How does one find a foreclosure list?

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Submitted by fredo4 on May 17, 2009 - 11:51am

I've been on realtytrac but they don't seem to list actual prices. I see 4 bd homes and then under "price" it'll say something like $16,000. What is that? The starting bid? Where can I find a list that's free (preferably) that will list foreclosure homes with the actual asking price?

‹ Murrieta/Temecula exasperated ›
Only a tiny portion of the
Submitted by Rt.66 on May 17, 2009 - 12:26pm.

Only a tiny portion of the bank REO inventory is actually for sale, so don't bother paying for a foreclosure listing service. If you pay you will have access to which bank owns the house but it will do you little good, as they aren't selling right now.

Typical call to a bank about an REO will go like this, IF you can get someone on the phone:

You: Yes hello, Id like to put an offer in on one of your REOs.

Bank rep: What's the address?

You: 1635 Trafficula ct, Temecula ca.

Bank Rep: Sorry that house is NOT for sale, if and when it becomes for sale it will be listed on the MLS. Perhaps you'd like to bid on the only one of our 3500 REOs in that area that IS for sale? Better hurry!

The few REOs that banks do sell end up on Realtor.com or maybe Redfin. You can use Realty Trac's free search to give yourself an idea of just how bad your target neighborhood really is, and maybe base your bids or buying time frame on that data.

Aren't there a lot of houses
Submitted by fredo4 on May 17, 2009 - 12:54pm.

Aren't there a lot of houses that are sold at auction that don't show up on the MLS? I know of two houses last year where that was the case. Not that I'm looking to buy rght now- just watching prices.

Preforeclosure Network is a
Submitted by jpinpb on May 17, 2009 - 1:15pm.

Preforeclosure Network is a good source.