Living in Portland

There are a couple of big issues with buying a HUD home.  The biggest is that you are buying the home ‘AS-IS’.  So if you submit an offer that is accepted, you do not have the right to negotiate repairs AND you will loose your earnest money deposit (usually $1000.) if you decide to terminate the deal.

The only way to protect yourself would be to have a home inspection PRIOR to making an offer.  This is what HUD recommends.  In order to do that you will first have to have the water and electricity and maybe even gas turned on at your expense, so an inspector can do his job.  That’s right, you pay the turn on fee!  HUD has the utilities turned off on all of their  homes, often times before they have their internal inspection.  You will also have to pay for the inspection (about $400.) before you submit an offer on the property.  Once you submit an offer there is no guarantee that you will be the winning bidder.  If you are not, you just spent about $600. for nothing.