Making an offer on a foreclosed condo

Furcorn wrote: ↑What country?

UrbanPoet wrote: ↑ Is it one of those jane and finch condos?
I remember some that were only $150k.
And 5ish years ago they were $30,000.

Foreclosure is rare. Usually the bank seeks a power of sale. But perhaps its bad enough that they had to resort to foreclosure if the property is really unmarketable.

TitusBobby wrote: ↑... I was advised to just cross out the offending paragraphs before signing the contract and making the offer, but paragraph 2 mentions that the original contract supersedes any other arrangements and additions. What's worse is that I've been stonewalled when attempting to obtain a full disclosure of how much exactly is owned on the condo.

I also thought about hiring a lawyer to devise our own contract, but I'm worried this is just money spent uselessly, as they will just refuse to accept it

licenced wrote: ↑ You're allowed to make an offer changing anything that you like. It's up to the foreclosing entity to accept or not.

They can require the buyer to bring up to date all outstanding taxes and condo fees, but while they may claim not to know what they are and that may be true in the case of taxes and utilities, they most certainly know what the condo fees are because they hold an interest in the property, have been fully informed about fees from day one and would in all likelyhood have paid them to date to keep a lien off title. Nevertheless, the buyer should do their due diligence and contact the condo corporation for amounts outstanding and utility cos while your lawyer should search title and courts, and the sherriff office for liens or pending liens.

licenced wrote: ↑You're allowed to make an offer changing anything that you like. It's up to the foreclosing entity to accept or not.

They can require the buyer to bring up to date all outstanding taxes and condo fees, but while they may claim not to know what they are and that may be true in the case of taxes and utilities, they most certainly know what the condo fees are because they hold an interest in the property, have been fully informed about fees from day one and would in all likelyhood have paid them to date to keep a lien off title. Nevertheless, the buyer should do their due diligence and contact the condo corporation for amounts outstanding and utility cos while your lawyer should search title and courts, and the sherriff office for liens or pending liens.

TitusBobby wrote: ↑ im realizing that this hassle will put off a lot of buyers, which is actaully an opportunity as there wont be many interested.

Any chance the title, court search and sheriff office searches can be done by myself, rather than a lawyer, to save on costs?

Jon Lai wrote: ↑ In most cases it's a few hundred bucks.. just pay it.

TitusBobby wrote: ↑ A few hundred - a thousand $ is a significant amount on a $100,000 condo. In addition, you are paying lawyer hourly rates for stuff their $25/hr staff will look up on a computer. Plus this is redflag deals.

Anyhow, this is becoming very kafkaesque. I just spoke to my realtor who told me a title search wont reveal the actual amount how much is owed on a lien and the mortgage. And she was told by the lawyer and selling realtor that they cannot reveal that info because of privacy issues. Like wtf, how are you supposed to make a blind offer on a property that doesnt have clear title? She advised me to go to the bank, as their client, and try to find out that way

TitusBobby wrote: ↑ Any chance the title, court search and sheriff office searches can be done by myself, rather than a lawyer, to save on costs?

William W wrote: ↑ Not sure how things works in Alberta, but can't you just order a Condo Status Certificate or ask the seller/bank to provide you as a condition of your purchase and sales agreement?

https://www2.geowarehouse.ca/how-to-get ... te-online/

Also, when you purchased the property, don't you have to get Title Insurance? So if there are any outstanding charges, wouldn't that be covered?

FWIW, having bought a number of foreclosed properties in the US, I have never ran into any of the potential problems you described.

Jon Lai wrote: ↑ In most cases it's a few hundred bucks.. just pay it.

TitusBobby wrote: ↑ As a FYI, the other condo, exact same size, same building that was in foreclosure as well, apparently sold for $102 in an unconditional offer as well. Like WTF is wrong with people making unconditional offers. That condo, after fees, and renoes will be easily $5000 more than what the last unit sold by a private seller in that building

William W wrote: ↑ From an investor standpoint, it is all about numbers.

I think it is a live and learn experience, from my experience of buying real estate, I no longer believe what I hear and what I read, let alone free advices from a coupon clipping site where you don't know the credential of others providing them.

Now you know what the market is like, so next time a similar property pops up, you know you need to put in an unconditional offer in the list price range if you're serious in getting a unit there. Otherwise, you'll just be wasting your time and by the time you're willing to pay list price because you lost out on a number of offers, the market would have already gone up again. Remember, what you pay is what you get, you didn't pay me for the above, you be the judge to determine how good could the above be?