Articles & Resources

So, now that you have made the decision that the place to invest is in foreclosed properties, you have one more thing to do. You have to locate the appropriate foreclosure properties. There are lots of places to start your search for this kind of property, and I have 2 very general classifications: government foreclosures and bank owned property.

There are a number of sources you might consult to learn more about government foreclosures. The Department of Veterans Affairs is one starting point, as is the Department of Housing and Urban Development. You might also look into the General Services Administration and see if the Office of Property Disposal has any listings. Other resources include the Treasury, Small Business Administration and Agricultural Departments, law enforcement sources such as the Marshals Service, and banking sources such as Fannie Mae and the FDIC.

With respect to reo properties you will find many banks have their REO listings on their websites and can even find directories of the banks that do online. Otherwise you can find many bank owned real estate via asset management companies. It is their job to help lenders dispose of such assets and many asset managers list the REO properties of the banks they work for on their own website.

Looking at pre-foreclosure properties as an alternative source for one's investments is very important. A decent understanding of the foreclosure process is necessary to be able to capitalize on this option. At different stages of the foreclosure process, notices are recorded with the County Clerk. This enables one to access public records and to easily locate properties that are heading towards foreclosure. Once the property of interest has been located, the owners of the said property can be approached for inquiries about acquisition of the property prior to foreclosure.

As a part of the foreclosure process the Notice of Sale must be made public by publishing it in the newspaper. If you search the Public Notices section of local newspapers and business journals you will find notices for trustee sales. It may be better to be aware of properties before they have reached this stage of the foreclosure process as you need to be very thorough with your research if you buy at trustee sales. Since the properties are sold "as-is, where-is" you need to exercise some caution.

A good use of your time is to get familiar with the website in the area that is the focus of your search, in order to see what is available in the way of foreclosure research. This data is of use if you want to get the land before the actual foreclosure, or if you prefer to bid at a foreclosure auction.

As you may notice there various sources of foreclosure properties and I recommend that you explore several sources as opposed to only using one foreclosure database. If you expand to include the listings of a few banks, asset managers and government agencies as well as the county clerk you will have a more varied range of listings to chose from. And this will give you an edge over investors competing with you for properties.