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That website seems to have good deals on homes, depending where it is located and how the condition is. It's operated by Fannie Mae co.
The website is Fannie Mae REO Homes For Sale - HomePath.com for those who never heard of it before. I had fun looking around the properties for sale. Of course, my dream is to own a home someday.
I bought a homepath home but used an FHA loan. It needed some work but nothing major (paint and light fixtures). A decent deal for the area, size, and pool (big deal in Az)
I had no idea what REO meant, until 2bindenver mentioned it's bank owned foreclosure. I researched on what it usually generally means. It means most of the homes are in areas with low to middle income, poor manitence by the banks, usually needs minor repairs...sometimes major. I think that could be most of the REO homes under homepath could be in higher crime areas?
I had no idea what REO meant, until 2bindenver mentioned it's bank owned foreclosure. I researched on what it usually generally means. It means most of the homes are in areas with low to middle income, poor manitence by the banks, usually needs minor repairs...sometimes major. I think that could be most of the REO homes under homepath could be in higher crime areas?
Just because they're bank owned doesn't mean they're in the ghetto. Bank owned/REO just means that the bank foreclosed on the home and took it back. It doesn't say anything about the quality of the home or neighborhood that it's in. A lot of loans are owned by Fannie/Freddie, in all types of cities and counties and neighborhoods.
People who buy mansions can default too, you know.
Also the Homepath homes can be anywhere from turnkey and move-in ready to 'just about ready to fall apart.' The bank is not in the business of owning and maintaining homes. Sometimes while they're foreclosing on a home, the owner getting foreclosed on decides to "get back at the bank" by destroying the house, ripping up its insides and taking out anything of value and selling it. And sometimes, homeowners just don't take good care of their homes. You see it in standard sales too. Some people are just lazy homeowners who either don't maintain their house or do it poorly. That's not the bank's fault.
If the bank owns it for a long time and it sits empty, then it can be susceptible to squatters/vandalism. It's definitely possible.
If you see a home on there that looks like an amazing price, it just might be a wreck. Still, it doesn't hurt to go see the home and decide how much work it needs. Homepath does have its own property rehabilitation loan for those properties that need more work (similar to FHA203k).
The only thing that gives me caution about Homepath is that I see the same homes drop in and out of pending a ton of times and a lot of them sit on the market for a while. That tells me that for those particular homes there may be something seriously wrong with the property.
Just because they're bank owned doesn't mean they're in the ghetto. Bank owned/REO just means that the bank foreclosed on the home and took it back. It doesn't say anything about the quality of the home or neighborhood that it's in. A lot of loans are owned by Fannie/Freddie, in all types of cities and counties and neighborhoods.
People who buy mansions can default too, you know.
Also the Homepath homes can be anywhere from turnkey and move-in ready to 'just about ready to fall apart.' The bank is not in the business of owning and maintaining homes. Sometimes while they're foreclosing on a home, the owner getting foreclosed on decides to "get back at the bank" by destroying the house, ripping up its insides and taking out anything of value and selling it. And sometimes, homeowners just don't take good care of their homes. You see it in standard sales too. Some people are just lazy homeowners who either don't maintain their house or do it poorly. That's not the bank's fault.
If the bank owns it for a long time and it sits empty, then it can be susceptible to squatters/vandalism. It's definitely possible.
If you see a home on there that looks like an amazing price, it just might be a wreck. Still, it doesn't hurt to go see the home and decide how much work it needs. Homepath does have its own property rehabilitation loan for those properties that need more work (similar to FHA203k).
The only thing that gives me caution about Homepath is that I see the same homes drop in and out of pending a ton of times and a lot of them sit on the market for a while. That tells me that for those particular homes there may be something seriously wrong with the property.
I'm certainly no expert, but I had looked into the homepath program briefly and I thought the homepath loans seemed like a pretty good deal IMO...which only needed a low downpayment but had no mortgage insurance. I did hear that a lot a lot of people would still use FHA loans on homepath-eligible properties, which I didn't really get. The prices on the homes did seem pretty good, but there wasn't always a great selection, so it did kinda seem like a lot of the houses did go under contract pretty quickly. But as Enkiktd mentioned, I did notice several times that some of the houses would go in and out of being pending.
The Fannie Mae Homepath website is very helpful for seeing foreclosed properties, even before they are listed with real estate agents (one of the agents at my office is a FannieMae broker, so we see/show quite a few of these). It's also helpful to check the status of a property you might be interested in, because as soon as an offer is 'accepted', the status changes on the website (vs. 3rd party sites like Zillow, Trulia, etc.) where the status might show as ACTIVE for several more days.
Homepath also gives special consideration to owner-occupants (vs. the investors that scoop/flip many of the foreclosed properties). Earnest money (a common problem especially for those who are going from rental to home ownership) is only $500 for Homepath properties. And of course, not having to deal with PMI is a huge benefit that you don't get with FHA. I wish some of the big banks that have the majority of REO properties were as easy to deal with as FannieMae. Finally, a government program that actually seems to work...
That website seems to have good deals on homes, depending where it is located and how the condition is. It's operated by Fannie Mae co.
The website is Fannie Mae REO Homes For Sale - HomePath.com for those who never heard of it before. I had fun looking around the properties for sale. Of course, my dream is to own a home someday.
The Fannie Mae Homepath website is very helpful for seeing foreclosed properties, even before they are listed with real estate agents (one of the agents at my office is a FannieMae broker, so we see/show quite a few of these). It's also helpful to check the status of a property you might be interested in, because as soon as an offer is 'accepted', the status changes on the website (vs. 3rd party sites like Zillow, Trulia, etc.) where the status might show as ACTIVE for several more days.
Homepath also gives special consideration to owner-occupants (vs. the investors that scoop/flip many of the foreclosed properties). Earnest money (a common problem especially for those who are going from rental to home ownership) is only $500 for Homepath properties. And of course, not having to deal with PMI is a huge benefit that you don't get with FHA. I wish some of the big banks that have the majority of REO properties were as easy to deal with as FannieMae. Finally, a government program that actually seems to work...
I agree. Lot of first time buyers don't have few thousands of dollars to buy a home and have to depend on government to pay for the down payments. It's pretty difficult, anyhow. Can't please everyone in that situation. Of course, lot of people forget about the manitience involved with owning a home so that's a few hundred dollars on top of the mortgage, depending where you live. Some areas have low manitience costs and others have astronomically high costs. Tons of pros and cons to look thru, pretty much.
I learned about Homepath.com thru my mom's client talked about that program. It does sound affordable compared to regular websites, of course. I think they only sell the properties to people who really need it, not use it for investment purposes.
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