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1) Has anyone here ever bought a short-sale or foreclosure property? How id you find the property? How was the experience for you? What was the timeline like? Anything reassuring about the process that you might be able to share?
2) Does anyone here own a house on a high-traffic road (i.e., your house backs onto Tramway, Academy, Paseo, Rio Grande, Coors, Montgomery, etc.) Day-to-day, what is your experience like? Does it ever annoy you?
1) Has anyone here ever bought a short-sale or foreclosure property? How id you find the property? How was the experience for you? What was the timeline like? Anything reassuring about the process that you might be able to share?
No experience.
Quote:
2) Does anyone here own a house on a high-traffic road (i.e., your house backs onto Tramway, Academy, Paseo, Rio Grande, Coors, Montgomery, etc.) Day-to-day, what is your experience like? Does it ever annoy you?
It has everything to do with your home's building materials. If your house is frame/stucco, you will hear significantly higher amounts of traffic than if it is brick.
I looked at two basically identical houses, both on arterials, and was amazed at the difference. The one with the slightly lower traffic flow was like being in the middle of the street all the time, because it was more cheaply constructed. My brick house works perfectly for keeping all but the deepest loud sounds out.
You'll be able to tell right away when walking through the homes you're considering how loud the traffic will be.
2) Does anyone here own a house on a high-traffic road (i.e., your house backs onto Tramway, Academy, Paseo, Rio Grande, Coors, Montgomery, etc.) Day-to-day, what is your experience like? Does it ever annoy you?
In two of my previous houses (PA and MD), when installing double pain thermal windows outside noise was drastically reduced (over the old windows, 15+ years old). I have learned that windows need to be replaced periodically...
I live on a main entrance road to my neighborhood, I guess it is semi high-traffic... I expected a lot of road traffic, ironically it is not bad. The Waste Management truck is noisy, but I hear it winding around the side and back streets. But that is just once a week. Next is the school buses, not a biggy. Then that kid dribbling the basketball on his way to a friends house... Not one kid in particular, it's always just one kid... They grow up, and they get replaced...
Seriously, your question can be interpreted many ways. Have you tried walking the neighborhood at 6 pm or so (neighborhoods start getting noisy about 3 pm)
I rented on the corner of Carlisle and Lead for a few years. It was a great location close to the Food Coop and Nob Hill and had a great view of Sandia, but being at the intersection of two fairly busy streets was a drag. There were air quality issues and noise from cars idling at the light, then gunning the engines. There were more accidents than you would think (got used to the sound of screeching tires followed by a crash). When it was a really loud crash I was afraid to look out the window to behold the carnage. I had to be careful about pulling the blinds at night to prevent peeping.
I did not enjoy spending time outdoors on the property. Sometimes I felt useful if there was a breakdown in front of the house (those were the days before cell phones--people would knock and ask to use your phone). Anyway, I could live with it again but would prefer not to, especially if I were buying a house. I've noticed there are a lot for sale very close to Tramway. The reason: they are hard to sell especially in this market when you have so many choices. Remember you will one day also have to sell the house you're buying.
I did not enjoy spending time outdoors on the property.
That's the main problem with the nearby street.
You can have fantastic windows, but what good does it do you
when you can't open them up? Having windows open a lot is
one of the great things about this climate.
Also, it might make a difference if it is winter or summer
because of foliage. Lots of leaves will dull the noise.
I just assume that many of the people living near Paseo, for
instance, are hard of hearing. They built these very nice, but too
big houses, that are right on top of the road. I can look right in
the windows from the bike path. To me, that location is nutty.
Those houses are located like Trader Joe's - very close.
( A few were built before Paseo became the major street that it
currently is, but most were built in the recent real estate bubble. )
Yes, have been visiting some homes at different times of day and understand the "noise factor". I guess I'm just trying to figure out if it bothers me or not. Having lived in cities where outside noise is a way of life (as it is in the East Coast hubs) and having fire engines constantly roaring by, I might be more used to it? BUT - an important point was touched upon - does it bother MOST OTHER people? Even though I'm okay with some noise, I'm wondering if future resale value would be seriously affected, and it sounds like yes, it certainly could be.
Mortimer, I think I know the area you are talking about off of Paseo... I was wondering the same thing... what could people possibly be thinking building those homes so close to the freeway? Or maybe they are like me and it just doesn't bother them?? Or the real estate climate at the time made that land seem so much more valuable than it certainly seems right now for a huge house?
I've never purchased a short sale or foreclosure for myself but I have for others. Foreclosures are usually easy to deal with as they are already owned by the bank and as long as the offer is fair then the process should go smoothly. The problem usually is with the buyer wanting the property for a steal and the bank saying no. One thing to consider is that the bank will usually not take care of any repairs or pay anything towards your closing costs, so keep your offer clean (don't ask for too much).
Short sales are usually trickier, the homeowner is having problems with their mortgage and needs to get out. They usually need to have an offer before the bank will start the process. First of all the homeowner has to accept the offer then the selling agent takes the offer to the bank who has to decide on whether they want to take a loss or not. It is important to know that the person representing the bank usually has hundreds of files to deal with, which they want to close, with this in mind you should make your offer as clean and fair as possible, asking for too much will just get your file passed over for one which does not.
Another major stumbling block for distressed properties is making the purchase contingent on the sale of your existing property, this is a sure way to get the offer rejected by the bank.
Your Realtor should be able to give you CMA's for the properties you are interested in and from that you should be able to negotiate a fair offer which the bank will find attractive.
Both short sales and foreclosures are listed in the regular MLS listings, you don't need to go to any special place to find them. I would stay away from short sales, I have heard to many stories of banks taking many months to decide and then turning down the offer. Too much hassle IMHO.
We bought a foreclosure, the process was pretty easy, almost the same as buying a regular home, except don't expect the bank to do any kind of repairs. Foreclosures are almost always sold AS-IS. One frustrating thing is that foreclosures show as still "for sale" in MLS up to a month after an offer has been accepted, so have your realtor check to see if the house is really available before you look at it.
we bought a short sale and agree that the wait can be nervewracking, but we were fortunate to have a realtor who understood the process, had good communication with the bank and held our hand throughout. it all turned out well, thank goodness!
Another question: has anyone recently considering BUILDING a home vs. buying in this economy with real estate prices as they are? Any input on the Albuquerque home-building scene?
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