How to identify sellers when buying short sales

Spotting opportunities when buying short sales

When buying short sales, investors and homebuyers typically start searching for distressed properties through public records that are published once the lender has started the paperwork necessary to foreclose on a property. In some states, this is the Notice of Default (NOD) and others, Lis Pendens. 
Once these legal documents are filed and recorded at the courthouse, it becomes public record and widely distributed to everyone and anyone that seeks it. 
Because of fierce competition, the homeowners that have been served foreclosure notices get piles of mail and are barraged with phone calls. Having been inundated with so much marketing to stave foreclosure, there is a natural propensity to block it all out. 
When buying short sales, you can get an edge on over 90% of your competition by using short sale leads obtained through a soft credit inquiry. Our information is obtained prior to the NOD or Lis Pendens and thus, you can be the first - if not the only one - to reach out to troubled homeowners and have enough time to establish rapport and negotiate with their lender.