How to Find Out Who Holds the Mortgage on a Foreclosure

If you're interested in purchasing a recently foreclosed property, you'll need to be one step head of other potential investors and buyers. To do this, it's best to find out early who owns the mortgage and the house, and which bank will assume the property in a foreclosure. Fortunately this process is relatively simple.

Things You'll Need

• Local newspaper

Instructions

1. Determine first if the property is still in foreclosure or has already been assumed by the bank or the finance company. You can find this easily by looking in the legal notices in classified section of the local newspaper.

2. Visit the Registry of Deeds in the town or city in which the property resides. The Registry holds all land titles, liens, deeds, mortgage documents, and Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) riders for all customer-owned properties. Search for the property address--this will tell you the most recent transaction on the home.

3. Look at the most recent transaction on the property deed (there are often multiple mortgages listed on a title, either from a previous owner or if the present owner has multiple mortgages). The most recent mortgage holder on the property is the mortgage lender and, if not already, will be the bank assuming the mortgage.

Tips & Warnings

• If the property has not yet been fully foreclosed upon, the owner of the mortgage on a property is the individual(s) listed as owner on the title.

References

• Freddie Mac: Home Lookup