So you've seen on TV that you can buy a foreclosure or a HUD home for so cheap.  Sometimes for pennies on the dollar.  It sounds so simple.  I have $300 a month I can pay.  Surely I can find a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom home in Greeley colorado for $50,000!

Well yes you can find great deals with foreclosures, HUD homes and even short sales.  But to get that deal be prepared for some pain. 

First off you have to get qualified for a loan.  Most people get qualified for an FHA loan as they don't have to put much down.  The thing is for a regular FHA loan the house you find has to be in almost move in ready shape.   No matter how much of a handyman you think you are FHA won't allow you to make repairs yourself after you buy the home.   There are FHA 203K loans which will allow you to make repairs after the closing.  But you still won't be able to do them yourself.  An FHA 203K loan requires there to be at least $5000 worth of repairs to be made.   Sometimes a home only needs $900 in repairs to be able to qualify for an FHA loan.  And you or your agent will have to get multip

So now that we've kinda cleared up the financing.   Let's move on to the actual homes.

My wife and I have many people coming to us saying we want to find a home under $100k in Greeley that is newer and doesn't need much work.

That is a hard find.  Most newer and older homes for that matter under $100k need some work.  If they don't chances are they are only a 2 bedroom home or so.  By work I mean they migh need a roof, new carpet, furnace repairs, plumbing repairs, electrical repairs. 

Then how easy is it to buy a HUD home, foreclosure, or short sale?  Of the 3 a short sale will most likely be in the best shape of any of them.  HUD homes are generally in the worst shape.  A short sale could take 3 months to close.  You might have to raise the sales price even though there already was a signed contract with a lower sales price, and after 3-5 months the bank granting the short sale still might reject it. 

Foreclosures are fairly straight forward to purchase.  But there are some extra expenses that might need to be considered.   There are some foreclosure listing agents that are extremely lazy and will charge you the buyer to dewinterize and rewinterize a home so you can do inspections or appraisals.  This can be as much as $300.   Then if you want a professional inspection done that will cost around $300.  Add to that $400 for the appraisal.   That's quite a chuck of change if any of these things causes you not to buy the house.   Which very well can happen. 

HUD homes are even more difficult due to the governmental nature of them.  You will have to pay for all the things I listed about foreclosures plus you will have to put the electrical, gas, and water in your name to even turn those on.   And getting the permission to do all this from HUD and their contractors sometimes is like pulling teeth.  They don't use logic alot of the time. 

So you still want to buy one of these homes?  Great!  Then I would suggest finding a real estate agent that is experienced in foreclosures and HUD sales to help you. 

This was just a short description of the experience of buying this kind of property, but it will at least prepare you a bit. 

For more information about Greeley real estate visit www.greeley-weldcountyhomesforsale.com

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