Anyone know about Foreclosures in Michigan? A Few ?s....

Linsay2231 · #1 09/12/11, 04:26 PM

I am interested in purchasing a house in mid Michigan. It has been vacant at least 3 years according to the neighbors, and the neighbors told us before that a man lived in it but it got foreclosed upon. A couple of weeks ago some men came out to take photos and assess the home for the bank, they let me go in the house with them and it needs some work but not a lot, it would be nice if I could purchase it and rent it out. Now for the questions...

How can I find out what bank owns the house and when it will go on the market?

Can I offer below asking price if I am paying in cash, and if so what is an acceptable percentage below asking price to offer?

Thanks for any help!

Parttimefarmer · #2 09/12/11, 04:32 PM

It won't matter to the bank if you pay cash unless it's not able to be mortgaged it's in such bad shape (or lacking utilities, central heat, water). It will mean the offer is good, but they won't necessarily care as much as you would think. Our house was a foreclosure, they didn't care.

You can offer whatever you want, anything within 10% is considered "serious" if the house if priced for the market. The key is finding the real value. Do you have good knowledge of the market?

Linsay2231 · #3 09/12/11, 04:37 PM

Unfortunately, I don't really know a lot about the market of foreclosure type houses. We bought a really nice, ready to move into, HUGE farm house in immaculate condition and paid good money for it because it was exactly what we were looking for. I do know it has no utilities in it, it was gutted and in the process of being redone when the last owner lost it. It is halfway done being rewired, and all the walls have new drywall on them that hasnt even been painted yet. No central heat, but the plumbing is all redone. There is also no carpeting.

Nevada · #4 09/12/11, 04:47 PM

If this property is owned by a bank then it is no longer a foreclosure, it's a bank REO (real estate owned). The foreclosure process is over now.

You can find out which bank owns the property the same way you find out who owns any other property; at either the assessor's office or the recorder's office. They will both know the owner of record. Most likely you can access county records online at no charge.

Parttimefarmer · #5 09/12/11, 04:47 PM

That's good if you have cash. No one will be able to get a mortgage on it.

Did you use a realtor to buy your current house?

Linsay2231 · #6 09/12/11, 04:53 PM

Andrea...
I did use a realtor, but she did not do a good job at trying to help us out and did not work hard to meet our requests, we found every house we liked and all the houses she wanted to show us were not at all what we told her we were looking for..then when push came to shove she was not fighting for what we wanted, instead she was telling us at every turn that "we should make the deal" when we were not yet satisfied with the deal. The only reason we got what we wanted is because we told he we would not take the deals as negotiating went on and at one point she told us, "If you dont take this deal they are going to tell you to walk"...guess what they didnt and we got exactly what we wanted in the end! We bought our house from California, otherwise I would have changed real estate agents before the transaction ever took place. I will not use her again.

Parttimefarmer · #7 09/12/11, 04:57 PM

Then I would look in the public records to start, maybe check online every couple days to see if it's listed while you look. What county?

Linsay2231 · #8 09/12/11, 04:58 PM

It is in Jackson County, I am checking public records now...

Parttimefarmer · #9 09/12/11, 05:03 PM

I think moveinmichigan.com covers Jackson. You can filter by foreclosures to see if it's listed. Around here many of the foreclosures don't have a sign up.