Monday, February 8, 2010

Another strong niche - HUD homes


While I am a GREEN Realtor and am actively pursuing going with a GREEN title company for at least some of my real estate closings, meaning no paper documents, I am also carving out quite the niche with HUD homes as of late.

I have 3 active pending contracts on HUD homes and amazed at the deals that can be found with these US Govt-owned foreclosures. Just last week, I saw where a home in the West End that was appraised at $124,900 and listed at $99,600, sold for $54,000. While this type of deal is not always possible, there are great values to be had. Why?

Well, every HUD home has a government inspection done at time of listing. Most of them are approved for FHA loans, which is often a question for bank-owned homes that you don't know the answer to at time of contract until you've spent $450 with your mortgage lender (that very well could be wasted if it doesn't pass). Also, you can see a Property Condition Report which serves as a poor man's Home Inspection. The best part for agents is that you can make up to a 5% commission and get up to 3% of your buyers' closing costs paid for. You have to be working with a Realtor to buy a HUD home and specifically, a HUD-approved agent/broker. Once you've identified a property you can submit a low-ball bid and then if not accepted, just up the bid every day until it is accepted (unless its sold to someone else in the meantime).

These HUD homes can be great finds/values for first-time homebuyers (depending on the condition), investors (rentals and/or flips), and experienced home buyers alike.

Feel free to give me a call if you'd like to learn more!

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