Foreclosure Opportunity

Quality Buys are Available if You Have Patience.

• 
• By Nancy Smith
• Qualicum Beach REALTOR®
• Published: Feb 19th, 2020 at 10:36 am

Our home was a foreclosure purchase, as was my step-daugher's home.  We encouraged her to persue a beautiful newer property in Nanaimo and in hindsight, she is still totally amazed.

There are many articles pro and con about buying foreclosure and there is little value in repeating them here.  The only reason I am posting this article, as there has been a slight uptick in available properties to buy.  We actually bought our first foreclosure property in Nanaimo, and still hold it, just as the market was shifting, foreclosuire listings dwindled down to nearly nothing available in 2013.  We then spotted this lovely Qualicum Beach property which had been on the market for over a year, and feedback we received after purchase, it had been shown consistently.

Most foreclosure properties do not show well, as the properties are usually neglected, so one must look to the bones to find the value.  My step daughter's home had a weird smell, was considered a party house and the surfaces were littered with fly carcasses.  So after a good clean up, some painting and connecting the dryer vent which was exhausting to the crawl space, she has a nearly new, energy efficient modern home that has doubled in value.

Our first purchase in Nanaimo had water drainage issues and accumulation in the crawl space.  A little digging fixed that problem, and we had considered moving into it, until we bought in Qualicum Beach.  Eventually we hope to sell Nanaimo, but the recent market price increases has made it a valuable holding property near the hospital.

In all three purchases, the anticipated waiting for the court date was tense and a huge unknown, as the deal could easily be snatched by a superior bid.  Fortunately for us, two properties were uncontested, and the third was acquired when a subsequent bid was not superior.

Forclosure purchases have risk, as does most other purchases, but the rewards can be significant.

Let me work for you, on your next property search.