Work With a Home Inspector If You Want to Buy a Foreclosed Home

This lingering recession has caused us all plenty of pain over the past couple of years. It also has made this a great time to buy a house.

Maryland's foreclosure rate is the 10th highest in the country. Prince George's County had more foreclosures than any other in the state over the spring.

In College Park, foreclosures were up slightly from May to June, but down by 7.32 percent since June 2009, reports RealtyTrac, a real estate website that tracks foreclosures. This June, 38 College Park homes were foreclosed, all in the 20740 ZIP code.

It's a sad time for our neighbors who have lost their homes, and it's still a fairly lousy time to sell a house. But for someone with money to invest, the real estate market is riddled with rock-bottom deals on foreclosed properties, pre-foreclosures, houses up for auction and even homes whose owners aren't in financial trouble but need to sell quickly because they have to relocate.

If you're looking at sinking your savings into a right-priced, bank-owned property or into a home that the sellers are willing to let go for way less than they paid, make sure you're getting a good deal.            

Some foreclosed properties need quite a bit more work than the buyers realize.           

The only way to really know what you're getting into when you buy a foreclosed home—or any home, for that matter—is to have a qualified home inspector take a look at it before you sign on the dotted line.            

For the most part, banks are selling foreclosed homes "as is." But "as is" can run the gamut from "needs a little work" to "the previous owners stripped everything out of the home before they left."            

And the damage isn't always in plain sight. Some homes are missing copper wires and plumbing pipes, faucets from kitchen and bathroom sinks, and even sheetrock off the walls and hinges from doors.

In some cases, the prior owners or tenants have taken everything they can to sell or to salvage for their next home. Others strip the home out of spite because they're mad at the bank for foreclosing on the property. Even owners who would never do such things might have neglected home repairs and maintenance for several years before foreclosure as they struggled financially.

The inspector's job is to spot the things the typical home buyer wouldn't look for, like major defects in the house, safety hazards, missing-but-necessary components and items in need of repair.            

The good news: Most low-priced homes in decent neighborhoods—even those stripped nearly naked—are still worth buying, because prices are so low right now. Plus, you can take the home inspector's report to the bank and ask for an even lower price to compensate for all of the work that needs doing.            

If you were thinking about saving the $400 or so that a typical inspector charges, you might want to reconsider. You could be buying a home that needs $100,000 of work before it will be safe and comfortable to live in. That's something you should know before you sign a contract.

A professional home inspection will give you a much truer picture of the condition of the home than you could determine on your own, especially if you're buying a foreclosure.

Sharon O'Malley is a freelance writer who lives in College Park.