Where Can I Find Foreclosure Listings for My Area?
Question: "I have come across dozens of websites that offer foreclosure listings, but many of them seem unclear to me. I am doubtful about signing up for things online. Where can I find foreclosure listings for my area?"
It's true, the online approach is the fastest and easiest way to get foreclosed home data for your area. And I agree with you about all of the different websites offering this kind of data. It can be overwhelming to choose one site over another, and you are right to be doubtful.
Here's the good news. It's easy to find foreclosure listings for your area, if you stick to the trustworthy websites that offer this information. I recommend using either RealtyTrac.com, Foreclosure.com or RealtyStore.com. It would be a little redundant (and expensive) to sign up for all three, so I recommend checking them out to see which one you prefer. They all provide the same kind of information.
You can also find foreclosure listings in your area by visiting your county courthouse. When a mortgage lender starts to the process to foreclose on a home, they must file certain paperwork with the county where the home is located. These filings (and subsequent filings) are in the public domain, so you can access them at your county clerk's office or courthouse. You could do a Google search for "Foreclosures in [your county]," and then scroll through the results until you find the county website. Or you could go straight to that site and do a search for the listings there.
Ongoing Access to Foreclosure Listings
If you are serious about purchasing a foreclosed property in your area, you should probably skip the county office and use the Internet as an alternative. The reason is simple. There are plenty of other buyers out there looking for the same thing you're after - a good deal on a home. So you have to stay on top of your market and continue with new foreclosure listings that pop up. You might even want to make an offer on a home that's in the early stages of pre-foreclosure. Either way, you need ongoing access to this data. Driving to the county building every few days is just not practical. Staying ahead of the market (or at least keeping up with it) is the key to success when buying a foreclosure home.
Lastly, I would use caution around websites and services that offer free foreclosure data. There's just no such thing as a free lunch. Their data is either dated to the point of being useless, or they're trying to sell you something else. You can take a free trial of the two tracking services I mentioned earlier (RealtyTrac and RealtyStore), and those services offer trustworthy data. So if cost is a concern, you might want to start with one of those trials and then go from there.
Tips for Buying Foreclosed Property
You've almost certainly heard you can get a good deal on a home by purchasing foreclosed property in your area. This is true in most cases, but there's a lot you need to know about the process before you begin.
Entire books have been written on how to buy foreclosure properties. So if you're serious about this process, you should purchase one or two of those books. At the very least, check them out from your local library and spend some time browsing through them. This will help you understand the general process of buying foreclosed property to save money.
I obviously won't be writing a book in this blog post, but I will be sharing some of the key concepts involved with buying these kinds of houses. Here are three of the most important things a first-time buyer should know about foreclosed property purchases.
1. You Need A Foreclosure Tracking Service
You can actually find out about recent foreclosed properties in your area by visiting your county courthouse. When a mortgage lender forecloses on a property, they must file certain paperwork with the courts. So you can always chase down this paper trail to find local foreclosures for sale. But this can be a burdensome process, and it can eat up a lot of your time. If you are serious about buying foreclosed property in your area, I recommend signing up for a tracking service to stay on top of the market.
2. Understand How the Process Works
We receive a lot of e-mails from home buyers who are stressed about the foreclosure buying process, mainly because they did not understand the process before they ventured into it. One of the biggest surprises people encounter is the span of time involved when buying foreclosed property - especially when you buy it from a bank. In many cases, it can take a lot longer to buy a foreclosure home than a regular home, because the process has to be permitted through the bank.
3. Check the Foreclosed Property for Liens
When you buy a foreclosed property from a bank, it will generally be sold to you as-is. That means there are no warranties or guarantees of any kind. Sure, buying such properties can save you a lot of money. But it also means more homework on your end. Liens are one of your research necessities, or at least they should be. A property lien is a claim of ownership against all or part of a certain property. For example, if a builder did not pay a contractor for the work performed on the construction of the home, the contractor can place a lien against the property.
If you use a professional foreclosure tracking service, this is one of the benefits you will receive. They check for these items and provide you with the information you need to know. It's something you could theoretically do for yourself. But you cannot beat the convenience and speed offered by these services. It's how professional investors carry out their research before buying foreclosed property, so you should follow their lead.
This is only a quick introduction to the process of buying foreclosed property in your area. As I stated earlier, it's perhaps a good idea to read at least one book on the subject before you proceed. You can also find a lot of great information from the big foreclosure websites, such as RealtyStore, RealtyTrac and others. I hope this article has given you a better understanding of how to buy foreclosed property the right way. If you would like to move forward with the process and start searching for these types of properties, visit the listings page on our blog.
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