How to find the best short sales on the market! -  Short Sale Marketing can be simple if you know what and where to go, and there are several ways to find short sale opportunities in the market place.

The most common Short Sale Marketing list is the public default list, which comes with the most competition. This is usually the “Notice of Defaults” or the “Lis Pendens” recorded on the title of the property. These are homeowners at least 3 months behind and their lender has taken formal action against them. The big problem with finding short sales this way is simply the competition from other investors, Realtors, Loan Modification Specialists, Bankruptcy Attorneys, etc. The bottom line is there are a lot of options offered to homeowners during this time and it’s hard to compete.

The next way is through a pre-default list which is typically called the 30-60-90 day lates. These are homeowners where they are 1 through 3 months  behind and usually before their lender has taken action against them. Yes they are behind, but not showing on pubic record. Therefore much less competition. The issues with lease leads are they are harder to find, cost any where from $.70 to $1.40 per name. That’s for the name, not the mailing too. These sellers are also early in the process of foreclosure which doesn’t create much urgency. You will get leads, but do realize, a high percentage of these owners will wait before making the decision to sell in hopes they can do a loan modification with their lender or hit the lottery. It’s just too early and they have too much time.

The final way to find short sale opportunities is through the US Bankruptcy Court. This is my favorite,by far, and here is why! These owners are usually 6 to 18 months behind in payments which makes it nearly impossible to catch up. They didn’t just file bankruptcy because it was their first choice. It’s very common they’d explored a loan modification or other work out plan with their lender. They usually filed bankruptcy as a last option in hopes that they could save their home or surrender it to avoid foreclosure. Also, you won’t find much competition because this is a list that needs to be created, and can’t be purchased. It’s also extremely rare that your competition learns how to generate this list as there are not many resources that teach this.Therefore you don’t get dozens of professionals buying the list and marketing to the same list you do. It’s not hard to get this list when you know what you’re doing and where to go. It doesn’t even take much time.

There are two situations you will find if you market to the right list. The first is someone who filed a chapter 13 bankruptcy in hopes to save their home. Without getting in to the fine details, 85% of the time a homeowner attempts this they fail. Or the owner files a chapter 7 bankruptcy and attempts to surrender their property. Even when an owner does this, in order for the bank to get title they are required to foreclose. So regardless whether an owner attempts a chapter 7 or a 13, in most cases, the result will be their lender asking the courts for permission to foreclose. They do this by filing a “Motion for Relief from Stay”, which in most cases in granted though the courts issuing a “Order Granting the Relief from Stay”. There is a way to extract these leads at the exactly moment when the ‘Motion” is filed or the “Order” is granted. So you can time exactly when to market to these desperate owners.

At this time owner will have either filed BK before the public notice of foreclosure was given or many many months after. If it was before we have the chance to beat our competition. If it was after it was so long ago that our competition has stop and they owner doesn’t even know who they are any more. This is the position you want to be in.

So there you go, my argument why Bankruptcy Leads are your best Short Sale Leads.

Again, there is a way to get these lead at the exact right time. I can show you how, just click here!