People often ask about foreclosures.

Foreclosures can be cheap. Or seem cheap.

Seldom does someone take excellent care of their home and then lose it to foreclosure. Typically, they start skipping maintenance. Maybe the roof has been leaking, maybe the furnace is bad. Maybe both. Maybe the foundation has problems. Or the well has gone dry. I have seen ALL these scenarios. People are struggling to keep their home, and over sometimes years, the home slowly builds more and more problems as there becomes more and more deferred maintenance.

Eventually something happens and they get to far behind, or they realize the home needs to much work, and they either walk out, or the bank takes the house.

Often when this happens they have run up debt and bills all over town. Many of these become liens against the home. Sometimes the liens are so numerous that they can not sell the home for what they owe on it, even if they once had a great deal of equity. The foreclosure typically wipes these out, but it is very rare to get a guaranteed clear title. Thus you can be taking a risk when you buy a foreclosure. And, since the homes are as is, you don’t know about that well, or foundation, or many other items. Typically the power is off, so you can not test plumbing. Has the septic been pumped? Is it functional? Since you can not test these things, it may limit the types of financing available. Many times, a bank will not provide even a survey. So there can be problems with the house, the title, and the land.

Not there good deals are not available. But you must be very cautious.