Finding foreclosures

Foreclosures are a very common scene in a depressed real estate market. You will find them in great many numbers if you know where to look. Even in strong real estate markets you will have foreclosures but there may be not as many in numbers as in the markets that are deflating.

If you are not a professional foreclosure investor, there is usually no point in going to the public foreclosure auctions. Banks and large lenders arrange these auctions and several professional investors are present there to snatch the deal. They are in a far better position than you to judge the value of a property and they also know how close a deal as quickly as possible. So you probably won’t be able to compete with their speed and resources.

Instead go to one of the new online sites that offer listings of homes that have just gone into default. Of course, using the websites will incur a small fee. But the alternative is going to public record offices and searching through thousands of names to find out the details of recent defaulters. Although some of those public offices have put up searchable databases online, they might not always give you the full information online. It is much easier to get proper leads by joining the paid foreclosure-listing sites. You will also be saving a lot of time by searching for pre-foreclosure properties online.

The homes are considered as pre-foreclosure homes when they have missed a number of consecutive mortgage payments. These owners still have the right to sale the property, to apply for refinance and to pay the entire defaulting amount to make their loan current again. You have a small window of opportunity for negotiating with the actual owner of the property. You might also get into contact with their respective lawyers but that doesn’t usually help.

It is best to just go down to the house and find out the house owner directly. If you can manage convince the house owner to talk with you, you are good to go ahead with your offer. If the owner is not willing to talk, you can try to offer the owner a partnership. This means that first you will pay them enough to get the loan out of default and back to current.

If you want to do this, perform the exchange for the deed to the property. Then once you have managed to sell the house you offer the original owner a 10-20% profit. If you need to repair and refurbish the house, then you might need to have a place ready where you can put up the members of the house while the house is being redone.

Of course, if the owner does not accept any offer it is best to just move on to the next prospective property.

These are just simple ways that can get your started in the business. Foreclosures are on the rise during the recession and a lot of money can be made in this market if you have the right information and timing.