Economic and Market Commentary - What's happening now - CPI lower than expected, no inflation in sight - Market update - Time to raise the warning fla

The economy is not exactly in its best shape recently. The recession started in the United States and we are slowly feeling its toll in United Kingdom. In general, sales plummeted down. Basic necessities such as food, clothing and houses proved to be more expensive that what an average person can afford. This makes it a bad time to buy something big. Buying expensive cars, luxury items and houses may seem ludicrous at this point right?

Wrong. Although prices have hiked up recently, there is a means to get a decent house at a cheaper price. By cheaper, this means 30 to 40% off the usual price that you would have to pay for a new house. How? You can do this by buying repossessed property at auctions.

A repossessed house is a property taken back by the bank or a real estate company because of bad debts. In simpler terms, these are the houses of mortgagees that were not able to pay for amortizations of their housing loans. As a prospective buyer, we might be turned off to acquire the property because of this fact. For some, their conscience may be bugged because it may seem that we are taking advantage of a different person's weakness. Then again, the concept of "taking advantage" may be a bit too harsh. We must bear in mind that before a property is repossessed, several notices and chances are given to the mortgagee. If no action is done on their part, that is the only time when eviction happens.

When a bank repossesses a house, this will be put up in an auction. Public auctions are facilitated by an auctioneer that introduces the property, and sets the initial bidding price. The auction is ofter attended by a group of people who expressed their interest in acquiring the property up for bid. Prospective buyers will bid their price and typically, the person with the highest bid gets to go home as the winner.

However bidding for a house is so much different from bidding for a book, bag or any accessory on line. Since a house is a property with greater value, more care should be put into it. Say for example, one cannot simply rely on catalogs and pictures during the process of acquisition. It is advisable for you to visit the actual property itself for you to check on the condition of the house you want to buy. If you are buying the property to live in it, make sure that it is suitable to be inhabited. Most repossessed houses that have not been maintained for quite some time may need some repair or renovation. When you find that improvements or maintenance works are necessary, calculate the cost. You would not want to buy a "cheaper" house only to find out that you need to spend a lot of money just so you can live in it.

Lastly, if you are not familiar with the whole process, ask a professional real estate agent to walk you through it. buying repossessed property at auctions does not have to be hard and complicated. All you have to do is find someone who can make things easier for you. These private offices usually charge a month's worth of your amortization or rent.