Purchasing Foreclosed Eden Prairie Homes

Foreclosure properties seem to be all the rage these days.  At the rate that these properties are being put on the market, I suspect we will be working with these type of properties for several more years.  Eden Prairie Real Estate has really seen an uptick in the number of homes going into foreclosure in the last year.  Many are even executive homes over $1 million. 

If you are a home buyer or investor, you probably have already experienced how frustrating buying foreclosed homes can be.  Every property can be a mine field of physical and legal issues.  The offer process can be convoluted and confusing.  Add in to all that a competitive market for the better homes and it is enough to make someone decide to stay where they are and not buy!

Here are some tips and tricks that I have found over time that can help you get your offers accepted:

1. If possible, remove the inspection contingency on the offer.  Only do this if you are confident about your analysis of the property prior to making the offer.  If the property needs work, get your contractor over there during the bidding process.  Occasionally, banks will automatically give you an inspection period.  Otherwise, there is often 48 hours or so between the bank accepting your offer and the paperwork needing to be turned into the listing agent.  Use that time to quickly run your inspection and don't turn the documents in if you want to cancel.
2. Pay cash for the property.  While it may be difficult to pay cash for a $1 million Eden Prairie Home, see if you can move some equity or money around to make it happen.  Even if it is temporary, do it to buy the home and refinance later.
3. Don't ask the bank to perform any repairs on the home.  They are often not interested in doing anything to the property other than selling it.  Asking for repairs will make your offer more complicated and could lead to them ignoring it and going with a simpler offer.
4. Make sure you are using a reputable/competent real estate agent.  Although you (nor your agent) will ever meet the bank representative, you should use an agent that understands how to make offers on foreclosed homes.  This takes experience.  Only after selling many of these types of properties can an agent give you good advice.
5. Never put time limitations on your offer.  Banks will either ignore those parts of your offer or your offer will be discarded because they will not honor that request/section.
6. Refrain from using any non-standard addendum or language in your offer.  Banks are selling thousands of homes across the United States, they do not have time for each unique request of every offer on every property.

In this market, it is very probable that you are going to be making offers on Foreclosed properties especially if you are looking in Eden Prairie.  Using some or all of these techniques can help you secure you dream home.