Many promising real estate investment opportunities aren’t listed or advertised for sale, anywhere. Somewhere a homeowner is missing or under-paying their mortgage payments and doesn’t know WHAT to do about the dunning letters the lender is sending as part of the pre-foreclosure process. As a real estate investor, you want to find this homeowner while she/he can still make their own decision to sell, avoiding a foreclosure, before the lender takes control of the property.

Watch for a future post describing the step-by-step pre-foreclosure and foreclosure process.

Why are many homeowners who are slipping into a growing hole of overdue mortgage payments slow, even reluctant, to list their property for sale before the bank begins foreclosure?

• Procrastination about losing their equity; refusing to believe foreclosure will happen.
• Daily struggles with problems that created the financial drain in the first place, such as health, children, family problems, and job problems (or job hunting).
• Reluctant to face up to the cost and work of the repairs, painting and general sprucing up needed to market the home.
• Hesitating over the prospect of moving – how will they pack, where will they go?
• Anxious about actually getting an offer from a buyer, only to be unable to afford the demands for repairs.
• Simply overwhelmed. We can all relate to the human mind’s tendency to grind to a halt when there is too much to consider and too many decisions to make.

Read my blog post for some examples of the message you want to send to these troubled homeowners that will motivate them to reach for one simple solution – phone you to discuss a cash sale.

Here is a quick and basic list for finding pre-foreclosures … and how to encourage pre-foreclosures to find you, while the homeowner is still in the driver’s seat to sell! 

Before the property is listed for sale –  Basically, putting the word out that “I Buy Houses“ by means of:

• Direct mailings.
• Classified and other ads.
• Signs.
• Business cards.
• Word of mouth.

After the property is listed for sale:

• The easiest, of course, are listings and ads noting “pre-foreclosure”. But if you stop there you may miss the best opportunities!
• Ads and listings for “motivated seller” – this may mean “pre-foreclosure”.
• Ads and listings for “fixer-upper” – this could be a pre-foreclosure seller who doesn’t have the money to prepare the property for market.
• Non-foreclosure auctions sometimes include pre-foreclosures.
• FSBO’s (For Sale By Owner) may be trying to save the realtor’s commission to help them settle what they owe on the mortgage.

I haven’t included short sales because today I’m guiding you toward homeowner sales that don’t involve the lender in the final decision to sell.

A quick way out of a troubled mortgage will be a blessing for many people, when you find them (or they find you) during pre-foreclosure, while you can still do the most good for their mortgage and your profits!

How did you find your first pre-foreclosure deal?

Want to earn money with little or no investment of your own? Check out my new ebook “STREETWISE PROPERTY INVESTING WHOLESALE BLUEPRINT” explaining wholesaling and how to make it work for you!