Month: March 2009

Bank Owned Foreclosure Property: Buying A New Home During A Recession

Most people tend to hang on to their hard earned money during a recession. As a result, consumer spending goes down and prices of commodities, properties and the likes also go down. As bankruptcy foreclosure rises, prices of homes across the country plummet. If you are planning to buy a new home, now is the best time for you to buy that dream home of yours. Most bank-owned foreclosure properties are up for sale at low prices at this point so you can save a lot of money on your new home. To help you find the best bank-owned foreclosure properties, here are some pointers for you.

Hire A Real Estate Broker

Although it is nice to go hunting for some bank owned foreclosure property on your own, it may take a long time for you to find the right properties. Remember that there are so many bank owned foreclosure properties out there that are not being advertised so it is often difficult for you to find these properties if you do not have access to the right database. Moreover, trying to find bank owned foreclosure property on your own can be quite tedious and time consuming. If you one a very busy person and you have a lot of other concerns to attend to, you may not have the time to really hunt for bank owned foreclosure properties. As a result, you may end up with a property that is not so good or too expensive. To make sure that you get the best bank owned foreclosure property for the right price, you need to hire a professional real estate broker.

To find a good real estate broker, you may contact the local board of realtors in your place. Ask them for a list of good real estate brokers in your area. Narrow down your choices to at least five names before you start calling these people for an appointment. As much as possible, you need to meet face to face with a prospective real estate broker. Meeting face to face with a prospective real estate broker is important since you will need to work with this person closely for the next few weeks or even months.

Visit Different Bank Owned Foreclosure Properties

Buying a home is a big decision. You cannot just buy a home on a whim. To make sure that you will feel comfortable in your new home and new neighborhood, you need to visit different bank owned foreclosure properties before you decide which one to buy.

A lot of people go through bank foreclosures these days. According to experts, more than 20 percent of Americans are in default of the mortgage payments and are candidates for bank foreclosure. If you happen to be one of those people who are on the verge of losing your home due to bank foreclosure, you should not give up easily and just let the bank take your property without exhausting all possible options to save your home. To help you save your home from bank foreclosure, here are some things that you can do.

Negotiate For Additional Grace Period

Banks are not really happy with the idea of foreclosing so many properties. Remember that banks are into the financial business not the real estate business. Since the bank has equity over your property, the bank party owns your home. Foreclosure of bank owned properties is therefore bad business for them. Banks want their clients to continue paying their amortization and as long as their clients are willing to pay their monthly amortization, banks are open to negotiations. If you want to prevent bank foreclosure, you should never ignore the collection letters from your bank. A lot of bank foreclosures happen after the client ignore a couple of collection letters from the bank. Instead of ignoring the collection letters sent to you by your bank, you should take the time to answer these letters and negotiate for additional grace period. You may also visit your bank and talk to the loans of officer personally. Tell the loans officer that you are willing to pay your obligations to stop bank foreclosure but you need a little time to get the money for this purpose.

When negotiating with your bank, you need to outline your plans on how you are going to pay for your financial obligations. You may also submit a financial plan to the bank. Your financial plan need not be complicated. All you need to do is to show the bank where you will get the money to pay for your monthly amortization.

Restructure Your Bank Loan

If you are having problems making you monthly amortization, you should ask your bank to restructure your loan to give you longer loan term. Yes, longer loan terms may prove to be more expensive for you in the long haul but when you are threatened with bank foreclosure, long term losses is the least of your concerns. What you need now is immediate solution to your problem. Longer loan terms will lower your monthly amortization cost and lower amortization cost will make things easier for you.