Buying Short Sales and Foreclosed Properties in Chicago Suburban Dupage County

April 9, 2009

Experts agree you can get a good deal but it takes time and the good deal may end up being a “money pit”!

A foreclosed home- also called bank owned or an REO property – is one where the lender has completed the foreclosure process and now has taken it back and owns the home.  Banks usually list them with Realtors, who in turn list them in Chicagoland MRED Mulitple Listing Service.

In this situation, the bank really doesn’t have any knowledge about the house, so they refuse to make any disclosures and sell it as-is, more often than not.  The listing agent doesn’t have any information about the house either, other than what they can tell by looking and checking public record.

When you’re buying a foreclosed home, it is important to inspect very carefully.  There’s no one making disclosures, sometimes you have to turn on the utilities yourself at your own expense, and sometimes the condition is less than ideal. For a list of licensed home inspectors who service Dupage County email us at: Hyblhometeam@gmail.com

However, these foreclosed homes are often sold at a discount, so if the condition isn’t terrible, you can often pick them up at good prices.  Also, the lender is usually highly motivated to sell the thing, so when you’re buying a bank-owned home, typically the bank will respond in a timely manner.  Timely meaning a few days to a couple of weeks, NOT months.

For a free list of bank owned properties for sale in Dupage, Kane or Cook County email us at: Hyblhometeam@gmail.com

What is a SHORT SALE?????

Short Sale  means the lender comes up short at the closing of the sale – there’s not enough money made to pay off the loans.  It does NOT mean they sell quickly.  Quite the opposite, in fact.

In short sales, a real person still owns the house, not a bank.  As a buyer of a short sale, you negotiate with the seller using a special addendum, and then the seller goes back and negotiates with his lender(s) to see if they’ll take less than they’re owed.  This process could take – quite literally – months.  And there’s no guarantee that the seller and the bank will reach an agreement, or that the bank won’t just foreclose on the house anyway.  And if you’re dealing with more than one lender at a time, it all just gets messier.

However, if you’ve got plenty of time and plenty of patience, you may want to consider buying a short sale home.  These are usually as-is sales – the seller walks away from the deal without making a penny, so they’re not motivated to make any repairs.  They can take months to complete, during which time, you sit and wait for the seller and the bank(s) to reach an agreement – a process on which you have very little insight as the buyer.  Typically, the condition is a little better than in a foreclosed home.  The seller may still be living in the property, so they probably haven’t trashed it in anger.

These homes usually sell at a discount as well, though not typically as steep of a discount as a foreclosed home.  Just be aware that you might be dealing with a reticent distressed homeowner, that the lenders will have no regard for timelines, and that you’ll need lots and lots of patience.

More information on Tips and understanding Short sales at: http://realtytimes.com/printrtpages/20090408_buyingtip.htm

For a list of Short Sale email us at Hyblhometeam@gmail.com

Current Short Sales in Dupage County from our MRED MLS:

 445 single family homes

256 attached homes (duplexes, condos, town homes, etc.)

Want to know your property value?  Call or email me…

John Hybl   Realty Executives Suburban

JohnHybl@RealtyExecutives.com     630-975-9000

Search 70,000 properties for sale in Chicago & the Suburbs at www.JohnHybl.com

• ** Market statistics  interpetation by John Hybl of data from MRED.llc MLS  ***