A HUD home is a home that had an FHA loan that has defaulted and ultimately acquired by HUD.  HUD disposes of these properties through and action process and uses registered brokers and agents to facilitate the process.  Hud homes can be viewed on the internet at www.hudpemco.com by anyone but you must use a registered agent to submit your offer.

I will use my most recent HUD auction purchase to illustrate the steps and timelines involved.  I met my new buyers, Mark and Sara, at the office of Mike Erickson of Academy Mortgage in Stockton to determine what purchase price Mark and Sara would qualify for.  Mike did an excellent job of gathering the information and was able to give them a pre approval for a loan up to $130,000.  With our price range established Mark and Sara began, with my help, to look for a home that would suit them.  I also sent them information on the HUD Homes. 

A new home was put on the auction list on September 17^th that Mark and Sara wanted to see. The auction date is September 27^th, this is the date that HUD will look at any offers and either accept one or turn them all down.  We looked at the property and Mark and Sara loved it. It was a very good price and in a very good neighborhood, they wanted to make an offer!

We had to get our offer together and submitted by midnight of September 26^th.  We got the offer together, copy of the pre approval and the required certified funds deposit of $1,000 and I went online and submitted the offer in the afternoon of September 26^th.  On Monday September 27^th around 10:00 the HUDPemco website was updated with our offer as the winning bid!  Mark and Sara were thrilled!  Now we are in escrow and soon the sale will be completed.

The moral of this story is to be preapproved for your financing before you start seriously looking or you may have to pass up a great if you are not ready to jump on it.

For more info go to my website http://www.stocktonrealestateonline.com