Posted by JeneanNC on March 31, 2000 at 12:42:50:
Please e-mail me NJDave telephone number also. I offered a bank a short sell a couple of weeks ago and have not heard from them. Help!!
UPDATE Any ideas how I can find the owner of this house? - Posted by Mikeb(sc)
Posted by Mikeb(sc) on March 28, 2000 at 08:19:49:
This is an update of my previous post located about halfway down the newsgroup.
Thanks to everybody who gave me suggestions for where to look.
Long story short, I went back to the county building yesterday and got the name and address of the bank from the assessor’s office.
Finally got hold of the correct dept. today. They said the house is still in foreclosure with a judgement hearing this Friday, after which they will schedule the sale.
They guy at the bank gave me the phone number of a local attorney’s office that is handling the foreclosure.
I’ve never dealt with foreclosures before, but I gather that since the owners still technically own it I can still buy it from them. Or would it be better to just wait and buy it at the sale?
I’m not sure what to do now. I’m going to contact this attorney today, but I want to wait and see if I get some advice from this board before I talk to him.
Any advice on where to go from here would be GREATLY appreciated.
Mike
Re: UPDATE Any ideas how I can find the owner of this house? - Posted by TCB
Posted by TCB on March 28, 2000 at 21:07:33:
The route you take depends on you take regarding before/after sale purchases. I prefer prior to the sale, because you will bid against other investors at the sale if you wait.
- The reason you were referred to the attorney is the bank likely can not contact the owner either. The attorney has to serve notice to the homeowner before sale, so they likey have tried to “locate” the homeowner through methods of skip tracing.
- The attorney’s office may contact the home owner, if they have a viable means to do so. Sometimes they will inform the homeowner someone is willing to purchase the property, and explain the benfits of them selling prior to sale.
- without contacting the homeowner, you will need to wait for the foreclosure sale to occur. You can’t buy the property from anyone but the owner, but you CAN buy the note and finish the foreclosure. Do not offer to do this until you have an updated Title. If Title is not updated, you can lose your a**. People in foreclosure usually have other debts they are not paying, leading to liens, judgments, etc.
- If the attorney is filing for judgment, the foreclosure sale is near complete. You have to move fast.
To answer your main question regading locating the home owner, ask the attorney where they have sent the documents regarding foreclosure sale. Some employees are new, and do not know they should not give out any info, unless it is public knowledge. If you get an address, send a letter requesting they call you to dicuss options.
Finally, do your homework. Foreclosure properties have many pitfalls.
Good luck,
TCB
Sounds like a good candidate for a short sale/discount note purchase… - Posted by Ben (NJ)
Posted by Ben (NJ) on March 28, 2000 at 10:33:58:
I am working on a similar deal right now. From the condition of this property one can assume the bank
would rather get rid of this headache rather than own it. I would find out the balance of the note, offer them a big discount and then continue the foreclosure myself, thereby “creating equity” in the property. A frequent participant of this site, NJDave, is an expert
at negotiating with the banks and getting them to take pennies on the dollar. He prepares an appraisal report with photographs highlighting every nasty and disgusting aspect of the property, along with an opinion of value, and an offer. E-mail me privately
if you want his phone number. One caveat, if you step into the shoes of the bank, you need to know exactly what debt is SENIOR to the bank because this will survive the sheriff’s sale. Get a full title report.