Owners Making Improvements On Pre-foreclosure Property???
I Was recently given a lead on a pre-foreclosure poperty by a private lender. The lender giving me the lead is also the one who financed the property so, at this time, only The Lender, the homeowners and myself are aware of the potential foreclosure. The lender says that a court date has already being set for June 23rd. I happened to have driven by the house today and noticed that they owners are making improvements to the house-building a drive way and possibly doing some landscaping. There is no 'for sale' sign at this time. What should I make of the owners doing these improvements to the house when they are about to be foreclosed and are behind on payments about 17k? The loan balance is 253,000.00-I am assuming they will try to sell the house and get top dollar for the property before letting it go into foreclosure. I cannot contact them yet as there is no public record of the property being foreclosed or for sale. What should I do? Wait for a for sale sign to go up and then contact them? And if so, what should I offer them or how should I approach this. I ran the comps on the house and it should easily sell for at least 400k. Please help! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. (I am in Miami, Fl.)
:-?
Send them a letter stating that you are a person who is looking in the (fill in the blank) area, and that you are interested in purchasing a property. Ask them to call you if they or someone they know is looking to sell a property in the near future. You could even throw in some benefits of working directly with you - instead of a realtor...
good luck
many times the owner in foreclosure will arrange for refinance, 2nd mtg, etc, to bring it current. Many homes that start in foreclosure never get foreclosed, especially if there is alot of equity-they have options. Also, bankruptcy is an option to stay the action.
the previous advice about the letter is good advice. 8-)
Taking a different directin then the other two responses (they both have good points)....
Something does not add up based on my knowledge.
1. You said that the court date has already been set. What do you mean by the court date? What action is expected to be taken that day.
2. The owners must know there is an issue if the court date has been set. I would also expect that the court date is public and potentially even the purpose for the date. You might have found out from other means but I would expect you can find the court date details if you looked given you know the parties, the date and the address of the subject property.
Why is the lender speaking with you? Are they largely trying to avoid the process by helping the homeowner with a possible buyer? They could sell you the note BTW.
John
[addsig]
Well I know this is a radical suggestion but you might try talking to them. Park your car a block away or so (I know, it Florida no-body walks, a dog helps in this) and walk by looking like you are just out for a stroll. Mention that the new driveway looks very good. Begin a conversation about how long they've lived there and whether they like the neighborhood. Bring up that you've seen the notice of the proceeding (only if necessary). Mention that you'd like to buy a house around here. See what their plan is. React accordingly.
From what I understand, the court date has been set up to transfer ownership of the property to the lender.
This lender is someone that I was introduced to just recently. I did a background check on him and his company and both appear check out.