How To Find Or Buy Low-Priced Preforeclosure Real Estate

YOU CAN FIND OR BUY real estate at bargain prices by looking for preforeclosure properties. Preforeclosure is the period of time between when a homeowner has stopped making payments on a property and when the property is sold at auction.

YOU CAN FIND A PREFORECLOSURE HOME at a cheap price for yourself or a client. Then, you can pocket your commission or rent or flip the property for a profit.

THE ADVANTAGES OF PREFORECLOSURE REAL ESTATE ARE:

1. Preforeclosures are cheaper that regular foreclosure properties.
2. During the preforeclosure period, you can visit and examine the property. At a foreclosure auction, this isn't possible.
3. With a preforeclosure, you deal directly with the owner/seller, soon after they've received a foreclosure notice from the lender, city or state.
4. Negotiating with a seller is easier and less competitive than bidding against professionals at a foreclosure auction, and it's simpler than dealing with a lender.
5. Owners wanting to sell a home during preforeclosure are motivated to sell.
6. You or your client can rent the home to the owner after taking it over and sell the house back to the owner or to another buyer for a profit at a later date.
7. You don't need to pay huge amounts of cash upfront like at an auction.

YOU FIND PREFORECLOSURE LISTINGS by taking these easy steps:

1. Call your city recorder’s or clerk’s office to learn which agency handles foreclosures. Foreclosure data from lenders is freely available public data.
2. Contact the agency and ask to be put on their free information list.
3. Read the information on foreclosure procedures for your area. Public records may include a Notice of Default (NOD) from a lender, telling the owner the house will go to auction if payments aren't made. This is when the preforeclosure period begins.
4. Get to know the preforeclosure period and how long the owner has before he or she must sell. Owners are more motivated to sell cheaply during preforeclosure.
5. Get to know the "redemption period"--the time the home owner has to buy back the home after it goes to a foreclosure sale. Look for the shortest redemption time possible. Some areas have zero redemption time; others as long as a year.
6. Before you or your client makes an offer on a preforeclosure property, be sure to inspect it and have a competent real estate attorney review the offer.
7. Consider using a sale-leaseback deal to allow the seller to remain in the house. An attorney can write it for you. With a sale-leaseback, you or your client owns the property and receive regular rent payments from the seller.

IN ADDITION TO THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF FORECLOSURE LISTINGS mentioned above, you can find NODs and preforeclosure notices in local newspapers, where lenders are required to publish this information. 

Check out HUD Homes at www.hudhomestore.com. Other sources include the real estate listing services and websites like zillow.com, trulia.com, homesearch.com, realtytrac.com, and realtystore.com. Also be sure to check your area's business and real estate journals and magazines.

RESOURCES:

Real Estate Books and Self-Study Courses from International Wealth Success, Inc.

Download More Than 600 Single- and Multifamily Mortgage Lenders and Housing Finance Agencies

DID YOU KNOW THAT HUD AND FHA PROVIDE A FREE LIST OF MORE THAN 600 single-family and multifamily mortgage lenders and housing finance agencies throughout the United States?

TO HELP YOU ACCESS THIS LIST, I've reproduced a version of the list for you below. This list is current at the time of this blog post.

THESE LENDERS PROVIDE MORTGAGE LOANS for single-family and multifamily residential and rental properties. Also included are State Housing Finance Agencies, which you can contact for more information on mortgage loans in any given state.

THE LISTED LENDERS HAVE BEEN APPROVED BY the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to make Federal Housing Authority (FHA) insured loans.

ELIGIBLE PROPERTIES VARY BY LENDER AND INCLUDE: detached homes, manufactured homes, condominiums, fixer-uppers, buildings with five or more units, housing for the elderly, and housing for people of moderate and low income.

TYPES OF LENDERS INCLUDE: banks, mortgage companies, credit unions, public housing housing authorities, community development agencies and non-profit agencies.

DIFFERENT PROPERTIES AND PURPOSES ARE COVERED by different parts of HUD's mortgage programs. For loan details, contact individual lenders, the Housing Finance Authority for your state, or HUD/FHA at 451 7th Street S.W., Washington, DC 20410, Telephone: (202) 708-1112, Website: portal.hud.gov. You can also contact a local HUD Office near you. Local offices are listed on the HUD website under “HUD Local Office Directory" at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD/localoffices.

MANY OF THESE LENDERS MAKE LOANS IN ALL 50 STATES. Some serve more limited areas. For the most current details and options with regard to the HUD FHA Lender List, visit the list at http://www.hud.gov/ll/code/llslcrit.cfm. Note: Search results will vary depending on the options selected on the Search form and may not match the results provided here.

For more real estate tips and methods, visit the International Wealth Success Website.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE HUD FHA LENDER LIST

(PDF, 23 pages)

The HUD FHA Lender List Search Form at hud.gov/ll/code/llslcrit.cfm

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE HUD FHA LENDER LIST

(PDF, 23 pages)

For more real estate tips and methods, visit the International Wealth Success Website.