Considering Buying a Foreclosure? Protect Your Interests as a Home Buyer.

There are so many things to consider as a home buyer in today's real estate market that I can't cover all of them in one blog.  Today I want to talk about title work and choosing a title company.  This is a very important step in the purchase of a home, no matter what type of home you are buying.  It is even more important when buying a foreclosure.  What is the point of buying a home if you don't have clear title to it?  In other words why pay for a home you don't really own?  Sounds crazy but people do.  It seems buyers are in such a rush to get into the home they don't pay attention to the details.

How does this happen?  Easy the buyers don't take the time to hire a real estate agent with experience in foreclosure sales and make sure they have an excellent title company working on their behalf to make sure all of the paperwork has been done properly.  It happens more often than you think.

Rather than explain how you can have a problem, it is easier to explain how to avoid a problem.  First choose your agent carefully, it is an interview process and as a buyer you should be talking to more than one agent before you decide who you want to represent you.  As a buyers agent all of us get paid by the seller so with no major out of pocket expense to you the buyer, why not hire a great agent instead of one that sells only a few homes per year and has another full time job?

Second have a local trusted title company represent you.  In the state of Minnesota you have the right to choose your title company.  You do NOT have to use the title company the bank uses.  Many of those title companies are out of state and don't even know the Minnesota laws.  That is where the trouble starts.  You want to request a marked up title binder from your closer.  that is the itemized list that the insurance company goes through to offer title insurance on the home you are buying.  This way if the is ever an issue down the road with the title of your home you will have all of the documentation at your finger tips.

Just doing these basic things will help to protect you in the purchase of a foreclosure.  Banks try to do the right thing but with all of the paperwork involved in a foreclosure mistakes are made.  YOu have to be aware of this fact as a buyer and do all you can to protect yourself.

Tom Sommers/Edina Realty