What is Foreclosure Real Estate?
Foreclosure real estate is like any other repossession in which a buyer defaults on their payments. Everyone hits hard times once in a while, but those who are unable to make their monthly mortgage payment may be forced to give up their property to the lender.

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At any given time, between 4 and 5% of residential property loans turn into foreclosure homes for sale. The Mortgage Bankers Association of America prepares annual reports about the state of housing loans, and out of approximately 20 million home mortgages, one million properties are considered delinquent; subsequently turning them into a foreclosure home for sale, bank foreclosure and hud foreclosure. This presents a tremendous opportunity for potential investments. That’s where our foreclosure home listings, hud foreclosure listings, and bank foreclosure listings can help! Our foreclosure property listings will help you get started on the path to buying foreclosure real estate.

There are three main types of foreclosure purchases. Any of the following methods can help you obtain a bargain on a bank foreclosure, hud foreclosure or foreclosure home sale:

Buying at Foreclosure Sale: A foreclosure sale is done through a court auction process where the highest bidder wins title of the property. You are allowed access to the property to inspect it prior to the auction. The property is delivered "as is," and is free of any liens.

Buying a Pre-foreclosure: A pre-foreclosure occurs after a homeowner has defaulted on their property, but before it has been sold at auction. You negotiate with the owner of the property before it is sold at the auction, and you take on the mortgage and any other outstanding debts on the property.

Buying From A Lender After A Foreclosure Sale - REO (Real Estate Owned) By The Lender: This procedure is done by dealing with the lender that has repossessed a foreclosed property. Lenders are banks, and are not in the real estate business. Therefore, they are often willing to sell this property at a mutually agreed upon price.

BUYING FORECLOSURES
HOW TO PURCHASE AT A FORECLOSURE SALE
FIND PROPERTIES THAT WILL BE SOLD AT AUCTION:

In all foreclosure auctions, a notice must be published locally. Although your county clerk's office is a great real estate resource in identifying foreclosures, it can be very time consuming and not worth the headaches when this information is readily available here. Foreclosure Times.com offers the largest real estate database of foreclosure homes in the country, including Bank REO, Pre-Foreclosure, Government Foreclosures including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), HUD, Government Services Agency (GSA), and even the Internal Revenue Service plus bankruptcy and by owner properties.

BIDDING AT AN AUCTION:

If you think you want to purchase a foreclosure property, you must check the title, get a true value for the property if it is sold on the open market, and allow for sales costs, fix up cost etc., when deciding to bid.

If you win at auction, you do not become the owner of the property. You get a "Certificate of Purchase." This certificate entitles you to receive interest money, at the rate of the first mortgage. However, a Certificate of Purchase is subject to redemption by the owner or by junior creditors.

AFTER THE FORECLOSURE SALE

Once a Certificate of Purchase has been issued, you must then present cash or certified funds in the exact amount of your property bid. The Public Trustee will then obtain a redemption amount. If an owner wants to keep their property, they must pay the redemption amount in cash or certified funds to the Public Trustee. The present owner still owns the property until their redemption period ends. That period is normally 75 days (or six months for agricultural property), during which time they can pay off the Certificate of Purchase amount, plus interest and fees. In this case, no Public Trustee's Deed is issued.

During the owner's redemption period, any junior lienors, or creditors, with a recorded interest in the property can also file their "Notice of Intent to Redeem." The junior lienors who file these Intents have specific time periods (after the end of the owner's redemption period) in which they're allowed to redeem if the owner does not.

If no one redeems and all the redemption periods expire, the Certificate of Purchase holder (potentially you) can be issued a confirming Public Trustee's Deed. In this case, the title vests free and clear of all liens and encumbrances junior to the foreclosed lien except omitted parties, or parties that were not notified of the foreclosure but who have an interest in the property.

And the property belongs to you!

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