All Forum Posts by: Aaron McGinnis

Without a doubt, submit away! What I've seen (GA) is that usually a bank will respond to a first offer with either the same price or come down maybe $1,000. The trick is to absolutely ignore what they come back with and go back at them with an offer your Realtor will have hives over (Maybe come up $500 from your original offer).

Picture this: Somewhere there is a poor slob in a cubicle managing 500 properties. His boss wants him to get a good sale on each of them, and if he doesn't at least make an attempt to LOOK like he's trying to get that price, his boss will yell and scream and throw a hissy fit. Ergo, he's going to do things like come down $1k on his first response just to see if he can get you to take the bait. Ignore it and keep plugging the price YOU want for the property.

I believe someone already mentioned this, but it is worth repeating: Look in your local legal organ. In most states, houses being sold on auction will be posted there.
More often than not, these houses turn into foreclosures. The only problem with finding them this way is that you're looking at a long lead time, potentially a month or more, before the house becomes REO and goes up for sale.

Another way is simple footwork - start driving through neighborhoods! Look for signs in windows of vacant-looking houses. Oftentimes, REO Management companies put signs in the windows of their properties identifying properties as being REO. (At least in GA!)

Although I'm biased toward my own profession, hands down the fastest way to get your hands on currently available foreclosures is to get a competent agent who knows foreclosure work and can find them for you on MLS. (Note, I put emphasis on "Competent"... Most agents don't like foreclosure work and will try to avoid it if possible.)