Foreclosure Listing Sites–Where to find Pre-Foreclosure and Foreclosed Homes

When considering buying real estate as an investment, finding a good foreclosure listing site should be simple – type in “foreclosure listing,” in the google search box and voila! – A list of sites.

If only there was an option “remove scammers, spam and foreclosure listing sites that are just listing sites that list foreclosure listing sites and give genuine reviews of listing sites rather than being owned by the listing site that is listing…..” You get the idea. Frankly, it’s a nightmare sorting the sales pitches and scams from the genuine information. Especially when many of the listing sites do not offer access to their information without an up-front payment.

One thing you will notice as you begin your search is that many of the websites out there look alike. This is not an accident. There are many companies selling website templates that will allow you to set up your own foreclosure listing site. Qualifications and experience required? – Nil, Zero – Nothing, Nada. All you need is the money to buy the website, pay an internet marketing company to promote you and away you go. Offering “independent,” financial advice for a monthly fee. Skill? Nothing.

The other thing you will notice is - They all seem to be working from the same list, which means it is of little worth. You are paying for the same information everyone else has. Typically, these sites are asking around $40 a month for access to their listings, but much of this information is available for free, and if you read on, I will show you how to find it. If you are searching for international investment property rather than the United States, this is an excellent free investment property listing site.

I picked one at random from the several hundred thousand in the result – This one is called “Foreclosure Dataonline.com" They are typical of the sort of site you will come across. No contact information – no telephone number, no address, no way of directly contacting them except for their contact form which obliges you to give them YOUR details including telephone number before you can submit a question. I tried a search, but when I went to see the details of the result I was interested in, a new page appeared telling me I had to pay to see the results. In the interests of researching this article I sent them a query:

Your tagline is “search foreclosures for free,” but when I try to search, I am invited to pay a fee to see any results.Why is this?

After receiving no response, I took the liberty of phoning the registered owners of the website, who first of all said, “yes that’s me,” and then said, “I’m just the webmaster, there is no one here by that name.”

The man of the house then took the phone and was, perhaps understandably, a little miffed at the fact that I was phoning him on a Sunday morning – actually, he went ballistic and told me I was being unreasonable in phoning them because I should use the contact form and the reason they advertise using the word free is that you can search for free, but you have to pay to see the results and I was just being cheap – if I want results I should pay the $3.95 fee (for a 7 day trial.) The crazy thing is, I was trying to get some information and all he did is persuade me they are to be avoided. Actually, being shouted at and threatened almost made me feel like a real investigative journalist. Anyone interested or who has paid the $4 and got poor results, this is the name, address and number of the people in question:

• Gloria DaSilva,
• 98-19 32 Ave East Elmhurst,
• NY 11369 US
• 646 226 6471

So, my recommendation is to avoid most of these listing sites – especially the ones that have paid serious money to be at the forefront of google’s search results. There may be a few good ones, but finding them is a gamble. The more outlandish the claims the more they are to be avoided. It’s unlikely you will be able to buy a $100,000 house for $10,000. If someone personally recommends one, fine. By personally, I mean someone you actually know - personally.

There are many resources available that are reputable (at least as reputable as a bank can get) and here is a large selection. They are in no particular order, and are mostly aimed at the residential market. There is a small selection offering commercial property at the bottom of the list.

Homesteps is part of the Freddie Mac organization, a government sponsored enterprise (GSE) and is partly responsible for keeping the money flowing into the mortgage market by purchasing mortgages on the secondary market and re-selling them as mortgage backed securities. Freddie Mac will suffer a loss of around $12 billion from the current subprime crisis, and are one of the reasons behind Mr. Bush’ recent announcement of FHASecure loans. Several years ago, FM understated their earnings by over $5 billion and were fined the laughably small sum of $125 million.

Regardless, as owner's of a large number of subprime mortgages, they are now instead, the owner of large numbers of foreclosed houses. Most of these properties are listed on local agents books, but Freddie Mac have a searchable database – and it’s free.

The U.S. department of Housing and Urban Development sells houses that have been repossessed after foreclosure on an FHA-insured mortgage. In the first instance, HUD homes are sold to people who wish to live in them, but after a period of time, the homes are then offered to anyone – including investors. They also offer discounts to certain people. If you have been evacuated because of Hurricanes Rita, Katrina or Wilma, you may qualify for a discount. Also, properties in some areas may be offered at a reduced price to local governments, law enforcement officers, teachers, firefighters and EMTs.

Fannie Mae is another government sponsored organization that is partly responsible for keeping the flow of money into housing going. As such, they were also responsible for the purchase of a large number of secondary mortgages which have since been foreclosed and now own the property. Once again, they have a large (and growing) searchable database of foreclosed homes. You can either search by property type or area.

Unlike the government agencies that require you to go through a real estate agent, reoSource provide a real time bid/counter offer service that allows negotiations for a property online. Most properties on the site have been foreclosed by a bank or other lender. They seem to have better coverage in some states than others, but they are worth worth a look. Free searches.The parent company, First American, also run foreclosure property auctions around the country.

citimortgage is the mortgage lender for Citibank. Comparitively small compared to the government sponsored organizations, they nonetheless have a substantial number of properties and they generally have better quality stocks. But there are no details on the website – only addresses, basic info (square footage, number of bedrooms etc) and contact information for the local agent depending on the area you may be interested in. Although they have recently taken on ABN AMRO’s mortgage accounts so perhaps that will change. Free searches by property size, square footage, price or area.

Countrywide is a money lender – one of the biggest moneylenders in the U.S.A. Like all subprime lenders, they have reached the point where they need to stop foreclosing – they own more property than the Vatican (actually that’s probably not true, but it sounds good.) They are actively working with borrowers to stop the level of foreclosures by restructuring loans – at a fee of course. They also now have large stocks of foreclosed homes and offer them for sale through their website.

You may have noticed a trend here. The way foreclosure works is: 1. The borrower defaults. 2. The property is seized by the lender and put up for auction, prices starting at the amount owed. 3. If the property sells, it’s off the market. If it doesn’t sell, the bank keeps the property.

Banks call these properties REO properties or Real Estate Owned. A bit of a misnomer, but the simple fact is, there are two institutions that now own almost all the foreclosed properties in the U.S.A – the government and the banks. This is where to find foreclosed homes. You do not need to go through a listing site. Any unsold foreclosure home is already listed with the bank or government agency that repossessed it in the first place. At the bottom of this page, I have listed in less detail more places to look.

Commercial foreclosures are slightly different to residential. The commercial market is generally more robust than residential. This is mainly because lending practices are stricter in commercial real estate therefore less prone to the sort of situation now being seen. While commercial properties do get foreclosed upon, it is not because the borrower took a low three-year-plan and couldn’t afford the payments when the rate changed.

The United States Department of Agriculture has a number of farms and businesses that have been foreclosed upon. Their search facility is poor though. First you choose a state, then you choose a county within that state, then you find out what’s for sale. They also list single family homes, farm equipment and multi-family homes. So if you need a cheap tractor, this is the place to look.

A small amount of commercial property listed. No real information on the site, just the basics – address, simple details and contact information for the real estate agent dealing with the property. No residential property listed on this site. But a great excuse to break this up with an awesome stagecoach photo.

Capmark deal solely in commercial real estate. They source money for commercial real estate loans, invest in commercial real estate in the U.S.A., Europe and Asia. Occasionally they have foreclosed property for sale mixed in with other commercial property for sale. A good quality search facility, but relatively small selections. They keep the good stuff.

Pre-foreclosure listings are a different proposition. When a Notice of default is recorded by a lender, announcing their intention of proceeding against a borrower for recovery of a debt, the information becomes a matter of public record, but, at this stage of the process, the lender or bank has no authority to sell the property and is forbidden by law to divulge any information other than that contained in the public record.

Thus, an approach to purchase a pre-foreclosure home must be made to the current owner. It is therefore impossible to maintain a nationwide list of properties with a single contact point.

Most pre-foreclosure listing sites deal with a single county or state. There are a few that deal with broader areas, but obtaining the information means going to the county recorder’s office, or at the very least having a contact on site to provide information.

Pre-foreclosure listing sites are therefore more expensive – because they have to physically collect the information which will go out-of-date as soon as the foreclosure process is complete.

These sites typically charge a monthly fee of around $80. But it is in their interest to continue to obtain current information to keep their customers happy. Before committing to a long term payment plan, it is advisable to ask for current samples. Any site incapable of providing at least ten samples which you can then check for accuracy and current relevance should not be considered.

There are some sites claiming to offer nationwide coverage and also offering a “free” 7-day trial. This trial period requires you to give credit card details and then cancel if you are unsatisfied.

To my way of thinking, a smaller, local pre-foreclosure specialist dealing with a limited area is a far better choice. Here is an example of a company offering nationwide coverage. My advice is to get samples before giving them any money. As with foreclosures, much of the advertising is spurious if not down right misleading. All properties are 30- 50 percent below market price, for example. Guess what? – if you buy it for a given price - the “market price,” has just changed.

Preforeclosure.com claim to have nationwide coverage, but this is almost impossible to do and while they have a large database of foreclosed homes, the pre-foreclosures will be out of date by some time. They are also making claims such as “Save up to 50%,” which sounds good, but is meaningless marketing. The price is the price and if you can’t turn around and sell a property for double what you paid for it, you haven’t saved 50%

Telephone number – 561-981-5337

Here is a list of local pre-foreclosure specialists. Many of them deal in foreclosured properties also. I have not spoken to them all myself, but questions to ask before signing up are:

• Are they based in the area they serve?
• Do they update daily?
• Will they provide some samples?
• How much notice must you give to cancel your subscription?

This is by no means a complete list, but many of these will have links to more listings and contacts in other areas.

Buying a pre-foreclosure house is a tricky process legally. It is important to educate yourself as to the processes and legal steps to be taken. Some of these books and CDs can be useful guides.

The County recorder has all the information you need. This information is a matter of public record, and a simple trip to your local county recorder’s office will provide information – for free.

Local Newspapers provide a good source of information - for free.

If you are looking for pre-foreclosure properties, these are good places to stsrt.