Buy a Foreclosure Home in Southern California

Are you looking to buy a foreclosure home in Southern California but just can't seem to make things work out for you? Are you spending thousands of hours looking at all these different options and amazing real estate deals but haven't been able to buy one? Well, I know exactly why and I'm going to show you how to buy a foreclosure home in Southern California and why looking online is a huge waste of time. 

My name is Matthew Silva. I'm a real estate broker and I've been selling foreclosures since 2003 in the Southern California area, helping people for almost 20 years. My clients include investors, Banks,  attorneys, normal buyers and sellers and hopefully one day you too. 

So, what is a foreclosure? Simply put a foreclosure is a home where the owner fell behind on the payments and now, the bank has taken that property back and put it on the market and now you can buy it at a discounted price. 

Now, what the real problem is, is what they don't tell you is that what you're looking at online is not accurate. So you will see a property that's worth a million dollars and the way it looks is like you can buy that thing for thirty thousand dollars and you're getting really excited, you're calling your friends and family: “I found this amazing deal. I could buy a million-dollar home for thirty thousand dollars”, wrong. 

Yes, what they're showing you is that this person is behind thirty thousand dollars worth of payments that you can buy for thirty thousand dollars. Sorry. A lot of times will even call these things a “pre-foreclosure”, meaning it hasn't been foreclosed on but if they keep going at this rate one day, it's going to get foreclosed on. So you know if you want, you can try to waste your time with those properties. 

Now you can buy foreclosures at the courthouse steps generally you have to have all cash for that type of a property and it is a huge risk because whatever you buy, there is no refunds, there's no inspections, you're buying it with any existing liens, they can do on hundreds of thousands of dollars on the property after and you bought it you just found out. You still owe all this money so it's not the price you paid or major problems like foundation issues on a hillside and hill slope falling down. Sorry, Charlie. You just lost a lot of money and it sounded like a good deal but reality was completely different. 

So now how can a normal person purchase a foreclosure? 

Well first you want to start with getting pre-approved for a loan.

And you not just any loan but a loan that will allow you to purchase a fixer or a property that needs a lot of renovations and this will give you a lot of flexibility in the marketplace. 

If you have a little bit more for a down payment, a hard money loan is pretty preferred but those also come with some pretty high rates. It depends on what you're looking to do. If you're looking for a good deal to live in, you may not want that hard money loan. 

If you want to live in it, you're probably going to want to look at some renovation loan options that we have available for you. So now you have your financing and order you know exactly what you're qualified for. You've got your payments all sorted out, you're ready to go and buy a foreclosure in Southern California.

DOZENS OF LOW RATE PROGRAMS AVAILABLE. FIND OUT WHAT PROGRAMS ARE BEST FOR YOU. 

GET PRE -QUALIFIED

But the first mistake a lot of people make is thinking “foreclosure foreclosure foreclosure…that's all I want to see”. 

Well that's not always going to be the best deal just because it says it's a foreclosure, does not mean it's going to be priced low. Sometimes these foreclosures are priced too high and believe it or not. 

Well what you want to focus on is what I call these distressed properties. 

And this is a foreclosure, a divorce sale, somebody had to relocate and they don't really have a choice but to sell it fast, and another one is unfortunately when he passed away and the heirs to the estate are now selling it and they're not in the business of holding on to the real estate. so they just want to get it sold fast. 

So then we show up to check out the property. We look at all the details of the repairs that are needed and any other concerns that you may have. And then we give them a nice low payment and we've checked out what homes are selling for the area versus what you're buying it for and we know you're getting a great deal. 

GET OFF MARKET LISTINGS 

So now for the bonus round. 

What you want to do is make sure you watch our video on How to Buy a Good Deal in Real Estate in Southern California. 

In this video, I go over some of the steps we take to make sure you're getting a good deal home in Southern California, what different good deals would look like. The main difference is you're going to want to be focusing on these distressed properties and properties with unique situations. A good example is that client I helped recently get this home for $675,000 – needs a lot of repairs but after everything's said and done, the property is going to be worth 1.1 million dollars. So he's making out like a bandit, hopefully I could get the same results for you too. 

To get started in buying a foreclosure, the best thing you can do is give me a call at 562-521-8575 and we'll find a great time to sit-down we can meet through Zoom and we'll have a consultation to find out what you're looking for, what repairs you're comfortable with and then we'll make a game plan to make sure you get the best deal possible. 

The other option is you can click the button below to schedule a time on my calendar and we’ll find a great time to meet. We'll get your financing in order, make sure you're comfortable with the payments and everything you're getting into and then take it one step at a time. 

Thanks so much and happy house hunting!

This article is written by Matthew Silva, a real estate broker who helps you buy, sell and invest in Southern California especially in local areas such as Buena Park, Cypress, Cerritos, Downey, Huntington Beach, Lakewood, La Mirada, Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Santa Fe Springs, Westminister, and Whittier.