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Old 02-15-2010, 05:40 AM
 
19 posts, read 38,741 times
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Doe anyone know ho w to track down foreclosures? Is there some kind of consolidated site where all of them would be listed? Or do i have to go thru a realtor?
I read the recent thread about buyers realtors and my understanding is that they are pretty useless unless you are selling...
I would like to get a foreclosure or a fixer-upper in an up and coming area.
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Old 02-15-2010, 06:35 AM
 
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Pittsburgh's foreclosure rate is low compared to the rest of the country. Apparently, the discounts are greater but the choices are more limited. Foreclosure rates actually dropped on this region. Local home sales keep slipping

I was always under the impression that you had to go through a realtor for bank foreclosures. You can find listings via google searching Pittsburgh foreclosure listings, but I think you'd have a better chance of finding the good deals if you had a realtor who could tip you off to new foreclosures before they are advertised.

Foreclosure was due to taxes are done through government auction. They are usually announced in the newspaper like this one from last year: Foreclosure auction to sell 35 area homes today - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
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Old 02-15-2010, 07:32 AM
 
Location: Lebanon Heights
807 posts, read 611,058 times
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Properties for sale by the city are listed here:

Properties for Sale

Not too many in "up-and-coming" neighborhoods listed right now -- there's a bid in on a massive place in Friendship, but that looks like a project for a professional builder/remodeller. Also, these sales through the city can take a long time to consummate, and the most desirable properties are subject to intense bidding (for example, the city auctioned off a property on Coral street in Friendship last September -- the initial bid was around 30k, but the property ended up selling for 80k -- and it needed to be totally rehabbed). There is also a listing on Carnegie St. in upper Lawrenceville -- it will likely be subject to very intense bidding. Even though it is upper Lawrenceville, a rehabbed home on the 5200 block of Carnegie sold for over 150k in the last year.

For general bank-owned foreclosures, one local real estate agency gets many listings -- www.priorityrealty.net.

Also, the site https://www.equator.com/index.cfm? serves as a general clearinghouse for foreclosures listings.

Finally, hooksvanholm.com has the listings for properties being sold through HUD. If you intend to be an "owner-occupier" you get a 10 day head start on bidding on these properties (that is, in front of investors).
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Old 02-15-2010, 07:48 AM
 
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As you may be gathering, there are not a lot of foreclosures in the area. A little more common will be non-foreclosure fixer-upper properties, although at this point a lot of the standard "up and coming" neighborhoods have seen pretty strong appreciation already and so real bargains are not as common as they were say ten years ago (if you really want a bargain I could direct you to neighborhoods which are still more on the fringe of the up and coming areas but which I think have solid potential).
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Old 02-15-2010, 08:03 AM
 
1,719 posts, read 4,167,522 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TYREX View Post
Doe anyone know ho w to track down foreclosures? Is there some kind of consolidated site where all of them would be listed? Or do i have to go thru a realtor?
I read the recent thread about buyers realtors and my understanding is that they are pretty useless unless you are selling...
I would like to get a foreclosure or a fixer-upper in an up and coming area.
They have a huge list once a month in the Post Gazette and Tribune Review on all of the foreclosures/tax delinquent properties that you can bid on at the Sheriff's sale.
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Old 02-15-2010, 08:30 AM
 
Location: Lebanon Heights
807 posts, read 611,058 times
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Iwonderwhy -- keep in mind, however, that there is generally only active bidding on the tax sale properties (or at least this was the case back in 2005/'06 when I thought I actually might buy a foreclosure). With the mortgage foreclosures, the bank's attorney/rep. will have very specific instructions on what to bid for the property. If someone comes in and tries to bid on the property, the bank's attorney can basically move to postpone the sale -- I believe -- even in the middle of the auction/hearing. I think if you want to buy a mortgage foreclosure at the hearing, you would basically have to contact the bank's attorney and negotiate before the hearing. Also, there are benefits (in terms of clearing liens, etc. etc.) to allowing the bank to purchase the property at the Sheriff's sale. Nevertheless, the foreclosure listings do provide a good "roadmap" with respect to what "REO" properties are going to be coming on the market in the coming months.

Also, I think (as usual) BrianTH makes a good point -- you may be better served looking for a non-foreclosure fixer upper.
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Old 02-15-2010, 10:24 AM
 
19 posts, read 38,741 times
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Thanks a lot for all your help...
im not actually in Pittsburgh yet, so i might just rent an apartment for 6 months and keep watching fixer upper and foreclosure listings...
im mainly looking for a project.. i enjoy fixing houses and if i can make some money along the way - thats great..
WHAT WOULD YOU, LOCALS, CONSIDER AN "UP AND COMING' NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE I CAN STILL CAPITALISE ON SOME APPRECIATION?
thanks
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Old 02-15-2010, 10:32 AM
 
809 posts, read 2,399,698 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TYREX View Post
WHAT WOULD YOU, LOCALS, CONSIDER AN "UP AND COMING' NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE I CAN STILL CAPITALISE ON SOME APPRECIATION?
thanks
Polish Hill, Upper Lawrenceville(above 45th st), Garfield
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Old 02-15-2010, 10:46 AM
 
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You don't really need to focus on upon-n-coming neighborhoods to make a profit. Usually house prices in up-n-coming neighborhoods are already overpriced for their area and condition. You can make a profit faster by buying low priced houses in already established average neighborhoods. My brother made a small fortune on five houses in Brighton Heights a couple of decades ago. I've known people to find good deals and make money on flipping houses in Shaler and Ross too. These are certainly not up-n-coming neighborhoods. (Up-n-coming means impoverished with potential to gentrify in the near future.) These are just moderate neighborhoods that sometimes have houses that are in poor condition and as a result you can snatch them up for a good price and flip them rather quickly. The up-n-coming alternative is more of a long-term gamble.
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Old 02-15-2010, 12:22 PM
 
15,630 posts, read 26,110,200 times
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That's been my understanding, too, Hopes. Pittsburgh has a lot of older people and they tend to just live with their houses instead of update them constantly.... so you buy an older house at an probate sale and you'll get a house that may have been more or less maintained (no big things wrong, but lots of smaller things can be improved) and it will need to be updated.

It seems the younger crowd doesn't want to buy a house they need to work on..... they want it done.
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