Pre-Foreclosure - Looking for first deal

Foreclosures, Short Sales, Tax Foreclosures
1

I have located a property in pre-foreclosure. It was listed in the foreclosure listings in our local paper this past Monday. Price shown in records area of paper is $65,000. Is this the amount the mortgage company is attempting to collect? I drove by house, it looks empty, I feel it would be a good home to own or wholesale. Homes in this area, with less square footage, are listed at $100,000 - $120,000 range. I would like to contact owner and make an offer to purchase. I am thinking of offering to purchase at $65,000 and first try to assign to an investor for $75,000. Since I am in Texas, I am unclear of all my options. I understand their are new restrictions on lease options.

Any advice on how to handle pre foreclosures in Texas would be appreciatted. I plan on going to court house this next month and try to find properties before they are listed in newspaper. I need to generate some cash now. I would eventually like to buy and hold rental properties for long term income.

2

go to hcad.org and find your county’s website and put the address in so that you can find the owners name and mail them a letter in a gift card/invitation sized envelope…

next google ‘skip tracer’ and find a fair priced tracing service to get you a new address and phone number. call them and mail a priority letter to the new address as well

this should turn up something the only major issue is that the auction is less than 2 weeks away… good luck

ps. buy the 4 closure list next month and do the above steps…

3

WFTex,

If the house was listed in the paper for $65k, That is the amount the foreclosing lender is seeking.

You should really do your homework on this property first. Here are some things you need to find out.

  1. How many leans does the property have on it. (1st, 2nd…)
  2. If the property has a 2nd, are they behind on that too?
  3. Is the home owner behind on property taxes?

If the answer is yes to any of the questions above it may place the property out of the profit range for a good deal.

Al

4

You’re getting good advice. The only thing I would add is to check whether the foreclosure is on the 1st lien or not. If the foreclosure is on the 2nd or 3rd lien, then the price of $65,000 might be way too high. But, in my opinion, that’s where you start. And it sounds like what you have here.