Posted by JoeB(Atlanta) on February 20, 2000 at 16:07:21:
Hi Kevin, to answer your questions: Yes, you can and should contact the homeowner directly prior to the auction.
No, you don’t have to contact the atty, but sometimes they’re the ones (and not the homeowner) who can give you the full ‘redemption amount’ (cost to cure, including all back pmts, penalties, and atty fees).
The best way to approach a PRE-foreclosure varies widely depending on who you ask (lots of folks on this site recommend Joe Kaiser’s course on buying foreclosures), but here’s my 2 cents: consider buying the house ‘subject-to’ the foreclosing mortgage. So, you would make up the back pmts, penalties, etc. (and these can be quite sizable, so make sure you get the correct number in writing from atty or lender) and then takeover the pmts on the loan, loan would stay in homeowners name, ownership would transfer into your name.
That was a crash course. Hope this helps,
Joe Brillante
I have been reading your successes on this site for almost a year now. I feel that I am ready to get started. After all I have read it amazes me that I could still have such basic questions as these. But I am not proud so here goes. I reveiw the papers daily and read the notices of forclosure in my county. My questions are, do I have to work with the lawyer or can I go directly to the homeowner if possible? If I can go to the homeowner do I even have to notify the lawyer? And What is the best way to approach a forclosure once you have found one? Your help is greatly appreciated. I look forward to becoming an Oldie and no longer a newbie.
Hello Kevin,
Foreclosures are not a good place to start in my opinion. My advice to you would be to concentrate on doing a few flips first. This entails finding a motivated seller, getting the house under contract then assigning the contract. There are a couple of nice articles on this sight in the articles section that will explain flips. Flips are without doubt the easiest to understand for a new invwstor (IMHO).