| The current economic environment with millions of | | | | buying. There are three main lists of how to find |
| mortgages in trouble can lead to a gold mine of | | | | foreclosures. |
| opportunity for investors with cash on hand or access | | | | The first is the pre-foreclosure list. This is a compilation |
| to credit. But, how to find foreclosures is an issue that | | | | of people who are behind on their mortgage payments |
| must be addressed before investors can fully profit | | | | but who have not yet lost their homes. If you get |
| from the situation. This article will examine how to find | | | | involved with the homeowners and banks involved at |
| foreclosures. | | | | this stage, you will be working as a short sale investor. |
| The first step in how to find foreclosures is developing | | | | This means that you buy the home for less than the |
| a list of properties. There are several sources for this. | | | | mortgage amount, the bank writes off the difference, |
| One thing you can do is contact a real estate agent | | | | and the homeowner walks away without a deficiency |
| who specializes in how to find foreclosures. Because it | | | | judgment on their credit records. Often homes bought |
| is increasingly difficult for agents to make traditional | | | | at the pre-foreclosure stage are in the best physical |
| sales, many are developing niche specialties. One of | | | | condition. |
| these specialties is foreclosure listings. These agents | | | | The next list is the directory of upcoming foreclosure |
| develop relationships with banks who have | | | | auctions. After a bank repossesses a home, they are |
| pre-foreclosure and foreclosure listings. Working with | | | | required to auction it off to the highest bidder. This is |
| an agent can reduce a lot of hassles. But, you also | | | | because they can usually get a deficiency judgment |
| have to realize that the banks will factor in their fees | | | | against the homeowner who defaulted on the |
| into the final negotiated price. | | | | mortgage. They are required to get the highest price |
| Another way to find foreclosures is to go to individual | | | | at auction and only go after the homeowner for the |
| banksí web sites. Scouring these sites | | | | difference. In many cases, there are no bidders at the |
| individually provides a free way to get lists of | | | | auction and the bank buys the home for $1 over the |
| foreclosures. Similarly, you can look at classified | | | | deficiency. A savvy investor can pick up good deals at |
| advertisements, especially the legal notices section. | | | | auction. |
| You can also go to the courthouse and pull the | | | | Finally, there is a list of bank owned homes. These are |
| records for foreclosure filings. | | | | the properties that the bank bought back at auction. |
| When you are answering the how to find foreclosures | | | | They are now sitting vacant, depreciating in value, and |
| question this way, you are investing a lot of your time | | | | taxes are accruing on them. Banks are quite eager to |
| in just gathering leads. Time is money. For most | | | | get them off the books. As such, you can often pick |
| investors, the thing that makes the most sense is to | | | | them up for 20 to 30 off of percent of appraised |
| subscribe to a how to find foreclosures database. | | | | value (and the appraisal is less than it would have |
| Many of these foreclosure listings have free initial | | | | been if you had bought them in pre-foreclosure). |
| periods of 3 to 7 days. After that, you will pay $40 to | | | | How to find foreclosures begins with finding a good list |
| $50 a month for updated listings. | | | | of troubled homes to start with. |
| It is important to know which kind of list or lists you are | | | | |