Martinsburg and surrounding area foreclosures - Anyone been a purchaser lately? (Charles Town: sales, loans)

[At-Chilles]

Hello All --- I'm wondering if anyone here has either purchased or made any offers on foreclosers lately.....and what's been their experience?

I am coming in with 100 percent all cash, looking at smaller, older homes in the better parts of the downtown area, and not having any luck. I've made two offers so far, both on 95 and 89k homes{I offered 70k cash on both} One has been on the market over 6 months and the other just shy of two months. I'm actually very surprised these two banks haven't snatched my cash --- my realtor is too!

[RD35]

Originally Posted by At-Chilles

Hello All --- I'm wondering if anyone here has either purchased or made any offers on foreclosers lately.....and what's been their experience?

I am coming in with 100 percent all cash, looking at smaller, older homes in the better parts of the downtown area, and not having any luck. I've made two offers so far, both on 95 and 89k homes{I offered 70k cash on both} One has been on the market over 6 months and the other just shy of two months. I'm actually very surprised these two banks haven't snatched my cash --- my realtor is too!

I've bought a few properties with cash. Surprisingly it doesn't make that much difference. The bank is getting their money the same way whether you pay cash or finance. Cash will benefit where the property is extremely distressed and not qualify for low down payment loans.

Your offer of 70k for a 95k property is approx. a 73% offer. The average sales price right now is about 88-90% of list price. For the most part 80% and below offers are accepted if the property is on the market for 6 + months or in need of rehab.

BOA and Fannie Mae usually will not accept lowball offers. HUD will, but you have to wait; usually after one price reduction and three months HUD will take a 70-75% offer.

If you are looking in Martinsburg you should have a field day. Martinsburg and Berkeley County are filled with absolute bargains. If you are looking in Downtown you may even find some in the 30-40k range and occasionally in decent shape.

Hope this helps.

[At-Chilles]

If you are looking in Martinsburg you should have a field day. Martinsburg and Berkeley County are filled with absolute bargains. If you are looking in Downtown you may even find some in the 30-40k range and occasionally in decent shape.

HAR! It seems to me that you are on the mark in terms of your percentile calculations. And you are also on the mark in terms of exceptional investment opportunities...

It looks like I'm going to have to wait a while and let the properties I like sit on the market over 6 months....and then re-submit my offers. The realtor I am currently using said this morning that lots more foreclosure properties will be added to the market very soon. This is a very good thing!


Thanks for your very informative reply....

[chrisgsxt19]

My Husband and I just purchased a foreclosure. Our situation was a bit different..........We were looking for a decent 4bdrm house(not in need of major repair, we flipped a TH in NOVA don't want to do that again) We put offers on 5-6 properties in Charles Town/Martinsburg/Kearneysville. Most of these were on the market less than 2 weeks. We were OUTBID! When I say outbid we offered 260K on a house listed for 235K and we didn't get it! I was very surprised at all of the competition we had. Thankfully we ended up getting a house after 3 months but we ended up paying full listing price. Good luck to all purchasing a house right now there are a lot of hoops to jump!