Santa Maria Real Estate: Tips for Buying Santa Maria Foreclosures
Be prepared:
1) For an “as-is” purchase – Banks don’t like to make repairs, and you will find that the Santa Maria real estate is littered with bank sellers who intend to make no repairs to their properties. This may even include situations where the property has been cited by the City of Santa Maria for violations of the municipal code. Santa Maria foreclosure buyers should research these issues by contacting the City of Santa Maria, City Attorney’s Office and the City of Santa Maria Planning Department. Banks are exempt from some disclosures and many take this small exemption as license to make less than complete disclosures about a listed property. Santa Marias buyer should be prepared to accept foreclosures “as is” and to conduct a thorough investigation about the status of the foreclosure with local government agencies.
2) For competition – I showed a bank owned foreclosure yesterday in the Classics Development in Santa Maria. It was the first day it was on the market and the price was about 10% – 15% below what the last foreclosure sale of that model sold for in that development. As I showed it, another Realtor was waiting at the door. I walked down the street with my clients so we could discuss the listing in privacy and when I returned to my car there were two more Realtors there to show the home. When I drove by the home again that same day there were people parked in front of the home, people parked across the street walking to the home and another car slowing to check it out. All this without a sign. Those who want to buy a home in the Santa Maria real estate market for foreclosures must be prepared for competition.
3) For delays — Banks just can’t act that quickly. Cash buyers in Santa Maria and Orcutt routinely request 10 or 15 day closings and banks many times cannot meet the requirements of a quick escrow. They use out of town escrow companies, require a committee decision before signing off on their own offers, and are slow to sign off settlement statements. On the other hand, banks require you to act promptly when buying a foreclosure. Nonetheless, you should be prepared to run into a wall of resistance when trying to act swiftly on a bank owned property purchase in Santa Maria.
List of Santa Maria foreclosures $100,000 – $200,000
List of Santa Maria foreclosures $200,000 – $300,000
List of Santa Maria foreclosures $300,000 – $400,000
List of Santa Maria foreclosures $400,000 and up
Check out my previous blog entry: How to Buy Home and Condo Foreclosures in Santa Maria, CA
