Check Out the Latest Foreclosed Properties!

Saving a foreclosure search

Saving a search for popular counties, click on one of the five counties below

Saving a search in any county in Washington:

Use the search bar above and select "advanced search". Then choose a County location and click "search". You will see the icon "+ Save this Search" on the top left. Once you click on it you will be prompted to sign up if you haven't already. You will receive email listings for foreclosed properties as they come on the market. You can repeat this for other counties.

Click on the counties below and see a list of foreclosed properties  

Foreclosed Properties Explained

Foreclosed properties can provide tremendous purchasing value.  It takes time and patience to find the right one that will work for you especially when you factor in your time value and finances.  So let’s first define what is a foreclosure.

Foreclosure is a process.  When a homeowner misses payments, the lender will send a certified letter to the homeowner with a 30 day notice of default.  The notice asks the borrower to catch up on payments within this period.  Without curing the default, a 60 day notice of foreclosure is sent by certified mail, a notice is shared to the public, and a notice of foreclosure is pinned to the property.  The notice states the amount the owner owes in arrears and has up to 15 days from the date of sale to make restitution. Most lenders will allow for back payments up to the date of the auction.  If no payment is received, the home is auctioned to the highest bidder.  If there are no acceptable bids, the home reverts to the lender or the insured and becomes part of their inventory of Real Estate Owned Properties or better known as REO’s.  These are considered foreclosed properties.

The REO’s are then listed for sale through a local real estate agent.  The condition of the property will depend on the previous owner’s maintenance and/or whether there is any work done by the institution.  In most cases, the amount of work done is minimal and sold “as is”.

Buying foreclosed properties may not always be the best investment.  Buyers need to consider front-end purchase costs, holding costs, and if looking to flip a property, look at the back-end costs.  Having a background with cost estimation will go miles to enhance profit margins.

Over the years, I have found the best deals are those properties that cannot qualify for loans. Cash deals tend to provide the best opportunities.  It also lessens the competition.  Lenders will administer a loan only if there are no conditional maintenance issues on the appraisal.  In nearly all cases, institutions will not allow any work orders to be completed prior to closing.  In most cases, this leaves rehab loans, hard money, and cash deals only.

Buying a foreclosed property can provide tremendous opportunity and a great way to personalize your home.

Short Sale

When a seller wants to sell their home and they don’t have the proceeds to cover an agreed upon sale price, the seller will make a request to their lender to make up the financial difference they are short to make the deal happen.  Hence the term short sale. Today, we are seeing less and less of these opportunities since values have gone up over the past few years and less sellers are underwater with their loans.

Still, short sales are compelling values. An advantage to short sales is the owner still owns the home and all initial negotiations are with the homeowner and not the bank.  If there is a loan involved, making repairs prior to closing is a huge advantage and it’s not uncommon for both the buyer and seller to put on their thinking caps to get the deal done.  Still, through a lengthy process, the bank must approve the short sale. Although banks have improved the turn times for an approval, be prepared for up to 4 weeks or longer for a response from the bank.

If you need additional information on the process, I have tremendous experience negotiating and working with banks with short sales. If you see an opportunity, let’s discuss and see if we can get a deal done!