Arizona Home Talk

Deals. Deals. Deals.  They are everywhere.  Just this month I have a client buying a lovely home for $48 dollars per square foot in Queen Creek.  Another client is spending $82 per square foot for a Gilbert home.  I live in a home where I paid about $160 per square foot. Needless to say, my clients are getting a steal.  Both homes are bank-owned/REOs/REPO/foreclosures - whatever you want to call them.  Very different than a short sale, bank-owned properties have former owners who have defaulted on their mortgage, they wer served a trustee sale notice, the property went up for auction, and the note holder (bank) bought it back and is selling it for a major discount.  Banks are not in the business of owning real estate - they want these homes off their books as fast as possible.  My Queen Creek buyers bought the bank owned home after just 2 days on the market.  The Gilbert buyers after just 23 days.  The bank-owned homes get scooped up fast - and ususally for full price since they are already at such a discount below fair market value.

However, if you are after a deal, you are in for an interesting ride.  Showing these “distressed” properties is always a mixture of good and bad surprises.  The two clients I mentioned were lucky enough to find a foreclosure that was in good condition.  Great condition in fact.  But before finding “the one” we saw some homes that are shocking.  Here are some examples of what you can expect to find when looking at bank owned homes.

• Pet urine on every square inch of carpet.  Vacant for 200+ days.  The smell will knock you over.
• No upper kitchen cabinets. Stolen.
• No baseboards. No light fixtures. No ceiling fans. No door handles.  No mirrors.
• Electrical cover gone = copper wiring may be gone.
• Scorpions, spiders, crickets, roaches - dead and alive.
• Holes in the drywall (from moving furniture in the night?)
• Spray paint “wall art”