How to buy a property that is vacant, but not on the market?

[Dolores Gonzalez]

Hello Bigger Pockets Community,

I am a newer investor looking for a discounted property to rehab and rent out. I will often drive passed a home that will be boarded or otherwise show signs of vacancy, but they are not listed online or MLS. I know from checking county records that these properties are in some process of foreclosure. Is there someone that I should try to contact (the bank, property owner) in order to be one of the first to know when the property could be available for purchase? Where do I start? Or do I just continue to check listings and wait for the property to show up?

[Ron S.]

You don't contact the bank as they don't own it. If it's in foreclosure and it ends up being owned by the bank, you wait till its listed and contact the agent that is listing it. You'll see tons of posts where people say they have direct contact with the bank and buy directly from the bank but that's more urban legend than reality. No bank in their right mind is going to sell directly to a purchaser without exposing it to the market for maximum return. Yes, there are those unique one-off's but for 99% of REO's out there, they are listed with an agent and sold on the open market.