Finding Foreclosures – What To Look For

So you’ve decided that you want to try your hand at buying a foreclosure property.  But how do you go about finding foreclosures? There are many ways to find bank foreclosure properties and sometimes it’s going to take hard work and persitance to find the right one for your family.

If you are more of a do-it-yourselfer and like to roll up your sleeves and get dirty, there are foreclosure lists that you can subscibe to that will give you all the information you need on Bank Home Foreclosures & Government Foreclosed Houses, Federal Homes, Distressed Properties, and Commercial Foreclosures. This is a great starting point. Keep in mind that every property on the list is not going to be an ideal candidate for you. You will have to narrow down the lists to areas and neighborhoods that you are interested in and then find comparables of properties that have recently sold that are similar to the subject property. The foreclosure lists will usually include an “upset price”, or the price that the lender is minimally looking to get to satisfy the existing mortgage note on the home.

If you find that the upset price of the subject property is substancially less than the prices you are seeing on the comparable properties then you may have a good candidate to pursue further. If on the other hand the upset price is above the comparables (which, in today’s market is not uncommon!) then you may want to move on.

Another way to locate bank home foreclosures is to work with a local real estate agent that specializes in bank owned properties. Call some of the larger agencies in your town and ask for the foreclosure specialists in the office. Their experience and quick access to comparable sales data may be worth their fee especially if you are a novice in the world of real estate.