During the past ten years, Foreclosure News has received hostile phone calls and letters from irate defendants, who are in foreclosure. Their complaints, in this writers opinion, are justified. They claim people are knocking at their door; demanding entry, to look over the house before they bid at the County Sheriff's Auction.

Those poor lost, uninformed amateurs didn't read the articles to learn how to gather information to smooth the path for them and the defendant. In fact, what they are doing, by approaching the homeowner prematurely, is killing any chance for them to make an equitable deal without having to bid, against others, at the Sheriff's Sale!

FORECLOSURE PURCHASE STRATEGIES

NJPForeclosures.com publishes pre-foreclosures. The property listings appear in on the website up to 12+ months before the Sheriff's Auction. This gives the Members the opportunity to research the property, obtain financing and legal advice before the property appears in the Sheriff's legal advertisement (four consecutive weeks before the sale).

NJPForeclosures.com publishes all real estate foreclosure complaints up to 12 months, depending on the County, before the Sheriff's legal advertisement appears in the local newspapers. Many times the defendant (property owner) cures the complaint before it goes to auction. They are the owner of the property and rights of privacy should prevail over the anxious foreclosure real estate purchaser.

There are three basic strategies for using NJPForeclosures.com - the strategies differ in the timing. You can specialize in one or use all three in sequence. The three basic strategies are:

• Negotiate with the defendant before the Sheriff's auction or buy the mortgage from the plaintiff (short sale) before the auction. (This maneuver eliminates the competition one would encounter at the auction.)
• Go to the auction and be the highest bidder. (Research the property to fully understand the legal standing of the lien.)
• Buy REO from the Bank. if the plaintiff (lender) is the successful bidder at the Sheriff's auction, make a deal with them after the auction.

As an experienced, professional real estate salesman, investment banker, mortgage broker and successful foreclosure buyer, I beg you, all of you, especially professionals; there is only one way to increase your success rate in this field. Follow the nine steps listed below before contacting the principals. The information you gather is necessary regardless of which strategy you are going to use. Take short cuts and you might ruin any chances you may have to make a deal, or worse, you can commit to a costly irrevocable mistake!

BASIC RESEARCH

1. Determine the geographic area to target- This area can include several towns. Targeting an area will prevent you from spreading yourself too thin by tracking and researching properties in dispersed areas. Determine your real estate needs profile (the criteria to judge how a property meets your needs).

2. Buy street maps for your geographic area.

3. Get organized. Use a computer to track properties or paste the information listed in Foreclosure News on a piece of paper. Record on the same paper, road directions and notes.

4. Drive by the properties, one by one, and take extensive notes on the size of the lot, a full description of the home, the condition of the roof, exterior, landscaping, and location etc. DO NOT TRESPASS - MOST HOMES ARE OCCUPIED BY THE DEFENDANT.

5. Drive at least five blocks around the perimeter of your target property to get a feel for the neighborhood. Note what shopping centers are nearby, schools and other public conveniences.

6. List all comparable properties with current Realtor for sale signs. Include the Realtor name, telephone number and proximity to the foreclosure property. Call the real estate broker that has the similar properties for sale and determine the brokers asking price. Record it. Don't rely on memory or you will be completely confused.

7. Evaluate what you have seen and eliminate the real estate which do not meet your criteria.

Call the following offices for the properties still under consideration:

A. The Tax Collector for the town where the property is located. The tax collector will tell you what the past years taxes were and the estimated taxes for the following year. Find out who has been paying the taxes. Are the taxes paid current? Is there a Tax Sale Certificate outstanding. Record everything on your paper, including the person you spoke to, the time and date your conversation took place. The information will come in handy during negotiations.

B. The Tax Assessor: This person determines property value for taxing purposes. The department can tell you a lot about the property: -how many baths, bedrooms - if there is a living room and or den, fire place, a basement, what type of heating is in place, how big the lot is and other things that would be impossible to know without extensive research elsewhere.

8. Go the County Seat, Hall of Records; Mortgage and Deed room. This is probably the most important step you can take. You must determine if the mortgage that is being foreclosed on is a first, second or some other type of instrument. (You may not want to go any further if the mortgage being foreclosed is anything but a FIRST MORTGAGE.) The clerk will help you get started in your research. Pay attention! Take separate notes. Help is limited.

Some Record halls also carry Federal and Municipal liens. Learn how to research them. These liens, for the most part, must be satisfied to get title to a property whether you are negotiating with the defendant, bidding at the Sheriff's auction or waiting for the foreclosing bank to win the bid and then negotiating the purchase.

9. Make a point of going to a County Sheriff's Auction to get a feel for what transpires. The learning process is everything.

After you have gathered all of the vital information listed in the points above, you can determine if you are interested in going any further. You must follow these time consuming steps or you will stumble. Guaranteed! Analyzing with all of the information you have gathered will insure a smooth path for this and other deals. The decision is yours to make.

 

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