A new twist to buying foreclosures

I have been buying foreclosures for many years.  One of the first houses I ever bought, I spent 3 day in with a shovel and a wheelbarrow, cleaning out the trash.  Foreclosures are almost always “fixer uppers”, and sometimes they need serious, contractor-level work.   But there’s a new game in town!

A couple of weeks ago I looked at a foreclosure in Lynn Haven that was in excellent condition.  It had new paint, new carpet and vinyl, new appliances, lighting fixtures, and more.  It wasn’t the highest quality rehab I had ever seen, but it wasn’t bad, and the house was truly in “move in” condition.

The foreclosing lender had done the rehab.  This was the first time I had ever seen this.  In the past, a bank might send a crew out to de-trash the house, change the locks, and knock down the yard,.  But now, in an effort to move more inventory faster, they are beginning to bring some of their properties up to “retail” condition.  You can read a full article about this trend here.

It makes a lot of sense for the banks to do this.  A lot of buyers would like to buy a foreclosure, but don’t have the money that it takes to fix one up after they have paid the downpayment and closing costs.  Putting “move in ready” foreclosures on the market opens the inventory up to a much larger pool of potential buyers, and should help move the inventory quicker.