Can't find Pre-Foreclosure Properties

[Blake Grzybowski]

I am a wholesaler in Michigan and would like to start reaching out to potential sellers who are in the pre-foreclosure process. I can't seem to find any info to get a list of all of the pre-foreclosure properties (at least in kent county). I've reached out to banks, district courts and county to find where I could get a list. They all tell me to got to Legal News because all mortgage related things are posted by them. Issue is, all of Legal News' info is properties going into foreclosure and being sold in a 4-5 weeks at auction. I've done deed searches and look at different documents filed. Nothing gets posted in Notice of Default. Most things are posted under some sort of lien (Lien, Misc. Lien, State Tax Lien, Fed Tax Lien. Very rarely are there postings in Notice of Judgement of Foreclosure docs and Certificate of Forfeiture of Real Property. Lastly, majority of of liens are posted in Judgement Lien Documents(JLD). I have found the JLDs to be mostly from credit card companies and banks, but I am still unsure if that's what I am suppose to be looking for or not. I know I can still reach out to the foreclosure lists and I do. Just looking to get a head start I guess you could say. Any pointers on where to go or to look to find the list would be unbelievably appreciated. Thanks in advanced!

[Bruce Lynn]

Quote from @Blake Grzybowski:

I am a wholesaler in Michigan and would like to start reaching out to potential sellers who are 

Maybe foreclosuresdaily.com, maybe see if any of your title company partners has access to titlepro software for leads.  Might look at deal machine.  Maybe look at PropertyRadar, PropHawk, PropStream and Podio.  None of that is free, but probably well worth $30-$50/month or whatever they charge.  Often that software will speed things up like crazy for you...might give you the equity number so you're only going after properties with X amount of equity.  Or may help you shift lots from houses, or houses from mobile homes.  Some may give you owners address if different from the property, some may integrate with post card and yellow letter mailings.  Some may skip trace for you and giving you calling and text message integration.

One thought is in my experience probably 80% of the properties don't go to sale, the first date they are posted.  You might take the list you get, go to the auction and see if they actually get sold.  Just to give you an example, I recently saw a property that has been posted every month for about 10 years.  Not sure what the issue is there.  My guess is they missed a payment, then started up again.  So every month, they are a month behind.  Lender sends out notice, so they're ready the next time they miss a payment.  Super unusual for me to see this, but I do see ones that are posted every month for a year or two.  So don't get discouraged with the short time frame.  That also perhaps makes people more motivated to sell.  4-5 weeks....that's plenty of time to get a deal done.

Good luck. Let us know what you end up using....and what success you have.