

This Old House: 10 ways to boost house value.This Old House: Houses for under $6,000.This Old House: Best places to buy a fixer-upper."That hurts us all," says Lynch.Ī check-in with real estate professionals, home inspectors, and federal housing officials offers these words to the wise on buying a foreclosed property. Lynch has seen the same house at foreclosure auctions more than once. "It's not for the faint of heart," says Lynch. There's the one about a far-away buyer who learned he owned a bunch of vacant lots, instead of houses.

Those are the high notes, but these agents tell other stories, too. She's in her late 40's and had been a renter all these years." Her house is $350 a month, with taxes and insurance. It has two baths, a two-car garage, and two fireplaces. "My girlfriend bought a house last summer. She tells the story of a friend who waded into the foreclosure market and came out ahead. Despite economic fears and the struggling housing market, Tonya Perkins-Stoudermire of McMullan Realty in Cleveland says this may be an ideal time to think about the dream of first-time home ownership. Would-be homeowners are not excluded from the bonanza. "One investor I am working with right now wants to buy 200 houses all under 10K." Real estate agent John Lynch of Keller Williams Greater Cleveland West says he has interested buyers calling from all over the country, and as far away as Israel.
