How and where can I locate forclosures and preforclosures?
Please advise…
It depends on your state & county, but typically the NOD (Notice of Default) it posted in a local legal paper. You could also contact your county courthouse to ask them how to get information on the NOD’s.
You can also call a title company in your area and ask if they can send you a weekly list.
-Joe
Get in good with a loan officer…ask them to refer anyone who does not qualify for a refi and is behind in payments, offer a finders fee if the deal goes through. I previously was a loan officer and someone approached me with this same idea, I ended up sending this investor 2 deals and got a check for $1000. This is what sparked my interest and got me involved in short sales. Just a thought… :elephant
I would advise anyone facing foreclosure to discuss their situation with an experienced Realtor. Short Sales are not a part of real estate basic training but there are a number of educational seminars a Realtor can take to get up to speed. Lenders will pay a reasonable selling commission so Realtors have an incentive to get involved in Short Sale situations.
The basic requirements for a Short Sale are a Listing Agreement with a Realtor and a Sales Contract from a Buyer which are submitted to the Lender along with a Hardship Letter from the Seller explaining why they cannot continue to pay the mortgage and supporting documents such as tax returns, bank statements, information and photos of the home and the Comps, or comparative home prices supporting the offer. The way mortgages are sold, the mortgage holder can be anywhere and certainly not aware of local real estate conditions.
If the package is complete, the Lender will order a BPO, or Broker’s Price Opinion, from an independent Realtor. Ths BPO is the key to the whole process. If it is too high, the Lender will not accept a low offer. Your Realtor can meet with the Agent doing the BPO and offer information supporting the offer, such as the average time on market of comparable homes, recent selling prices and point out any defects in the home. Most Lenders will accept an offer lower than the BPO, but usually not much more than 10% lower, though that will vary depending on the company.
The sales contract should specifically state that the offer is contingent on the Lender accepting the purchase price in full and forgiving the Seller the deficiency on the mortgage. Yes, there can be tax consequences. The Seller does receive a 1099 on the forgiven part of the mortgage, but there are provisions in the tax code for the offset of the phantom income due to insolvency. Most Short Sellers will satisfy the insolvency requirements or the Lender would not be allowing the Short Sale in the first place. Be aware too that if the home goes to foreclosure, a 1099 is received for the FULL amount of the mortgage, plus late fees, legal fees etc. Obviously every individual situation is different so a CPA or tax attorney should be consulted.
The process does all take time and Lenders are swamped, expect at least 2-3 months before a sale can be finalized, even if the Lender accepts the first offer. If they do not, the price can be negotiated.
I am a Realtor, a Broker Associate and I am involved in Short Sales. It is a detailed but fairly straightforward process that can work to benefit Buyer, Seller and even the Lender. The Buyer gets a good price on a home, the Seller gets to avoid the disruption and credit hit of a foreclosure and the Lender avoids the delay and expense of foreclosing on a property they don’t want to own and that would negatively impact their ability to make more loans.
Walk outside your home, look up and down the street. You probably will see a few.
Why would a title company know what was in preforeclosure?
Just wanted to say… Great detailed post!
Why would a title company know what was in preforeclosure?
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Doesn’t matter why they would, he is telling you they do know.
fine, but why? Is that not a valid question? I’m not going to start calling title companies to find preforeclosures until I can understand why this is valuable information to them. I like to have the total picture.
Then do some research and learn what title companies do for a business. Find out why they exist. It will help your understanding of REI. Don’t just ask. Google and learn. You can’t expect people on these forums to spend their time answering every little curiosity every newbie has.
I believe newbie’s have an obligation to do some research on their own before just asking for the answers on a silver platter.
Take this thread for an example. I don’t understadn why someone would come to this forum and register and post a question like “How can I locate foreclosures” and then wait days for people to answer.
Type the same question into Google and you’ll get thousands of informational websites that will tell you all you need to know. Read em and learn without taking anyone else’s time.
Then when something doesn’t make sense or you need help with the nuances or a specific deal, then come to these forums to ask.
My 2 cents.
FWIW, I am 95% sure that if I called ten title companies searching for pre-foreclosure information, I would get ten responses, “That’s not what we do. When you’re ready to buy a house, think of us.”
Well I doubt that is true but maybe. Certainly some title companies are more investor friendly than others. I wasn’t the one who suggested calling title companies to locate foreclosures. I have never done that and there are too many other places to find them, but I do know people who do use them as a source.
But it doesn’t really matter.
My whole point was that this poster asked how to find them, got an answer to call title companies and instead of trying it, came back with “why” without trying to do any research on their own. My 4 yr old does that.
“Why” is a good question to ask, you should understand how the details really work. But instead of just spurting out “why” like a 4 year old, and expecting someone to show you the way…ask yourself “why would this guy recommend this?” and try to do some work on your own to learn why. The answers are here in this forum and on the web for the finding. The fact is that title companies do have these lists and they are more up to date and detailed than most lists you can buy.
If this poster had responded with “I called 10 title companies and they all brushed me off, why?” I could respect the effort and I would have explained why.
i called 5 title companies and they told me no, why?
Funny guy, huh? 
Ask them why they told you no. The fact is they have the info. How do I know why they blew you off?
Like I said some are more investor friendly than others. Some you have to have a relationship with them already. Maybe you got some idiot secretary and you need to work a bit harder to find the right person. Maybe you sounded like a newbie who didn’t have a clue. Maybe you gotta call 10 like I said. (quit taking shortcuts) Maybe you shouldn’t call on a Saturday. Maybe you didn’t really call at all and you still want the answers on a platter.
But if you did call and you give up that easily when you don’t find success you will not make in FC investing. You have to sift through alot of crap to find the diamond.
I just typed “using title companies to locate foreclosures” into Google and got 2.1 million hits. Several on the first page gave you the information you seek. Spend some time reading them.
it was obviously a joke…
you could have summarized all that you had to say with try harder, it’s not easy…
who said anything about giving up?
you’re making a lot of noise saying nothing really…
eric- you just wasted your time writing 3 posts about how newbies should learn to use google. To be quite honest, you could have just provide a 2 sentence answer, or not replied at all, to save yourself some time. It doesn’t make sense to me as to why title companies would have interest in providing this info. to investors. I personally use realty trac to find iforeclosures - and don’t need to call title companies for this info. - but I am still curious about why title companies would want to provide this info. This forum is a teaching forum - not a place to do deals, or even really network. Most of the people who post are newbies, and having some of the simpler questions answered helps everyone understand the process as a whole, or gives ideas to people who are using different methods. Juliet
If you look at it, all this is a “waste” of my time since I am providing some knowledge in return for nothing. But I type very fast, it doesn’t take long. Sorry you believe I am wasting my time and not really saying anything. Feel free to take your own advice and ignore rather than respond to my posts then. I enjoy helping people who are eager to learn and also want to work to help themselves. Of course newbies are the main posters but you need experienced people to answer the posts. You should be respectful that we choose to spend time answering them.
Title companies are like any other business. They like clients who keep coming back to them to use their services. So they are very happy to provide info like Foreclosure lists to investors since investors typically have lots of closings and may choose to use that title company over another.
Hopefully this thread is done.
I’m not an expert in this field at all, but am an investor/holder, but I try to read all the posts to see what new stuff I can learn…
As far as your question as to why title companies would provide this info, do you think there might be a chance that they figure they could rely on doing the closing if they gave you the original info???..Common sense, I think…
Listen to Eric…He makes good points…I think he’s actually helped you out a lot more than you might realize…
Thank you for that.