If you’re looking for a list of foreclosed homes in your area, you’ll see dozens and dozens of websites that all advertise lists of homes … but why do all of them have different information???

What’s in these FREE LISTS?

There are a several reasons for all of the differences in available information:

  1. The lists you’re seeing could include both foreclosures (or reo’s) and pre-foreclosures (or short sales).  This is very common … especially in areas that don’t get a lot of foreclosures.
  2. The area the list covers may not be clearly defined…. you were interested in a zipcode, but instead got the whole city or county.
  3. Depending on the source, the list may not be current (Again, in order to include more homes)
  4. “Foreclosure list” means different things to different people.  It could mean a list of foreclosed homes (or REO’s) that:
    • are currently available for purchase by anyone, anytime.
    • are not available for purchase directly, but could be purchased at the next auction, on the courthouse steps  (these foreclosures must be purchased in cash).
    • are not available for purchase directly or at auction, but are shadow bank inventory available to high net-worth investors paying cash (these purchases will require you to purchase some minimum # of homes).
  5. Lastly, pre-foreclosures, are divided into two categories:
    • Listed homes (short sales), that are for sale and can be purchased by anyone as long as they get bank approval.
    • Unlisted homes that are not currently for sale, but show in public records that the owners have not made their payment in 30, 60, or 90 days.  These owners are in default and will either be listing their home soon to attempt a short sale, or simply losing their home to foreclosure.

That should cover off on 97+% of the possible lists you can be seeing  online.

WANT OUR FREE LIST OF LOCAL FORECLOSURES??

If you would like to download our free list of foreclosures, the one I send out is always current as of the day you request it, and will always include all of the homes in the area you specified that are available for purchase.  The list is put together by hand for every request to make sure that you get the most up-to-date information available.

So ….

If you’re not a cash buyer, then the only list you want to see is the one I’ll send you.

If you are a cash buyer, you should get a copy of the list, plus definitely consider buying homes at county auction.

  • It is “easy to buy”, but it is NOT EASY to buy something good, when buying at auction.
  • This is a topic for a future blog post, so I won’t get into the details here, but to put simply, you need to get educated first to avoid making an EXPENSIVE mistake.
  • After getting educated, you need to do a considerable amount of research, be very familiar with an area and it’s homes, and in the end you also need to get a little lucky in order to actually make money buying at auction. (vs buying a lemon)
  • Contrary to what other agents will tell you, you absolutely can do this alone without a Realtor …. BUT  (there’s always a BUT) you will pretty much need to make this your full time job in order to succeed.

Now, if you’re not just a cash buyer, but you have$3-$5mm+ to invest, then a good option is to speak to banks directly and find out about the homes they have available in their shadow inventories and what they can offer you.

Don’t be surprised that in highly desirable areas such as Cupertino, Palo Alto, Burlingame, etc… you’re not going to see many homes go to auction, or any secret shadow inventory that the bank is holding back.   Homes in these areas default rarely, and sell quickly, so even when you request a free list of foreclosures in this area, it will be slim pickings.

And, as always, if you have any questions,  I’d be happy to help educat you about foreclosures, pre-foreclosures and more,  as well as help you analyze your particular situation to figure out your best options.   CONTACT US today for a free consultation!

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