BiggerPockets

I am brand new to real estate investing.

My idea was to network with some local process servers that would be willing give me info on homeowners that are behind on their mortgages.

I would offer a cash "reward" to them on any property I purchase.

Is this idea legal?

If so, would this idea get me to the homeowners before the info would be recorded?

Thanks

Don't see anything illegal, but I don't think it will work. The process officially starts with the filing of the "notice of demand", "lis pendens" or some other document at the courthouse. There are services that gather this information up and pass it to investors for a fee. The information is typically only released once a week, so anybody who subscribes to the service gets it at the same time.

If you want leads for people before that point, credit bureaus can provide those. Called 30-60-90 day late lists.

James,

So you get your info online for your region? How do you get your info there first if it is already "public" info?

Will, unless I am mistaken, the banks that report people to the credit bureau's can also provide you with that list of 30-90 if they are willing to.

If you have a contact with the main office of one you could potentially get that list faster than from the bureau's, if they are willing and helpful to investors.

Have not tried this, but the thought seems reasonable. I do not know about any potential laws prohibiting it.

I guess now I am confused. How can I get a "list" before anyone else? Has anyone else had experience with this?

Thanks.

Ok that makes sense. Has anyone done that with agencies? Good, bad, ugly?

Thanks

All the banks I am familiar with would just quote the privacy laws as to NOT giving such info.

Would that NOT be a violation of privacy laws??

but it is not illegal for them to give your information to them. ??????

WHAT?

A few thoughts on the suject:

I wish I could get my daily NODs online like James. Here in Portland, the Recorder does no such thing. I'm not entirely sure why it's also impossible for me to walk into the research room and plug a zip drive into their computer and copy all filings for the day (about 25 filings for the day the last time I was in there). Either way, I can't seem to find a provider in my area and I'm reluctant to ask a title company for assistance since I have yet to do business with any. Also, the filings in the newspaper here come about six weeks after the NOD, so that's a bit on the stale side, but costs $1 a day. Point being, if I want the NODs the day of filing, I'd be spending about an hour or hour and a half at the courthouse every single weekday.

On 30-60-90 day late lists, I wonder about the idea of ordering the 90 days late list. It would seem to me that if I fell 90 days behind, it would take at least another 30 days for the bank to report to the credit bureau and then have the bureau pass that along in a list. Correct me if I am wrong, please. But if that is the timeline, by the time you are getting a list of 90 days late leads, it's probably already been 120 and the NOD is filed anyway. So you just paid for a list and greatly increased the pool of who has that lead.