What to look for when trying to find a good short sale property?

[Will Sifert]

Hi, I am new to pre foreclosures / short sales and have spent the last 4 hours reading posts here.

Thank you to everyone who is experienced and willing to share their knowledge, I've learned a lot from your posts already.

About my situation... I am getting my own leads by searching the local court house's records which shows which properties just started the foreclosure process. Here it's called a "Writ of Seizure & Sale" and it's typically filed with in 1 week of the initial petition. So I am able to get the information of people who are a couple months behind on their payments, been getting calls from the bank and just got served that they are being foreclosed on. The foreclosure process here is about 6 - 8 months long before it goes to a sheriff's sale and we have no redemption period. So these people still have a lot of time to either get current on their mortgage, work out a modification, or lots of time to stay in denial.

I will be contacting people by sending them an initial letter followed with 3-4 additional letters over the following couple months. I don't think my area has much competition and I don't suspect they will receive many letters or offers from other investors.

I am able to obtain which bank they use, how much they paid for the house, when they bought it, how much their mortgage was for, how much they owe now etc. I can check to see if they have any other liens or second mortgages.

From the first couple hundred leads I pulled almost everyone owed close to the amount that they purchased the house for, some owed more. Considering the majority of the purchases were done from 2005 - 2009 I think it's safe to say they are all upside down.

Should I send a letter to everyone going through foreclosure or should I focus on some of the properties more than others based on their situation?

I can cross check to see if the home going through foreclosure is their primary residence or investment property, would one situation be better than the other?

I read here how some banks are paying the sellers a couple thousand dollars towards moving costs and even some lenders paying 10K-20K to get the seller to do a short sale. Would it be best to focus on sellers who use those banks? Are local banks better than larger, national banks?

Is a seller who is very upside down better than one that is only a small amount upside down?

Any information that can help me narrow in my focus would be appreciated. This is regards to finding the sellers who will be most motivated, incentives I can help get for them, and dealing with the banks that will be the most short sale friendly once I do find a seller.

Any other suggestions or advice is appreciated. Additionally, I do have a real estate agent who is experienced in short sales. I also know an attorney who use to run a foreclosure department for a local bank and is willing to help me out any way possible. She has since left and started her own practice and has even defended some people going through the foreclosure process. Would have someone who was "on the other side" and knows what "they" think, helping you and talking to the bank be a big benefit?

Thanks in advance!