How to find foreclosed land or acreage?

[Toben B.]

Hello,

I am looking for information on how to find raw or developed land that builders have lost in foreclosure.

I have been using realtytrac for houses but can never find land on there.
I know there are builders going under right now - how do we find the land deals?

Any suggestions?

Im in Oklahoma

[Robert Dobbs]

Hello!

Here's a good way to begin looking. I have no idea where you are in Oklahoma, so I used 3 major cities in Oklahoma County (see below):

1. Realtor.com:

I narrowed my search as follows (i.e., advanced search) I chose Edmond, Oklahoma (and further picked Harrah & Oklahoma City in my advanced search (looking in "nearby areas"), I further check-off land and unchecked homes and condos.
So 1150 vacant properties showed up in these three Oklahoma cities (you can click "low to high" so the lower priced lots and land will show up first!).

Now spend some time and go through these listings, you will see short sales, and bank owned (REOs or foreclosures). Plus remember, there may be plenty of motivated sellers who are not in foreclosure (death, illness, probate, money problems, just to name a few!)...

2. Landwatch.com

click: United States, then Oklahoma, then Oklahoma County. You will see 432 lots in Edmond, 189 lots in Harrah and 180 lots in Oklahoma City. With a total of 943 listings throughout Oklahoma County, OK. Like realtor.com, click "low to high".

So, to start, you have well over 2,000 listings of land to go through. I'm confident you can find some good deals and make some outstanding connections.

3. http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor/

Spend some time searching property records in the County you desire. When you have the option to search by name, try the big national and local banks (i.e., Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, etc.). You will be amazed, with some effort, what you can find. many times REO properties, including land, are NOT listed with a real estate broker. But many times they are!

But you can write (or sometimes call) these banks for more information about these vacant land REOs.

Like fine, wine you get better with time!

Lots of luck!

Bob Dobbs,
Land Rescue League, LLC

P.S. So with little knowledge of Oklahoma, with 5 minutes of time, I was able to "set the table" for tons of land in Oklahoma. Not bad for a dude in South Florida! LOL! Good luck!