A Couple Of Myths About California Real Estate Foreclosure
In the current real estate market, many buyers whether they are investors or first time buyers are interested in California real estate foreclosure properties, and with good reason. Foreclosure properties are often discounted by an average of about twenty percent from other homes. So it's no wonder that some sixty percent of all residential sales in recent months have been California real estate foreclosure properties.
Many buyers have heard different things about California real estate foreclosure properties, some that are true, some that are true in other states but California, and some that are just plain wrong. Let's take a look at some of the common myths and facts about foreclosures so that we can better understand what we're dealing with.
One partly true myth is that California real estate foreclosure properties are only for the serious investor.
If you're talking about buying a foreclosure at a trustee's sale, when the foreclosure process is "finished" and is sold at a public auction, yes, this myth is true. California law allows the trustee to require any bidder to provide cash or cash equivalent at a trustee sale, and there is no inspection period so if you're going to be buying "on the courthouse steps" then you'd better know what you're doing.
What this myth doesn't say is that many California real estate foreclosure homes are never sold at the trustee sale, so they're going to be bought back by the bank. These California real estate foreclosure properties make up the bulk of foreclosures sold by realtors.
Another myth sais that after you buy California real estate foreclosure properties, the former owner can cure the debt and get the house back. This is true to some extent in some states outside of the state of California, where most properties are sold using the judicial foreclosure process. These types of foreclosures are oftentimes subject to the buyer's "right of redemption", a one year period in which the buyer can get the house back.