How to Find Bank Owned Foreclosed Properties

Foreclosed homes that are taken back by the bank often are sold to investors who are looking for them and talking with the bank before hand. Banks also market properties through real estate agents to the general public. The problem in finding a good REO, real estate owned, bank property is they are not always marketed as foreclosed houses to avoid the stigma and automatic low offers, or from part time builders looking for remodel and property maintenance jobs. Here are the basic directions and steps to find foreclosed home on the market locally.

Instructions

1. A good methods to find foreclosed homes if you have investment money, or a loan in place and are ready to go, is to work with local banks and get a list of bank owned properties. This is harder than it was in the past as much of the lending was done on a national basis, so while you are looking in your county to buy a home the bank that foreclosed and owns the home may be half a continent away. Small community banks or local credit unions that lent money mainly to a local market and did not sell off all the loans are a good source. Many lender focus on local commercial property or hard to fund farms or vacant land as well if that is what you are looking for. Find out if the local or regional banker you know knows who is in charge of the REO department.

2. Work with a local real estate agent or firm that specializes in foreclosed homes. Nationwide lenders and out of state banks that foreclose on a home will usually list only with an agent who focuses on selling foreclosed homes. A county area often has several thousand agents, but only a handful that only list and sell foreclosed homes. A specialized agent often won't work with a buyer to avoid a conflict of interest with the bank they represent, but they will give you a good list of foreclosed homes they have for sell or refer you to a good buyers agent they work with that will help you find and negotiate a deal.

3. Look at web sites that offer lists and information on foreclosed homes. These companies sell lists or offer a monthly subscription to their site of available foreclosed homes. These site are very valuable to someone looking to buy and sell foreclosed homes for a living and are willing to spend the hours sorting the information. Do be aware many of the online foreclosed property sites will have out of date information and don't update what is sold often enough so they keep a large number of homes on lists that do little good for a potential buyer. Some list the homes in default that are not yet bank owned but preforeclosure. These can be a good place to look, but you are dealing with a potentially angry home owner and not the bank if that is the case. The bank can not give information or sell a home before it is fully foreclosed.