Can I find additional pre-foreclosure information online?

Question

I went on Trulia and was looking at a few properties.   There was a Notice of Default listed for $145k (4br/3ba).  The house is 2760 sq feet.  The $145k is the outstanding loan amount.  I assume this is the amount owed to the lender filing the Notice of Default and does not include any other liens.  I have found many properties where the listing price is below the market.  Some may be for $145k, some may be for $45k.

1) Is there a way to get more information online to better assess the investment potential of properties without having to pay a service fee?

2) Are Trulia or Zillow of any use if I am looking to buy property at a discount?  I like the list of 'sold home prices', but it seems the foreclosure listing prices may not be as useful.

Patrick H. · Answer

Thanks for the comments.  I will test drive Realtytrac.com to see what information it provides.  If someone has an example of the output, please inform me.  I think the test drive is limited, so I would like to wait until I read more topics on BP and better educated.

I am trying to do some of my initial accessment online before I need to travel to the recorders office.  If I see a property 30% below market price I would like to do some online work if possible.

I assume if it is heavily discounted, like $50 per sq foot it probably means one of two things.  1) Major repairs are needed.  2) It is the junior lien listed.

Greg E · Answer

Ryan gave you some good advice - particularly with establishing the lien position.  You are in Sacramento, you can go down to the county recorders office downtown. Records from 1990's forward are on line.  You'll need to learn how to do a title search to determine all outstanding liens.  This is NOT information you can get on line unless you are paying for it through a title company... and even then will likely not indemnify you for a loss incurred from buying a property subject to a senior lien they missed.

Tony Severino · Answer

Onestep..

I would recommend that you search on www.realtytrac.com for more accurate info on foreclosure info.

This shows active foreclosures nationwide, and a ton of info about each property including any possible liens, or other mortgages you may have to deal with.

There are also some tutorials.

There is a free trial, go in and test drive it. I think you will find it helpful and much more accurate than zillow and trulia.

Tony Severino

Account Closed · Answer

I also forgot to mention, that the 45k amount you mentioned in your example could be a junior lien.  You will need to go to the Register of Deeds to be sure.  And if you didn't find the LP in the paper, the Register of Deeds will have it at the court house.  These are usually very nice older lady's who are very busy doing books all day, but also love helping people and jump at every chance they get to actually speak to someone.  So if you are unsure of how to look this info up, just head down to the courthouse and ask for help.  Even if its just for practice.

Account Closed · Answer

Doesn't look like anyone has given you any help on this yet so I'm unsure if you've already gotten your answers or not.

This varies from state to state, so I will try to fill you in best I can and let you know where you need specific answers for your area.

To answer your first question, you can find most foreclosure information, including pre-forclosure, on county websites now a days.  Notice of foreclosures are required by law in any state to be made public (similar to court order appearances) and includes a list of all other interested parties (this is your Lies Pendants to look at who has junior liens, but you will usually need to go to the courthouse to find out how much these liens are for- this is used to determine if you think you should bother trying to purchase the property or if you think a junior lien is going to redeem).  You can find these in your local news paper.  I always use this as my source for finding foreclosures.

The second question is a little more difficult to answer.  You first need to determine for yourself what defines "discount" by your standards.  Is it worth it to you to put up 150k on a property which you estimate will sell for 180k....that's for you to decide.
Foreclosures in general USED TO BE almost automatic that there was at least some equity just in the foreclosure price.  But with property values dropping a lot of homes are upside down and have negative equity.  You absolutely HAVE TO know your market.

Now the last thing that can throw people for a loop- is it a Deed of Trust or a Mortgage???
Depending on which it is may vary the redemption period.  Example: Nebraska has a 180 redemption period on mortgages, so there really isn't a rush to buy them at auction when you can just do a short sale twards the end of the 180 days if that note hasn't been redeemed by a junior lien position.
Deed of trust on the other hand has no redemption period in this particular state.  Since lenders know this, they virtually do just deeds of trust and not mortgages.  But you'll want check to be sure.