Columbus HUD Homes

This is one of the best selection of Columbus HUD homes for all bidders. There are homes all over Central Ohio, including many Columbus houses in the suburbs.

Here is just one example to illustrate the opportunities.

The HUD home I previewed a week ago on Alonzo Palmer Drive in Pataskala is still available. It is the most expensive HUD home on the list for $195,000, but it is ideal for owner occupants.

Give me a call, because I would like to tell you what offer HUD will most likely accept. It is lower for owner occupants than for investors, and you will be surprised about that number.

To get a better feel of offers HUD typically accepts, I try to summarize the bidding results of our featured HUD properties. This allows you to compare the asking prices to purchase prices. If a property sells during the initial 10 day period they usually get a bid close to the asking price. This is exactly what happened this week, as you can see below.

Not all of the Columbus HUD homes we featured on March 28, 2010 are in contract. Three of them are and here are the bid results:

1127 Welwyn Dr, Westerville, OH
2BR/2.5BA 1,516 sqft Asking $137,000
Offer accepted on 4/5/10 for $139,000 – 1.5% above

7894 Brianna Dr, Blacklick, OH
3BR/2.5BA 1,383 sqft Asking $130,000
Offer accepted on 4/5/10 for $130,000 – exact

3000 Blackbird Ct, Columbus, OH
4BR/2.5BA 2,150 sqft Asking $138,000
Offer accepted on 4/5/10 for $140,500 – 1.8% above

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650

Columbus HUD homes offer great potential for real estate investors and land lords. Unfortunately, there are not too many around. If you follow our blog you know that the number of HUD homes available to all bidders (investors) has shrunk considerably since the beginning of this year. Only 15% of all Columbus HUD homes listed each Friday are available to investors.

So what are the best strategies for investors to win one of the few remaining deals?

I want to offer you four tips to increase your chance of success when you are looking to buy a HUD home as an investor or landlord. Combined with the great information you find on this blog you will surely hit a winner!

Tip 1: Be Ready

You need to be prepared to submit an offer within 24 hours and act immediately, when a deal becomes available. Once the exclusive 10 or 5 day period for owner occupants is over, HUD will accept bids every single day. You can submit your offer in the afternoon and you will know the  next morning, if you are the winner.

The best way to prepare for submitting offers quickly, is to have all your HUD documents signed and ready to go with your real estate agent. With active investors I usually have an earnest money check deposited with our brokerage and the contract documents pre-signed. You can simply call me and I will submit the offer for you before midnight. If you are the winning bidder, we can simply finish the paperwork and overnight it to HUD.

Less experienced agents often lose deals, because they did not submit the original paperwork to HUD within 48 hours of notification!

Tip 2: Focus on Re-Lists

As an investor your best chance to win a low ball offer is when you focus on properties that have been relisted. This means that a previous contract fell through and HUD has to start from scratch. With relists there is a 5 day exclusive for owner occupants, so investor can submit their bids on Wednesdays. 

HUD is more motivated to sell relists to investors at a discount. If we notice that a property has been relisted a number of times we notify our customers. These are the best opportunities for investors, because occasionally HUD accepts discounts from the list price of 50% or more.

Tip 3: Look for HUD Homes that need Work

Owner occupants buy up all Columbus HUD homes that are listed as ”Insured” for FHA purposes. This simply means they don’t need any repairs. A large majority of HUD homes is listed as “Insured with Repair Escrow”.  Again, owner occupants buy many of these homes, but when the repair escrow exceeds $5,000, these Columbus houses become more difficult to finance and most owner occupants don’t want to deal with them.

If you find a home that is “Uninsured” you should take a closer look. It is very likely that a owner occupant won’t get financing for this home. FHA requirements are pretty tough right now. It is best to make a cash offer when HUD notices that they can’t sell a home with FHA financing. We also see that the insured status of properties changes when they get relisted, because a buyer may have discovered problems during the inspection.

The disclosures for most HUD homes indicate that there is mold in the house. Do not automatically reject these homes. Inspect them before you make an offer to decide for yourself what level of mold remediation is necessary.

Tip 4: Bid on Wednesdays

I suggest you submit your offer on Wednesday. Why? Because the HUD homes that were relisted on the previous Friday are reserved for owner occupants for 5 days – until Tuesday midnight. These relists offer a great opportunity for real estate investors to get a lower offer accepted. You probably know that we call these homes boomerangs, because some of them have been coming back every month as one contract after the other falls through.

Here’s One Final Bonus Tip!

When you make an offer on a relisted home, do not offer more than the previously accepted bid. This may sound obvious, but you won’t believe how many buyers and agents submit offers that are substantially higher than previously accepted contracts.

Although HUD publishes bidding results, these numbers are no longer available on their website when a property is relisted. Except for our customers! We keep a database of HUD bidding statistics exclusively for our clients. If you work with us, you will know what HUD accepted previously, and we will submit an offer that is competitive, but not too high.

Call me at (614) 975-9650! I’d like to help you develop a customized bidding strategy to win all your HUD Home offers!

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI 
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650

Boomerang homes are back again this week! As a matter of fact, two of the Columbus HUD homes we featured recently have been re-listed again yesterday. This gives you a second chance to get an even better deal than before.

“Boomerang” spells opportunity, whether you want to buy as an owner occupant or as an investor. You have to hurry up, because these Columbus houses are only available for 5 days for owner occupants. Bidding deadline is Tuesday at midnight. On Wednesday anyone can bid, and I believe that HUD may accept lower offers to get these “boomerangs” sold.

The first home is at 5640 Oakmont Drive. That’s just east of I-270 near Brice Road on the far East side of Columbus. It is offered for $96,300. That’s 10% less than the HUD as-is appraised value of $107,000. The previous contract – which fell through – was for $80,000. Sounds like a pretty good deal, especially, if you consider that retail sales of similar homes are around $115,000.

If you prefer the West side, then the huge 4 bedroom at 1005 Okatie Drive may be perfect for you. This HUD home is offered for the as-is appraised value of $140,000. The previous purchase price was even higher than the list price. Watch out on this one, as there may be more competition. This house comes with all appliances and appears to be in very good condition.

I need to hear from you before Tuesday 3/17/09, if you want to bid on any of the boomerang homes before they open up to all bidders.

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI 
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650