thanks deejay. Is it possible to view a home before an auction?

[[[......Buying REO or foreclosures is better?.....]]

REO, is real estate owned (by the bank). That is a foreclosure. Same, same. The banks will sometimes sell them for less than is owed. Often the properties are in a bad state of disrepair, as the person who lost the house is angry and does damage as they leave.

Pre-foreclosure is when you find a seller who is about to lose his property to the bank and he will make a good deal to get rid of it before the bank forecloses. Sometimes the seller will agree to a "short sale" where the bank agrees to accept less than is owed on the mortgage.

The seller has to agree to do a short sale, since he is very likely still going to owe the bank whatever amount of the mortgage didn't get paid by the buyer.

[[[......When buying these do we get to see a report of a survey about the exact condition of the house. The things you can't see in pictures Ie. plumbing, wiring, internal etc. ( to avoid surprises later which add cost and time for repairs).....]]]]]

HUD has a condition report. Some banks also do, some don't. The condition report might be accurate, or vandals might have broken in and done more damage after the report was prepared.

It's not a good idea to purchase a foreclosure without looking at it. They are sold as-is, with no recourse if you don't like what you've purchased.

You can put an inspection contingency into your offer so that you can back out of the sale if you don't like what you find in the house. The bank will not do any repairs; the house is as-is, but you can put a clause in the contract that will allow you to back out.

Assume that any system that can't be tested is going to have to be replaced and write that into your budget. If it doesn't have to be repaired, you win. If it does have to be repaired, you have the money budgeted for it.

[[[[.......Is it better to hire 1 contractor to do the whole renovation? Do they supply the material or do we need to buy separately?.........]]]]]]]

Are you going to be there? Someone has to coordinate the workers and see to the delivery of supplies. If you aren't on site to do that yourself, you will have to hire a general contractor, amd he will make sure everything is done in the correct order and that supplies and workers arrive on site at the proper time.

I do my own contracting, but I am on the job site every day. do a lot of the work myself, and have done enough houses that I know some good workers to call. I also know what shops to use to order supplies and who delivers good material on schedule.

I usually purchase my materials myself. I have accounts at the various building supply places. But if you aren't in the area to keep track of every detail, your general contractor will see to the purchase and delivery of materials. You will have to give the contractor advances on his pay if you expect him to pay for materials.

[[[.....How many bedrooms in a house for best flip potential?....

3 bedroom 2 bath are an easier sell than some other sizes. That's a standard middle class type of home.

1 bath houses are difficult to rent or sell. 2 bedroom houses have a very limited buyer pool. 4 bedroom 2 bath are easy to sell, but as the house gets larger, the price goes up, and as the price goes up, your buyer pool gets smaller as fewer people can afford the larger price.

[[[[.......How to know where the best location is? Is there any info online about home buyer's index/statistics in particular suburbs?.....]]]]]

Just rule of thumb, I am in America and I wouldn't touch the areas promoted on this site with a 10 foot pole.

There is endless information available about different areas on The States. The US Census bureau has lots of information, broken down by individual town. Population, income, industry, whether the population is growing or shrinking, and lots more.

Everyone's newspaper is on-line, so you can see the classifed ads for any town and read some of the information about thatarea.

Most towns have a visitors center or tourist information website, so you can google the town and get lots of information.

Craigslist will have information about rentals and houses for sale in the larger towns, usually with photos.

Realty Times, on-line, has local market condition reports.

HUD (housing and urban development) has a link to all sorts of foreclosures and you can easily find which areas have a lot of foreclosures.

There are several forums for USA investors and they would be the best ones to ask about specific areas. You will do better if you get the opinion of someone who is actually investing in the area instead of asking the person who is trying to sell you something.

Yes - would anyone risk buying at auction unseen?

PMBLUE57 if you would like to learn about the stable housing economy in Western North Carolina, let's chat.

Ok, being a property manager in Buffalo (before that Houston, TX and Poughkeepsie, NY), I can say Buffalo has some of the highest returns on your money in the United States. Also, there will be an increase in rent for your tenants due to a drastic civil project by the Mayors Office called the 5-5 Plan.

August 2007 > Mayor Brown Announces Aggressive 5 In 5 Demolition Plan



It's Pretty Drastic and covers alot. The price of housing is very low here, and the rent in the medium range of comparables. What you need to do is find and research is your realtor and management company, or you'll have a bad ride for sure.