You have probably heard of buyers seeking foreclosed properties for investment. This trend has risen especially in the last few years. Foreclosures are a rewarding new investment opportunity. Foreclosed properties are sold at significantly reduced prices, thus proving to be beneficial for the buyer.
Finding the owners of foreclosed homes, however, is not as easy as it may seem. Owners are highly confidential about the foreclosure in order to save the image of financial distress.
Why Should You Know The Owner?
Property address is practically all the information you can find with negligible effort. But for a smart foreclosures investor, this is never enough. You have to dig a little deeper to find out about the owner of the house. The inputs you can get from this source are far more reliable than from anywhere else. Also, you would want to take a sneak peek into the property to get a fair idea of its condition. Keeping these things in mind, knowing the owner is imperative.
How To Track The Owner Of Foreclosed Properties?
There is some amount of legwork required to decipher ownership detailsfor foreclosed homes. Here are some common sources:-
Estate Records At The County
Title transfers, financial paperwork and all other documents are assessed and recorded by the county recorder/clerk. These aren’t property-specific, rather, all encompassing and keep track of almost all residential properties. The best part is that this documentation is public domain. This is how you can use them to your advantage. States where there are townships, parishes or anything else in place of counties will also have a regional office and county recorder.
Tax Assessor
The Tax Assessor is responsible for determining the amount of property tax and the address where the tax bill is delivered. Under normal circumstances, there is a delay before they track information regarding property transfers. However, the Tax Assessor will eventually know about the ownership of foreclosed properties.
Good Ol’ Internet
Just like everything else under the sun (and beyond), foreclosed property listings are also available online. Even though the full document is not listed on the website, you will know the document number and owner’s name. Given this information, you can then go to the county’s office and figure out the rest. Some websites also offer a facility wherein you can purchase the full document.
After you know the owner, the next step is to know the property. This path needs to be treaded carefully. The situation is sensitive due to financial distress faced by the owners. Added to this is the pressure of selling the house and potential humiliation. Under these circumstances, approaching an owner can be a daunting task.
It is advisable, therefore, to speak with the owner directly in a clear-cut, yet comforting way. Knocking on their door and then asking for assistance on “for sale” properties in the area is one alternative. Usually, the owner would then proceed by revealing that their house is available for sale.
Using these and similar tactics will help you in finding out all you need to know about a foreclosed property.
