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What You Need To Know About HUD Foreclosure Listings

If you are an impulse shopper, then it is not recommended that you attend a real estate foreclosure auction in order to get a deal on a house (whether to live in it or to invest in it). Auctions give off a sense of urgency worse than your bladder does after guzzling a two liter bottle of cola. If you are serious about getting property in a particular area, then you will be better off with watching HUD foreclosure listings like a hawk.

Get That Mouse Clicking

In order to find HUD foreclosure listings in your desired area, you first need to get to the Housing and Urban Development's home page at hud.gov. This will take you a series of links all about how to bid on a HUD foreclosure home and about what is (and isn't) included in a HUD house. Most importantly, there is a listing of states for the HUD foreclosure listing in those states.

Fore example, let's say you want to see all of the HUD foreclosure listings in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. You click onto Pennsylvania link and you will most likely get a warning that you are leaving HUD's home page to another web site. This is nothing to be alarmed about. Click on to "Go on to web site requested".

This will take you to the Pennsylvania HUD approved broker, Hooks Van Holm. Yo see that there is a long list of Pennsylvania towns and cities, but certainly not a comprehensive list of all the towns and cities in the state. These happen to be the only ones with a HUD foreclosure property in them. You scroll down to find Lancaster and click the link. You might also heave a sigh of relief to see that your home town is not on the list (if you happen to reside in Pennsylvania).

Bidding Process

You make the bids for the homes on a HUD foreclosure listing in much the same way you would bid for an item on eBay. You have a long time to make up your mind and aren't pressured. You do need to inspect the property yourself and to get a home inspector to go over it. Never bid on a HUD property sight unseen.

The first ten days that a HUD property goes up for "auction" is reserved for bids from the previous owners (should some miracle occur in their financial lives) or for people who want to actually live in the home. On day eleven onwards, the bids are opened up to real estate investors or "flippers".