Bank foreclosure what to offer?

[Chris C]

i have a bank foreclosure right by me the house was built in 2000 very nice house its around houses priced well above 200k they have it priced at 149k and the bank bought it at the sheriff sale for 114k so i was wondering if the 149k price would be negotiable or do you think they are going to be pretty firm on it? also i have someone who is willing to work out a contract to just rent or a rent to own and they are able to pay over 1000 a month rent who may be interested in this so i was wondering if this would be a good or bad idea to try and get this house then work out a deal with them figure that way they would be paying the house off for me any input would be appreciated thanks

[Mark Updegraff]

First off, you're going to want good tenants, and you're going to want to qualify them first. Don't take their word on how much they can afford, check them out. Landlording for Scrupulous Landlords is an excellent read.

About the foreclosure.

You state, "the bank paid 114k"

I don't believe banks go to auctions to buy property, banks don't want to own property.
The bank that "bid" on the property is bidding to protect their interest. Suppose bank has a first position lien on the home and is owed 100K. You better believe they are going to be there bidding up to 100k (sometimes they will take a little loss, depending on the area, inventory, days on market etc). Since no one out bid the bank at auction they're putting it back through the MLS and are paying more fees (brokers, holding costs etc) so they need to get more than the 114k.

I recommend you spend A LOT of time reading up on RE investing / foreclosures etc before purchasing anything.