Property Manager · Raleigh, Raleigh-Durham area · Member since 2025 · 51 posts · 39 votes
I'm in the RDU area, but have never looked into foreclosures. Now that we have a lot of rehabs under our belt, we wanted to start looking into foreclosed properties. Does anyone have suggestions of good places to look and/or find foreclosures? TIA!
I wouldn't necessarily call RDU a foreclosure-heavy market.
We are starting to see more foreclosure activity. According to ATTOM, the Raleigh metro had 146 foreclosure starts in April 2026 compared to 68 in April 2025.
The biggest challenge is competition. The Triangle has plenty of investors looking for deals, so the foreclosures that actually have good margins can attract considerable attention.
One thing worth knowing is that North Carolina has a 10-day upset bid period for foreclosure auctions. Even if you win the initial auction, someone can come along and outbid you during that window, which then restarts the clock. So these things can take FOREVER.
To @Benjamin Carver point, we have a number of foreclosures that a select few (it looks and feels like) investors are buying. I have had a number of wholesalers bring me foreclosure deals where they are direct to seller, and me or my clients have bought those before the court foreclosure processes gets finalized. For a seller, if they can avoid the foreclosure mark on their credit and get near the same value/liquidity from an off-market buyer v the foreclosure process, they're willing to at least talk if you know how to approach them and handle that. Always review for title issues or sneaky liens. It may also be useful to offer them 3-6 months of leaseback as they piece their life back together and find a new place to live - collect that rent at closing from seller proceeds and have a strong lease in place though...would be happy to help with both of those.
