Incredible, but it doesn't surprise me. Some guy locally just bought a house on a lake valued at $3 million for $350K. In this area, that's very unusual, since our prices haven't even begun to fall yet (but it's coming). Congrats on your good fortune, and why shouldn't you brag? Nice deal.
shhhhhh... don't let "oldtrader" catch wind of this.. he still doesn't believe there was a bubble!!!! i told him it would pop 2 yrs ago.. he still fights me.
Well you could probably have bought this house 7 years ago for around 200K. So you didnt really make anything, except you lived in a rented box for 7 years. You remind me of some of my friends, they had money to buy 7 years a go, but have been holding out for a correction. When the correction does come, they will get property at a 50% discount from the peak but it will still be more than they would have paid 7 years ago.
There are plenty of ethical lawyers that would not screw their client in that situation. Many of the top lawyers who make money, get there by being trust worthy.
What town? I am in Boston and have been renting (a nice SHF in metro west for 1.7 X property taxes annually) for the last 2 years with the same plan having divested of all RE in 2005 and have been all over distressed properties in Sudbury, Winchester, Belmont triangle the past 3 months. Haven't seen anything like the discount you are describing, nothing even close. Starting to see some very undesirable properties going for 20% off the highs but nothing I would want to own at that price, much less live in, and very few in the area I am interested in. Anyway let me know which town and I can verify for all.
That is how the conventional wisdom about everything gets started, people buy into it in a heartbeat. The OP could well have done just what he said. I knew a guy that put his $250 on the barrel head and took the original Nothing Down course by Robert G Allen in the early 1980's. I told people about it, they all put bullshit on the idea, would not go in with me on things, etc., I was strapped paying for the first born who was hospitalized and had little time for much of anything anyhow. The guy took the course, did simply what it said to do and in a month had several houses in a very prime real estate market under his control and rented with positive cash flow. Get this, he had a part time job and barely could buy lunch the entire time. This conventional wisdom thing is the biggest joke ever played out on humanity, I'm seeing it in all areas of life that I have studied now, what an eye opener it is to work out what is CW and what just might not be. You pretty much have to keep your trap shut and your plans to yourself if you don't want CW exposure. Cash is going to be king for quite a while, they always overdo the real estate thing every single cycle. That comment about the bank not being the smartest player in the room was a gem and hilarious too.
I'll be moving to Houston, Texas. Should I attempt to buy a condo that is foreclosed? I don't even really know what the market is like as I have not done a lot of research yet.
I've been watching foreclosures and going to auctions for 3.5 years now. I've probably been to 150 auctions. This auction was very unusual for a number of different reasons. From what I could figure out, the owner disappeared because of legal problems. He owed allot of different people allot of money. Every other piece of property he owned had liens filed against it; Fed, State, Town, and private parties. Secondly, it was highly unusual for no one to show up at the auction. At the very least the the second mortgage holder should have been there. It's possible that the second mortgage holder didn't even know about the foreclosure proceeding. They're located in California. Mvic, I'm not giving out my new address on this board. If I tell you or anyone else on this board the name of the town, it would be very easy to find out. I will say this, it is not Sudbury, Winchester, or Belmont. It's a step below those towns. I'd be surprised to see very much in towns like those ever make it to auction. I was still in shock when I put up the first post. In retrospect in was a mistake. I should have kept my mouth shut, but my excitement and disbelief got the better of me. A