Zillow Foreclosures and Pre-Foreclosure Flipping

[John Spina jr]

Hello BP Members. Im a general contractor looking to get into my first flip. 

Ive been searching the MLS for something decent and came across properties that are in foreclosure and pre-foreclosure. How is this different from buying a regular property thats owner occupied in regards to a flip? Hopefully i worded my question the right way. Ill take any advice and ill elaborate if needed.

[Jonathan Greene]

@John Spina jr - if you are talking about Zillow pre-foreclosures, those are not accurate. They get tagged when a lis pendens is filed and often they get resolved. Zillow also does not track the foreclosure process because they don't have access so many pre-foreclosures on Zillow have already been bought at auction, renovated and sold and are still sitting there.

The MLS is useful for REO deals and short sales, but true foreclosures won't do much on the MLS because they will get auctioned at sheriff's sale or end up in the REO bin at the end. All of the above can be owner occupied so I am not sure what you are referring to in regard to the difference.

If you are looking for your first flip opportunity as a contractor and have MLS access, look for the REO activity of you can use sites like Xome, Auction.com, etc.