We found a two flat that caught our eye – a beautiful masonry building with very solid bones. It even had an intact heating system, bathrooms and kitchen! The appliances were missing, but that was it. The kicker was the extra large lot, listed at 50 by 150 feet.

We took one look at it and knew we had a jewel on our hands. Even though it was a foreclosure, the offer we submitted was a little higher than the asking price. We did not want to take any chances of not getting it.

Foreclosure listings are an interesting beast. It is safe to assume that any information in the listing is guesswork and that the seller’s agent probably never has set foot in – or even in front of – the building. Don’t trust any of the listing information (sometimes even not the picture of the building)! It is up to the buyer to do his or her homework. Walking through the building is absolutely essential to verify the number of units and rooms, room sizes and the basement. We also always measured the property to verify the size.

This is where it got really interesting. It appeared that this two flat had a 17 foot wide garden space along the east side, thus the 50 foot wide lot. The next building over had the same 17 foot wide garden space to its west side.

Or – the two adjacent 17 foot garden spaces were actually another, independently owned 33 foot wide vacant lot, as recent tax records suggested…

Our Realtor dug up some plat information, we talked to the neighbors, we researched old deed information at the City Hall archives, but we could not figure out what the actual property size was. Our attorney pointed out that a survey would give us a conclusive answer. Prior to the survey we will need to commission a title search that would include the actual legal description of the property. We decided to invest in the title search to begin with.

The survey became unnecessary once we had the legal description in hand. The description along with the plat information confirmed the information from the tax records. What the listing sold as extra garden space was in fact an independently owned vacant lot. The property size of the building was 33 by 155 feet and not 50 by 155 feet.

Well, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Not only was this a big disappointment, but we withdrew our offer following the findings.

We learned quickly that the process of buying a foreclosure has very little in common with your typical property purchase, where the seller provides accurate information and covers the cost for items such as the title search and survey. Not so with foreclosures. The burden is on the buyer, and the buyer is well advised to take exercise due diligence in his or her research process.