Temecula Real Estate...What to Expect When you Buy a Foreclosure

It's inevitable, with the number of foreclosures on the market right now some of you may find yourself buying a foreclosure. They are a great way to get a great value. But will the end result be worth the hassles and delays of the transaction?

First of all, not all foreclosures are a hassle, in fact many of them may be as easy as buying a home from an owner seller and it will mostly depend on your real estate agent. A good buyers agent will deal with and solve the multitude of minor but annoying inconveniences often related to a foreclosure purchase. Most of these are just the normal delays of dealing with a bank and usually few of these have anything to do directly with the buyer but rather revolves around slow and incomplete paperwork from an out of state management company or bank.

A good buyers agent will make the transaction seem effortless with few if any problems. An inexperienced agent will have their clients in a state of frenzy from the get go simply because they don't understand these delays are normal and rarely effect the outcome of the transaction but are rather one of the hurdles overcome on daily basis in a foreclosure.

Another factor that will effect the purchase of a foreclosure is the experience of the listing agent. While browsing through the MLS recently I've noticed many newer inexperienced agents are listing foreclosures. This is most often because their spouse is a loan officer for the lender and has gotten them the listing. If the listing agent doesn't know the process of a foreclosure and the normal and usual progression of a foreclosure sale they can make a transaction a nightmare as I recently experienced. My clients never new of all the mistakes the other agent made and is still making. The home has closed and my clients are happily living in their new home. The listing agent has taken some big hits on commission due to her lack of knowledge regarding the paperwork and I'm still waiting for needed paperwork. But the important thing is my clients got a great deal with few if any inconveniences on their part because I didn't run to them everytime the lender or the agent did something to cause problems. I just handled them, that's my job.

If you are experiencing a particularly troublesome foreclosure transaction take a close look at the problems. Is your agent giving you a daily report on all the problems the other agent and bank are causing? Is your agent calm and professional or is he or she more stressed than you? These can be signs of an inexperienced agent dealing with a normal transaction.