Upcoming Foreclosures

Contacting foreclosure owners?

I'm looking at foreclosure properties that I drive by every day. Any idea on how to contact the owner, who is most likely a lender? Public records, internet, city hall? I don't know... I would likely have my lawyer handle this instead of getting an agent so I just want to talk to the owner/lender first to see if I can even begin to think about acquiring one of those properties. N.B.: There are no signs on the buildings. They're boarded up and I know Mayor Menino and the city of Boston have their eyes on some of them. Thanks for any tips.

Public Comments

1. If you want a lawyer to handle it then tell him to do it. An agent will be able to help you (most of the time) more than a lawyer will in finding who the owner is, getting the offer prepared, sent, and negotiated with the right people. I would never recommend that someone not have a lawyer after all they are there for the law and in real estate there are a lot of legal matters but just as lawyers do what lawyers do agents do what agents do.
2. your lawyer should be able to check city/county records and come up with owners if the owner file bk it is also a public record!!!
3. The best way is to go to the local recorder's office, and look up the liens on the property. Once you find the name of the bank holding the mortgage, then you can attempt to contact them to inquire about buying the property. Banks sometimes hire asset management companies to handle their foreclosed or REO properties, so you may run into a dead-end this way. You might also contact the board-up company to see who ordered the board-up. In this area, it is sometimes the city, but usually it is the bank, lending institution, and/or asset management firm. The best way to find out about buying one of these homes is to find out which Realtors in your area represent bank-owned properties and contact them. The Realtors don't always put up signs in the yards of these homes, so it may take a bit of work to locate them. Good luck!
4. When a property goes into foreclosure, a sheriff sale date is scheduled, the property hopefully for lender is sold at the sheriff sale. Then the homeowner has 6 months in which to redeem the property for the the buyer paid at the sheriff sale. So when you see a property sitting for a long time with no obvious signs that it's for sale, this is what is going on. During this time, no one else can intercede in this process. Typically the bank tries to regain what it has lost in mortgage payments and foreclosure expenses. Once the redeemption period is over, the lender can put the property on the market for anyone who quailifies to buy it. In some states, there is additional time allotted to orginial homeowner to redeem the property, so I would check with your state. You can track when properties go into default at the county courthouse.
5. You can go to your local tax office or clerk's office and find the owner of record. If it is indeed a lender, 99% of them work with Realtors to sell their REOs, they will not deal with non-licensed people. Since you would have to pay your attorney, and not a Realtor, this plan doesn't make sense to me. I have a friend that specializes in REOs, some lenders will not take an offer from an attorney, not sure why that is, but you may run into that.