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International Listings » The Foreclosure Investing Web Guide: 100 Useful Resources

The Foreclosure Investing Web Guide: 100 Useful Resources

Posted in Features on May 13, 2008

There seems to be no end to the number of foreclosure opportunities for investors these days. In keeping with this trend, a number of Web sites have been created to serve the foreclosure investor. To that end, we’ve listed 100 sites below, from tutorials to databases to articles and blogs. Although some sites are more useful than others, we’ve tried to avoid sites that offer no value to the investor whatsoever. These include databases listings without a clue as to who offers these databases and Web sites that offer advice without credentials. With that said, we may have missed a site or two that may truly be useful. If you know of a site that provides value to the foreclosure investor, let us know through your comments.

The list below is in no particular order, but each link is listed alphabetically under the provided categories. While the sites are numbered, the numbering does not indicate that we favor one site over another or that they are listed in order of value.

Tutorials

Few deep tutorials on how to purchase foreclosed property as an investment exist online. However, the basics are all anyone needs to hunt for further information. Remember that each state carries specific laws that relate to purchasing foreclosures, so be sure to check with local resources before you make a decision to invest in a foreclosure.

1. About Buying HUD Homes: Straight from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to you – a guide on how to buy a 1 to 4 unit residential property acquired by HUD as a result of a foreclosure action on an FHA-insured mortgage.
2. Buy Bank Homes: BuyBankHomes (BBH) and Real Estate Fortune, LLC have teamed up to offer BBH members the training and resources they need to have a competitive edge in today’s fast paced real estate market. This company provides distance coaching using the phone and Internet, and they offer a premier 90-Day Challenge Training live three times per year. They also offer a special “One-on-One Personal Mentorship Program.” You choose the training program that is the best fit for you.
3. Buying a Home in Foreclosure – The Basics: Foreclosure City offers a down-to-earth tutorial tht leads into more advanced topics and articles, including their Foreclosure Buying Toolkit.
4. Home Buying Institute: This site offers great advice for first-time home buyers, and this linked portion provides basics on how to purchase foreclosures.
5. Free Foreclosure Tutorial: This document, among others listed on this page, are free to download and read.
6. Foreclosure Free Research: A list of Q&A about foreclosure investment properties. If you can get past the Q&A on how to use this site, the questions are appropriate and the answers are short and sweet.
7. Foreclosure University: Although you’ll pay to take this course, the Web site is filled with plenty of free information, including individual state foreclosure laws, foreclosure listings for each state, free reports and articles and a glossary of foreclosure-related terms.
8. MSN Guide: This article explains the safest way to purchase foreclosures.
9. Realty Store Foreclosure Tutorial: The purpose of this tutorial is to provide an overview of the foreclosure process and to help you get started in achieving your real estate dreams.
10. Realty Trac Foreclosure Tutorial: This tutorial explains the do’s and don’ts when considering a foreclosure list.
11. Ways to Buy Foreclosed Property: U.S. News offers information about three keys ways to purchase foreclosed property.

Articles

Sometimes the investor can find further information about how to invest in foreclosures by reading recent articles about this topic. The following articles were chosen because of their relevance in content and to current market conditions, as each one was written since January 2007.

1. As foreclosures widen, a neighborhood erodes: This article that ran in the Boston Globe offers one perspective about what happens in neighborhoods where foreclosures have run rampant. This is just one perspective to keep in mind when investing in foreclosure properties.
2. AOL Foreclosure Topics: AOL has a new beta real estate section, and this article is just one of a developing course of articles provided by this site. Look in the right column of this linked article to find more information about foreclosure.
3. Before you Attend a Foreclosure Investment Workshop: Foreclosure workshops are springing up all over the country, and this article can help you save time and money if you plan to attend one of these events.
4. Buying Bank Owned Properties (REO): REO (Real Estate Owned) si a property that goes back to the mortgage company after an unsuccessful foreclosure auction. Walt Harvey, a Realtor located in Hawaii, offers his advice about this type of investment possibility.
5. Discounted Homes, Going, Going…: This piece on auctions covers more of the discount prices one might expect when attending one of these events.
6. Foreclosure Articles: This list at Ezine provides the investor with a plethora of articles abotu foreclosure investment possibilities written by a number of experts in real estate and in foreclosure properties.
7. Foreclosures hit some cities harder than others: This MSNBC article explains why some areas seem to be floating through this mortgage meltdown and why others are hit hard by foreclosures. The article may give you a clue as to where to look for your foreclosure investment opportunity.
8. Foreclosure Investment Nightmare: This article provides one example of why it’s important to talk with an independent, licensed real estate agent before investing in any foreclosure property or program.
9. Foreclosures slam doors on pets, too: Make sure the dog or cat doesn’t come with the property unless you want a foreclosed pet as well as a foreclosure investment.
10. Foreclosures up 75% in 2007: This article by CNN Money states that total foreclosure filings soared 97% in December 2007 alone compared with December of 2006. You’ll also learn about the states that have the least foreclosure filings from this article.
11. House Auctions and Foreclosure Sales: Not all auctions are intended solely for foreclosure properties. This article provides some insight into why auctions are used to sell homes.
12. How Foreclosures Work: Elizabeth Weintraub, who has more than 600 hours of real estate education, offers advice for the first-time foreclosure buyer.
13. Investing in Preforeclosures: Bankrate.com provides a concise article that explains preforeclosures as investment opportunities.
14. Notes from a Foreclosure Auction: A great article about an auction for foreclosures in Chicago provides readers with some sense of what to expect when attending these events.
15. Preforeclosure Flipping – the Key to Real Estate Riches: Some advice from Real Estate ABC on how to attempt a preforeclosure investment.
16. Real Estate Exchanging – an option to pre-foreclosure: The desire for new home ownership has, in the past few years, brought new problems into the real estate industry. It has also brought some solutions. Read this article about making an exchange as an option for foreclosure for the seller.
17. Real Estate Investment Articles: This list of articles focuses solely on foreclosure properties, and they’re written by a number of different authors.
18. Tips from a Foreclosure Investor: According to Ralph Roberts, author of “Foreclosure Investing For Dummies,” the best prospect for a foreclosure investor is “someone with a secure job, solid cash flow and lots of cash on hand — someone who wants to make some money on the side.” This and more in this interview in the Washington Post.

Websites

The following links will take you to all-inclusive sites that focus entirely on foreclosure investment opportunities, or to investment sites that have reserved entire sections for foreclosures. Some sites may carry blogs, discussion boards, tutorials and more.

1. All Foreclosure Information: When this site says, “All,” it means all. You can find tutorials, information about preforeclosures, foreclosures, auctions, listings and more at this site.
2. Bank and Government Foreclosures: This site focuses on bank-owned and government properties. They offer tutorials, listings, articles and more that focus on foreclosures, no matter the source.
3. Bigger Pockets Foreclosures: This link will take you to just one article about foreclosures at Bigger Pockets. Search through the menu at left on this page for more foreclosure information. The forums on this site also carry foreclosure-specific topics.
4. Foreclosure Connections: With over a decade of practical experience in the foreclosure real estate industry, ForeclosureConnections.com draws on contacts in all areas of the industry to provide our members with listings from all kinds of diverse sources, including mortgage brokers, lending banks, county and state registrars, and government agencies like HUD and FHA. But ForeclosureConnections.com is more than just another listings service, as this site provides news, market updates, detailed articles, tips and advice on investing in foreclosure property.
5. Foreclosure Data Online: Search through articles, foreclosure listings by state, tutorials, a blog and more at this site.
6. Foreclosure Databank: ForeclosureDataBank.com was established in 1998 as a one-stop source for information on regional foreclosure markets and listings for buyers interested in purchasing foreclosure homes for investment or as primary residences. Although the focus is on listings, this site provides users with tutorials, tools, a discussion board, news and more to help stay on top of the foreclosure investment market.
7. Foreclosure Fetcher: Unlike other foreclosure database sites, this site is upfront about their seven-day free trial. So users know on the front end that the service will cost some money. This site also is a bit more comprehensive, adding tutorials, foreclosure tools such as a home value checker and a mortgage calculator, and a blog.
8. Foreclosure Store: Although the services here are free, the user must register first to gain access to user guides, listings, training, and foreclosure investment tools. Information about listings are available to members only.
9. Foreclosure.com: This site is more for experienced investors. You can find listings for anything other than auctions, but you’ll discover few articles and no tutorials here.
10. Foreclosures.com: Learn how to invest in foreclosures through the kearning tools and expert help provided at this site. This site also carries foreclosure listings.
11. Government Repo Homes: This site offers more than listings by state, it also offers articles, news, resources and data for investors who want to pursue homes that have been repossessed by the government.
12. National Foreclosures: For nearly fifteen years this company has provided asset managers and private money lenders with a turnkey service for quick property disposal. They offer services such as property valuation, rehabilitation and security, marketing preparation for re-entry into the resale marketplace by our network of pre-screened local Bank REO Specialists and more. This site also offers an affiliate program.
13. RealtyTrac Foreclosures: RealtyTrac has a foreclosure niche that’s difficult to beat. They offer listings, tutorials, and users can chat with a customer service representative. This site is geared toward all levels of investors.
14. The Realty Store: The RealtyStore provides foreclosure information for all types of users. Their listings are similar to RealtyTrac, but you must register to peruse their offerings. On the plus side, this site contains some useful tutorials, but it’s fairly difficult to navigate through the site.
15. USHud.com: Although this site bills itself as “America’s only free foreclosure resource,” this tag already is out of date. But, this site is unique in that it focuses solely on HUD foreclosures. Users can pre-qualify, use email alerts, and search through a database designed to offer buyers HUD opportunities.
16. Yahoo! Foreclosures: Yahoo! offers a foreclosure section in their real estate guide, where users can find articles, tutorials, market trends and listings.

Auctions

Are auctions the right place to find a foreclosure investment? Some investment coaches say yes, others say, “stay away.” Learn more about auction procedures through these sites, many of which are offered by businesses that sell foreclosed homes under the auctioneer’s hammer.

1. Express Auction: This link takes you to the Express Auction calendar, where users can find information on upcoming foreclosure auction properties.
2. Foreclosures Auctions: This site has put together information on grants, foreclosure, auction and tax lien information from around the Internet. They go beyond auctions to provide news and resources centered on bank-owned, government, foreclosure properties and other real estate tools.
3. GovernmentAuctions.org: This is a membership Web site that helps users find and attend government auctions and foreclosures of every type. GovernmentAuctions.org is a division of Cyweb Holdings Inc., a closely held corporation headquartered in New York, U.S.A.
4. Government Real Estate Sales: Buy real estate the government has seized or doesn’t need. Commercial buildings, investment properties, land, multifamily, single family homes, condominiums, mobile homes, farms, ranches and more.
5. IRS Auction: Under authority of the Internal Revenue Code, the property described on this site has been seized or acquired for nonpayment of internal revenue taxes and is offered for sale by bid. If you can’t find the property you want, you can shop for jewelry, restaurant contents and more instead.
6. Modesto Real Estate Auctions: The Modesto real estate foreclosures provide investors with foreclosed home and property options throughout the U.S. They also educate investors regarding the forclosure property along with a strategic investment time frame and exit strategy.
7. Property Trac: This company strives to be the premier center for buyers, sellers and investors who want to maximize their return on real estate and properties in foreclosure. Get your answers through their informative resources, learn about how the aucton process works and more, even if you don’t use their services (they focus on the New York metro area).
8. REDC Auction Calendar: Real Estate Disposition Corporation (REDC) traces its inception back to 1990. At that time, REDC embarked on a course that established a dominant position in the marketplace for the company, by selling over one million dollars of real estate assets using the auction marketing process. Use their auction calendar to discover when and where this company holds its auctions.
9. Williams and Williams: This company is one of the few auction houses that accept online bids. Look for online auctions by zip code or place auction alerts by registering on the site. They also provide tutorials for the auction process.

Listings

The following sites contain databases filled with information about foreclosures, preforeclosures, HUD foreclosures and government and bank-owned properties. Some sites offer free registration, but check closely to understand that “free” often means a seven-day free trial. Other listings, like the Home Sales HUD listed below, offer much more information – truly for free.

1. 4Viv: The purpose of this Web site is to provide access to the most informative, free foreclosure listings and resources on the Internet. You will find links and valuable information related to government, HUD, VA, and Bank/REO properties and much more.
2. Email Foreclosures: This site provides a service where they find foreclosure listings and deliver them to your email inbox as soon as they receive them. The listings are formulated by user criteria, so you only receive the information you request. Plus, this services will email you only if new or changed listings meeting your criteria become available. This service is “free for homebuyers.”
3. Foreclosure I: This site contains “the largest, most accurate, and comprehensive database of foreclosure, pre-foreclosure and tax lien listings in the US.” You have access to listings 24/7, and you can tap into a personalized listings update service based upon your request.
4. Foreclosure Data: This site belongs to National Foreclosure Data Company founded in 1998. With over 2.3 Million users and growing, this site offers specialized investment tools to help analyze data, detailed data on property listings, 24-hour customer support and more.
5. Foreclosure Deals: ForeclosureDeals.com is a leading online foreclosure listings service, founded in 1998. Working closely with banks, court houses, government agencies and local brokers, this site provides up-to-date information on foreclosure homes, pre-foreclosures, foreclosures and auctions throughout the day.
6. Foreclosure Free Search: Once again, another site that offers free research, but the user must register to learn details about a property, and the offer is for a seven-day free trial.
7. Foreclosure Investor’s Report: The Foreclosure Investors Report (FIR) supplies qualified investors with advanced information about upcoming foreclosure sales by offering its members accurate, current data on loans that are in foreclosure. While this company’s listings currently include only Arkansas and Tennessee foreclosures, they plan to expand to other states very soon.
8. Foreclosure Listings: This site makes it easy to find foreclosure homes and bank foreclosures for great prices. By compiling research gathered on real estate markets in every state, ForeclosureListings.com has created a comprehensive, searchable database of foreclosure listings and made it available to members for a fee. Members also receive 24-hour customer support and information geared to every level of real estate experience.
9. Foreclosure Listings Nationwide: You must register with a credit card to gain access to listings provided by this service. Unlike straight database services, this site also offers a blog, short tutorials and more. But, it is basically a listing service.
10. Foreclosure Warehouse: ForeclosureWarehouse.com was created to help investors with providing a convenient, online foreclosure resource that combines the latest information with top-notch personal service. You have access to listings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the site provides 24/7 costumer service.
11. Foreclosures 4 Investors: This mission of Foreclosures-4-Investors is to become the largest investment property wholesaler in the nation. This site focuses on both residential and commercial properties, and you can find useful resources here such as documents for the buyer, newsletter, tutorials and more.
12. ForeclosureNet: Use this site’s seven-day free trial to find bank foreclosures and government foreclosed homes that include single family homes, condos, town homes, multi-family unites, rental and income properties, office buildings, agricultural properties and more.
13. Free Foreclosure Listings: No registraton required to search through this database, which includes foreclosure and preforeclosure listings for all fifty states, including bank and government-owned properties. Choose from HUD, single family homes, town homes, rental and income properties.
14. Free Home Mortgage Foreclosure Listings: This site, like so many others that have popped up on the Web over the past few months, offers a database organized by state. While they offer searches for free, it’s a ruse for a seven-day free trial and users cannot delve into the details of an offering without registration.
15. Home Sales HUD: Unlike other listing sites, the investor can find actual images and information about HUD homes for sale here without a fee. These previously owned homes are for sale by public auction or other method depending on the property. An investor in a HUD home may need to find a real estate sales professional in your area who is authorized to show and sell HUD homes (most are).
16. House Repos: Like many of the foreclosure listings on this page, this site holds a database of house repossessions that users can gain access to for a fee. This site also provides a blog that focuses on foreclosures.
17. MSN Foreclosure Listings: MSN offers a foreclosure database, along with laws pertaining to foreclosures by state and a short tutorial on how to purchase foreclosures.
18. Preforeclosure Alert: Preforeclosurealerts.com offers investors the opportunity to find distressed properties before they hit the market. You must register first, then you begin to receive emails when the site lists new preforeclosure offerings.
19. Preforeclosure.com: This site contains more than 1.2 million foreclosure, preforeclosure, bankruptcy, FSBO and tax lien listings across the United States. They obtain their listings through hundreds of leading foreclosing lenders and government agencies, as well as an extensive network of corporate sellers, directly.

Blogs

Despite the wealth of real estate blogs, few blogs focus solely on the foreclosure market from the investor’s perspective. Some foreclosure focus is found in real estate investment blogs instead. If you have a favorite blogger who writes about real estate investment, search through that person’s blog to discover if he or she has focused on foreclosures within recent months. Also, be sure to check out the blogs that are included in the foreclosure Web sites noted above.

1. Ask Paul Wells: This blog is well worth the time for any foreclosure investor to peruse. More of a question and answer forum, Wells asks for questions about foreclosure investing and answers the questions in this blog format. Serious well of information.
2. Commonsense Real Estate: Anthony, the author of this blog, wrote “Real Estate Investing Made Simple: A commonsense approach to building wealth,” and he was a contributing writer to Donald Trump’s book, “The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received.” Lately, Anthony has been focusing on real estate investments in the foreclosure market in his blog.
3. Distressed Property Blog: This blog provides investors with practical tips, strategies and level headed warnings to help you succeed in developing a portfolio of foreclosures.
4. Finding Foreclosures: This is an interesting blog about foreclosures offered by two experts who have written a book about finding foreclosures across the U.S.
5. Flipping Homes 2.0: If nothing else, you can be amused by the humorous approach the writers take to this blog. Although the focus is on flipping, the latest craze is about flipping short sales homes. This blog tackles this topic full on, with notes like, “Ohio: Hired 1,000+ attorneys to work with borrowers to block foreclosures (FREE OF CHARGE TO THE HOMEOWNER!)” [emphasis from the blog] – this is a true roadblock for the eager snapper-upper!
6. Foreclosure Deals: This is more of a newsfeed than a blog, but the posts are frequent and the news is relevant to foreclosure investors.
7. Foreclosure Nation: This blog is more of a news service for the foreclosure investor who wants to keep tabs on U.S. foreclosure trends.
8. Foreclosure Pulse: This is a RealtyTrac blog, so the information provided here will be the most focused on the foreclosure investment market.
9. Foreclosures Daily: This is Mike Kane’s personal blog, and his idea of getting personal is to focus on foreclosure news nationwide. Unlike some blog newsfeeds, Kane does get personal, adding some opinion to national foreclosure topics.
10. Gammon and Associates: This blog provides another idea for foreclosure investors, as it’s written from the perspective of a corporate attorney. While some posts have no relevance to foreclosures, others hone in on this topic with stunning clarity. Worth a look to learn more from the legal angle.
11. Got Foreclosure!: This blog offers information on topics ranging from foreclosure strategies and deals to news, trends, foreclosure lists, and investment education in this active foreclosure market.
12. Real Estate and Investment Blog: Susan Reagor is an Associate Broker with Elite Realty in Mesa Arizona. Lately, Reagor has focused on the foreclosure investment side of real estate in her blog.
13. Real Estate Investing and Foreclosure News: This blog, perhaps, is the most relevant blog for foreclosures in this list. The authors post news and trends and offer information about the foreclosure investment market.
14. Real Estate Investing Training: Monique Fell, a real estate investment broker, recently has focused on foreclosures and has offered free information on how to invest in this market.
15. Simon Volkov: More of an article list than a blog, this tool can help the investor learn more about the foreclosure market. The articles are updated regularly, and are written by a professional private investor.
16. Tax Loopholes – Foreclosures: Although this blog focuses on tax loopholes, the foreclosure market has become a target for writers here. The perspective is toward the foreclosure investor.
17. The Foreclosure Report: This is one of Ben Jones’ blogs. If you’re not familiar with the name, he also writes for the Housing Bubble blog. The Foreclosure Report focuses more on foreclosure news from the perspective that might be of interest to the investor.
18. The Foreclosures Information Blog: John Nazareno has spent two decades in California’s Bay area, and he knows that region like the back of his hand. Although his Web site focuses on California foreclosures, his blog carries topics of nationwide appeal with a focus on foreclosure investments.

Forums

The forums that focus on foreclosure seem fairly few and far between and mostly inactive. Perhaps this is because foreclosures are happening quickly, and investors are busy buying rather than talking up the topics on the Internet. With that said, the following list contains the most active or interesting foreclosure forums on the Web.

1. All-Foreclosures: This forum is part of the All Foreclosure Information site.
2. Expert Law Forums: This forum provides a different insight into foreclosure investments. Learn more about the legal angles for this type of investment opportunity. The forum presents both sides of the foreclosure process, from buyers and sellers.
3. Foreclosure Forum: This forum also presents buyers and sellers, and the user may need to scroll through various questions to find any relevant information.
4. REI Club Forums: This forum belongs to the REI Club, but it’s free to browse through the various topics and threads. Both buyers and sellers pose questions here, and some even have posted investment opportunities for buyers.
5. Easy HUD Foreclosure Forum: There are four threads here focused on short sales, short sale flips, foreclosure course reviews, and a thread about how to use the Easy HUD site.
6. BK Forum: This forum, perhaps, is the most interesting forum on foreclosure topics. While the majority of questions and topics posed on this forum are from the seller’s perspectives, an investor could learn much from the questions and answers posed on this forum.
7. Foreclosure and Short Sale Questions: This forum is part of the “Wanna Network?” site. The topics situated here are specific to foreclosures, and many are relevant to investor-side questions and answers.
8. Get Real REI: This is probably the most active foreclosure forum found on the Web. Although the answers to topics posed aren’t frequent, the topics and threads have received plenty of views.
9. Foreclosure Real Estate Forum: This is an interesting layout for a forum. There are plenty of topic threads and questions with few answers. However, the investor may find something here of interest.

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