top of page
Writer's picturePace Morby

How to Find Real Estate Foreclosures

In this business, our job is to help distressed homeowners find solutions to their problems, which in most cases, involve selling their homes.


Now, there are many reasons a homeowner becomes distressed and has to sell their home – and it’s usually because of something unforeseen happening.


A life event happens – death in the family, retirement, a move – and suddenly, they need to sell the house right now.


In some cases, a life event is stressful enough that other things get pushed to the back burner and only become a focus again when it becomes urgent.


And that’s kinda what happens with foreclosures.


What is a Foreclosure?


There’s a lot of mystery surrounding foreclosures and a lot of things contributing to it happening to a homeowner.


Essentially, a foreclosure is when a homeowner fails to pay the mortgage on their home. This means the property is still owned by the bank, for instance, and the homeowner is paying down their loan.


While missing a mortgage payment is bad, it’s not the end of the world, and most people are able to make up for it or make arrangements before it gets to a bad point.


How to Find Real Estate Foreclosures

So what happens when it gets to a bad point?


There are a few stages to getting a foreclosure:


  1. Homeowner misses several payments in a row.

  2. After 60-90 days of missed payments, the homeowner is issued a notice (depending on the state, the notice will either be a mailed letter, pinned note, phone call, etc)

  3. After the issue of a notice, the homeowner has a grace period – known as pre-foreclosure – where they make arrangements to make up on the missed payments.

  4. If the homeowner is unable to make arrangements for payment, then the home is put up for auction.

  5. Finally, if the home is not purchased at auction, the lender/bank takes ownership of the home


While these are the different stages of a foreclosure, it’s the first three homeowners will mostly be concerned with.


And it’s at these stages – specifically at stage 1 and stage 3 – where we will be the most helpful.


How to Find Real Estate Foreclosures


So how do you find foreclosures or pre-foreclosures?


First, if you aren’t using my guys at BatchLeads and BatchDriven, sign up and save yourself some hassles when it comes to finding deals.


Batch has a filter option where you can filter down to just show pre-foreclosures in a particular area and you can save that listing.


It’s that simple.


Now, once you have a few pre-foreclosures or foreclosures, then you need to talk to the homeowner.


There are a few different options you can take, but remember we’re trying to help the owner first and foremost.


All of these options are basically offered to a homeowner as a means to stay in their home.


But Pace, why?


Because it actually opens the door of opportunity to show that, while you might be interested in purchasing the property, you also want to first help them keep the property.


But it sets us apart from others who are just offering cash or putting the house on the market.


Guys, homeowners are distressed because something has happened that has put them in a situation where they may be losing their home, so we want to be sensitive about that by offering ways that can help.


So, one option is to talk to the seller about them getting a personal loan to try and pay back their payments.


Very rarely will homeowners take this option, but it is an option that they should know. Another is, of course, putting it up on the market with an agent or offering to pay in cash.


This is what most homeowners are already hearing and they are valid offers, but you want to give them choice so they know what their options are.


Mr. TTP himself, Brent Daniels, and I discuss 8 different ways to approach homeowners that make you a valuable resource and more importantly, a problem solver.


If you want to see how to approach and speak to a seller who is facing a foreclosure, check out this live call I did:



Foreclosures are scary for homeowners, so it’s important that we’re helping to solve their pain points and making things easier, not harder.


If you want to learn how to do what I do and how my students are crushing it, then don’t wait – join us and let’s do some deals!


Comments


bottom of page