Getting preforeclosure leads....

[mgehbauer]

Hi,

We are trying to target homes that are getting ready to go into foreclosure. We would like to start pursuing some short sales, but don't know how to find leads. Someone had suggested trying to contact lawyers and title insurance companies, which we have done. The lawyers and title insurance companies are telling us that we need to start with bankers and mortgage companies. How do those of you who have done successful short sales find your leads? I want to get these homes BEFORE the foreclosure notice hits the papers.

Any suggestions? We're in VA.

[islander]

I would suggest signing up for realtyrac.com you get your first seven days free and if you don't cancel there is a monthly fee but hey I signed up yesterday found a property in pre-forclosure got an agent I also drove by the property and got my financing in line today i went to the local court house found the property on file and am going to give it to my agent ASAP (my agent is sick today and they will sell the house this coming  week 4-5-05) so ya see I had to move fast hope this helps some

[kikaider69]

If your county is computer ready.  Go to the clerk of the courts ore equivalent to get the information, i know some counties in az as well as in fl are computer ready.
steve

[TNinvestor]

Everybody wants to be first to get the preforeclosure leads. However, this isn't a race. It all about timing. I've been doing preforeclosures for a while and get all my mailing leads right out of the newspapers web site and I'm doing just fine. Do you realize the homeowner in foreclosure gets a ton of mail right at the beginning, and it all goes in the trash. They are usually in denial at this point and definately arn't motived to sell cheap....let alone let you do a short sale. They still think they will find a way to stay in their home. I get 75% of my responces with 2 weeks or less to go before the auction....they are definately motivated, panic may be more like it, at this time. You might think about timing your mailings to the panic window. Just some food for thought.

[bigpapa1]

Hi Folks,

Just a personal experiece with forclosures.com and realtytrac.  When I compared their data with the actual sherrif sale list in my area, the data posted on those sites was 2% accurate.  In a nutshell Posted 10 going to auction, actual 97; of the 10 posted only 2 were on counties list........

Nuff said...  ???

[mtnwizard]

I also have found realtytrac to be inaccurate and sometimes outdated.  For Arizona, they have hundreds of Phoenix properties listed in the wrong county.  I've advised them but they never corrected it.

[kdhastedt]

I think you will find a consistent consensus among the posters on this site about RealtyTrac...

As Gary says, it is often inaccurate and most usually outdated information.  Most of the listings that RealtyTrac lists for this area are already sold or under contract (they often have been for months) and this is a very sluggish market...

Keith

[Warhorse1]

I agree completely, Keith. In fact, I had a business meeting on Tuesday with one of their agents. He informed me that the listings that they post are infact under contract already. He was a wealthful of information so now I know what avenues to take.

[FL Commercial Guy]

I had RealtyTrac for a little while. On a scale of 1-10, I'd would have given it a 2 or a 3. Nothing beats good ol' hard work...and lots of research. We can search all the newly filed lis pendens in our county each day. This way you can just start keeping track of them. Personally, I used to like to go down and knock on their doors in person.

The foreclosure market eventually got so competitive there wasn't much left for profit. Ho hum.

-Anthony