Short Sale Listings and Where to Find Them

">you should have an easier time in your research.o
Many new short sale investors complain that theyGoing to the County Recorder's Office is a FREE
have no idea how to find short sale listings in order tomethod for getting preforeclosure information.o You
make contact with the homeowners. Once you knoware likely to get a head start on other investors by
how to find these homeowners, you'll be surprised thatgoing down to the records office, since not many
so few investors work in foreclosure propertiespeople are willing to spend hours on their own
because there are just so many pre-foreclosures outresearch.o All public documentation usually ends up in
there.the County Recorder's Office, also known as the
Pre-foreclosures go on NoticeCounty Clerk or County Record's Office, this
The homeowner is notified with a lis pendens or Noticedocumentation includes copies of the NOD and lis
of Default, when a homeowner's bank files foreclosurependens.
paper. They are different papers that mean basicallyMost County Recorders don't put together lists of
the same thing; the bank is going to take theforeclosure information and their homeowner's contact
homeowner's property for non-payment of theinformation for the convenience of the investor. So
mortgage.you'll need to spend some time researching the
A Notice of Default (NOD) is the form used inrecords.
non-judicial foreclosure states.Many County Recorder's Offices have put their
The lis pendens is used in judicial foreclosure statesdocuments online, including the pre foreclosure
where the bank has to go to court and sue thedocuments. It never hurts to check online before
homeowner for their property.heading down to the local records office, just to see if
The lis pendens is filed by the lender (bank) as athey have a website set up. This makes it so much
formal notice to the homeowner that the bank haseasier when doing your short sale research. Not all of
started the foreclosure process. Once one of thesethese websites will provide you with the information
two forms is submitted by the bank, the homeowneryou need. However, they should allow you to compile
has a certain amount of time before their propertya list of names and document numbers that you can
goes to the sheriff's auction. This amount of timelook up later on in the records office.
varies greatly from state to state. It can be as little asShort Sale Listing Tips on Online Preforeclosure
90 days or as long as 12 months.Research:o When searching through a County
The homeowner still has the right to sell their propertyRecorder's online database look for the NOD or lis
or even refinance that property during preforeclosure.pendens as you would in the actual office.o Try looking
A short sale is after all selling the property, it's just thatfor a website. Many County Recorder's Offices have
you are getting the bank's agreement to sell thewebsites where you can search through all of their
property for less than the mortgage is worth.documents.
You can identify preforeclosures, by looking for the lisYou can find those potential short sale deals a couple
pendens and NOD. All it takes is a little research in theof other ways. You can subscribe to a short sale
short sale listings.listing service, either online, sent through email or as a
Head to the County Recorder's Officenewsletter in the postal mail. You'll be one of possibly
The banks can't release information concerningmillions of other investors seeing these same
preforeclosures to those involved in short saleproperties so there may be competition for good
investing and real estate investing. So, the averagedeals. You can also scan the newspapers on a regular
investor has to look for these preforeclosuresbasis. Many counties publish their current
somewhere else.preforeclosure properties in the classifieds. This is a
That place would be the County Recorder's office.last attempt to notify the homeowner that the
These transactions are considered public record,property is going to a sheriff's sale.
including foreclosure filings, so you can simply headIf these two options fail you in finding a preforeclosure,
down to the records office to research the short saleyou'll also be able to find those properties through
listings for preforeclosures that are suitable for a shortother means, like newspaper classifieds and
sale deal.subscribing to short sale listings. By researching both in
Short Sale Listing Tips For the Lis Penden's Search:othe County Recorder's Office and searching online
Take your reading glasses. You'll be looking through ayou'll be able to find more preforeclosures than you
lot of documentation.o If you search through thecan handle. A short sale begins with contacting the
records looking for the NOD or lis pendens documents,property owners, but first you've got to find them.