Home Foreclosure Listings

The IRS maintains its own website listing properties seized for non-payment of taxes. All Fannie Mae-owned homes are listed in the local Multiple Listing System (MLS) accessible by real estate brokers. You can also locate bank or government-owned Home Foreclosures in local newspapers listings or by researching them at the county courthouse. By yourself, it would take hours to analyze and compile the data you need from public records. If you buy home foreclosure listings or subscribe to a listings service, you're saving your time and paying for content and convenience. You can also try contacting individual banks. However, many banks will not deal directly with the public or, to discourage novice investors, they charge a hefty fee for their lists of REO foreclosures. Fee-based listing services offer newsletters and access to their database of Home Foreclosures and real estate auctions, usually with a 7-day free trial. If the foreclosed home requires some repairs, this may be specified in the listing, along with the anticipated cost of the repairs if done by a contractor.

But not all home foreclosure listing services are reputable. Beware of invented "value" and "sold for" prices to wet your appetite. Make sure the home foreclosure listing service does original research using information from banks, mortgage companies, credit unions, insurance companies, government agencies, consumer finance organizations and state housing authorities. Many buy secondary information containing inaccurate, out-of-date listings to sell to you. Remember, there's no national network of banks nor a national database of Home Foreclosures. The accumulation and documentation of this data is an imperfect science, dependent on the source and their research methods. Buy the type of information that most closely matches your investing criteria. If you are skeptical, ask for a sample of their listings. Always compare quality and prices.

Understanding Home Foreclosures

The Foreclosure Procedure usually begins after a borrower has skipped three mortgage payments. Although the outlook may seem bleak, Avoiding Home Foreclosure is possible, and paramount because it can seriously affect your ability to qualify for future credit on major purchases, not just housing. Explore ways of rescuing your home, and the benefits and risks of Home Foreclosure Loans.