Buying Strategies for Foreclosed Properties in Utah

Millions of new and existing properties are sold each year. There’s no shortage of property options, but with so many, the challenge becomes finding the property which best meets your needs. Should you decide that purchasing bank owned foreclosed properties in Utah is the best option for you, the process is much more formal than when you purchase directly from any home owner. Purchase offers on foreclosed properties are loaded into real estate platforms or sent directly to the financial institution with little or no human interaction. It is imperative that you use foreclosure buying strategies that ensure that your offer has the best opportunity of being accepted by the bank.

Make Your Distressed Property Desires Wish List

Your distressed property desires wish list should be prioritized with as many factors as necessary. Most likely, you will never find the perfect foreclosed property, but a well compiled list of desires will help you identify when you have found the property that will most likely fulfill your wants and needs.

Finding the Foreclosure Listings

Our website FoulgerGroup.com has the latest bank-owned foreclosure listings in your area on a user friendly search engine for your best results. The website’s easy options allow you to experiment with different criteria to fine tune your real estate search. The website also allows you to save any listings that spark your interest and set-up instant delivery of any new listings on properties that meet your criteria.

For the newest bank-owned listings click an area below:

 
Box Elder County Newest Real Estate Foreclosure Listings

Davis County Newest Real Estate Foreclosure Listings

Morgan County Newest Real Estate Foreclosure Listings

Salt Lake County Newest Real Estate Foreclosure Listings

Summit County Newest Real Estate Foreclosure Listings

Weber County Newest Real Estate Foreclosure Listings

Realtors with Foreclosure Experience

It is imperative that you choose a Realtor who has experience in foreclosed properties. As an Asset Manager, Dean was responsible for the marketing, negotiation and disposition of over 1,800 residential bank-owned foreclosed properties for several major banks. We understand what the financial institution is looking for from the potential buyer.

Assessing the Foreclosed Real Estate Deal

The most important part of your real estate research is deciding if the property offers a great buying opportunity. Purchase price, loan terms, appreciation rate, taxes, expenses and several other factors must be considered when you evaluate any real estate investment. Frontdoor.com offers an excellent calculator to help you determine your potential internal rate of return on an investment property.

Negotiating the Best Real Estate Purchase Offer

Knowing what to offer for a property is the hardest aspect of the negotiating process. Significantly low purchase offers will most likely be ignored by the bank. However, if a property has been on the market for an extended period of time, the bank may consider lower offers. If possible, prior to making an offer conduct a property inspection, have the property appraised and have your realtor provide you with a comparative market analysis (CMA) and other neighborhood statistics. You NEED to have a clear understanding of the value of the property. The property inspection should assist in identifying potential problems with the property before negotiations and possibly identify problems the bank did not know existed with the property. The property appraisal and agent CMA use such criteria such as; location, age, lot size, square footage, type of construction, features, condition, history and other factors, and using this information to produce an estimated property value. Using the most similar properties in the immediate area for the appraisal and CMA help better determine the market value of the property. Based on the results of the property inspection, further evaluations, appraisal and CMA, you should be able to determine what the property is potentially worth and make your real estate purchase offer accordingly.

Value of Significant Earnest Money Deposit with Real Estate Purchase Offer

The earnest money deposit is used by the buyer to demonstrate to the bank that they are serious about completing the purchase. When purchasing foreclosed properties, demonstrate your sincere interest in the property by including a significant amount of earnest money deposit in the purchase contract. The deposit is placed in escrow until the purchase is complete and is then applied to the buyer’s down payment at closing. If the purchase is not completed, the deposit is returned according to the terms of the real estate purchase contract. Some aggressive investors secure the acceptance of their offers for foreclosed properties by wiring their entire purchase amount as the earnest money deposit. This alerts the bank that the investor is very serious about the property and has deposited the necessary funds to complete the transaction with the escrow company.

Time is of the Essence

Banks are interested in selling their properties as quickly and easily as possible, while netting the most profit. The banks put a high priority on purchase offers that have the best probability of closing without delays. Cash transactions are the easiest ones for banks to complete because they do not involve the time and paperwork that a mortgaged financed transaction requires. If at all possible, consider a cash offer on any foreclosed property purchase. If you submit an offer with financing terms, make your offer as clean and easily executable as possible. In any offers presented, remove any contingencies possible and eliminate or propose a very short inspection period. Never ask the bank to pay for a home warranty. Always designate the quickest closing date possible, typical closing timeframes expected by banks on their foreclosed properties are:

Cash – 15 day closing

Conventional Financed – 30 day closing

FHA, VA etc. Financed – 45 day closing

Employing the proper real estate contract negotiation strategies will help you maximize the potential that Utah foreclosed real estate offers. It is essential to choose the right real estate professional for your foreclosure real estate transactions. We have successfully negotiated thousands of REO transactions and have the experience you need to get the results that you are looking for.

By Lynette Foulger