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Foreclosures in Charleston, SC
Search all Charleston Foreclosures
What is a Foreclosed Home?
A foreclosed home is a home which has been repossessed by the lender. The most common reason for
a foreclosure is due to default of payment by the homeowner. When the homeowner is unable to make their
monthly payments the bank will place the homeowner in default. The foreclosure process generally takes
between 6 months to 1 year from the time of the first default payment. The lender usually gives
the homeowner a chance to catch up on their payments before they begin the foreclosure process.
If the homeowners are not able to repay their debt to the lender and they elect not to sell the home on
a pre-foreclosure sale, the lender will foreclose on the home.
After the lender has foreclosed on the home and the original homeowners have moved out, the lender will
hire a local Charleston real estate agent to sell the home as a foreclosed home. Because lenders are in
the banking business and not the real estate business, they usually try to sell the home as quickly as
possible. For this reason, foreclosed homes most often are listed at a discount price.
What Hoops Will I Have to Jump Through to Buy a Foreclosed Home?
Purchasing a foreclosed home from the lender is has some major differences from the traditional
real estate transaction between a buyer and a seller. The most significant difference is the negotiation
process. Negotiating with a bank is black and white. There are no emotions involved with the bank’s
decision making process. They are only concerned with their bottom line figure, “how much money will
this offer net the lender?”. If the offer meets their net figure expectations of the lender, then it is
accepted. If the offer does not meet their net dollar figure, it is rejected. If an offer is rejected by
the lender, in many cases, the lender will not even counter-offer back to the buyer. The lender’s REALTOR
will ask the buyer’s REALTOR to make a higher offer if his client is still interested in the home.
Offer acceptance or rejection from a lender typically takes 3 business days. During this time, the bank
has time to accept multiple offers. If an offer comes in after your offer, but before the lender has
agreed to the terms of your offer, the lender will accept the higher of the two offers. In some cases,
the lender will encourage multiple offer situations by stating that they will be reviewing all offers for
a specific period of time, such as 2 weeks. The reason they do this is to drive the price up and increase
their bottom line.
Submitting an offer on a foreclosed home usually requires the buyer’s REALTOR to obtain the lender’s
specific forms to fill out with the offer. Sometimes the lender will require the buyer and his REALTOR
to fill these forms out on-line. The bank’s forms are designed to protect the bank in the transaction and
are often not very flexible. Having a knowledgeable real estate agent working for the buyer will help
protect the buyer’s best interests when dealing with the complicated language in the bank’s forms.
Matt O’Neill with Charleston Resource, Inc. has closed many foreclosed homes during his career and will be
happy to answer any questions you may have regarding foreclosures.
Are all Foreclosure Sales “As Is” Sales?
In the Charleston area, most foreclosure sales are “As Is” sales. What this means is that they seller is
not willing to make any repairs to the home; the buyer must purchase the property “as is”. However, this
does not mean that the buyer is not entitled to an inspection. Typically, the buyer is allowed to have
home and termite inspections on the property, even with an ‘as is’ sale. If anything is found on
the inspection report, the buyer has the option to cancel the contract and get the earnest money back, or
proceed with the contract with the knowledge that he will have to pay for the repairs to the home out of
his own pocket. Be sure to ask your Charleston Resource REALTOR if the home sale is “AS IS” before you
offer. This knowledge should affect the way you structure your offer to the lender.
In What Condition Will I Usually Find a Foreclosed Home?
Foreclosures can be found in a variety of conditions, from pristine to extremely run-down. Based on
the experience of the REALTORS at Charleston Resource, Inc., foreclosures in the Charleston market
typically lean toward the run-down side of the spectrum. There are reasons for this. First of all,
the previous homeowners most likely were not too keen on the fact that the lender was foreclosing on their
home. We have found that when this happens, the homeowners lose their pride of ownership and let the house
go. In some cases, they may even vandalize the home before they move out.
Another reason foreclosures may appear in bad condition is that the homeowners were not preparing to sell
their home. Usually, when someone is planning to sell their home they get it ready to show by sprucing up
the paint, replacing carpet, and making home improvements and repairs. A foreclosed home most often
does not have these improvements. The lenders typically try to sell the home without making any
improvements or repairs.
Are Foreclosures the Best Option to Purchase a Good Deal?
Foreclosures are great options to find a good deal because they typically come at a discount price.
In the greater Charleston area, however, they are not many foreclosure options to choose from. On this
day in 2009, there were only 148 foreclosed houses on the market for the entire tri-county area.
This is compared to nearly 7,000 houses for sale in the greater Charleston area. With the small number of
foreclosure options to choose from, buyers may have a hard time finding exactly the house that they want.
The recommendation of the REALTORS at Charleston Resource, Inc. is that buyers look at all options:
foreclosures, short sales, and non-foreclosures and choose the home that best fits their needs and their
budget.
What is a Short Sale?
See this link about
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