Forclosure suprises?

[mikejr]

Originally Posted by Mr_Pat

I have a question....

I went to www.hud.gov and selected my state (WY) it then took me to a new site with houses listed that HUD posses. I was looking at this:

http://hud2.towerauction.net/cgi-bin...=591093900&off ice=e7&state=WY

Now my question I see this:
Price: $159,000
As-Is Value: $159,000


Now is 159k the min you have to bid or is that just what they value it at and you can bid what ever on it? Someone told me you can bid what ever you wanted on it. So if I was just going to put a bid ok 80k for the hell of it and I was the only one to bid, I would get it??????

You are correct in that you may bid as much as you want. However, that doesn't mean that HUD is going to take an offer of $80K. I've not done a HUD property in a while, but if I recall correctly they don't negotiate, you place the offer and its either accepted or rejected. Typically on the HUD site they will have a list of approved brokers that can do the paperwork for you.

A common misconception about foreclosures...which is kept going by the people on TV hocking their CD's and DVD's on how to buy them for pennies on a dollar....is that you can by them at a huge reduction off the list price. The foreclosures are priced at the market value in the present condition of the property. Sure there are banks that challenge the market to try to reduce their loss on the property, but most of them arent going to give the property away.

A good buyer agent can coach you on what they feel the property is worth and perhaps a range to make an offer in. But that doesnt mean a seller is going to take that offer. Best thing to do is throw in an offer and see what happens.