How To Buy Foreclosures, Safely

MarketWatch's Marshall Loeb Shares 4 Industry Tips On Buying Foreclosed Homes

(MarketWatch)  Foreclosed houses are everywhere you turn in this market. But while their sticker prices are low, buying one can be a risky endeavor. This is mainly because you won't have the same protections as you would for a conventional house.

From Consumer Reports magazine, here are four ways you can protect yourself if you're in the market for a foreclosed home:

Don't pay a fee for property listings.
You can find free information on foreclosed homes in your area by checking with a local agent. Usually there will be someone who specializes in foreclosed properties at the broker's office. This person is a great free resource.

Invest in a home inspection.
This is always a good idea whenever you buy a house, but for a foreclosed property it is especially the case. The property may have been vandalized. Fixtures and appliances may be missing. Also, with utilities shut off it will be impossible to test for the water pressure in the shower. Try to arrange for the utilities to be turned on before you buy. The inspection will cost between $250 and $400, but it will end up saving you if there is a problem with the home's structure or its systems.

Don't assume the sale is final.
In some states, a homeowner may have up to 180 days after the foreclosure to pay any outstanding debts and reclaim the home even if it has been bought by someone else.

Buy some title insurance.
The title insurance will protect you against any liens that you might not know about. It will also prevent a previous owner from making a successful claim on the house after you buy it.

[random_radar]

whitemale08,

If the government is responsible for the economy, then by definition we live in a Fascist state. I wish we lived in a free country where the government left us alone instead of controlling our lives.

[whitemale08]

Yea, you neo-con "Ruplican Suicide Bombers" don''t hear to much of junkyard dog Rush Limbaugh talk stupid anymore about how we''re the "Lone Superpower full of prosperity and freedom".

That''s because the incompetence of the Bush administration is not only "gathering and grave threat to the world" but it has literaly transformed the United States into a "failed state" with "rogue" like qualities that are being used as an excuse by that "other Superpower", the one Ronald Reagan failed to shut down.

So when I posted a few weeks ago to some of these die-hard "Republican Suicide Bombers" that you will see all kinds of people thinking about emigrating from here to a safer country, I wasn''t lying about that.

You clowns thought I was talking crazy and speaking in hyperbole, but now look at ya, this sh** is serious with the possibility of thermo-nuclear warfare happening right here on top of the trailer parks in America!

So get ready run folks, for your very lives!!!