Archive for the ‘Buy Distressed Real Estate’ Category

The Factoria foreclosure auction was the place to be on Friday (August 20th 2010) where Real Estate Investment Firm clients purchased 5 properties that were sold via auction at the trustees sale (foreclosure).  Of the five properties, two were in Seattle, two in Renton and one was in Bothell.  Pictures of the five properties are below:

The average price/value on these foreclosure auction purchases was 74 cents on the dollar!  Imagine purchasing your next home or investment property at a discount of 25% or more!

Last Friday saw clients of Real Estate Investment Firm purchase three unique properties at the King County Foreclosure Auction.

The first property was purchased at the Factoria foreclosure auction and was a central Seattle townhome project consisting of 5 partially complete units.  The units are approximately 85% complete and were purchased for one dollar over the opening bid of $1,008,500.  The foreclosing lender was owed at the time of trustee sale amounts in excess of $1,860,000 but they chose to discount their opening bid in the hope of attracting a third party buyer at the foreclosure auction.  Estimates to complete the project are about $250,000 for a total investment of just over $1,258,000.  The investor/developer who purchased the properties hopes to resell the completed units at a sales price of $350,000 each.

Next we purchased this 6,340 square foot home in Duvall, WA that sits on approximately 1.5 acres. The current Zestimate on this property is $949,500 and King County has the property tax assessed at $903,000 for 2010.  The opening bid was also discounted by the foreclosing lender, in this case shaving off nearly $500,000 from the amount owed to the bank.  This home was also purchased for one dollar over the opening bid for $595,001.  That equates to less than $100 per square foot.  The house was in great condition with the exception of the landscaping and was a truly amazing deal for our clients.

Finally, we purchased this Ballard/Crown Hill property that has sweeping views of the Puget Sound.  This also was purchased for one dollar over the lenders minimum bid.  Discounted from $861,577 down to $506,340.  The home is just over 3100 square feet and has seven bedrooms, as it was being used as an adult family home.  With a little updating and a new roof, this home will once again shine.

To view these and all the other homes sold at last Friday’s foreclosure auction you can visit the following link.  http://realestateinvestmentfirm.com/auctionsales.pdf

Last week’s foreclosure auction sales results are in and the numbers shake out as follows:  In the three counties REIF operates in (King, Pierce, SnoCo) there were a total of 30 sales to third parties.  That is 30 out of 208 properties that were on the calendar to be sold.  The remainder either reverted back to the beneficiary or were cancelled.

You may view a .pdf with property details for all 3o of the third party sales by selecting the following link.

Foreclosure Auction Sales Results for June 4th 2010

We just purchased a 1999 1 bed 1 bath 746sft Bothell condo at the Factoria foreclosure auction for $71,200!

If you want to pick up these type of deals visit Real Estate Investment Firm for more information.

The Seattle Times just published an article this morning on the bidding wars that are erupting between potential buyers for foreclosure and bank owned properties in several areas around the country.  Most of the frenzy is taking place in the hardest hit ares for foreclosures such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, Southern California and South Florida.

Investors, flush with cash to spend are flocking to pick up newer built homes in the lower prices neighborhoods popular with first time home-buyers and those with families.    Prices on these foreclosed properties are in many cases over 50% less than their peak prices of 2006 and 2007.

With all the attention being paid to these foreclosures, many first-time home buyers in these markets are finding it hard to compete and are making offer after offer in an attemp to land their first home.

While the Seattle foreclosure market has not had the sheer numbers that other major markets have had in terms of total foreclosures and existing inventory, it is still a lucrative market for both investors and those looking for a terrific deal on their next home.  Most of the properties sold to a third party at the foreclosure auction recently have been sold in the range of 65-75 cents on the dollar of todays already discounted prices.  For investors, it is now common to see several homes available each week at the foreclosure auction that would be cash flow neutral or slightly cash flow postive with a 20% down payment from the buyer and typical financing terms for the balance.  Two years ago, that was virtually unheard of in King County.  Now is the time to strike if you are looking to pick up a great investment property or personal residence drastically under market value.

The most recent report on area home sales offered good news to Puget Sound’s homeowners and a bit of hope that buyers are slowly jumping off the fence and writing offers and closing deals.

In June 2009 the number of closed sales on single family homes was up 4 percent over the same month in 2008.  June’s sales totals marked the first year-over-year increase since the market peak of 2007.

One area to see a dramatic rise in the number of closed sales was the east King County neighborhoods of Juanita-Woodinville-Duvall which saw a 31 percent increase in the number of sales over the same time period last year.  And the numbers show that buyers are not just 1st timers jumping into the market to capture the federal $8,000 tax credit that is set to expire in November.  According to the NWMLS, sales in what is considered the most affordable areas of King County, the Southwest and Southeast actually declined while sales in traditional upper middle income neighborhoods in Seattle and on the Eastside actually saw the uptick in activity.

While it is too early to say if there is a trend developing, any increase in buyer activity is welcomed.

Ryan Braun, the All-Star outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers knows a good deal when he sees one.  Braun just closed escrow on a bank owned foreclosure property located in Malibu that was once listed during the peak real estate prices of 2007 for $8.9M.  Braun picked up the Mediteranian styled ocean view villa for the bargain basement price of $4.85M

To read the full story follow this link.

You don’t have to be signed to a Major Leage contract however to be able to pick up a bargain property that is in foreclosure.  If you are looking to save 20-50% on the purchase of your next home or investment property then sign up to attend a free workshop presented by Real Estate Investment Firm in Redmond, Washington.

When your looking for the most experienced and knowledgeable short sale and distressed property consultants look no further than Real Estate Investment Firm.  To learn more, you are welcome to attend one of their free workshops on “how to buy foreclosures” held weekly at their downtown Redmond office.

Real Estate Investment Firm, LLC anounced Thursday July 2nd 2009 the launch of their new online platform for real-time status tracking of foreclosure auction or trustee sales sales in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties. 

The website, buyWAforeclosures.com, also provides clients with detailed property information, photographs, property condition reports, lien and judgement reports as well as direct to property links to various county and 3rd party web sites such as zillow.com and google maps.

Access to the site is restricted to members or clients of Real Estate Investment Firm.  For information on becoming a member please visit Real Estate Investment Firm and register to attend one of their weekly foreclosure training workshops on how to buy foreclosures.  At the conclusion of the workshop attendees will be given a username and password to access the site.  Worshops are held every Tuesday at 5:30pm in their downtown Redmond, WA office.

“Can we really make money in this real estate market flipping houses?”

We hear that question quite a bit around our office.  Usually it comes up on Tuesday during our weekly workshop for new clients & investors on “How to buy foreclosure auction homes, short sales and bank owned/REO’s”.

The answer is most definitely YES!  With accurate property research and due diligence combined with a keen knowledge of current market conditions and throw in a little luck for good measure you can make consistant and sizeable profits time and time again. 

Below are the details on a recent foreclosure auction purchase made by an investor working with Real Estate Investment Firm, LLC. 

Rosario Place, Renton WA

This property was purchased on March 27th 2009 at the King County Foreclosure Auctionfor $1.00 over the lenders opening bid of $364,650.00.  When this property was reviewed in our Auction Investor Meeting the night before, the REIF Auction Specialist told the group that a cash buyer could purchase and flip this property in under 90 days and make a net pre-tax profit of approximately $40,000.00.  In the end it only took 67 days from the purchase date until escrow closed on the re-sale.  When all the costs for acquisition, fix-up, holding and re-sale were calculated, the net profit to our client was $39,463.00  Below is a breakdown of those figures and a chart that shows the ROI (return on investment) for this transaction.

Rosario Place Breakdow
Purchase Price	$364,651
Purchase Comm.	$10,940
Fix-up costs	$3,500
Total Purchase Cost	$379,091
Sale Price	$454,950
Sales Costs	$36,396
Net Sale Price	$418,554
Minus Purch Cost	$379,091
Net Profit	$39,463

Return on Investment Calculation
Amount Invested?:	$379,091.00
Start Date?:	03/27/2009
Amount Returned?:	$418,554.00
End Date?:	06/02/2009
Gain or Loss:	$39,463.00
Percentage Gain or Loss (%):	10.4%
Annualized Return on Investment %:	56.7%

 

If we extrapolate this data out to a 12 month time-frame, it would roughly work out to an anual net income before taxes of $240,000.00.  Keep in mind as well that the investor who bought this house only spent approximately 30-40 hours of his time working on the property. 

If you would like to learn how you can help secure your financial future by investing in foreclosures and distressed real estate then I encourage you to attend one of our free foreclosure investing workshops.  They are held every Tuesday at 5:30 pm at our downtown Redmond office

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