House Foreclosure Tips on When you Should Buy and Sell

It is important to have a game plan whether or not you are preparing to buy your own foreclosure home for your family or whether you plan on purchasing a house foreclosure that you will fix up and sell for a profit. Your plan will include short term and long term goals and take into consideration the amount of financing that you have available to you. It is vitally important to have this plan of action because your goals and objectives are taken into consideration by the bank and other mortgage and financial lending institutions before granting you a loan for new house foreclosure property.

The first consideration is whether you tend to hold, (keep) or flip (sell) your house foreclosure property. Even if you are not planning to live in your house foreclosure property and intend on renting it out, you will want to make sure the conditions remain profitable to do so.

Of course the real estate market will influence your decision as well. You will hold onto the property when:

• When there is a continued cash flow, or income coming in from your rental unit(s).

• The property values in the neighborhood are continuously going up, the taxes are increasing accordingly, and the appreciation upon the properties are rising as well. As the trend continues you can expect to increase the rents and your income will raise in accordance with these changes.

When to sell or flip a house foreclosure property:

• If you know that you can turn an immediate profit by selling right away.

• Your anticipated income or cash flow is nil or well below your initial expectations resulting from unexpected hidden costs, repairs and maintenance, property taxes are higher than the rent coming in, renters that default on paying their rent or paying on time, or destroy the property.

• The neighborhood is deteriorating, crime rate is on the rise and drug dealers and other criminals are infiltrating the community.


• There is a downward swing in the market and you want to get out from under this house foreclosure property.


Since generally speaking house prices and rents are constantly increasing, it goes without saying that the house foreclosure market is a very good business to invest your money and turn a profit for either your long-term or short-term property ownership goals. Don’t be discouraged if at times the property values increase at a snail pace, in the long term they will always increase.

Just make sure to have a simple but good business plan, know how to start, where to start, and what you want in the short term to eventually materialize into your the long term investment goals. The more thought out and executable your plan is the more easily you will be able to attract moneylenders, partners or other investors.