Foreclosure process in Florida – A brief introduction
Florida is one among the states that recorded highest foreclosure rates. The reason behind this is increased homeowners defaulting on their mortgage payments. With spike in unemployment rate and increased inflation rates made the home owner unable to meet their monthly payments regularly. On the other hand, foreclosure homes provide a terrific investment opportunity to investors than traditional properties after long time of escalating prices.
But before you jump in and buy a foreclosed home, one must remember that not every foreclosed home is best buy. One must asses its potential risks and benefits to make a best decision before investing. Remember that investing in foreclosed home is not a get rich quick scheme. Before you invest you need to know enough stuff when it comes to moving through a process and making sure that you are getting best out of it.
For people who are willing to do such home work, there are many web services that provide valuable information to home buyers which were previously hidden. For ex: Realtytrac a leading online foreclosure marketplace.
One thing that a home buyer must know when thinking about buying foreclosed homes is foreclosed process. It is because law is different in different states. Therefore if you one trying to buy foreclosed homes in Florida then you must be aware of the Florida foreclosure process.
The foreclosure process begins as soon as the borrower defaults his payments continuously for two to three months and lender issues default notice that payments must be brought current. Borrower who receives default notice typically has 15 days grace period within which he has to make the missed payments if not lender takes the home to foreclosure.
When the home is brought to foreclosure, it can be settled in four ways. They are:
Pre foreclosure sale: this is an instance where the home is sold to third party with permission for lender before it goes to auction at sheriff sale. It is often the best option available to home owner to sell the home and pay the proceedings to the lender without damaging the credit score that could happen in instance of foreclosure. It also benefits the potential buyer as it gives him the sufficient time to inspect the home about the title and condition of the property.
Public auction: this is an end stage of the foreclosure process where the property in question is put for sale at public auction. Bidding procedure may vary from one state to other and it is advisable to attend different auctions before you actually bid.
Short sale: it is process under which the lender permits the home owner to sell the property before it reaches the foreclosure process and get relived form the mortgage. It is best option for the lender because if he had to go to foreclosure process it will cost him. To save time and money, lender allows the home owner to unload the home quickly instead of putting it ideal and not getting principal nor interest.
Real estate owned properties: it is best way to invest if you are looking for safest investment because one would get enough time to inspect the home and title but this way can be little costlier than other way of foreclosed investment options.
According to risk taking attitude of the home buyer, one can take any of the four ways mentioned above to invest in foreclosed properties.