Austin is the capital of Texas and one of its five largest cities. HUD is an active seller of many properties in the city. HUD is a federal agency that is the “parent” of the Federal Housing Administration, which insures mortgages in Austin and every part of the country. HUD then has to buy some of the homes subject to these mortgages when the homes are foreclosed due to loan default. The agency then lists Austin HUD homes for sale on the Internet. Buyers looking for cheap Austin properties can find the homes by using the listings and then place bids to buy the HUD homes in Austin.
Step 1:
You can hunt down properties owned by HUD by using its own homes website at hudhomestore.com/HudHome/Index.aspx. This site has search engines that you can use to find listings of HUD properties for any state or city. In this case, select Texas from the map and then Austin as the city to find HUD homes in Austin.
You may even wish to search for homes based on price range and other available advanced search criteria. You can find those advanced options for finding specific kinds of Austin HUD homes above the home listings.
Step 2:
You now need to find one of several Austin real estate brokers that is authorized by HUD to place bids on your behalf. This is a mandatory procedure because of the HUD rule requiring a broker to act on behalf of a bidder. The HUD site in Step 1 also has a database full of brokers for you to find. Click “Find a Broker” on the home page. On the search page, select Austin to find a local broker that can complete the bidding process.
Step 3:
If you don’t have the ability to completely pay for a home with cash, the next step is to ask for a home loan from an Austin mortgage lender. HUD will let you buy and mortgage an Austin HUD home if you can convince a lender that you are worth the risk of a mortgage loan.
Step 4:
After making full preparations with your broker, get him or her to send in a bid on the Austin properties you want to acquire.
Step 5:
As soon as you hear back from your broker that your bid was accepted, then you need to get the ball rolling on the purchase. You generally pay a deposit on a HUD home in Austin within a few days and then prepare to fork over the rest of the money at the closing.
Step 6:
Obtain a Texas property deed from HUD. Where you file this deed depends on where the Austin HUD home you acquired is located. Go to the county court clerk in the county of the property to file the deed. This will be Travis County for many but not all HUD homes in Austin.
Sources:
HUD Home Listings
