The Belmont MA homes market has crashed, but that is no reason to think that you cannot still make lots of money in this buyers market, because the U.S. is heading back into another recession possibly worse than the previous one.
Real estate is one investment that is needed by everyone, because everyone needs a place to live and even if you cannot afford to purchase a home of your own, you will have to rent one.
By purchasing a home that is on the verge of foreclosure, you can allow the former owners to stay in the house and continue to make payments to you as their landlord.
Whenever you purchase real estate, you have the right to put a new mortgage on it to help lower the payments and the interest rate and this is part of the benefits of owning a home.
If you are planning on investing in real estate in this manner, make sure that the home is located in a solid area where the property values are increasing.
When most people are late with a house payment they do not have any idea of the dangerous situation if they continue to be late, nor do they know just how many times they can be late before an automatic notice of default will be filed, then foreclosure.
If you want to speculate, you can invest in an area that is up and coming, such as a place where people are moving to get away from urban sprawl, or other big city problems that many people today are facing; crime, overcrowding, bad schools, work commute too far, etc..
The home, condo or townhome you get at a foreclosure sale in a city like Palm Springs, Sarasota, Miami, or any other nice area where property is valuable, is better than a home in a run down area.
Real estate agents have a list of homes in foreclosure and these are owned by banks and lenders and this information is also of public record so if you are working with a real estate agent, they should be able to show you the homes in your area that are in foreclosure.
If they have gone into foreclosure because of some unforeseen circumstance that will be alleviated, such as someone losing their job, you can make them an offer to rent to buy, which means that a portion of their rent can be used as a down payment if they want to buy their home back when things get better.
You can ask your real estate agent about financing options open to you as an investor as these may differ from options available to those wishing to purchase a property as a primary residence.