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Permalink Reply by Sharon Horne-Ellstrom on April 8, 2010 at 9:48am

Depends on where you want to look for distressed homeowners (I see from your profile you are in Texas) and it also makes a difference why you are approaching people. For example, if you are a Real Estate Agent/Broker, you have a different objective than if you are an Investor....at least I do (and I am both).

Over the past six years of "doing" short sales, I have found that the best place to get lists of homeowners in distress is to build them yourself (from the notice of default in my county).

It depends where you live, but for the most part...you get what you pay for. If you buy a list instead of compiling it yourself, you may very well get a really 'picked over' list of names. Chances are anyone who is selling a list is not selling it just to you, so you will be competing with other real estate professionals or investors.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Also, if you are not a real estate agent or broker, they are often a great source of short sale leads.

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Permalink Reply by James Cook on April 8, 2010 at 4:34pm

Sharon thanks for the advice. Yes I am a REALTOR. What database are you using to find "notice of default" in you county ?
Sharon Horne-Ellstrom said:

Depends on where you want to look for distressed homeowners (I see from your profile you are in Texas) and it also makes a difference why you are approaching people. For example, if you are a Real Estate Agent/Broker, you have a different objective than if you are an Investor....at least I do (and I am both).

Over the past six years of "doing" short sales, I have found that the best place to get lists of homeowners in distress is to build them yourself (from the notice of default in my county).

It depends where you live, but for the most part...you get what you pay for. If you buy a list instead of compiling it yourself, you may very well get a really 'picked over' list of names. Chances are anyone who is selling a list is not selling it just to you, so you will be competing with other real estate professionals or investors.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Also, if you are not a real estate agent or broker, they are often a great source of short sale leads.

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Permalink Reply by Mr Stallioninc on April 11, 2010 at 10:22am

If you are a agent or Broker I am an investor I have my Realtors look up Key words NODs are good and tax liens
but on your MLS look for short short sale motivate seller 3rd Party approval expand a little and you can find other
agent that have short sales that will bring them to you if you do not know how to do them you can contact me I have a team
we work in all 50 states.

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Grom on April 12, 2010 at 9:35am

Hi James, as you are probably aware since you are in Texas you have a very short time period from the time the lender starts the foreclosure process to the time that the house goes to Auction. On average 21-34 days. This does not give you or the homeowner a lot of time to work a short sale. The good news is that it is not difficult to get the lender to postpone an auction if you have an offer. You can obtain a list from you county courthouse ( usually pulling each notice one by one, I would not recommend this). There are a couple of sites you can join that will provide that list to you for a monthly fee. I would recommend that you purchase 30-60-90 day late lists. You can find the distress homeowner before they have the foreclosure notice filed.

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Permalink Reply by James Cook on April 12, 2010 at 9:53am

Patrick What company would you recommend ?

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