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This weeks Trulia Voices most viewed question comes from Randy, a home buyer in Miami, Florida where he asks, “How Low Can I go?“. He found a foreclosure property that he loves but doesn’t know what to offer and is having a hard time getting in contact with the real estate agent. What should he do?

Thoughts from our Trulia Voices Real Estate Community

 Tony Croft, a full service mortgage banker from Edgewater, New Jersey said, “Find an agent you can trust that will help you write an offer on the property.”

Ed Fitch, a real estate Broker/Owner in San Jose, California, says, “The bank or their Asset Manager is looking at numbers only. You can usually expect a 10% leway depending on the institution, location of the property, and the listing strategy.”

Joe Jackson, a real estate agent in Worthington, Ohio, said, “1. Hire an agent to represent you! An agent who doesn’t show up in this market is not worth keeping! 2. How will you know the market has bottomed out? When the prices start to go up! 3. Make an infomred offer 10% +- below list and see what haapens. 4. Have a home inspection contingency and make sure the house is checked out top to bottom. Hire a professional inspectort that is either NASI or ASHI certified. Good luck it’s a GREAT time to buy!”

J. Douglas Montgomery, a real estate agent from Douglaston, New York said, “Randy, the most important concept for you to understand is that there are buyers agents and sellers agents. I would strongly suggest that you hire a buyers agent to represent you. There is a fee involved but a portion of that can be paid as part of the cooperating broker commission in the transaction, especially if the property is listed in MLS. The CBR representation is national, you can go to their website and look for someone who has taken the training. Also ask for references. A buyers agent has a fiduciary responsibility to you as the buyer and therefore will tend to be much more thorough finding out information on any house or neighborhood for you and your family.”

David Kim, a real estate agent from Edgewater, New Jersey said, ‘Here’s one techique to know what is a good price (where’s the bottom). For my home, comparable homes built in 2001 were sold for around $350k. This was a year or two before the market started to explode. I feel comfortable that homes will not dip below that amount. You should see what your home would’ve sold for in 2001/2002 and if it’s almost down that low, you will be safe. 2003-2004 prices would be cutting it close and 2005-2006 prices would be unrealistic to consider buying.

Now, as for how low you can go… It’s more important to say how HIGH can YOU afford to go. When purchasing out home, we decided on what rental values were, what we needed in a house and what we were willing to pay per month regardless of market value. The following should help you make this decision.”

My Thoughts:

Simple - Use a real estate professional to help guide you through the intricacies of the foreclosure home buying process.

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