- 1). Call your local courthouse weekly to inquire about upcoming foreclosure auctions. Banks attempt to sell foreclosed homes at auction before marketing them as REO (real estate owned) properties. The courthouse conducts these auctions, and since foreclosure auctions are open to the pubic, it can give you information about new foreclosure homes and when the auction for each property is scheduled.
- 2). Ask your real estate agent to alert you via email when new foreclosure homes arrive on the real estate market. Most agents are more than willing to do this. Some have computer programs that automatically send emails about certain properties, such as foreclosure homes, to clients who request them.
- 3). Check your local newspaper's classified section daily. Before foreclosed homes can be auctioned through the courthouse, they must be advertised in the local paper. By checking the newspaper in addition to periodically checking with the courthouse, you can ensure that no available foreclosure homes slip by you.
- 4). Familiarize yourself with free home-search databases such as Realtor.com and Zillow.com (see Resources). Realtor.com contains a list of all the available homes in a given area, while Zillow.com tells you whether a property you are researching is a foreclosure. Both sites offer color photographs and location information about foreclosure homes you are considering.
- 5). Ask your real estate agent to provide you with information about any pre-foreclosure homes or short sales available in your community. Pre-foreclosure homes and short sales occasionally end in foreclosure if no buyer can be found for the property. Keep your eye on these homes so you'll be ready for them once they hit the auction block or appear on the local real estate market.
- 6). Bookmark the foreclosure listings pages of major banks that list their foreclosed homes online (see Resources). Banks such as Chase, Bank of America and Wachovia all list their foreclosure properties online. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also provide online foreclosure listings for consumers (see References). Check your bookmarks daily for new listings.
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