There’s still time to get in while the going’s good when it comes to purchasing foreclosed homes at auction. Although investors are primarily made up of private equity funds and groups of wealthy individuals, anyone with cash, can qualify as an investor.
And now is a good time since the number of foreclosed homes in Illinois sold to investors at auction is on an annual climb. According to data compiled by the Illinois Foreclosure Listing Service, auction purchases by investors (SOL) show an overall increase of 5.71% from 315 properties in June 2012 to 333 properties in June 2013.
Kendall and Kane Counties appear hottest with an annual jump of 200% and 118.75% over last year, followed by Cook County (27.03%) and Lake County (13.89%). McHenry is the only county to show no change while Will and DuPage are the only counties in Illinois to show an annual decline, dropping by 61.70% and 38.18% respectively.
In addition to researching statistics like these, investors should do their homework regarding the specific properties they are interested in as well as boning up on the auction process itself. Not all facts and figures can be found online so serious investors will benefit from physically checking out the property to make sure of its condition. New investors should also attend an auction as an observer prior to the one in which they plan to make a bid, if only to get their feet wet first.
If all these steps are take, investors of all kinds will be ready to hear those three magical words, “Going, going, gone!”