• Sold AS IS with right to inspect. This means the buyer can hire a home inspector to look for major defects that might make the buyer want to back out of the sale. You usually have 5 to 10 days to have an inspection.
• Maintenance :  Most foreclosed houses in the Ocala area have sat for an undetermined period of time with no AC and no pest control. Even a new never lived in home can have hidden problems. A professional home inspection is a must but not a guarantee of no hidden issues in the future.
• Location : Newer foreclosed homes are often in remote areas, with few neighbors and sometimes on dirt roads. This is not always the case but here in Ocala it is true a lot of the time especially with the newer foreclosed homes. Buyers looking at Ocala foreclosures from out side the area often don't realize that location can be the reason for a low price.
• Short market times. Banks are looking to move foreclosed homes quickly and price them to sell in 30 to 90 days. Desirable foreclosed houses can get offers quickly, sometimes in just days.
• Why only 1 picture? Most foreclosures have only the one mandatory image required by the Ocala MLS and never virtual tours. Price is all the marketing that a foreclosure needs.
• Multiple Offers : On a desirable property banks will try to get multiple offers and either try to create a bidding war or choose the buyer they feel is best qualified and most likely to close the deal.
• Buying a Foreclosure : The process goes like this, you make an offer just like on a normal sale. The bank takes 2 to 5 days to respond and they send back their own contract. The buyer now must sign the bank contract and send it off to the bank to sign and accept. This back and forth can take several days. Banks will not look at an offer without a pre approval letter from your lender or proof of funds if cash. An escrow deposit must accompany the offer.
• My opinion : Great deals if you are flexible, can make compromises, do your research and are aware of the potential problems.

• Low Success Rate : Short sales have a low success rate simply because the bank is not cooperative or the buyers just lose patience and move on to another house.
  
• Short Sales take time : In a short sale it can take 8 weeks or more for a bank to respond to an offer. This does vary from bank to bank.
• You can't trust the list price : I have a problem with the asking prices of short sales. First the bank often won't even talk about a short sale until the owner has an offer. Consequently some agents advertise very low asking prices, which the bank can counter with an offer higher than the asking price. So a buyer can make a full price, cash offer and wait 8 weeks only for the bank to reject the offer or counter at a higher number.
• My opinion : I don't like short sales simply because I think a buyer can find a similar home at a similar price that is just easier to buy.

• Most often found in the 55+ communities but they can be any where.
• Maintenance can be an issue with estate sales because the owner neglected things in their old age.
• My opinion : an excellent buy but usually on an older home.

• Mostly newer never lived in homes but some can have been rentals.
• Owners often have never seen these homes in person and know nothing about them.
• Never lived in houses may never have had a builders punch list completed.
• Many have sat empty for extended periods with no maintenance similar to foreclosures.
• Usually sold AS IS due to low price.
• My opinion : A nice clean uncomplicated sale with a quick closing, unlike short sales. Often great deals on a par with foreclosures but with similar maintenance issues. This type of sale is getting harder to find as prices keep dropping.

• MLS Listing Cart. The Ocala Marion county MLS has a feature where I can load all the foreclosed homes that meet your criteria into a Listing Cart. You get a log in identity and can see your listings when ever you like. An important feature for the serious buyer is that whenever a new foreclosure is listed you will automatically be notified to log into your account.
• 
  
• How to set up an MLS Listing Cart. You have to send the following information, first and last name, price range, minimum square feet of living area, age of house, lot size etc. There are at least 200 foreclosures currently listed and the cart only holds 100 listings, so I need this info in order to narrow the search down.

Fine Print All the information above is based on my experience. Every sale is different. Although Ocala foreclosures are priced well below market only the future will tell if there will be any hidden problems from these houses that were left vacant for such long periods. Ocala foreclosures and other distressed properties are definitely in the BUYER BEWARE category.