common misconception with bank owned homes is that the lenders will negotiate a ton. They may negotiate some, but they do not want to firesell homes.

My advice: find a realtor in your area to work with you on the buyside. He or she can guide you through the process. I hope this helps!

First off, I would try and find out why the house has been vacant for a year. And then I would identify why the house is a foreclosure.

Sometimes, Buyers think they are getting a great deal on a foreclosure, but remember, a house goes into foreclosure for usually one reason, the Seller's are not able to sell. And you have to find out why? Is there a Builder close by still adding inventory to the market? Think "Supply and Demand" Is the supply increasing in the area? How is the Demand in the area?

You can do these tasks on your own initially without getting a Realtor involved.

I hope this helps.

from your bank, a few mistakes that people make is not realizing things that might be wrong with a house.

A thorough inspection should be done including termites,mildew,roof leaks,windows,plumbing.

Price isn't always the most important factor.