When you are looking for lists of foreclosure and/or pre-foreclosure

homes, there are several

ways to go about it. Many buyers look for these

lists for different reasons. Some want

to buy properties, some want to offer services to the

foreclosure victim, and others just want to

scam and steal from these

people.

Depending on which of these you are, you would need to look in a

different place. If you are a foreclosure scammer, hopefully you end

up in prison before you get the chance to take anyone's

home or money. If you offer legitimate

services, or want to buy a foreclosure

home, continue reading.

First we'll begin with

people who want to invest

in foreclosure properties.

The quickest and easiest

method to find a foreclosure

home is through a local

Realtor. Many Realtors specialize in foreclosure properties and can

assist you find a much better deal than you

could find on your own. The small

price you will pay can easily be justified by

having their experience and knowledge at your fingertips.

If you do not want to use a Realtor, you should still

take advantage of the

information they have available. Many

Realtor websites offer full access to their MLS

system and searching the terms "foreclosure"

and "short sale" will give you a huge list of

results.

Another choice, when you do not want to

pay a Realtor, is to use your local county

courthouse. Since foreclosures are a matter of public

record, you will have complete access to every

loan that has gone into foreclosure. With

a little research, you can get the

estimated value of the

home, the current owner's name, and you can find

out what they paid for the home.

Most online

companies that offer "foreclosure

data" simply access these same court

records.

If you are willing to pay for

these records, there are a

lot of website

brokers that access court info and credit data for a

reasonable fee. By paying for this data, you can usually narrow your list down to the exact type of

property you are looking for. In just a few minutes, you could have

100's of properties that fit your exact criteria.

For companies or individuals who want this data

for marketing purposes, they will generally need to get

"pre-foreclosure" data. This is when someone has missed payments, but

has not yet lost their house to foreclosure.

Pre-foreclosure data can also be obtained

from the courts, but for marketing purposes, it's much better to get

this information from credit reports. By

doing a simple search for people who have missed payments and are not

able to refinance, you can find as many pre-foreclosure records as you

need. Otherwise, you will need to search the court records for lis

pendens filings.

Lis Pendens lists are listed at every courthouse and this is the

data that is on every marketing list you see for sale on the web.

If you are facing foreclosure, this is why you are getting so many phone calls and junk mail communications about foreclosure. These companies are

selling your name and info 100's of times a day!

In my opinion, this data should be private and people in foreclosure should be left alone. But since our courts are public, foreclosure

victims don't have a choice. There are many ways to keep this

information private, but generally, the steps to keep it private need

to be taken in advance. Once your info is public, there is no way to

hide it.

Good luck finding your lists, but please don't use this information to

send spam or abuse helpless foreclosure victims!