Buying and reselling foreclosures is one
of the best ways to use the current recession to your
economic advantage.
When searching for HUD foreclosures, you
must understand that the Department of Housing and Urban
Development merely handles the disposal of FHA and VA
backed home repossessions. They do not want to keep a large
inventory of these homes, and try to dispose of them
quickly, often taking much less than the mortgage due on
them.
You can get a free list of these homes
by calling your local HUD office, or by contacting a
realtor and asking for a HUD foreclosure list. These will
be free to you, but the list may be somewhat outdated by
the time you receive it, as these listings sell
rapidly.
The quickest and most efficient way to
get these listings is to go to the web and search for HUD
foreclosure listings. You will find several hundred sites
that offer to sell these lists to you. Many of these sites
will give you a free seven day trial period, giving you
enough time to peruse the offerings.
You may be interested only in companies
that offer listings in your area. You will find quite a few
of the companies will send you a tailored list to suit your
needs. Many of these companies have up to a million
listings, some provide pictures along with addresses and
mortgage balance. You will also find companies that update
their lists daily, which will be very valuable in saving
your time not investigating a property already sold.
By the time your free trial period is
up, you should have some idea if the company that sold you
the list serves your needs. If it does, go ahead and become
a member for a nominal fee. Your membership can be
cancelled at any time, but remember, if the list helps you
buy only one property for resale, the profit from this
makes the membership fee paid only a drop in the
bucket.