How to Buy Foreclosure
(and Pre-Foreclosures)

What is Foreclosure?

Before you learn how to buy foreclosure, you need to know what a foreclosure is. Foreclosure is when the bank or person holding the mortgage or Deed of Trust starts legal proceedings to sell the house for the back money owed them. Pre-Foreclosure is the period up until the mortgage holder files a notice of default letting everyone know they are trying to recoup the money owed to them.

Identifying the property or owner before and after the notice of default may be different, but once you have identified the owner and/or property they both have something in common-the auction date will be the time limit. Here is a link for you to learn about foreclosures.

Pre-Foreclosure in General and How to Buy Foreclosure

The best time to try and purchase a house going into foreclosure is before the actual foreclosure starts which is called pre-foreclosure. Once paper work has been filed at the court house, the person is no longer in pre-foreclosure they are in foreclosure. Remember once the mortgage holder fills the necessary paper work the clock starts ticking and the day of the auction is the last day the owner has any right to the property. However, in some states the owner has a certain amount of time called the period of redemption to recover their home.

Usually if no one bids on the property, then the bank or person holding the mortgage will eventually have ownership of the property. A National Foreclosure law link is provided for your convenient, but you should seek out a real estate attorney for complete foreclosure details in your state.

Before the Notice is Recorded (Pre-Foreclosure)and How to Buy Foreclosure

An owner in pre-foreclosure will leave clues, but will usually never come right out and let everyone know they are having difficulty. A single or series of events usually have occurred prior to their current situation. Every day they are becoming more and more motivated to solve their problem. In other words they are becoming a motivated seller.

If you intend to try and purchase their home, you must first help the owner solve their problem. Click here for some foreclosure prevention and stop the foreclosure resources that you can review and/or refer owners who find themselves in a foreclosure situation. The foreclosure prevention and stop the foreclosure resources may help someone save their home. Help is only a click away.

If you are not in the business of trying to help people then you will have very limited success. If you are sincere in your efforts to help the owner then the owner will come to trust and like you and only then will the owner do business with you. Let me reemphasize, the only way an owner will do business with you is if they like or trust you.

The visible clues you are going to look for are houses that have deferred maintenance. Depending on the amount of repairs that are needed, deferred maintenance may refer to houses as, needing cosmetic repairs, fixer uppers, or ugly houses.

Once you have located the property, now you have to locate the owner to solve his problem before you have a chance at purchasing their property. Some owners may be difficult to find, so click here for some suggestings in locating hard to find owners.

After the Notice is Recorded (In Foreclosure)and
How to Buy Foreclosure

On the other hand, if the notice has been recorded there are several ways you can find out which house or owner is in foreclosure depending on the amount of time left before the auction. First you can look in the legal section of the newspaper where the information concerning the house will be listed. Second, you may go down to the court house yourself and look through the files for the information, or there may be an online service to the court house records. Third you may pay for a foreclosure list at the court house or subscribe to another foreclosure service that will send all the foreclosure information to you via regular mail or email.

How to Buy Foreclosure Information

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Foreclosure Listings and How to Buy Foreclosure

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Auction Information

Auctioneers usually have a schedule of auctions that are being conducted. Signs are usually posted on the property about the auction. Auctions are conducted at the property and also at the court house steps. Listed below is an auctioneer’s National Association Directory where you can link to the auctioneers’ website and view upcoming and past auction results. All you need to do is select your state and specialty, or if you know anything about the auctioneer, you can search for their information by entering their name, or company at the National Association Directory of Auctioneers.

Related Articles

First Time Home Buyer Program

Home Buying Tips

Buy Using Owner (Seller) Financing

Rent to Own Homes

Buying Foreclosures and Pre-foreclosures

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