rube, here is the trick to get a jump on the competition, but it takes a little time.
Get the street name from foreclosure dot com, you can follow the nods but it will be a while, the sheriff sales are usually going back within a week or two and will be in the banks hands, then they will list them. It can vary how long that takes but somewhere in the 30-60 days is normal.
Then go to the GIS for the area. I don’t know the website for your area but temecula and riverside county have a gis site. http://www.cityoftemecula.org/Temecula/Government/IS_GIS/GIS/
From there you zoom on the map, select info cursor, click on the parcels and you can get the name of the owner and the parcel number. Often times foreclosure dot com lists the defendant name for the nod and nots, so you are done at that point. In the cases that they dont list a name, you open a second window and run the tax assesor, cutting and pasting the apn and seeing who is behind on their taxes, you can also run a grantee search, run their name and it shows the notice of default and the trustee sale notice.
Now that you know the property you drive by and see if you like it, you can also learn the name of the bank from the grantee search. You can try and contact them directly or figure out who they usually list with in your area (that takes buying drinks for realtors in the know) and you can introduce yourself to that realtor and let them know you are interested in that house when it comes available. mention you are unrepresented and would like to deal with them directly for that house and that house alone, refuse to look at other houses and be frank with them, say that you can afford it, have nothing to sell and you don’t plan on looking or lowballing, you plan on buying. This is what they call a “buyer in pocket.” You can also read the no tresspassing sign and it will list a contact number and name, it is often a realtor that will be getting the listing. Then you guess the list price, go get a prequal letter, keep your last two check stubs handy and your credit score from your prequal. print out your online bank statement to show you have the funds. Then the day it lists, you are right there, ready to pull the trigger, with a package and a check.
It doesn’t always work, sometimes you aren’t the only one ready. It took me four tries, the first three I lowballed and a full pricer in the first hour beat me. The last time I went a little over list in the first hour and beat the other first day lowballers, hone your skills, it’s like ebay, learn each time you lose.
You can still lowball reo’s that have been sitting on the market sixty days or shorts but I found the property usually had problems or was in an undesirable spot. The better places go on listing day. Now that is just my market, yours may be different.
