How to Buy a Foreclosure or Short Sale in Fairfax and Loudoun County

Research- This begins way before there is a sign on the lawn. In most cases savvy investors begin prospecting for foreclosures and short sales in the public announcements section of their local paper. Do a drive by of any houses that are in default. See if the property is vacant as well as the condition of the outside. ***Hint here** If it looks rough on the outside you can beat it’s going to be rough on the inside. Go to the courthouse steps and see if the bank had to buy back the mortgage note. Just as a side note here; I highly discourage first time investors from buying houses on the courthouse steps unless they are extremely experienced.

Get help!- When buying a foreclosure in most cases the Realtors commission is already built into the foreclosure and short sale price. This means that if you are buying a foreclosure or short sale the lender in most cases is paying your Realtors commission. Find an experienced foreclosure or short sale Realtor specialist. An experienced agent can guide your through all the pit falls and save you time and money!

Have a plan “B”— Always have a back up plan before buying that foreclosure or short sale. Write down the “what if’s”. What if your foreclosure flip doesn’t sell in 30 days or 60 days? What happens if you have to rent it out for a couple of years? What are the rentals comps like?

Show the money—- Have your financing in order before you start looking. Half the challenge of buying an investment property is having a solid offer ready to go. If you are borrowing money from a lender you should have a pre approval letter ready to go. If you are buying using cash, CD’s or other investment tools you need to have a copy of funds on file and ready to go.

Put in on paper—- Now that you found that perfect investment its time to put it on paper. I suggest you have a contract pre-written with all the addendums ready to go. Just leave the price, property address and signatures off. Once you find a property you want to just fill in those few blanks and (very important) scan into a PDF doc and send!

Finally, investing in Real Estate is nothing like those show on TV. It takes a lot of knowledge and hard work to be a success( a little luck is also very helpful!). If you are serious about investing in Real Estate start by finding a good Realtor who can walk you through the process. It’s like having an Ace in the hole!

Take care,

Chuck

Serving all of your Ashburn, Chantilly,Fairfax,Herndon, Reston, Leesburg, Mclean and Loudoun County area Real Estate needs!