Gilbert Real Estate Blog
~ by Randy Hooker of Dreamcatcher Realty
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2nd Thing You Should Know About Buying Foreclosures in Gilbert, Arizona
In the first installment of this series (1st Thing You Should Know About Buying Foreclosures), I wrote about defining Terminology as it relates to “Things You Should Know About Buying a Foreclosure.” Here’s the second post in the series:
- Price – Truth be told, there are no general pricing rules on how banks price any given Foreclosure. Some of them are priced 10-15% below current market values, often resulting in multiple offers and mini-bidding wars among buyers. That in turn often results in a sales price that’s higher than the asking price. Other Foreclosures are priced at or even above current market values. The key to buying a Foreclosure at a good price is to research the most current comparable sales, accurately assess the property’s condition, and then structure the offer appropriately.
NOTE: I still occasionally run across a home buyer who says something like this to me, “I’ve never paid sticker price for a car, and I’ll be damned if I’ll pay sticker price for a house.” My response is simple – buying a house is not the same as buying a car. Automobile dealers put a ‘sticker’ retail price on a product and at the same time know that a substantial portion of consumers will attempt to negotiate a lower price. The biggest difference between pricing cars and pricing houses is that there are no two homes that are exactly the same. Hence, each residential property is priced on its own merits. So when a buyer looks at a house, and tries to assess its relative value in the current market, the asking (‘sticker’) price is irrelevant. What matters is what I said before –> what have other, similar properties actually Sold for in recent times? Be wise in your home shopping, and be sure to ask your Buyer’s Agent to run the recent ‘comps’ on any property that you’re seriously considering.
