HUD foreclosures as an approach?

[Brian Falcon]

Hi all. This seems like the closest forum for this topic, but if I'm in the wrong one, apologies. Does anyone have experience with HUD foreclosures or other approaches to acquiring REO projects? I'm a newbie and wasn't sure how much of a headache this approach may be to accomplish, but on paper it seems like a good approach. Any advice/feedback on this process would be appreciated. TIA!

[Bruce Lynn]

You can look at HUDHomeStore.com to see all the HUD listings. There aren't many. Last time I looked for example there were only about 40 for all of Texas. 10-12 years ago there might have been 400-500 in each of the big cities. So depends on where you want to buy, what price range, and what condition you want to buy. That very much narrows down the choices for most people. Also they normally give first shot to owner occupants, so if you plan to live in it for a year, that's your best option. Investors typically are only given a shot after owner/occupants or perhaps if the homes are in super poor condition.

It's been a while since I've had anyone bid, but rarely in my area was there ever only one bidder....at one time they would display the bids and I've seen as many as 70 people bidding on one property. I expect that is not the case today and I don't think they display the bids any more, so you never know, but I would think typically it is competitive and not as cheap as most people think. You do have to find a HUD certified broker to make your bids.

Get on the website and see if there are any in your area you like and you can also set up alerts to feed you the properties that meet your buy box.

Good luck and happy bidding.