Pre-foreclosure listing on Zillow. I’m new, please help!

[Stacy Lambert]

Question: If I find a Pre-foreclosure listing on Zillow, but it mentions that it's thru auction.com, do I have to contact the realtor listed or can I door knock and try to make a deal with the home owner? Also, does a real estate agent have to be involved at all? Or can I get it under contract and just send it to my title company?? Please help! I'm brand new to REI. TIA!

[David M.]

@Stacy Lambert

@Brenden Mitchum

If its on Auction.com, I think you can designate a Realtor that will serve as your agent.  Otherwise, you just use their website.  You need to find out who is the actual owner to do the door knocking.

As for Zillow's pre-foreclosure status, generally that is Zillow trying to highlight that the property is in arrears on something. Its not "on the market" so contacting a Realtor is really a waste of the Realtor's advertising money in my opinion since you are contacting them about an off market property. It won't be on the MLS. The Zillow pre-foreclosure status runs the gambit. The owners may not even realize that a lis pendens has been filed. Sometimes, their loan was resold (but they have no idea because the same company is servicing the loan) but the new owner isn't getting their payments. So, they file a lis pendens which in a round about way forces the loan servicer to correct their paperwork and get the payments going in the right direction. Other times, perhaps there is a true foreclosure that is in the works. I've heard that by the time Zillow picks up on it it maybe a year behind... I don't know.

Good luck.