foreclosure purchase question????

[haapril]

hi thinking about purchaseing a foreclose home in MIa, Florida. 4/2.5 3050 sq feet. previous purchase at 487,000 and now 246,500. But it has a lot of damage, but home is beautiful. My question is can offer them like 200,000 due to the damages? and try to apply for a FHA rehab loan( a friend told me about it). Now the same bank that i am making this offer are they the same ones that I would apply for the FHA rehab loan??? how low can i offer them without being insulting?? how low should i start?  how does the fha rehab loan work? thank you for all of adive given.

[Anonymous]

I am kind of in the same boat as you.

Just put an offer on a house, foreclosure as well. Last purchased in 06 for 330k. Put my offer in for 225k when their asking was 235k.

Im lucky however as the house is actually in great condition. The people were actually fixing it up prior to leaving rather than destroying it. 

One option you may be able to do is apply for the first time home buyer tax credit too. I think you can do a FHA rehab too. But either way for first time buyers you essentially get a 7500 credit on your income tax that is repaid over 15 years. So its like a 0% loan 500 bucks a year for 15 years on your taxes. 7500 may not go a long way but hey its a start.

Dan

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

You don't have to apply for the FHA 203k loan from the same bank you are buying the home from.  Not a bad idea to look into but you are not required.  If it's a Countrywide bank owned property then they require you to get pre-approved with them anyway before you can make an offer, but not all bank owned properties have that requirement (getting pre-approved with the same lender who is selling the home).  Here is some good reading on FHA 203k loans: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/203k/203kabou.cfm