Foreclosure properties in Fort Lauderdale or nearby ? (Orlando, Lee: short sales, real estate market)

[carloslijeron]

Everyone,

I'm considering buying a foreclosure or short sale property in Fort Lauderdale some time next year when I plan to move to the state. Has anyone in this forum done this before? If so, any recommendations or advice on how to proceed? I noticed some websites that require payments to show the listings, but somehow I think these should be freely available. Please advice.


Thanks !

CL

[Mr. Lee]

I bought a foreclosure but would never do it again, what a PITA it was, and then with all the work I ended up having to do to get everything working. I would not recommend anyone doing the same unless they are able to do all the work themselves or have friends who will do it cheap or for free.

There are plenty of great deals out there, where people are selling below the going rate, if a person searches the online listings and takes their time, that would be what I would do the next time, should we ever wish to move again.

As a note, many foreclosures are left empty for years and that does cause issues and some people who owned the home before may do damage to the place out of anger.

If you do buy a foreclosure, then be sure to get an inspection of everything before buying and get your own title insurance, often the bank wants to use their own title insurance company who may not fully protect you, in my case they missed a substantial lean on our title but years later were thankfully able to get it cleared off but, had we wanted or needed to sell during that time, we may not have been able to sell, and if we could have, then we probably would have had to sell it way below what it was worth.

[carloslijeron]

Mr. Lee,

Thank you for your advice. I will take it into consideration in my future plans. I had sold a property on short sale back in 2010 after the real estate market crash. The process took over a year for the bank's approval but I think the new buyer got an extremely good deal. I was hoping to do the same, but now as a buyer, however you are right that I may get a fairly damaged property. Thanks for your time in sharing your experience.


CL

[AlexRodriguez]

Originally Posted by carloslijeron

Everyone,

I'm considering buying a foreclosure or short sale property in Fort Lauderdale some time next year when I plan to move to the state. Has anyone in this forum done this before? If so, any recommendations or advice on how to proceed? I noticed some websites that require payments to show the listings, but somehow I think these should be freely available. Please advice.


Thanks !

CL

My brother is a real estate broker and he also flips properties - As a real estate agent myself, I can tell you for sure that the foreclosure market in South Florida is a very competitive one because of the number of investors we have here and the brokers that control them.
I agree with Mr. Lee that all is left for us are those properties that you'll have to fix yourself or otherwise it'll smarter to go for a regular sale.

Short Sales? good luck with them. They are all pretty much prearranged between sellers and investors.

[carloslijeron]

Thanks for the info Alex. Short sales seem to be total mystery, although when I sold my investment property in Orlando everything was handled by the real estate sales person and the wait took about 1 year when the bank finally approved it.

I think I will stick to a regular property for my investment. Thanks again for the time to respond.

CL

[Nolefan34]

Most of the good opportunities in foreclosures/short sales were back in 2008-2010 when the market was in the toilet. By now, the RE market has recovered and the buying opportunities in foreclosures/short sales have dried up. The ones that currently exist are priced higher and extremely difficult to get. There is always someone richer than you who can outbid you and pay cash. You also have to contend with large brokerages and corporations who have experts that buy in bulk and flip them.

[JohnD_fla]

Originally Posted by carloslijeron

Everyone,

I'm considering buying a foreclosure or short sale property in Fort Lauderdale some time next year when I plan to move to the state. Has anyone in this forum done this before? If so, any recommendations or advice on how to proceed? I noticed some websites that require payments to show the listings, but somehow I think these should be freely available. Please advice.


Thanks !

CL

Don't do it.