The Castle Rock real estate market is said to be littered with foreclosures with the numbers of filings are down in Douglas County. If you are planning to purchase Castle Rock homes for sale waiting on the foreclosure line, be prepared for the hassles. Buying a foreclosure involves homework, patience, and often a good measure of luck.

Though many buyers now begin their home search with a request to look at foreclosures and bank-owned properties, there's no guarantee that buying a foreclosure will save money compared with buying the traditional way. If you're buying at auction, you usually need to pay cash. You may face long waiting periods to take possession of the property and move in, and the property could require extensive repairs.

Getting A Discount. Discounts vary tremendously depending on where you live, but on Castle Rock, discounts can go as high as 50%. Several foreclosed properties in the city can be purchased at deep discounts; therefore some real estate companies are capable of providing exceptional cash flowing properties. Local home owners are provided with affordable housing through these foreclosures and investors are able to achieve substantial returns.

Castle Rock Foreclosure laws. The Colorado legislature has made substantial changes to the foreclosure laws. Consider approaching foreclosure attorneys who are familiar with these changes and have experience in guiding creditors and debtors through the court proceedings necessitated by judicial foreclosures or through the Public Trustee foreclosure process.

Inspect The Title. Be prepared to pay off old tax liens attached to the home -- and to buy title insurance as soon as you take ownership. You need to inspect the title thoroughly, which means paying several hundred dollars for a title search and combing through it to ferret out all outstanding debts.

Auctioned Foreclosures. Most foreclosures that go to auction get postponed, usually due to bankruptcy or loss mitigation. The winning bidder will pay for the property and take ownership within a set period of time, which varies according to state law. To bid on a Castle Rock Home Auction you usually must have at least 3% of the purchased value.

Work with the lender. If no one buys a property at the auction, it usually ends up back with the bank. Banks have a lot of these real estate owned, or REO, properties in their portfolios and are actively trying to sell them through agents. Castle Rock REO offers these houses for sale to a network of investors on a first come, first serve basis. Individuals who invest in these houses can expect annual returns between 15% and 20% and additional profits if the property is resold.

You can find REOs through real estate agents in Castle Rock or approach local banks or mortgage brokers directly and let them know you are prepared to buy a property "as is" with cash and request a discount from the asking price. Banks sometimes pay to remodel properties to improve their value. But with so many inventories on their books right now, most lenders want to unload foreclosed homes quickly, without having to refurbish them.