Agents Heaven - Real Estate Blog

Ready to begin your MLS Real Estate Search? Choose your state below Select A State Alaska Alabama Arkansas Arizona California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Iowa Idaho Illinois Indiana Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Massachusetts Maryland Maine Michigan Minnesota Missouri Mississippi Montana North Carolina North Dakota Nebraska New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico Nevada New York Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Virginia Vermont Washington Washington DC Wisconsin West Virginia Wyoming

Does a Foreclosure-palooza in Some Cities & States Mean a Deal For You?

August 20, 2007 on 12:33 am | In Hot Real Estate Markets, Real Estate News, Home Values |

Just last week CNNmoney.com posted an article listing the top ten cities in the United States facing sharp increases in home foreclosures. This comes only weeks after they published an article focusing on the most “ruthless foreclosure states“, which focuses on the amount of time one can lose there home in various states across the country. You don’t have to look far to find countless articles on this hot news item.

What does this all mean for you? At this point, it’s anyone’s guess. We heard for years, experts tell us that there was a “housing bubble” that was set to “pop”, but it never did did it? The housing market has in fact had a very manageable slowdown, with the primary bumps in the road being folks foreclosing on properties they bought, but couldn’t actually afford, often with adjustable rate mortgages.

These aren’t bad people, and we should certainly all have sympathy for them, but the lesson we learn is a simple one we should have already known - buy within your means… And DON’T get an adjustable rate mortgage!

Now, the question is… does the surge in foreclosure activity provide you with a buying opportunity? Certainly it doesn’t take a genius to recognize that with home sales slowing down, and more homes coming on the market, it has gone from being one of the best sellers markets a year ago, to a buyers market with a lot of further potential today.

Obviously there’s never a guarantee when home prices will go back up, and how quickly, and in what regions, so do your research. If you’ve been on the fence about getting in to the real estate market, this is a great time to look in to it more seriously. But don’t go wild with the buying opportunity unless you’ve got good reason to believe it will provide you with a big pay off in your region. You’d hate to get stuck with properties that have barely increased in value and require a lot of work to sell 5 or 10 years down the road.

Tags: foreclosed home, foreclosing, home foreclosure, buyers market, foreclosed, home foreclosing, cheap real estate, foreclosure, real estate, real estate market, cnnmoney, housing bubble