Every investor who wants to buy a foreclosure home has the sole objective of optimizing the value of the property. Usually, investors go about this by buying out the equity from the homeowner. This act relieves the owner of payment problems and also allows the investor to obtain equity in the property. This method is called "subject to" purchase, which implies that the current financing is maintained, with your purchase "subject to" that financing.

Evaluating properties

One key point to note in the assessment of an offer is that you should match your profit margin against the owner's net equity and not the gross equity. For instance, if a homeowner has a property valued at $100,000 that requires $5,000 worth of repairs to obtain that $100,000 value, and has $75,000 loan due (including 2 past due payments), how much equity is left in the property? Clearly, there is only $10,400 left. This value becomes so, because after deducting $6,000 sales commission, realtor charges of 6%, $1,500 closing costs upon resale and closing fee of $5,000. So a gross value of $100,000 is practically $10,400 after deducting all these costs and this is a key point you should note if you want to buy foreclosure home.

A real estate who wants to buy a foreclosure home should be wary of the net value of a property. For this reason it is a useful thing to do a thorough analysis of all the factors impacting on profits including an accurate assessment of rehabilitation after sale.

Assessing offers

An investor who wants to buy foreclosure home will find it prudent to give a homeowner a 50% net equity offer. Although this percentage might not sound as a lot of money, it is a fair offer looking at our example in which the total net value of the property is actually $10,400. A property may be valued at $100,000 but that value does not take into account fees and costs of rehabilitation. A homeowner will find this offer attractive as it will be a better option than losing everything if the property enters into a foreclosure. Again, it relieves him of so many negative encumbrances associated with servicing the foreclosure process and avoiding a blemish to his credit history.

John Appleseed is contributor to Bank Foreclosure Listings, where is insider knowledge of Bank REO strategies are freely shared.