Thinking of looking for a Foreclosure home.

[03CVLX]

Hey guys,

Looking for some tips and suggestions, I am looking into possibly purchasing a forclosed home. I don't have anything picked out nor do have I done any looking yet. Any major tricks to doing this.

I will be looking on www.takerootmilwaukee.org and their list of forclosures. Since I am a Milwaukee Fire Department employee. I am required to be a city resident. I can't live anywhere else so if you know of a property in the city that falls into this criteria I am open to suggestions.

One of the questions is, How soon could I get a home equity loan if needed to consolidate my other bills. I'd much prefer to pay on a home than be stuck at home with the parents paying big money on credit cards for next few years.

[95mustang302]

Theoretically you could get a HELOC right away when you purchase the house if you buy the house far enough below FMV and have a big enough down payment on the 1st mortgage. A lot of HELOC deals are looking to stay within the 80% LTV with the market being so soft. This being said... If you purchase a foreclosure for 100k with a FMV of 110k you would want to put 10,000 down on the home to have the 80% LTV before a HELOC. You can get a HELOC with a larger LTV but be prepared for higher rates and more hurdles.

[03CVLX]

Well, I did try and get pre approved for a no money down Wheda loan and I did get approved awhile back. Just never did anything with it. With the market like it is now, who knows if I would get that kind of approval again. I just need to somehow pay off these other loans to comfortably make a house payment. Its doable but It would be very tight. Credit is excellent just wanna move things around and make payments where they count. If it is even physically doable.

[sakisteve]

Yeah a wheda loan would be a good idea, just remember if it is a foreclosure you will prob be fixing it up, so remember to factor that into the cost, I know i bought my place, a bout 6 months ago, i'm still fixing the place up, it was a wreck, but at least, i got it for a steal! It will be prob anpther 6 months till i finish the place like new, and everything is expensive on a house, it seems like everything is min $1000 or more.

[Slow Joe]

My grandma's house is in Milwaukee and for sale, however I don't know how you would feel about the neighborhood around 83rd and Villard...

[WI_Dave]

^^ My dads house is on 37th and thurston. Its a very nice house, brick, all hardwood floors and built in cabinets, fireplace ect. $84k and only 2 calls. I bought a foreclosure up north a year and a half ago. You have to jump thru some hoops but good deals are out there.

[Cutlass Queen]

If you have high credit card payments, look into balance transfering some of the balances. I've done that in the past. Just be careful because some require an upfront cost for the transaction fee, and sometimes the interest rates will jump up after a certain time. Read the fine print for sure. Atleast you'll be paying on principal more than interest this way to pay it off faster.