A foreclosure purchase story written by my clients:
Our search all began with a simple request to our Real Estate Agent, Rory Sutter. We gave him the criteria for the types of properties we are looking for and once a listing hit MLS, they will be sent directly to my Blackberry. I received many emails and one caught my attention.
It was a 4 plex in Surrey close to a Sky Train station, across from a new school, and 1 block from three new 30+ story condo buildings. The price was IDEAL! After reading the “fine print” I noticed it was in foreclosure.
I’ve never done one of those before so I thought “Let’s learn it!” I contacted Rory and we were the first people to view the property. OHHH WOW!!! Three of the four units were vacant and FULL of furniture. The fourth was occupied by the owner. Boy oh boy does he like to collect stuff. We looked past the clutter and focused on the layout, location, structure, renovation costs and over all potential.
The foreclosure process in BC is simple if you know how it’s done. I’m so happy we had Rory because he explained it all to us. We could submit an offer to the mortgagee and if the offer covered their costs and was close to market value (to make it fair for the owner) they would accept the offer and moving it to the next step by making a court date for a judge to hear it. We were advised that a judge usually likes to see property on the market for at least one month to gauge demand and value. We chose to wait a month and kept in contact with the listing agent to see if anyone else decided to submit a mortgagee accepted offer.
BANG! Two weeks later someone did and Rory gave us a call, giving us the time and date of the court proceedings. Friday September 25th at 9:30 am in Courtroom 32 was the date marked on our calendar.
Our next move was to determine the highest price we’re willing to purchase the 4 plex for and have a good strategy ready. Meanwhile, we went to discuss the situation with our banker. We had developed a great relationship with him and now it was time to pay off. Our banker ordered an appraisal on Wednesday with a rush to have it back by Friday morning first thing. Just minutes before we presented our offer, our banker called to say he received the appraisal and it was higher than the purchase price.
We decided to place our first bid just above the entry offer and see what happens. The lawyer walked into the court room and presented the two bids to the judge. The judge looked at both bids and asked the lawyer if the “original bidder was present in the court room”. The lawyer responded “no Your Honour”. The judge replied “go back out in the hall and find him”. I could see the displeasure in the lawyer's face because he said we would be placed at the bottom of the court docket and would have to wait for everyone else’s case.
The listing agent called the original bidder and found he was at work and could not make it to the court room. The lawyer walked back into Courtroom 32 and requested to be the next case in front of the judge. He was granted it. The judge heard that the original bidder could not make it to court and accepted our offer.”
We gave Rory a high five in the court room and walked out with big smiles on our faces!
