Well, imo, i'd say forget it. Sounds like the place isn't in good shape, so there's probably more wrong than is obvious at the surface.

Yes, ONLY IF you are a contractor to repair everything, priced way below the area, after the bank/mortage com gives final figures, no one is living in house, taxes are paid out of escrow, clear title recived, and you contact the local building dept to make sure permits were pulled on all remodeling and you also have a RE lawyer approve all paper work
Other than that NO NO NO. Too many problems.

Could be a foreclosure, or maybe just a bad, bad case of simple neglect. But a potential money pit all the same.

The "deal" has to be really good to make it worth your while. Spread over a typical 30 year loan, the PITA factor will be FAR more memorable for a house in poor repair than the $50/month you save for a few years...

For the right buyer those specific problems are no big deal (assuming that's ALL that is wrong) but if you are questioning whether you are the right buyer, you're not. If you are the right buyer, you'd already know.

I changed my microwave and light fixtures on my own just because I didn't like the ones the house came with. My dishwasher is on the to-do list (and i consider it an easy task to replace), and a repairable deck isn't that big a deal to me either. A deck that needs to be totally replaced would be a more serious problem.

sweeby wrote:

Could be a foreclosure, or maybe just a bad, bad case of simple neglect. But a potential money pit all the same.

Yes--could be either one. As a potential buyer, should it matter to me? And if so, how could I tell?

mfbenson wrote:

For the right buyer those specific problems are no big deal (assuming that's ALL that is wrong) but if you are questioning whether you are the right buyer, you're not. If you are the right buyer, you'd already know.

I agree, and dealing with the issues I mentioned is not an issue for us. In terms of our DIY skills and interests, we're the right buyers. But for some reason, the question of whether it's foreclosure or animosity/neglect feels unsettling to me. It makes it harder to feel I know what the "right price' would be. Maybe it's psychological. I appreciate any and all insights!

What a timely posting! DH and I have had our eye on a "for sale by owner" property for the last few weeks. We have been able to tour the inside of the house several times and have noticed quite a few "need to take care of" issues (must do list: new flooring throughout, insulate garage, replace fridge, reline chimney, thoroughly clean entire house, install new sliding glass door and other various small details). The current homeowner has told us that she received a foreclosure notice last week and that her and her soon to be ex-spouse NEED to sell and need to sell fast. The house reflects the lack of love in the home, the marriage suffered and the house suffered. I look at it as a plus in our favor. We can diy a large majority of the projects, and are hoping to pick up the property at 40k below market average (based on recent sales of the same size/style/model home on the same street). I hate to sound crass, but they need to sell, and things need fixing, so I want to work the situation to my advantage. Right now, for us, it's a race against time, to get our home sold before the bank steps in and takes that home from them. (We need to sell our home in order to come up with the downpayment on the "about to be foreclosed on" home). We used zillow.com and domania.com to find out what the current owners paid for the house, we figured that they put down a 20% down payment (the current homeowner is very open, and told us that she'd rather lose her 20% down payment than have a foreclosure on her credit report) and then we researched to see what the other comparable homes sold for. We are offering low based on the fact that they NEED to get out of that home (we are offering only enough for them to cover the current mortgage balance), we are also taking into consideration the amount of work that the home needs because of the neglect it has suffered.

Benefitting from someone else's personal crisis is a tricky situation, it doesn't make me feel good to try to buy our new home for as little as possible (at the current owner's expense), but on the other hand, it would make a good investment for us. The home doesn't necessarily feel "right" for us, as it sits, but with about 20k worth of improvements, I can make it as close to perfect for us as is possible. The way I look at it, it's a win/win situation for all of us, they don't go into foreclosure and we get a heck of a deal. If you can get a great deal, and still manage to swing the costs of the improvements that need to be made (and the ones that aren't evident now, but are probably lurking there just waiting to be found by a home inspector)....then I say go for it. Impending foreclosure can be a great motivator for a seller!

jiggreen

I agree you should have a detailed home inspection, but I think the other signs are not so dire. They seem more like divorcing-couple issues than house issues.

I'll betcha each party's attorney has advised their client NOT to pay the taxes in an effort to manipulate the financial settlements. In most places it takes awhile for a tax-foreclosure to happen (unlike a mortgage foreclosure), and the person who pays the taxes probably won't get half of the amount credited to them during the financial negotiations. And it will have to be brought up to date prior to sale, so you won't inherit the debt.

As for the missing fan, who knows, maybe somebody had a temper tantrum and the fan got damaged in the ensuing fracas. (My former husband had a meltdown and threw things around the kitchen, breaking some windows on his last night in our house) Maybe it just croaked and the wife hated it, and her husband wouldn't fix it, and she just yanked it out because it reminded her of his broken promises and she couldn't stand it another minute. Replacing OTR hood is realy no big deal.

Your inspector will turn up any problems with house; the couples personal problems will depart with them.

Molly~

We closed on our home 10 days before the sheriff's sale. The fact that the former owner hit some bad times did not change my feelings about the home, but I knew he was motivated to sell just by reading the newspaper. Personally, I might feel less comfortable buying a willfully neglected home rather than a pre-forclosure home from people who hit a tough patch. You sound like you can handle the known issues. If no other major issues show up at inspection, buy it if the location and price are right.