Foreclosure Auction: Investor beware

Buying a foreclosure property at the auction on the local county courthouse steps isn't for the faint-hearted. Make sure you've done your research.

In fact, we often recommend buying properties in the "preforeclosure" stage, before they go to auction. If you market to foreclosures, you can often get in before the sale date, and have time to inspect the property, and negotiate with the homeowner, and possibly even the lender.

Here's an article from the Orange County (CA) Register about buying a foreclosure property at the county courthouse auction.

Developers trying auctions to sell homes

Keep your eyes open investors, because real estate auctions for new construction property might just be coming to your local area.

Read this article for more on how developers are turning to auctions to unload excess inventory.

Real Estate Investors getting "washed out" of the SouthEast

According to ForeclosureS.com, the Southeast is seeing a rise in foreclosure, and suspect it could be attributed to the large number of investors and flippers who dominated the market.

Click here to read the full article...

Foreclosures up 5% in July

Are you marketing to Foreclosures? Opportunities continue to increase as foreclosures are on the rise, according to RealtyTrac. If you're interested in truly being able to help the homeowner, imagine having www.SaveMeFromForeclosure.com as your home page. Visit the site to find out more.

Texas Foreclosures leading the way

Foreclosure activity in Texas seems to be at an all time high. Texas now has four of the top ten cities across the USA in terms of foreclosure rates.

To find out who else is in the top ten, and the direction things are going, click here to read the article.

Before buying a Foreclosure, check the comps, for free!

Investors who want to buy foreclosures need to make sure that they always do their research. First and foremost, that always begins with checking the comparable sales in the neighborhood. It means looking at square footage, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, lot size, garage (or not), and the age of the home, amongst other things.

While I personally believe that using the MLS is the best and most accurate method to check comps, sometimes that's not always possible. Maybe you don't have a realtor friend to check these for you, or perhaps you don't have a realtor on your team.

In such cases, a great free site to use is Zillow.com
Zillow gives you a very quick estimate of a home's worth, and while not entirely accurate, it certainly beats guesswork! Intersting to note that Zillow has entered into a new partnership with Yahoo, the massive web portal. Hopefully this partnership allows Zillow to offer even more accurate comps as they moved forward.

Foreclosures: How to profit from a cooling Real Estate Market

Foreclosures can be a great way to profit from cooling Real Estate markets across the country. Robert Kiyosaki recently wrote an article outlining how he sees the coooling real estate market having an affect on both investors and speculators.

Foreclosure Lists: be careful where you get your data

Foreclosure list providers are often the best way to get your data if you're marketing to preforeclosure properties. These list providers are very much smaller operations. They focus on select counties in a small geographic area, so they can provide their clients with the best, most recent data.

While there are many national list providers, unfortunately, large portions of their data can be old, and out of date. This article discusses many of the problems that national foreclosure list providers face: many times they list foreclosure properties for sale, when they have, in fact, already been sold.

Our recommendation when selecting a list provider is to go with a smaller, local company, that is sending people down to the courthouse on a daily basis. For a list of local data providers, check the toolbar on the left, or visit www.SaveMeFromForeclosure.com

Foreclosures aren't the only deals: check out HUD

Foreclosure can be a great way to finding deals if you're an investor. Even better can be finding deals in the preforeclosure status, and marketing to those homeowners. You should offer these homeowners a number of solutions if they're in preforeclosure.

However, HUD can be a great source of finding deals as well. Read the article for more information on finding deals through HUD.

Good luck, and happy investing!

FHA has new flipping law for homes

Are you an investor that loves getting junkers below market value, fixing them up, and then reselling for a profit? It's a great strategy that can really allow you to build wealth in Real Estate. One of the challenges is always how quickly can you sell your property once the renovation is complete?

We all know time is money, so the sooner, the better. What about if you were approached by a buyer who was getting financing using an FHA loan? Well, you should be aware that you'll have to have been on title for a MINIMUM of 90 days. If you're not on title for 180 days, FHA may still ask for additional documentation.

At www.SaveMeFromForeclosure.com we recommend working with your own mortgage broker. The kind who knows which lenders are okay with you (the seller) only being on title for a few months.

We like to offer our buyers a closing cost credit to work with our preferred lender to ensure that the transaction closes on time.

Need a network of lenders? www.SaveMeFromForeclosure.com has strategic partners with lenders across the country, and you can benefit by earning referrals fees once you're in our network. For more information, please visit us on the web.

Dallas Foreclosures increase from last year

It seems as though the Dallas market might be a great place for investors to target. Early numbers that are out show an increase in the number of foreclosures in most of the counties in the greater Dallas area.

Dallas, Collin, Tarrant, Dentown and Rockwell counties all saw an increase in foreclosures when comparing July 2006 to the same month last year.

Arizona Foreclosures increase

Foreclosures are increasing in Pima County as the housing market slows, inflation accelerates and creative financing plans mature.

Dennis Rosen, a Tucson lawyer who deals in foreclosures and also holds a mortgage broker's license, confirms what most investors already know:

"Lenders seem to be very creative in ways to refinance because most lenders lend money with the thought of being repaid. Banks and others just don't want to own real estate,"

It seems as thought plenty of short sale opporunities could lie ahead for savvy Pima County investors.

Marketing to Preforeclosures

Marketing to preforeclosures is usually thought of as profitbale. However this foreclosure article based on the Las Vegas market tells us that previously hot markets that are now cooling aren't always full of deals. Make sure you're checking the numbers: even if the seller is motivated, they might be upside down in their home, and a short sale might be the only solution.

Forbes' magazine Foreclosure hotspots

Forbes magazine just published an article illustrating both metro areas with above average foreclosure rates, and where foreclosure rates are growing the fastest.

Welcome to the Real Estate Investors Marketing Blog

Hello fellow Real Estaste Investors!

I've started this blog to provide and share information about marketing for Real Estate Investors. Your comments are always welcome, as we'll look at different types of marketing, and how well they do (or don't) work.

One area that we'll be focusing on is marketing to preforeclosures.

We'll also discuss different marketing techniques, and what works best in cold, hot and flat markets, as well as examining differeces in markets across North America.