Maybe Now's the Time to Buy Foreclosures?

There are over a million homes in foreclosure across the United States today and the number is growing.  This represents a record 2.5% of all loans being serviced.  But hey, let's also consider the good news...that 97.5% of all homes are NOT in foreclosure!

With all these foreclosures and the banks taking a major dive (Indymac Bank is the latest casualty, its stock price diving to 38 cents today, down from $43 two years ago), maybe it's time to start thinking about investing in some of these distressed homes!?

If you are looking for foreclosures or homes that are currently owned by a bank ("REO" or Real Estate Owned), there are many resources on the Web.  Most have a fee of $40 to $50 per month while some are free.  Let's start out with the FREE ones.

Check out www.countrywide-foreclosures.blogspot.com for detailed updates on homes foreclosured by Countrywide Financial (now part of Bank of America).  As of June 29, Countrywide had 13,304 REO homes across the country with an asking price of $2.4 billion.  3,331 of those were in California.  If you want to check these foreclosed homes out, visit this site.

For other banks' REO listings, visit www.biggerpockets.com/bank-reo.html and you'll find links to dozens of other banks. 

You can look for Government owned properties at www.hud.gov/topics/homes_for_sale and do some exploring as well at www.homesales.gov. 

Let's move on to subscription based foreclosure websites.  Most of these offer 7 day free trials, after which you pay $40 to $50 per month (with some exceptions).  These sites usually provide information on "pre-foreclosure" homes, auctions, for sale by owner, etc.  You get more information but must pay for it.  So if you are really serious about purchasing real estate, it might be worth a look.

But then it gets really confusing.  The most well known foreclosure website is www.RealtyTrac.com.  But www.Foreclosure.com is pretty popular.  Or check out www.realtystore.com.