Foreclosure readings

[LeatherneckPA]

Why am I asking here? Because we are different. We don't believe the infomercials. I'm not interested in "getting rich" in real estate. But what I would like is if somebody in the collective can recommend good reading material in how to find/purchase foreclosures and bank properties. I know there must be pitfalls I need to be aware of. I just thought this might be a way to acquire my land more affordably.

[brewer12345]

Hmmm, some of it will depend on how foreclosures happen in your state. But there are generally three main ways to do this:

- "Pre-foreclosure": this involves buying out homeowners who know they are in trouble and just want te mess to go away before foreclosure. You would be buying a house which the owner may or may not have any equity in. If they have no equity and the price you pay is lower than they did, you would have to get the bank to agree to a "short sale" in which they agree to the sale and the loss aead of time. You would want to be careful not to buy a property with lots of other oustanding liens (chances are if they are stiffing the mortgage lender, they have stifed someone else who may be ble to stick a lien on the property). You also would want to be careful not to end up preying on desparate people in dire straits.

- At auction: This would involve literally showing up at a foeclosure auction and making a cash bid. Better have big balls for this, since you probably won't get to inspect the property before bidding and there may be liens that survive the foreclosure process.

- From a bank: This would involve buying a repo'd property from the bank, possibly via a real estate agent. The bank would deliver clean title to the property and might even be willing to finance you at advantageous rates/terms. The trade off is that the bargain you would get might be less juicy. Some national and otherlenders list foreclosure properties on their websites, which can make for amusing surfing.

I find buying from a bank the most appealing, but I would consider any and all depending on the price and what the property actually is.

[jazz4cash]

Originally Posted by brewer12345

Some national and otherlenders list foreclosure properties on their websites, which can make for amusing surfing.

Bank of America | Real Estate Center | Find a Bank-Owned Property

[Delawaredave5]

[quote=brewer12345;563671]
"Pre-foreclosure": this involves buying out homeowners who know they are in trouble and just want te mess to go away before foreclosure. You would be buying a house which the owner may or may not have any equity in. If they have no equity and the price you pay is lower than they did, you would have to get the bank to agree to a "short sale" in which they agree to the sale and the loss aead of time. You would want to be careful not to buy a property with lots of other oustanding liens (chances are if they are stiffing the mortgage lender, they have stifed someone else who may be ble to stick a lien on the property). You also would want to be careful not to end up preying on desparate people in dire straits.
quote]

A spouse of someone I know does this. They put a lot of work at it - and have done well. It is certainly more of a j*b than investing.

They start with some publically available list of pre-foreclosures, or tax liens. Every month as soon as list is out, they do a mass mailing offering to "get involved and help". A small amount of the people respond - and they meet with them and see what's possible.

Most of the successful deals the homeowner is "slightly upsidedown" - they owe a little more than current value. My friend's spouse contacts the bank and tries to frame-out a "short sale" (as Brewer describes above).

Concurently the put a for sale by owner sign up and start trolling the market. They don't keep properties and rent.

They've gotten better at "smelling" the deals that have potential - there's a wide range of financials, bank "personalities", homeowner emotions, 2nd/3rd mortgages, liens, etc.

And every state is different - they do deals in DE, PA, MD -each has uniquenesses in how titles, liens, notifications, etc happen.

There's a lot of w*rk negotiating deals - and a lot of "dry holes" - spend a ton of time lining everying up - and then falls through.

[tryan]

Yeah, pre-forclosure is the most w*ork. Buying at auction means "cash in 30 days" AND need to do your homework re:leins preceeding the foreclosed note.

I've had my best luck with post-foreclosure i.e. REOs and OREOs. Banks will often finance the property for you at special rates and you're getting it cleared of all previous leins. All will want a heavy deposit (at least 20%) to ensure it does not come back them - again.

As far as reading material ... experience trumps any books/tapes/seminars/CDs.

[LeatherneckPA]

There is this real eastate company up in NY (NY Land and Lakes) that advertised some very attractive properties are really nice prices. what she told me they do is buy up abandoned/forclosed farms, split them, and make a profit. But I really don't want to live anywhere that would vote for Hillary, or that refuses to use capital punishment when all the appeals have finally run out. So I started thinking there must be some way to find these properties in PA.

So where does one start to look for stuff like this?

[tryan]

I did bulk mailings to banks asking for REO/OREO listings. They don't like to advertise thier holdings since these things are like dirty laundry ... but will gladly respond to any interested investor (in the attempt to move these liabilities)

[Enuff2Eat]

hard work, work long hours sometime for nothing are common for this type of business. i think a little luck, being at the place at the right time helps. Just like when you're looking for a job, a girlfriend, a "deal", it's all boil down to hard work + luck.


enuff