[deadmeat]

The first thing you want to do, is find out how much of a mortgage you can qualify for. Find a competent mortgage broker in your area that is looking to write a policy for you. You will need to have information such as Tax returns, paycheck stubs, bank statements, and a decent amount of savings put away for a down payment.

Some cities/states offer what's called a "first time home buyers program" where they offer to give you a sizeable chunk of money, interest free, with no payments until you A) sell the house or B) move out of the house and no longer live there but still own you. It may vary depending on the city/state program you use.

Once you find out how much money you qualify for in a loan, it's time to find your house.

To find forclosures:

The best thing to do, is keep an eye out in your neighborhood, or town.

Usually what happens, is when a home forcloses, there's all kinds of legal notices posted. Look in your local newspaper, forclosure notices are posted there, a long with other legal notices. Check downtown at your local town hall. You can find all kinds of information down there. Someone down there will be able to tell you how to find forclosures.

STAY AWAY from those programs that say "Give us money, and we'll show you how to do it!" All they do is the same exact thing you can do for yourself for FREE with a little foot work and some phone calls. I.E. Bruce A. Berman, and Armando Montellango or whatever the [fizzle] his name is. Been hearing a lot of these commercials lately.

Now, when you find a home you like that is in forclosure, you approach the homeowner. You tell them you will buy their house, so it does not ruin their credit. You find out how much money they owe on the house, and you offer them $1-10k more than they owe on the house.

Lets say you got approved for $140k worth of a mortgage. You find a house you like, that's going into forclosure, and you find out the person living there owes $100k. you approach them, offer them $110k to buy the house. You make sure to point out to them that you are offering them $10k more than what they owe, to start over again, find a rental, use it as a down payment somewhere else, ect. You have to be a good salesman, present yourself smartly (casual wear, a suit and tie will scare most of these people.).


So how do you approach the homeowner? 99% of people do it with a letter in the mail. Make sure its clearly hand-written, and well thought. Let them know you are making a generous offer on their home, to prevent them from going into debt, and to prevent the forclosure of their house. Be as friendly and outgoing as you can. Provide contact information for them to reach you at, so they can call you, counter offer, or accept your offer.

Short Sale:

There is also a thing called a short sale. Basically what this is, you find a house that you want, and the owner is going into forclosure. the amount of money owed on the house, is more than your loan was approved for. Lets say you still have your $140k that you were approved for. You find an awesome house for $180-200k. You NEED this house, your wife/girlfriend is moist in between the legs for this house, you can't live without it.

In this case, what you need to do is get in contact with the homeowner. You present them with your offer for the house. Lets say you offer $135k for the house. From there, the homeowner gets in contact with their bank. The last thing the bank wants, is to take a house back, especially in this home market. They have more houses now than they know what to do with! So the homeowner notifies the bank that someone is interested in buying the house, but they are offering less money than what the owner owes on the house. From there you and the bank will probly be in contact, and you will negotiate on the price of the house. If you convince the bank to sell to you for less than what the current owner owes, that's what's called a short sale. The bank sells you the house for less than what is owed on it.

Good luck with your home, and remember, buy LESS than you can afford, because you never know when you might be in a pinch for money in the future, and it's always good to have that little extra available when you least expect it.

Good luck, mang!

-meaty