All Forum Posts by: Marty Boardman

Your most reliable source for a title report is a title company in your area. I've vetted a few nationwide online title search companies, but they are slow and expensive.

Yes, the HOA is in second lien position so the underlying first mortgage would have to be dealt with after the auction.

All you need to provide is the case number, trustee's sale number, etc. They should be able to look it up in their system and tell you if it's still scheduled for auction.

Ask this..."hello, I was calling about case #1234 or trustee's sale #1234...can you tell me if this is auction is still scheduled for 1234 date...or has it been postponed or cancelled?"

Most attorneys have an automated number or website you can check with the case number to verify. It's only the small, less sophisticated law firms that make you call them and speak to a rep.

The only information the attorney will provide you is whether or not the case is active, cancelled or postponed. The attorney works for the bank, not the borrower (homeowner). The attorney won't know or won't care if the homeowner is interested in selling. And no, the attorney can't broker the sale of the property.

It's very simple, if you want to buy a house in foreclosure prior to the auction you MUST deal directly with homeowner. That is the only person/s that can sell you the property. You're wasting your time contacting or speaking with anyone else other than the homeowner/s.

100% right. These lenders have strict protocols in place for releasing this info, not easy to get even if you have the borrower's written consent.

I wouldn't say filing a case or hiring an attorney to get the payoff from the first mortgage lender is "easy" Wayne. That sounds expensive and time consuming.

I've had trouble getting this information from a lien holder even with the expressed written permission from the borrower. And if the lender sells the loan that's even worse. I just did a sub-to deal with a homeowner in foreclosure in January. The lender sold the loan and neither the borrower or I can track down where to send the new payment. It's been a nightmare.

Whether you decide to buy from the LLC sub-to, or pay cash, go through a title company to make sure the seller can legally convey title to you. Then you're covered if anything comes up later.

Does the seller have a POA or loan authorization form for the existing mortgage signed by the original owner/s? If so it shouldn't be too difficult to reinstate the loan and/or pay it off.

Excess proceeds go to the equitable title holder at the time of sale. Not exactly sure how it works in CA, but here in Arizona the party entitled to those funds has to prove they were the property owner.

Letting the house go to auction is the worst possible outcome for the original owner, huge hit to their credit score and the foreclosure sticks with them for a long time. When you reinstate their loan and start making payments again their credit gets repaired very quickly. I've done sub-to deals with homeowners in foreclosure where I reinstated, made 3-4 payments and the owner's score increased by over 75 points.

Before you start contacting homeowners in foreclosure make sure that their case is still active. You do this by checking with the foreclosing attorney over the phone (or look on their website). It's a waste of time (and money) to call, text or mail people that aren't in foreclosure anymore.

These third party companies only publish the original foreclosure notice...they don't track cancelations or postponements.

 @Kathie Russell is the expert in NC, I'll let her answer your upset bid question.

Ideally, if there is enough equity in the property you would buy it directly from the homeowner prior to the auction (pre-foreclosure). That way you can negotiate better terms (think sub-to) and you don't have to compete against any bidders at the auction. You have to "guesstimate" what the borrower owes their lender. You do this by taking the principal balance of the loan and amortizing it down from the origination date, then adding the back payments, penalties and interest to that balance. You have to approximate the interest rate and payment amount. BUT, this is much easier to do if you're already negotiating with the homeowner. They will likely have a recent loan statement with this info.

As Kathie pointed out already, there is no Lis Pendens filed for foreclosures in North Carolina.

The best source for obtaining foreclosure leads is directly through your county courthouse or recorder. You could also find where Tarrant County publishes these notices (usually a newspaper or website).

You are searching for the NOTICE OF DEFAULT AND FORECLOSURE SALE. This notice usually contains the owner's name, address, auction date, foreclosing lender, attorney, principal mortgage balance and/or judgment amount. With this info you can then skip trace to make contact with the homeowner.

I don't trust third party services to aggregate this data. Most of the lists I see from these companies are out of date and/or inaccurate.

Good luck Grayson!