Which is the easiest (and less expensive)way of buying a home?

Question

Get a house that was foreclosed, or a house where the taxes has not been paid on it or buying it directly from the owner of the house?

Answer 1

Your County or Parish, should have an Auction of Repossessed, or Abandoned Homes. The Lists can be found in copies of The Legal News, For the area You are Interested in. Copies can also be found at your County or Parish CourtHouse. You can also try the Corporate Headquarters of Banks in the Area of your Interest. Do not pay for any lists from companies advertising Foreclosed Homes for Sale. You can get all that for FREE.  Your next option is to check out For Sale by Owner. Most of these are Legit. The Owners are bypassing Real Estate Agents who will Gouge You. The Owners took the Time to learn what needs to be done to sell their Home. Check with a Real Estate Attorney for any thing missing in the process. $250 should cover their fees. You could also check out Lease with option to buy. What this involves is renting a Home You are interested in with a portion of your rent going towards the down payment for your loan. The Homeowner sets up an account for this purpose. You must remember several things when doing this. One is if You back out of the deal You will lose your Money deposited in the account it reverts back to the Owner as Rent. Be very careful in what You buy. Try to get a Home Warrenty. Remember with a Rent to Own Option. You may be responsible for all or some of the major  repairs. You will be responsible for Upkeep and General repairs. You will be required to pay water and sewer if they apply to the property. Get an attorney the 500 You spend will be worth the money You save in aggravation. One more thing I saved for last. I VERY Strongly suggest You have A House Inspector look at whatever You are buying. The Last thing You need are surprises that cost You major Money. ONLY USE REAL ESTATE AGENTS AS A LAST RESORT. They are very Hungry right now.

Answer 2

get a real estate agent

Answer 3

"Easiest" and "less expensive" are two entirely different things, and it's hard to find a purchase that even comes close in both.

Easiest is to pay all cash for a home being sold conventionally (not a short sale or foreclosure). It's easy because, with all cash, you don't have any financing hassles. And you don't have the hassles of dealing with the lend (in the case of a short sale) or the bank/owner (in the case of a foreclosure).

Next on the easyness scale is to be well qualified, financially, for a loan. Be prequalified or preapproved (prequalified is better). It makes your offer strong, and you've already gone through any financing hassles. Again, stick with non-short sale, non-foreclosure properties.

To keep it easy, in any case, use a Realtor. There's a lot of paperwork and behind-the-scenes effort that goes into buying a home. If you're looking to ease the process, use a Realtor.

Now to least expensive: First, you need to determine the value of the house. Just because it's a short sale or foreclosure doesn't mean it's a good value. It might or might not be. A Realtor can "run the comps" for free.

Least expensive also ties in with financing. The better the credit you have, the lower the interest rate you'll be able to get. Also, look into FHA loans, as well as any special programs your state or county may have. Some are for first-time homebuyers, some are for specific occupations (police, teachers, firefighters, etc.), some are income-based.

Regarding home prices themselves, look for motivated sellers. People who really want to sell. And, ideally, motivated sellers with equity in their property. Then make offers--knowing what the true value of the property is, be sure you're offering under that.

You specifically asked about houses with delinquent taxes. Those are highly overrated. The late night infomercials tout those, but most properties sold for delinquent taxes are unusable land parcels, or houses that should be bulldozed. Once in a while, there's a good value, but most people wisely don't pursue that avenue.

As for "For Sale by Owners," those are more often overpriced than underpriced. The owner is selling it him/herself in today's market because they can't afford to pay a real estate commission. So, while they're motivated to sell, they need every penny they can get. That doesn't make it a good value. Now, don't ignore FSBOs; there can be some good values. But that's not the place to start.

Hope that helps.