What is a Pre-Foreclosure?

With the crash of our Real Estate market and meltdown of our current economic system, savvy investors are taking advantage of the huge surplus of homes that are being foreclosed on. Their are basically three stages of foreclosure homes available for you to try to make deals on.

One of the most widely known types or ways of buying foreclosures are at the courthouse auctions. These used to be where you could find very good deals, but not so much today. With the Internet the information has become easier to research, so many more people show up to the auctions than they used to when you actually had to go down to the courthouse or even just read the newspaper to search for the homes in foreclosure. Also most of the homes or homeowners rather at these courthouse auctions are upside down on their loans, making it a terrible and loosing deal.

I have just recently blogged about REO properties and their advantages, but today I wanted to write about pre-foreclosures. A pre-foreclosure is where the tenants still reside in the home and are in the process of being foreclosed on. Many people don't like to deal with these types of Real Estate deals because of the complexity and the fact that real people are dealing with financial hardships and are facing loosing their homes.

So, how can you make money with pre-foreclosures? By trying to do what is known as a short-sale with the bank. You can help the tenants from being foreclosed on an having it on their record and you can end up with a very good deal, walking into a property with thousands of dollars in equity. A short-sale is where you offer the bank less than what is owed on the loan. The banks are willing to work with investors who do this because it will prevent them from having to buy the house back at the auction and then having it added to their already huge inventory of REO (bank owned) homes.

A short sale can be complicated and there are many steps involved which include working together with the current homeowner. There are several book are guides that explain how to do this successfully. I have reviewed many of them and one that I like best is found by Clicking Here.

Of course their are many other sources of information of short sales and pre foreclosures out there, but in the end it is up to you to take action and make the right moves that will make you money. Now is the best time ever if you are thinking of buying Real Estate as long as you can afford to hold on to it and carry the expenses until the market turns around.

I wish you the best of luck and don't forget to visit my home page and pick up my free foreclosure report "7 Shocking Mistakes Amateurs Make When Trying To Buy Foreclosures". Happy house hunting.

Scott
http://www.homeforeclosurelist.net

Bank Home Foreclosures REO

Bank home foreclosures or "bank owned properties" are normally refereed to as R.E.O. or Real Estate Owned. Right now banks have record high REO properties with no end in sight. A house or property becomes bank owned after it has gone to auction and not been purchased by another buyer so the bank had to buy it (pay lawyer fees, back taxes, etc...) and keep the property.

The reason why so many homes are not being purchased at foreclosure auctions, such as court house auctions, is because the majority of houses being foreclosed on today are upside down loans. In other words, more is owed on the mortgage than the property is worth. About 5 years ago you could actually find a lot of good deals at courthouse foreclosure auctions, but today your best bed for a good deal is buying a R.E.O. property.

Most banks have at least one Real Estate agent that handles their R.E.O properties for them. What you want to do is get to know an agent who deals in strictly or mostly REO properties. Most of these agents will work for several different banks and turn you on to other deals that you may not have found out about.

Today, with the great information available on the Internet, you can find many of the big bank REO properties. Each major bank currently has real estate owned department to deal with the huge inventory of foreclosed houses on their books. The banks hate these properties because they are in the money business, not the Real Estate business. They have already lost a lot of money on the property and as time goes on, they will continue to loose more and more money. They get penalized for having to many bad loans and REO properties on their books.

The longer a property has been on the market, the more desperate a bank is to get it off their hands, which can lead to a great deal for you. Be careful and do your due diligence of course, because a property may have been on the market for a long time because it has a lot of problems, but do not let this stop you. You may be able to offer a very low price which will allow you to cover the repair expenses and still sell at a profit (when the market is right to sell of course).

You can also attempt to do a short sale with the bank, but this is usually a lot lengthier process and a lot more work. You have to work with the current owner/resident and it can be a pain. With bank home foreclosures such as REO properties, the old owner/tenants are long gone and the home is ready for you to fix up.

Scott
http://www.homeforeclosurelist.net

Who Did The Bail Out Money Help?

Who the hell really benefited from this 700 Billion Dollar or 350 Billion that has been given out? I find it absolutely amazing that barely a portion of it can be accounted for and the purpose for what it was to serve, it did not. Does anybody remember what the money was supposed to do?

The Bail-Out Money was supposed to help the Freddie Mack, Fanny Bay, Public Banks, and Mortgage companies, but how come these same companies are continuing on with their foreclosures? Sure they put a hold on them for the holiday season, but it's back to the chopping block for many Americans feeling the pinch of the recession.

Listen, I am right there like most of you reading this, got a family, a house, a car, credit cards, loans etc... I also am self-employed and business is slow. I'm still very thankful because I know a lot of people who went out of business or lost their job completely. Florida's Un-Employment claims were up from over 600,000 in 2007 to over 5,000,000 claim in 2008! That is an astronomic amount of unemployment claims and serious decline in growth or job lay-offs!

I feel that the Bail out money some how made it in the hands of the greedy oil executives. Common now, how did gas drop from almost $5 per gallon down to below $2 per gallon? Also there's been news of corporate executives from AIG (who got 80 Billion) taking elaborate $400,000 weekend retreats after news of the Bailout funding. This kind of behavior is ridiculous and these people have to be accounted for. The problem is that we had no system or real plan in place for the money.

This money has got to be spread out to the common man in America to make a difference. The small businesses and independent contractors who work hard to make America what it it, deserve some relief. The $300 or $600 was given to taxpayers last year as not enough. We need people to get at least $2,000 per household and the money needs to be spent, at least 50% of it (although we are Americans and we'll probably spend it all).

Common Uncle Sam, Big Brother, US Government...Here us the little people and the tax payers that keep your entity alive...give us a break so that we can continue to be of value to you the government! What did this have to do with home foreclosures? A little, as I mentioned some of that money should have been used to the people being foreclosed on to buy them a few months, or give them another option that still allows them to stay in the home. Any thoughts from our intelligent public?

Scott
http://www.homeforeclosurelist.net

REO Instead of Foreclosures

Okay, the title may have been just slightly mis-leading. REO (real estate owned) properties are a kind of foreclosure. The difference is that an REO or bank owned property has already been through the foreclosure process unlike traditional foreclosures. Many people focus on pre-foreclosure and actually courthouse auction foreclosures. Of course every method has its' advantages and dis-advantages.

I have been at the courthouse steps many times chasing down good deals, but they were either taken up by investors with a lot more money than me, or the bank's representative would out-bid me. The bank's rep is there just to make sure someone like me doesn't end up with a $200,000 or even $50,000 dollar property for a fraction of that. Right now most of the foreclosures are not even good deals because the owners/debtors are upside down on their loans!

The problem for the bank is that once they get this property back, they are usually stuck with it for several months. This is bad business for the bank for a couple of reasons. First of all, banks are in the money business, not the repair or house selling business, so they are not good at it. Secondly, banks get fined by our good old Federal Reserve for having too many REO's on their books. Are the wheels turning in your head yet?

Because of the bad housing and Real Estate market of the past two years (especially 2008) banks have now got more REO properties on their books then ever before. Most of the major banks have separate REO departments to deal with these properties. Most of them still use an independent agent or professional Realtor to help them sell the land and houses REO database rather than an in-house agent.

Because of our current economy and Real Estate market now is the best time in years to find great deal on bank owned properties. I have found a site that has a database or list of all the major bank's REO departments. Most of them have websites or other contact information so that you can contact the bank or its' agent directly! This list is gold and I almost didn't want to share it, but what the hell...there are tons of properties all over the country and I am not scared that these deals are going to run out anytime soon! So here it is...

Also, on a slightly different note I wanted to mention a new website that I just created to show some of my properties that I have for sale in Florida. I currently have one house ( 3 bedroom/ 2 bathroom) on a 1/2 acre lot in a nice neighborhood. I also have four vacant lots for sale if you are interested in getting land and building your own house. The house is in Crestview, Florida and the lots or in Mossy Head, and Defuniak Springs Florida. Crestview is in Okaloosa County (home of Eglin Air Force Base) and the other two cities are in Walton County just to the East of Okaloosa County. The website is currently not 100% in terms of design, but all the information about the properties is correct. Of course, please contact me by phone or email with any questions. My contact info is located at the bottom of the site...go here: Property in Florida

Scott
http://www.homeforeclosurelist.net

P.S. I'm not going to apologize for not blogging regularly like my previous post from almost a year ago, that would seem sort of silly now wouldn't it! LOL, no seriously you will here more from me on this site and my sister site.

Mortgage Crisis 2008?

Okay, it's been a while since I last blogged! Please forgive me. With the holidays, the family, plus my two businesses and websites I've always got a lot to do. So, what does the 2008 Real Estate & Foreclosure Market forecast look like? Just judging by the media's reaction to the "Mortgage crisis" the outlook is bleak for many home buyers who may have gotten in over their heads and now face rising mortgage payments.

Those higher risk consumers have been seriously defaulting on subprime, and adjustable rate mortgages during 2007 and now millions are potentially facing financial bankruptcy. During the Seller's market of 2004-2005 homes were going fast. Lenders started getting aggressive and financing non-conventional or even exotic mortgages. People were getting into houses that were truly bigger than their budgets.

Subprime lending and these exotic mortgages together with over-inflation or too fast of appreciation caused the bubble to bust. This year the United States government decided to step in and address the issue. The Feds are trying to help millions of people save their homes by helping defer the rise of the "teaser" interest rates or just help people get out of the loans completely by refinancing.

Some say that the government is too little and too late to help many. This may be true, but at least they are attempting to help. People have to stand up and take a responsibility for their own actions as well. So, we may still be going through this "mortage crisis" for a little while longer, but things will change as they always do. There will be plenty of foreclosures on the market still as usual, but not many great or even good deals. The deals are few and far between, with a lot of "garbage" out there.

Those who are going to face foreclosure in association with the mortgage crisis will face it when it is there time regardless. Many will save their homes through their own means and a few will owe thanks to the government. The slow real estate market will pick up, demand will go up, appreciation will pick up and then it will be time to sell again!

Scott
http://www.homeforeclosurelist.net

Florida Tops Foreclosure List

The latest numbers from RealtyTrac are in and as expected Florida is the #2 state for foreclosures in the United States, second only to California. This comes as no surprise to me as I have observed the housing market closely for the past 5 years and saw the conditions becoming very favorable for foreclosure investors.

On Friday, November 30th 2007, The Orlando Business Journal stated the following: "The Sunshine State reported 30,190 foreclosure filings for the month, or one foreclosure filing for every 273 households, says RealtyTrac's monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. That was 9 percent less than September, but still up nearly 165 percent from October 2006. Florida trailed only California in total filings for the month, which notched 50,401, while Nevada and California took the top two spots for the highest October foreclosure rates nationwide."

The housing market and home appreciation skyrocketed in late 2004 and early 2005 after Hurricane Ivan devastated the Gulf Coast. The same year the southern and central parts of the state were hit by several named hurricanes and tropical storms. The destruction of homes, along with a rising population sent up the demand for homes greatly.

This higher demand together with lower interest rates at the time, created very aggressive home lending tactics. Since then, interest rates have risen and the many who took adjustable rate mortgages (ARMS) are now taking the hit on higher mortgage payments of which many cannot afford to keep up with.

Scott Young
http://www.homeforeclosurelist.net/

Free Home Foreclosure Listings

There is a wealth of information available online about foreclosures. You can even find free home foreclosure listings at several different websites. As I mentioned in a previous blog, you can search for listings yourself at your county clerk of courts website.

Many of the websites who provide the listings will give you some basic info, but charge you for the actual contact information. There are even some sites that will grant you access to complete listings for a free trial period such as a week or 3 days.

I have searched and tried many of these sites myself, but there are two main sites that I stick to when starting my foreclosure search. These sites are http://www.foreclosuremagic.com and also http://www.foreclosuredata.com.

Both of these sites are an excellent resource for obtaining all kinds of foreclosure and pre-foreclosure information. At either one you will find all kinds of home foreclosure listings such as bank owned (REO's), government seized homes, HUD, VA, and preforeclosures complete with accurate property details and bank or mortgage lender contact information.

If you are interested in looking for these kinds of listings, then stop your search and try out one or both of my recommended sites today. Good luck and happy investing!

Scott Young
http://www.homeforeclosurelist.net