We’re looking at investing in multiple markets. Where are the best resources, sites, etc. to gets list information on List Pendens (newly filed foreclosures in each respective county…or whatever they’re called in each county)? We’ve received info from a site that is charging $100 per month to access a certain amount of these. Also…I know that a lot of county courts have this info, but is typically pretty time consuming. Thanks for sharing any information on this.
Lis Pendens basically means “An official notice to the public that a lawsuit has been filed”…usually it means a house is going to be foreclosed on, and a lawsuit has been filed against the owner and against any other junior lienholders. Typically these are published in some sort of newspaper - e.g. like in Dallas it might be the Dallas Morning News or the Daily Commercial Record (a great resource for things like that … and most local folks don’t even know about it). You could check your local papers at little or no cost… but most foreclosure style websites charge a monthly fee, however $100 a month seems a little excessive to me. The most reputable service that I have heard of is the Foreclosure Listing Service, and is $49 a month or cheaper if you pay annually. See http://www.flsonline.com/
The courthouse is always the best bet for free but in most major cities all the Public Records are going online, still free. I could tell you how I do mine but it would be worthless to you unless you live where I do. Once you figure out how to get to the right area its easy but until then its a real pain in the beep. Patrick Riddle has some good material on doing this, google him.
Definitely court house or better yet, most municipalities have a legal paper (daily or weekly) with the information of the filings.
I wouldn’t use an online service - time is of the essence, and you waste precious time from the time the Lis Pendens is filed to the time it is published. Legal paper is your fastest option.