| Foreclosures in the United States are mostly monitored | | | | of the towns are small or unincorporated. These |
| by the banks that now own the houses, but state and | | | | offices keep physical records of distressed and |
| federal governments also keep a record of which | | | | foreclosed properties for the benefit of police and |
| properties have been foreclosed. | | | | because they are usually the first buildings to be |
| This is necessary both for statistics and for security | | | | purchased under imminent domain expansion |
| reasons. It is always possible that a company will | | | | programs, since they are inexpensive and there's no |
| "fudge" its numbers in order to make it appear that | | | | need to ask anyone to move to a new house. While |
| they own more or less foreclosed properties in order | | | | these records are accessible for free, it is necessary |
| to improve their balance sheet. | | | | to actually go to a government building and root |
| Aurora Lillo Editor of the "Best Free Foreclosure | | | | through them manually. It may even be necessary to |
| Listings" website -- -- pointed out; | | | | set an appointment! |
| "…Governments, especially on the local level, need to | | | | "…Luckily, many governments and even independent |
| know which houses have become foreclosed upon | | | | institutions have digitized these records and made |
| since these properties are usually unoccupied for a | | | | them available for free online. Most major cities and |
| long period and thus may become a haven for pest | | | | counties now keep an online record of foreclosed |
| animals or squatters. But these records are available | | | | properties. There are also third party aggregators who |
| to the public, and in fact can be useful for persons | | | | take the data from these local companies and spread |
| who are looking to purchase a foreclosed property | | | | it out over entire states and regions, enabling users to |
| either as a primary residence or a fixer-upper they | | | | search from among thousands of foreclosed |
| intend to sell once the market recovers…" | | | | properties. These online listings are not only just as |
| Government foreclosure listings are considered public | | | | free as the physical paper listings; they enable users to |
| documents, and all Americans have a right to access | | | | search by street, city or even an exact address. They |
| them. This is normally done by going to the city | | | | include much of the same information, but may also link |
| counsel, mayor's office, or the office of whoever is in | | | | directly to the bank that now owns the property so |
| charge of the town. In some more rural districts, it may | | | | that negotiations can begin sooner…" added A. Lillo. |
| be necessary to head to the county board, as many | | | | |