I might be looking for a home soon and through my recent searches over the internet i have found that most websites involving real estate it costs a monthly or yearly fee for viewing homes for sale. This is especially with foreclosed homes for sale. So my question, does anyone know a website where one could view homes listed for sale ( and foreclosed homes) for COMPLETELY FREE? Your answers are greatly appreciated.
Any free real estate websites out there?
April 13, 2010 By
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It depends on your abilities and needs. It sounds like you are looking for foreclosed homes. If so, I’m going to disagree, well maybe disagree, with most of the answers here.
If you plan on buying at a standard closing, getting a mortgage on the home at time of closing, have a HUD-1, and all the niceties, then yes, a broker is your best bet, and there are a ton of free sites mentioned here for brokers. I’d also add http://www.buyowner.com/ . And you can get a good deal here, especially in today’s market.
HOWEVER, if you are looking for the real bargain, you are not likely to find them there. Most real bargains require research, hard work, money, and risk. You will have to purchase your home at a courthouse or similar sale site and will have to have a substantial down-payment on hand and have to pay the balance usually in a day or two BEFORE obtaining title. The sale sometimes can be reversed (usually due to error or bankruptcy) due to which you may also lose a percent or two of your price to clerk fees and the refund of your money may take some time. You don’t get to inspect the house before you buy. There may be a lot of repairs to do once you get title. You may end up in litigation. You need to do your own title search (or hire them out, but this becomes expensive as most you look at are not going to pan out). The first place to look for these is in the newspaper.
Not your local rag, but in a special paper most people don’t read, the legal paper. Often something called something like "The <insert your county here> Business Review." It cost about the same as a regular paper, but only has legal notices and your local legal community uses it to fulfill their legal requirements to "advertise" a sale. It is from such newspapers that most of these "Foreclosure Lists" are compiled (other the Realtor MLS ones). It’s not exactly free, but a lot cheaper then those lists. And it’s from a legitimate source.
So the safe way, by far, is a Broker through the MLS. The riskier, but more profitable way is the local legal paper. But check with your local Clerk of the Court for details in your area. They can’t answer legal questions, but they can tell you the procedure in your locale.