Just Getting Started. How Do I Find Out Who The Lender Of A Foreclosed Property Is?
Hi, all!!
Newbie and I am glad to be making my first post in such a wonderful forum.
I have a couple of questions about a potentially distressed property I found. There is a house in my neighborhood that apparently has been vacant for at least 6 months. The neighbor next door was cutting the grass up until last month when his house sold (smart neighbor) but now that they are gone the grass had gotten tall (this is how I took notice). I asked another neighbor what the deal was and they said theyt had thought the home had been foreclosed.
Anyway, through the my local counties website, I was able to find the name of the owners and learned that the property has a county tax value of $148K. The ownership has been the same since Dec 1994. Thus, I know the property has some equity. I attempted to contact the sellers, but could not find a phone number after searching for a few days. Also, the tax bill from the county was overdue, but was paid in full out of the blue just last Friday.
Any suggestions on what I can do to continue my pursuit of this property?
(I am interested in purchasing the property at at a discount and hopefully renting it out for a fair market price. )
1. How do I find out who the lender is to see if they would be interested in selling to me and avoiding foreclosure?
2. At this point, is it still important to try and locate the original owners?
3. What would be a reasonable amount below the mortgage balance to ask the bank to sell to me?
On a different note: I have been to various websites claiming to have HUD and FHA foreclosed homes. When I inquire on the sale prices, their asking price is basicall market price. Is this normal? I thought the banks would be trying to get their money back. Would they accept an offer 20%-30% below the asking price. Are these just scams?
SORRY FOR THE NUMEROUS QUESTIONS, JUST TRYING TO LEARN.
THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!!![ Edited by chedaw on Date 03/31/2004 ]
Well this is also my first message here but I do know the answers to most of your questions, so here goes.....
You need to go to the County recorders/auditors office and there you can look up who is holding the deed of trust. You may even be able to find it online if your county has that available on their website. (many larger ones do nowadays)
If the tax bill is in the original owners name then that would usually mean that the foreclosure is not completed or at least not recorded yet so I would definitely try to find the owners they can give you the most info.
When dealing with HUD foreclosures you can usually get around a 12 % discount before fees. So that works out to be about 7% or so. I have a friend that only does these type of houses and clears 15-20k per house after fix up and all that.
When dealing with other banks it is all dependant on the bank and how long they have been holding that property and how many properties overall they are holding so thee are many variables. Your best bet is to try to get a realtionship with the REO officer at a few banks and start from there for that type of investing.
Shawn
SSWILL,
Thanks for your input.
However, I still have a question.
If a HUD property has an asking price of $122K, how does your friend clear $15K-$20K if there is only about a 12% disc before fees? That would make the buy price about $107K.
Thanks
Sorry for the late reply.
The way that he makes his profit is to give the house a quick facelift. He gives the outside a quick paintjob and things like that to give it curb appeal. He then gets a new appraisal and sells it at the higher price. Also he buys properties in the 200k range so that is how he is getting his $$$$/
Shawn[ Edited by sswilli99 on Date 04/02/2004 ]