Lake Ridge Virginia Real Estate Help For Sellers and Buyers: Real Estate Foreclosures in Woodbridge Virginia area.

People ask me all the time "how do I find real estate foreclosure homes in the Woodbridge, Lake Ridge Virginia area." My answer is simple, we can sign you up to receive automatic alerts. Then every time a new foreclosure MLS Listing is entered into the Realtors multiple listing service, you get notified even before I do. It's that simple. So share with me what you are looking for and I will immediately set up your custom search.

Currently today 1/12/2012 the Woodbridge Virginia area has over fifty(50) active foreclosure homes for sale.  The lowest price condo townhouse at $63,000 and the highest is a brick front NVR built single family home in Dawson Landing with over 3200 finished square feet and a three car garage offered at $449,000! So there are some deals out there. 

Things you need to know:

• All foreclosures, bank owned homes are sold "as is"
• In some cases utilities are not on and further damage is being done- "Sumps not on, pipes freeze, vandalism" It's happens.
• Buying a foreclosure home is not for the faint at heart. Many will require at minimum new flooring, a fresh coat of paint, sometimes new appliances and drywall repair. ( many are missing appliances and wall speakers)
• Banks typically have done the appraisal process and know the fair market value of the property. In many cases we see homes that were previously under contract pending short sale approval at a lower price, only to learn that sale fell apart, the bank foreclosed and now the home is being sold for more.

So that brings me to the next point. If you are a flexible patient buyer, making an offer on a short sale home may be the way to go. Short Sales handled by experienced short sale agents typically go to settlement. A short sale can take up to six months for the homeowner/seller to acquire short sale approval from their bank. That said, these homes in many cases have someone still living in the homes. The homes are still sold "as is", you are less likely to run into catastrophic issues after settlement. ( at least that has been my experience.)

Now, if you are relocating the area, or you want a move-in ready home you will need to start early this year. Why? Resale inventory is very low here in the Woodbridge, Lake Ridge and Manassas Virginia area. In fact it is worse in Alexandria. This week I have been assisting buyers who are looking for a single family home priced between $350,000 and $500,000 and let me tell you the selection is dismal at best. They are in shock! Worse, they put an offer in on a property and another buyer won the bid. It happens.