How do you know if a seller is in pre-forclosure? Seller finance

Question

Hey Everyone! I am looking to find people who are facing foreclosure and have a little mortgage left or owe back taxes and may be in pre-foreclosure due to that, and possibly buy their house with seller financing. I know that is hard to find, but does anyone have any suggestions on how I can go about finding those? Also how can you check if a house has a mortgage on it?

Im also looking to get into the short-term rental game with a partner! Just took a full BP course with Avery Carl on STRs, and willing to do the legwork.

Thanks everyone for any suggestions!

Im also looking to get into the short-term rental game with a partner! Just took a full BP course with Avery Carl on STRs, and willing to do the legwork.

Thanks everyone for any suggestions!

Jared Prevost · Answer

@Shehryar Iqbal Pre-foreclosures can be a great way to find motivated sellers, here's what I'd suggest.

If you're just starting, don't try to buy these properties yourself. Find someone who buys rentals 'sub to' (assuming responsibility for payments on the existing financing) or cash and ask for help structuring the deal in exchange for an assignment or referral fee. Learn how to buy 'sub to' from an expert before you try to buy yourself this way, you can get yourself in a lot of trouble if you structure a deal like this improperly.

I know you mentioned buying via seller finance, this method isn't applicable for a pre-foreclosure because there isn't any equity for the seller to finance to you. If they had significant equity, they probably wouldn't be in pre-foreclosure! The way to buy pre-foreclosures without getting a loan yourself is by buying using 'sub to'.

As far as getting these leads, I wouldn't bother calling unless you're in a tertiary market without a lot of investor competition. Everyone and their cousin are calling preforeclosure lists (lawyers, banks, investors, realtors, the angry neighbor, etc). You're better off door-knocking and using this script for an introduction,

"Hey there, my name is ________, I noticed your house was in trouble, I'm an investor and wanted to see if there was any way I could help". Then you can qualify the lead, most of the time people are nice (especially if you bring your dog with you).

I would recommend using Batch to find pre-foreclosures. You can then upload those addresses into a route-optimizing software (I use Road Warrior) and you can get out and door knock.

Eliott Elias · Answer

You can find this on your county website, they come up with a pre foreclosure list and update it weekly. You are going to have to find the addresses and skiptrace the phone numbers to call

Shehryar Iqbal · Answer

Yea i think I will call people with significant equity in their home.

Shehryar Iqbal · Answer

Will give it a try! Thanks!

Shehryar Iqbal · Answer

Got it thanks!

Ibrahim Hughes · Answer

Everything you're looking for can be found at your county courthouse. However the information may not be as straight forward as you hope.

For instance, you may find a lis pendens document but maybe not all of the details as to the reason behind the Foreclosure without digging deeper.

Or you may not be able to search for them via municipality.

Best to find a paid subscription service that provided fresh data (fresh meaning when it's first released).

Masashi Borges-Silva · Answer

Hi,

I believe there are two ways you can do, and the followings are what I would do if I were you:

1) Pay for the information or 2) get the information for free

Based on the post, it seems like you are looking for not just one or two properties that fall under your criteria, but you want to know as many as possible that fall in the requirements with minimal effort.  If this is the case, option 1) might be your answer.  As far as I know, I don't know if there is a free version of this information available in the quantity you are looking for.  I would search for some paid websites, such as PropStream.com or Invelo.com.  I use propstream.com for my research, and I need it to start analyzing any deals (it is a bit pricy, but hopefully, you can write this service fee off in your tax return).  Invelo.com recently partnered with BP, and Pro members are free to use their service.  Between the two, I think a pro membership in BP is cheaper than propstream.  You can also search for foreclosure properties using auction.com, but be cautious before bidding on the website.  This might now work for you as you are looking for pre-foreclosures.

Now, the other option is 2).  This is information available to the public, I believe. Again, please don't quote me on this, but I heard/read that you can go to the county office and look up the information you are looking for.  Of course, this will be a little more tedious and slower than option 1), but it is free.

How do you know if a seller is in pre-forclosure? Seller finance

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