You probably dont expect my foreclosure deal example to be the home I currently live in. While I can afford to live almost anywhere, I choose to live here. I have great neighbors and great schools for the kids. Actually if you read a bit, you will find many millionaires live in upper-middle-class neighborhoods. Most self-made millionaires dont worry about impressing other people, we realize it just doesnt matter how much money one has, it is who you are inside that counts. Besides, when you live in a property as your primary residence for two years, when you sell it the gain (profit) is tax free up to $500,000.00 per married couple. If I have the opportunity to take free money, I am going to do it and you will to.

This foreclosure deal example was purchased for $86,000.00 a few years ago. Now you are probably thinking, what kinda neighborhood could this be in, but I will tell you it is quite nice. It all revolves around being the first one in line to work the deal in most cases on foreclosure deals. The asking price for the home was $137,500.00 and it was a complete wreck inside. Now, it was worth this any day even in its condition, but I always try to make a better deal first and if it is worth it I will give in later.

The bank that owned this property was on the east coast and I am in the Midwest. They listed the home with a broker that wasnt even in the area. He was a good hours drive away. I saw this all working to my advantage so I really low-balled with my offer. What I did was, get comps from a few properties that had sold at very low prices (poor condition, poor area), and submitted them with my contract as a reason for making such a low offer. I was able to justify these comps because neither the broker nor the seller new how far away or the difference in neighborhoods were, because they were both not familiar with this area.

I think this is a good foreclosure deal example because it shows some things to look for in a potentially good deal. The broker was so far away that he didnt want to drive up to show it to me, so he gave me the lock-box combo and I viewed the home myself. This told me a couple things.

1. The broker wasnt likely to come back and look at my comps that I supplied.

2. The broker wouldnt notice his sign (that was in the window of the house not in the yard) had fallen. (oops, did I do that?)

The broker had not submitted the listing to the MLS yet and I worked it out with him to hold off until his deadline to submit. This gave me a few days of being the banks only customer. I told him that if this deal went thru, I would be wanting to purchase many more from him. It doesnt matter whom the broker works for, they always look out for their own interest first.

The broker discussed my offer with the bank and they asked for a $1,000.00 increase in the purchase price above my initial offer. I almost fell over. I signed their counter-offer and waited for my attorney to take it to closing. The deal was all signed before the listing was exposed to the MLS, so it went on as "pending". The broker said he was absolutely flooded with calls, and that was at the $137,500.00 price, and it was already pending and no sign in the window. Now thats why I used this as my foreclosure deal example.

Once the deal was signed and secure, I began the clean-up of the exterior of the property. The banks never fuss about this because if things went bad, they would just get the property back in better condition. They just wont grant you access to the inside of the home for insurance reasons (I might have accidentally got a head start cleaning in there to. I had the combo to get in). By the time I went to closing, the exterior of the home was done.

I brought the lock-box to closing and meet the broker for the first time there. The only time the broker had to visit the property was to place his sign, and the only time he had to see me was at the closing. Brokers love getting paid for very little work. While I kept in contact with him for a while, he was quite old and since retired, thus closing his brokerage. No more deals from him. Oh well.

On this foreclosure deal example, I did a rather quick rehab and moved in. By a quick rehab I mean it took two weeks and I left a few projects undone as I could do them after I was in the home. I wanted to get the previous home on the market as quickly as possible as it was springtime and the best time to sell.

I did a few things to brighten up the previous home and it sold in just over two weeks at a nice, tax free, profit. Then I went back and finished the new residence. It was a little harder working around my belongings but I wouldnt have done it any other way in this foreclosure deal example.

This home now has a market value of close to $300,000.00 at this point. But to make things a bit better, the story doesnt end there. This foreclosure deal example happens to have a large corner lot. To make it even a better lot, the road next to it hasnt been put in yet. The neighbor and I cleared the street right-of-way and put gardens in there. This got me to thinking that maybe I could get the village to let me have the land.

I spoke to the head of the street department to see what his feelings were as to the odds of the street ever going in. He felt there was no need to ever put it in given the traffic patterns. So I petitioned to the village asking for them to vacate the property. As I stood in front of the village council, they said that this was something that no city does. Citys have vacated alleyways, but not streets. I continued to add that the land is a burden on the village because of their need to upkeep the property, insurance liability, etc. They replied that they dont upkeep it now. I said "exactly". I said the village ordinance states that all properties be kept free of debris and lawns cut shorter that 6 inches, and should I submit a bill for doing this upkeep for the village.

I said this all light-heartedly, because I am asking for something, not demanding something. They all laughed and started to discuss the possibilities. The mayor said that it would not be fair to give all the property to just one person when there are four abutting properties. At this time I handed him a request for subdivision and vacation of the lot, signed by all four abutting neighbors. I was including them all along and was prepared for this answer if the petition made it that far.

To make the story shorter, after a couple meetings, I got it done. This is the first time in the history of the town, that they have vacated a dedicated street. I am proud of being the one that made that happen. The terms I worked out with the village were, for each neighbor to pay $450.00 for their quarter of the land. This covered a few hundred for donation to parks and recreation and the rest was for survey and subdivision, all done by the village.

Now this foreclosure deal example just got better. It is worth in excess of three hundred grand. Nice profit, right? If you would like to read how I got My Start in real estate investing, go to http://real-estate-investing-faq.com and click on the "My Start" button.