Tracking sales of foreclosed homes

[Mi Bankruptcy]

Back in 2001 You could not find a house in my area for under a 100k. Peanuts to some but allot to me. I found a nice home out in the country under 100K. The house next to me was foreclosed on. The house around the corner was purchased for 145K. The house went into foreclosure and now is for sale for 26,500. A part of me wonders if I should have reaffirmed my house?

So.. I would like to see

Average homes 100K +
Foreclosure listing 26K+

Hopefully, everyone can see what I am trying to do here. I watch homes through local MLS sites and through zillow.

Any others?

[bkstuff]

How do you get on local MLS sites (unless you are an agent)? I could not find any sites that listed actual sale price...only listing price. THANKS

[Mi Bankruptcy]

[justbroke]

I don't know how to get on the real MLS. Some Realtor sites actually provide more information including DOM (Days on Market) which is important to me, as well as the history of the listing price and the final sales price. Unfortunately, it's inconsistent and the majority of sites don't provide the "useful" information.

Do you have a friend who's a licensed real estate agent, broker, or even appraiser? Otherwise, everyone wishes they had full MLS access.

[DeadManCrawling]

My wife is a Realtor, and I look at the MLS often for our area.

Sometimes you CAN access the MLS, or certain parts of it anyway, directly or through agent websites. The SoCal MLS used to be open to anyone. Not sure if it still is.

The MLS is useful for an overview, but there is SO much info, you would need some serious data-mining software to spot real trends and make use of the info.

For our area, though, Pasco Florida, there are some definite trends that you can see, even without the MLS.

Condos here, foreclosed: 8k and up. Yes, 8k.

NICE condos, that you would actually want to live in: 40k.

One of the issues with condos though, is the association fees. So many condos have been foreclosed that the associations are unable to collect enough money to function, buy insurance, maintain roofs, and so on. I know of one condo association that went from a monthly fee of $200 in 2007 to $1,800/month now.

For homes in our area:

Foreclosure: 12-15k. If you are willing to do major renovations, possibly right down to the studs and foundation, you can find them. They are not in nice areas.

Nicer foreclosures: 35-50k. These are actually livable and can provide basic shelter with some luxuries and no renovations that are necessary. Often they are a bit dated, older carpet, and so on, but they are in good enough shape to occupy immediately.

Very nice foreclosures: 75k and up. Now you are getting into homes that sold at the peak for upwards of 200k and higher. These homes will have pools, hot tubs, be in nice neighborhoods. 3 bed 3 bath are common, sometimes much more. Well maintained usually, and often in gated communities. Which leads to the same issue as the condos above, in regards to HOA's.

There are some spectacular buys directly on the Gulf in this area. 200k can get you a fairly large and livable home directly on the Gulf with spectacular views. However, the insurance will be outrageous, if you can get it at all.

We bought a foreclosure last November. Here is what we got for 100k:

2800 sq feet on 1/2 acre in the country. The road out front is fairly busy, which is the only down side. Not a major thoroughfare, by any means, but one of those roads people use to get back to their neighborhood.

We have a large pool and lanai overlooking a very large backyard where we are planting a garden.

My dad in law, who has Alzheimer's disease lives in an attached in-law suite with its own kitchen, office, living room, bathroom and bedroom. It also has a separate entrance and totals about 900 sq feet.

Main house has 3 bedrooms, living room, great room, 2 bathrooms, dining room, all the usual.

2 car garage.

We did have to do some renovation work, the AC unit had been stolen and many fixtures were gone, so we replaced or repaired things like light fixtures and replaced carpet with tile. We probably added about 30k in repairs.

To make sure we were within the homestead limits, we had an appraisal done after the renovations. It came in at about 190k. So, not bad, though appraisals are inherently subjective.

At the height of the housing boom, this place sold for almost 300k. That was overpriced, even then, but I think we did okay.

There are amazing bargains in some areas, and if you know what you are looking for, have cash to pay, you can't go wrong.

Now, without a mortgage, fresh off ch 7, we are able to save a lot, and are redefining how we live, with a garden, sustainable energy thinking, and generally being frugal. I am working on things like solar where possible, and trying to use less resources in general. Not so much to save money now, but over time. And to be nicer to the environment, within reason. Some things are not within reason, financially, and make little real impact on the world, but we do what we can where it makes sense.

I am sure there are similar deals in other areas, but some will be a matter of perspective. No matter how far things fall, I doubt NYC or SoCal will ever approach our levels here.