“I passed up a $125,000 short sale bargain because I wanted to wait for the foreclosure sale on the court house steps..." - Kansas City Real Estate

“I passed up a $125,000 short sale bargain because I wanted to wait for the foreclosure sale on the court house steps...”

My client, Dustin, and I had been eye balling this Overland Park home for 3 months, off and on....There hadn’t been much traffic, though the price had been dropped several times.  Heck, we had trouble finding the home with the help of my trusty Garmin, (Realtor’s best friend) ....

I hadn’t paid attention, but we later found out the directions in the MLS were wrong...took agents to “terrace” instead of “street...” But I digress.

Comparable homes sold in the 190’s and up....$125,000 would be a nice bargain. Plenty of room for repairs, upgrades, and equity.

“Dustin” and I looked at other homes, but he kept coming back to this one....Then, the telephone call.....

“Martin, the home sold at the foreclosure sale for $179,022!”

Humm, “Dustin, should we have made an offer while we still had a chance?”

Dustin had it in his head that a purchase on the court house steps was a better deal than any other....In point of fact, many times these properties are no better than auction properties, because that’s what the foreclosure sale is, an auction.

Dustin also didn’t take in account the lack in flexibility in obtaining inspections and financing an auction property.

That means two things;

1-These properties were passed up by hundreds, maybe thousands of other buyers......They passed by for many reasons, some of them GREAT reasons!

2-They always go to the Buyer who is the HIGHEST BIDDER....Why do these folks think they got such a great deal when the contest itself means the Buyer who spends the most “wins”?

Amazing.

Had another consumer contact us...Bought 3 properties from a “HUD Insider”...Whooo, cloak and dagger sounding, huh? All 3 were dumps, needed a bulldozer, not a Home Depot account.....Buyer wanted to be a Seller, with “Instant profits” he was promised.

He got hosed, and like many consumers, thought that an “auction property” was a sure-fire winner....Such as “Charlie Sheen” Winner. No joke when it’s YOUR hard earned money.


So, the Buyer who payed the most, “wins”?  Sounds like a great deal for the Seller, not the Buyer.

While there are many reasons to pass by the dumpy properties....When you see a good one, don’t go wishing on a star....Find an experienced Realtor, and let’s get started!

RE/MAX sells more homes than any other real estate company.
For a reason...should we talk?

Blog post written by the Dowell Taggart Team of RE/MAX Premier Realty

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