Thursday, February 18, 2010

How to find foreclosures

The earlier you can find a home owner the less competition you have and the better service you can give the home owner. This why you should aim at locating home owners in financial trouble way before their case id filed in court. Here are few ways to find foreclosures:


  1. Read the classified ads on a daily basis to locate people who may be behind on their payments and are motivated to sell their property. Look for words such as “owner motivated” or “immediate possession.” After some practice at this, you’ll be able to sense a good bargain and be able to work with people who are in the early stages of foreclosure.
  2. Put you own classified ad. Use ads the start with “Cannot pay the mortgage? We can help!” or “Facing foreclosure? Let us help!”
  3. Use a list service. You can find companies that sell lists of foreclosures cases that were recently filed in court.. Investors may buy these lists in an attempt to reduce or eliminate the more tedious ways of finding foreclosures. One such list in BC is provided by BcForeclosureData.com

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Foreclosures in BC - An Overview for Investors

So what is a foreclosure? If you have been following the news over the last few years I am sure you have heard the word Foreclosure several times. In simple words, Foreclosure is the situation in which a homeowner is unable to make payments on his or her mortgage, so the lender, typically a bank, can seize and sell the property.

The process used to enforce the terms of the mortgage contract and seize the property differs across Canada. British Columbia law requires the lender to get court permission before it can sell a property. This is called a "Judicial Sale," and it means that lenders must apply to the court for permission to sell. It can take 9 months or more from the time a homeowner stops paying his mortgage until the bank can actually sell it.

Buying a property pre-foreclosure means that even though the lender has begun the foreclosure process, you step in and buy the property before the bank takes ownership. It presents an opportunity for a real estate investor of not only finding great bargains but also helping a homeowner in trouble to save their credit and to move on with their life. One way to find pre-foreclosures is to use a foreclosure list service. These services usually research the courts files and provide lists of recently filed foreclosure cases.