Buying Pre-Foreclosure Homes Can Be Your Very Lucrative Real Estate Investing Niche

Buying real estate at a discount to the fair market value is one of the important ingredients to making the most money in today?s housing market. One of the best investing niches to buy at a discount is buying a pre-foreclosure home.

Why is buying a pre foreclosure such a good deal?

First of all, pre-foreclosure is the period of time between when the lender files a foreclosure lawsuit or notice of default against the property owner and the date the property is sold at a public auction or trustee?s sale.

During this period of time the home owner still controls his property. He can bring his mortgage current and stop the foreclosure process or he can sell the property to save his credit profile from having a foreclosure notice attached to it. He can pay off the loan he can no longer afford to make payments on and perhaps have some equity left over in the property to put some cash in his pocket.

The pre-foreclosure period is the first and best stage in the foreclosure process to buy a property at a discount because you, the investor, can do three important tasks to maximize your profits:

You can evaluate the profitability of buying the pre-foreclosure.

You can inspect the property to determine what repairs need to be made and discount your offer price accordingly.

You can negotiate the price and terms with the home owner directly and perhaps get a discount as much as 50% off the current market value.

This is ideal compared to the following stages in the foreclosure process, namely, the public auction and post-foreclosure stage.

The public auction stage can carry more risk to the investor as well as disappointment. There is more competition at the public auction and so the price may be bid up beyond your top bid price for the property. You also need to come with cash in hand in the form of cashier?s checks to buy the property. Then there is the disappointment of being told the sale has been cancelled. This is typically due to some legal maneuvering by the home owner such as filing for bankruptcy protection to stall the sale.

The last stage of post-foreclosure occurs when there are no successful bids at the auction. The lender takes the property back and it becomes what is commonly known as ?real estate owned? or an REO. At this point many lenders will list the property with a local real estate broker at fair market value depending on the condition of the property. The lender may even choose to rehab the property to obtain a higher sales price. The likely type of buyer at this point is someone wanting a personal residence or an investor that will buy and hold.

What skills do you need to buy a pre-foreclosure property for the most profit?

With so much opportunity in pre-foreclosures you should be highly motivated to learn all you can about the skills needed to be successful in this real estate investing niche. There are a number of skills you need to develop to be successful.

One very important skill or method you must develop is the ability to locate the pre-foreclosure listings before the rest of the eager investor competition does.

Now you can find these properties for free if you go down to the county courthouse yourself and research the public records. This is time-consuming, however, and the information you?ll gather is very basic. Highly successful investors use other methods and strategies they have developed to locate distressed home owners and pre-foreclosure lists. These include:

Foreclosure Subscription Services:

Foreclosure subscription services provide pre-foreclosure property listings. However, not all listing services are the same. There can be a vast range in two critical areas:

[1] How fast they notify you of new listings. The best services should have listing information to you in a matter of days, not weeks. [2] How comprehensive the information is that they gather. You need more than an address, the loan the default has been recorded on and basic property information, to make informed investment decisions. The best services will also provide you with such information as any other loans against the property and local comparable sales.

Strategies of getting the distressed home owner to call YOU for help and ready to make a deal

There are successful methods of contacting the home owner of a pre-foreclosure that involve mailing them or calling them or leaving something on their doorstep. You need to develop the skill to write and deliver a message to the home owner that will get their attention and get them to call you instead of a competing investor.

Better yet, if you can get a home owner to call you before the notice of default is even filed, you?ll be way ahead of the pack of competing investors. This is really a very special skill that the most successful investors have developed.

This is just one of the skills you need to develop. Others include property evaluation skills such as crunching the numbers to calculate potential profits and knowing how to inspect the property to determine the condition and what repairs need to be made and how much they will cost. You need good communication skills when talking to the home owner to build trust and make a connection so you can negotiate successfully with them. You also need skills in drafting the purchase contract with the proper clauses to protect your interest to avoid getting stuck with a property that turns out not to be a good deal upon further investigation.

How to learn the skills to be a successful investor

If you haven?t developed these skills and don?t know where to start, I recommend you find a real estate investor mentor. Find someone in your local area who is already successful in pre-foreclosure investing and ask if they will coach you. They will need an incentive, of course. Maybe they need someone to do some grunt work because of time constraints. Then be their grunt and keep your eyes and ears open at all times and be a sponge. In time you will develop the skills and strategies needed to be highly successful in the lucrative niche of buying pre-foreclosure homes.

What to do if you don?t have a local real estate mentor to help you

If you don?t have a local real estate mentor, the next best thing is working with a ?virtual? mentor. Many of the best and most successful investors in pre-foreclosures have written step-by-step guides to help someone just getting started or someone who wants to improve their skills to make even more money. So find yourself a mentor, either in your area or a ?virtual? mentor and start learning how to make money in pre-foreclosure homes.

For A New Real Estate Investor The Idea Of Investing In Foreclosures Can Look Temptingly Attractive

You might be looking for “How to make a zillion dollars in 3 months”, well, you won’t find that here but if you want some practical tips, you came to the right place. Read on …

To the newbie real estate investor, foreclosures can look temptingly attractive. Who wouldn’t want to make a quick profit of 50% or more? But whether a foreclosure deal is really sugar or merely sweet-tasting arsenic depends on a list of complex factors.

Foreclosure is an officially permitted process in which a mortgage holder repossess a property due to failure to pay on a loan. Some states in the U.S. allow ’strict’ foreclosure ? the borrower has a definite time in which to bring the debt up to date, after this, the title reverts back to the lending institution.

You want to stay out of any legal processes going on concerning a property. Don?t get tempted to jump in and help the current owner in hopes of partial or whole ownership, this is suicidal. Pick another great deal. Never fall in love with a property. You have to maintain a business-like demeanor in all your dealings.

Be sure you understand that in many foreclosure proceedings, a borrower might have the ‘right of redemption’. This legal claim will let them have a particular amount of time in which to ‘cure the loan’. That is, they are allowed to make back payments, shore up credit, etc., and then they are allowed to reclaim property title to, and the possession of, the property. Beware!

As soon as the foreclosure procedure is complete, or at minimum unavoidable, you may initiate an action plan to obtain the real estate. Watch for transactions in which, at least, a Notice of Default has been given out.

Public sales on foreclosed possessions are common but can be complicated. Always do your homework before actually making a bid on a property. There’s no alternative for gaining first hand familiarity of the physical state and legal standing of a property.

Be sure to take into account that foreclosures are sold ‘as is ‘, or, in its present condition. Contrasting other property sales, no warranties are made available and no title insurance approved.

At least, you’ll be required to have a professional inspection carried out, even if you are a well-informed investor. Some investors are, of course, qualified inspectors themselves ? besides wearing various other hats.

The property does not need to be free of every little fault, but you’ll want to be aware of the roof - does it or does it not need to be replaced, that the plumbing is ok, there are no severe foundation cracks, or possibility for flooding, etc. If any of those are there, they can be satisfactory if you’re searching for a ‘fixer-upper’ and are prepared to invest the time and funds to make repairs. Mark down your offer for that reason.

Soon you will hear about a ’short sale’ deal. That is, this comes about when a lender is prepared to allow lower cash settlement for a property than is outstanding on the loan now.

And yet another kind of foreclosure situation is the REO ? real estate owned (by the lender). Usually these are properties that were auctioned but no one bought them. You can, potentially, get an extremely good deal, but you will need to exercise extreme caution and keep your eyes wide open.

Ok, so bear in mind to follow a line of investigation. Have a systematic inspection done and complete a satisfactory title search. Any key defects or impediments in the form of tax or other liens have to factor big in your strategy.

Real estate, like other endeavors in life, requires diligence and a grasp of the fundamentals to be successful. Learn to tell the difference between a good deal and one to walk away from without losing your shirt in the process.

All things considered, real estate investing is still the best game in town. So go out and make your fortune and say ‘Hi’ to Donald Trump for me!

Buying Pre-Foreclosure Homes Can Be Your Very Lucrative Real Estate Investing Niche

Buying real estate at a discount to the fair market value is one of the important ingredients to making the most money in today?s housing market. One of the best investing niches to buy at a discount is buying a pre-foreclosure home.

Why is buying a pre foreclosure such a good deal?

First of all, pre-foreclosure is the period of time between when the lender files a foreclosure lawsuit or notice of default against the property owner and the date the property is sold at a public auction or trustee?s sale.

During this period of time the home owner still controls his property. He can bring his mortgage current and stop the foreclosure process or he can sell the property to save his credit profile from having a foreclosure notice attached to it. He can pay off the loan he can no longer afford to make payments on and perhaps have some equity left over in the property to put some cash in his pocket.

The pre-foreclosure period is the first and best stage in the foreclosure process to buy a property at a discount because you, the investor, can do three important tasks to maximize your profits:

You can evaluate the profitability of buying the pre-foreclosure.

You can inspect the property to determine what repairs need to be made and discount your offer price accordingly.

You can negotiate the price and terms with the home owner directly and perhaps get a discount as much as 50% off the current market value.

This is ideal compared to the following stages in the foreclosure process, namely, the public auction and post-foreclosure stage.

The public auction stage can carry more risk to the investor as well as disappointment. There is more competition at the public auction and so the price may be bid up beyond your top bid price for the property. You also need to come with cash in hand in the form of cashier?s checks to buy the property. Then there is the disappointment of being told the sale has been cancelled. This is typically due to some legal maneuvering by the home owner such as filing for bankruptcy protection to stall the sale.

The last stage of post-foreclosure occurs when there are no successful bids at the auction. The lender takes the property back and it becomes what is commonly known as ?real estate owned? or an REO. At this point many lenders will list the property with a local real estate broker at fair market value depending on the condition of the property. The lender may even choose to rehab the property to obtain a higher sales price. The likely type of buyer at this point is someone wanting a personal residence or an investor that will buy and hold.

What skills do you need to buy a pre-foreclosure property for the most profit?

With so much opportunity in pre-foreclosures you should be highly motivated to learn all you can about the skills needed to be successful in this real estate investing niche. There are a number of skills you need to develop to be successful.

One very important skill or method you must develop is the ability to locate the pre-foreclosure listings before the rest of the eager investor competition does.

Now you can find these properties for free if you go down to the county courthouse yourself and research the public records. This is time-consuming, however, and the information you?ll gather is very basic. Highly successful investors use other methods and strategies they have developed to locate distressed home owners and pre-foreclosure lists. These include:

Foreclosure Subscription Services:

Foreclosure subscription services provide pre-foreclosure property listings. However, not all listing services are the same. There can be a vast range in two critical areas:

[1] How fast they notify you of new listings. The best services should have listing information to you in a matter of days, not weeks. [2] How comprehensive the information is that they gather. You need more than an address, the loan the default has been recorded on and basic property information, to make informed investment decisions. The best services will also provide you with such information as any other loans against the property and local comparable sales.

Strategies of getting the distressed home owner to call YOU for help and ready to make a deal

There are successful methods of contacting the home owner of a pre-foreclosure that involve mailing them or calling them or leaving something on their doorstep. You need to develop the skill to write and deliver a message to the home owner that will get their attention and get them to call you instead of a competing investor.

Better yet, if you can get a home owner to call you before the notice of default is even filed, you?ll be way ahead of the pack of competing investors. This is really a very special skill that the most successful investors have developed.

This is just one of the skills you need to develop. Others include property evaluation skills such as crunching the numbers to calculate potential profits and knowing how to inspect the property to determine the condition and what repairs need to be made and how much they will cost. You need good communication skills when talking to the home owner to build trust and make a connection so you can negotiate successfully with them. You also need skills in drafting the purchase contract with the proper clauses to protect your interest to avoid getting stuck with a property that turns out not to be a good deal upon further investigation.

How to learn the skills to be a successful investor

If you haven?t developed these skills and don?t know where to start, I recommend you find a real estate investor mentor. Find someone in your local area who is already successful in pre-foreclosure investing and ask if they will coach you. They will need an incentive, of course. Maybe they need someone to do some grunt work because of time constraints. Then be their grunt and keep your eyes and ears open at all times and be a sponge. In time you will develop the skills and strategies needed to be highly successful in the lucrative niche of buying pre-foreclosure homes.

What to do if you don?t have a local real estate mentor to help you

If you don?t have a local real estate mentor, the next best thing is working with a ?virtual? mentor. Many of the best and most successful investors in pre-foreclosures have written step-by-step guides to help someone just getting started or someone who wants to improve their skills to make even more money. So find yourself a mentor, either in your area or a ?virtual? mentor and start learning how to make money in pre-foreclosure homes.

Buying Pre-Foreclosure Homes Can Be Your Very Lucrative Real Estate Investing Niche

Buying real estate at a discount to the fair market value is one of the important ingredients to making the most money in today?s housing market. One of the best investing niches to buy at a discount is buying a pre-foreclosure home.

Why is buying a pre foreclosure such a good deal?

First of all, pre-foreclosure is the period of time between when the lender files a foreclosure lawsuit or notice of default against the property owner and the date the property is sold at a public auction or trustee?s sale.

During this period of time the home owner still controls his property. He can bring his mortgage current and stop the foreclosure process or he can sell the property to save his credit profile from having a foreclosure notice attached to it. He can pay off the loan he can no longer afford to make payments on and perhaps have some equity left over in the property to put some cash in his pocket.

The pre-foreclosure period is the first and best stage in the foreclosure process to buy a property at a discount because you, the investor, can do three important tasks to maximize your profits:

You can evaluate the profitability of buying the pre-foreclosure.

You can inspect the property to determine what repairs need to be made and discount your offer price accordingly.

You can negotiate the price and terms with the home owner directly and perhaps get a discount as much as 50% off the current market value.

This is ideal compared to the following stages in the foreclosure process, namely, the public auction and post-foreclosure stage.

The public auction stage can carry more risk to the investor as well as disappointment. There is more competition at the public auction and so the price may be bid up beyond your top bid price for the property. You also need to come with cash in hand in the form of cashier?s checks to buy the property. Then there is the disappointment of being told the sale has been cancelled. This is typically due to some legal maneuvering by the home owner such as filing for bankruptcy protection to stall the sale.

The last stage of post-foreclosure occurs when there are no successful bids at the auction. The lender takes the property back and it becomes what is commonly known as ?real estate owned? or an REO. At this point many lenders will list the property with a local real estate broker at fair market value depending on the condition of the property. The lender may even choose to rehab the property to obtain a higher sales price. The likely type of buyer at this point is someone wanting a personal residence or an investor that will buy and hold.

What skills do you need to buy a pre-foreclosure property for the most profit?

With so much opportunity in pre-foreclosures you should be highly motivated to learn all you can about the skills needed to be successful in this real estate investing niche. There are a number of skills you need to develop to be successful.

One very important skill or method you must develop is the ability to locate the pre-foreclosure listings before the rest of the eager investor competition does.

Now you can find these properties for free if you go down to the county courthouse yourself and research the public records. This is time-consuming, however, and the information you?ll gather is very basic. Highly successful investors use other methods and strategies they have developed to locate distressed home owners and pre-foreclosure lists. These include:

Foreclosure Subscription Services:

Foreclosure subscription services provide pre-foreclosure property listings. However, not all listing services are the same. There can be a vast range in two critical areas:

[1] How fast they notify you of new listings. The best services should have listing information to you in a matter of days, not weeks. [2] How comprehensive the information is that they gather. You need more than an address, the loan the default has been recorded on and basic property information, to make informed investment decisions. The best services will also provide you with such information as any other loans against the property and local comparable sales.

Strategies of getting the distressed home owner to call YOU for help and ready to make a deal

There are successful methods of contacting the home owner of a pre-foreclosure that involve mailing them or calling them or leaving something on their doorstep. You need to develop the skill to write and deliver a message to the home owner that will get their attention and get them to call you instead of a competing investor.

Better yet, if you can get a home owner to call you before the notice of default is even filed, you?ll be way ahead of the pack of competing investors. This is really a very special skill that the most successful investors have developed.

This is just one of the skills you need to develop. Others include property evaluation skills such as crunching the numbers to calculate potential profits and knowing how to inspect the property to determine the condition and what repairs need to be made and how much they will cost. You need good communication skills when talking to the home owner to build trust and make a connection so you can negotiate successfully with them. You also need skills in drafting the purchase contract with the proper clauses to protect your interest to avoid getting stuck with a property that turns out not to be a good deal upon further investigation.

How to learn the skills to be a successful investor

If you haven?t developed these skills and don?t know where to start, I recommend you find a real estate investor mentor. Find someone in your local area who is already successful in pre-foreclosure investing and ask if they will coach you. They will need an incentive, of course. Maybe they need someone to do some grunt work because of time constraints. Then be their grunt and keep your eyes and ears open at all times and be a sponge. In time you will develop the skills and strategies needed to be highly successful in the lucrative niche of buying pre-foreclosure homes.

What to do if you don?t have a local real estate mentor to help you

If you don?t have a local real estate mentor, the next best thing is working with a ?virtual? mentor. Many of the best and most successful investors in pre-foreclosures have written step-by-step guides to help someone just getting started or someone who wants to improve their skills to make even more money. So find yourself a mentor, either in your area or a ?virtual? mentor and start learning how to make money in pre-foreclosure homes.

For A New Real Estate Investor The Idea Of Investing In Foreclosures Can Look Temptingly Attractive

You might be looking for “How to make a zillion dollars in 3 months”, well, you won’t find that here but if you want some practical tips, you came to the right place. Read on …

To the newbie real estate investor, foreclosures can look temptingly attractive. Who wouldn’t want to make a quick profit of 50% or more? But whether a foreclosure deal is really sugar or merely sweet-tasting arsenic depends on a list of complex factors.

Foreclosure is an officially permitted process in which a mortgage holder repossess a property due to failure to pay on a loan. Some states in the U.S. allow ’strict’ foreclosure ? the borrower has a definite time in which to bring the debt up to date, after this, the title reverts back to the lending institution.

You want to stay out of any legal processes going on concerning a property. Don?t get tempted to jump in and help the current owner in hopes of partial or whole ownership, this is suicidal. Pick another great deal. Never fall in love with a property. You have to maintain a business-like demeanor in all your dealings.

Be sure you understand that in many foreclosure proceedings, a borrower might have the ‘right of redemption’. This legal claim will let them have a particular amount of time in which to ‘cure the loan’. That is, they are allowed to make back payments, shore up credit, etc., and then they are allowed to reclaim property title to, and the possession of, the property. Beware!

As soon as the foreclosure procedure is complete, or at minimum unavoidable, you may initiate an action plan to obtain the real estate. Watch for transactions in which, at least, a Notice of Default has been given out.

Public sales on foreclosed possessions are common but can be complicated. Always do your homework before actually making a bid on a property. There’s no alternative for gaining first hand familiarity of the physical state and legal standing of a property.

Be sure to take into account that foreclosures are sold ‘as is ‘, or, in its present condition. Contrasting other property sales, no warranties are made available and no title insurance approved.

At least, you’ll be required to have a professional inspection carried out, even if you are a well-informed investor. Some investors are, of course, qualified inspectors themselves ? besides wearing various other hats.

The property does not need to be free of every little fault, but you’ll want to be aware of the roof - does it or does it not need to be replaced, that the plumbing is ok, there are no severe foundation cracks, or possibility for flooding, etc. If any of those are there, they can be satisfactory if you’re searching for a ‘fixer-upper’ and are prepared to invest the time and funds to make repairs. Mark down your offer for that reason.

Soon you will hear about a ’short sale’ deal. That is, this comes about when a lender is prepared to allow lower cash settlement for a property than is outstanding on the loan now.

And yet another kind of foreclosure situation is the REO ? real estate owned (by the lender). Usually these are properties that were auctioned but no one bought them. You can, potentially, get an extremely good deal, but you will need to exercise extreme caution and keep your eyes wide open.

Ok, so bear in mind to follow a line of investigation. Have a systematic inspection done and complete a satisfactory title search. Any key defects or impediments in the form of tax or other liens have to factor big in your strategy.

Real estate, like other endeavors in life, requires diligence and a grasp of the fundamentals to be successful. Learn to tell the difference between a good deal and one to walk away from without losing your shirt in the process.

All things considered, real estate investing is still the best game in town. So go out and make your fortune and say ‘Hi’ to Donald Trump for me!

For A New Real Estate Investor The Idea Of Investing In Foreclosures Can Look Temptingly Attractive

You might be looking for “How to make a zillion dollars in 3 months”, well, you won’t find that here but if you want some practical tips, you came to the right place. Read on …

To the newbie real estate investor, foreclosures can look temptingly attractive. Who wouldn’t want to make a quick profit of 50% or more? But whether a foreclosure deal is really sugar or merely sweet-tasting arsenic depends on a list of complex factors.

Foreclosure is an officially permitted process in which a mortgage holder repossess a property due to failure to pay on a loan. Some states in the U.S. allow ’strict’ foreclosure ? the borrower has a definite time in which to bring the debt up to date, after this, the title reverts back to the lending institution.

You want to stay out of any legal processes going on concerning a property. Don?t get tempted to jump in and help the current owner in hopes of partial or whole ownership, this is suicidal. Pick another great deal. Never fall in love with a property. You have to maintain a business-like demeanor in all your dealings.

Be sure you understand that in many foreclosure proceedings, a borrower might have the ‘right of redemption’. This legal claim will let them have a particular amount of time in which to ‘cure the loan’. That is, they are allowed to make back payments, shore up credit, etc., and then they are allowed to reclaim property title to, and the possession of, the property. Beware!

As soon as the foreclosure procedure is complete, or at minimum unavoidable, you may initiate an action plan to obtain the real estate. Watch for transactions in which, at least, a Notice of Default has been given out.

Public sales on foreclosed possessions are common but can be complicated. Always do your homework before actually making a bid on a property. There’s no alternative for gaining first hand familiarity of the physical state and legal standing of a property.

Be sure to take into account that foreclosures are sold ‘as is ‘, or, in its present condition. Contrasting other property sales, no warranties are made available and no title insurance approved.

At least, you’ll be required to have a professional inspection carried out, even if you are a well-informed investor. Some investors are, of course, qualified inspectors themselves ? besides wearing various other hats.

The property does not need to be free of every little fault, but you’ll want to be aware of the roof - does it or does it not need to be replaced, that the plumbing is ok, there are no severe foundation cracks, or possibility for flooding, etc. If any of those are there, they can be satisfactory if you’re searching for a ‘fixer-upper’ and are prepared to invest the time and funds to make repairs. Mark down your offer for that reason.

Soon you will hear about a ’short sale’ deal. That is, this comes about when a lender is prepared to allow lower cash settlement for a property than is outstanding on the loan now.

And yet another kind of foreclosure situation is the REO ? real estate owned (by the lender). Usually these are properties that were auctioned but no one bought them. You can, potentially, get an extremely good deal, but you will need to exercise extreme caution and keep your eyes wide open.

Ok, so bear in mind to follow a line of investigation. Have a systematic inspection done and complete a satisfactory title search. Any key defects or impediments in the form of tax or other liens have to factor big in your strategy.

Real estate, like other endeavors in life, requires diligence and a grasp of the fundamentals to be successful. Learn to tell the difference between a good deal and one to walk away from without losing your shirt in the process.

All things considered, real estate investing is still the best game in town. So go out and make your fortune and say ‘Hi’ to Donald Trump for me!

Real Estate Investing: How To Buy Distressed Real Estate During Pre-Foreclosure

When folks find out that I buy houses from distressed
homeowners during the preforeclosure stage, they always ask
the same question: “How do you find them?”

My simplest answer is: “At the courthouse.”

Distressed properties are always easiest to find when a
mortgage lender begins the foreclosure process. (The process
is triggered when the borrower fails to make a mortgage
payment.) Technically speaking this is the “preforeclosure”
stage. The borrower/homeowner has missed one or more
payments, the sheriff’s sale or public auction is looming on
the horizon, and the homeowner realizes he may soon lose his
home.

Depending on which state you live in, the lender either
records a Notice of Default (NOD) or files a judicial
foreclosure lawsuit against the borrower. As soon as the
foreclosure is public information, it’s relatively easy to
find.

So, depending on which property I’m interested in, I either
do a search at the county courthouse or I get the
information from a legal newspaper that has done the
searching for me.

The hardest part is finding a property that has any equity
in it. What I’m looking for is a Loan To Value (LTV) of 80%
or less. For example, if a property has a market value of
$100,000, the homeowner can’t owe more than $75,000 -$80,000
on the property.

Why? Because I can’t spend more than $75,000 - $80,000 for
the property and still make a decent profit.
That includes what I pay for the property
(principle, interest, taxes, and insurance), my repair
costs, and my holding costs. I have been known to pass on a
great deal, simply because it was November and I wasn’t
convinced that the property would sell before summer.
I always factor in having to pay the holding costs
on a property for at least six months while I remodel or
market the house. If the numbers don’t work, I walk away.

Sometimes it takes quite a bit of research to find a
property that I can make a profit on, but the rewards are
worth it.

Now, before you call me a mercenary just because I look for
distressed properties to profit on, let me say this:
Somebody profits from every foreclosure - and it might as
well be you or me.

Some people think it is unethical to benefit from another
person’s misfortune of losing their home or investment
property by buying it from them in the preforeclosure
stage. But I disagree. I look at buying preforeclosures as
opportunities to help the distressed owners save their
credit. When I buy their property, their debt is paid off
and they are free to move on with their lives.

Foreclosures and other property distress are caused by
divorce, unemployment, death, medical emergency, economic
downturn, and any number of personal problems.

Recently, many homeowners bought expensive homes or
refinanced to take equity out of their homes when the
interest rates dropped. Those that later lost their jobs or
had a medical emergency suddenly lost their ability to make
mortgage payments. Many of those houses are now coming on
the market as foreclosures because their owners haven’t been
able to sell them.They think of me as their guardian angel
when I am able to buy their property prior to the sheriff’s
sale, save their credit, and pay off their debt.

For the most part, homeowners understand I need to make a
profit to stay in business. If they are “upside down” in
their house (meaning, they owe more than the property is
worth), and there is no equity in the property, then it is
very unlikely that they will be able to sell quickly — to
me or anyone else — and get out from under their debt.