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Pro Foreclosure Investing Strategies Explained

By Dan O'Connor
Sep 3, 2008
At some point in every foreclosure investor's career, they are going to knock on a house in foreclosure and be told by the homeowner that the bank made a mistake and there really is no foreclosure happening.

Banks make mistakes all the time. Maybe the homeowner is telling the truth, maybe not. Sometimes it doesn't really matter.

I'll give you my 2 cents on the topic but before I do, I have a couple of questions for you.

What do you do after the homeowner tells you it's a mistake or that they have it taken care of? Maybe the million dollar question is what should you before you knock on the door or make any kind of contact?

Me? I do a quick and dirty Ownership & Encumbrance Report (O&E) using my own proven system to see if there are any junior liens before I even leave my driveway or pick up the phone. You see, if there's a deal to be made there, I want to make it happen asap.

If you can buy a junior position with plenty of room for profit, it doesn't really matter if the homeowner is cooperative or if they tell me to go pound sand because I'm already looking at a potential payday.

The homeowner cuts a deal with another investor or cures the default? Fine, you'll get paid the full value of your Note, judgment, etc. It goes to sale and gets bid up? Great. You'll be looking at collecting the overbid without ever touching the house.

If you're dealing with a property in a state without a redemption period and there's serious money on the line, you'll want to either be at the sale or have someone there on your behalf to make sure the bidding goes as planned.

What if you buy a junior lien and then drive by the property and see a For Sale sign in the yard? That's awesome because they're making a valliant effort to sell the place and you should stop and chat with the homeowner (for a number of reasons). If there's a Sale Pending sign visible, you'll definitely want to call the agent to ask if it looks like it's really going to close or if they're taking back up offers to see how close you are to that payday.

Lots of different angles to play in that situation. Personally, I just want be somewhere around the intersection of a couple of them.

I suppose that's a little different from how you've probably been approaching the whole homeowner rejection thing but it works really well for me and it will definitely work for you!

Does it work 100% of the time? Nope, but it doesn't have to, if that makes sense to you. Even if this killer strategy only worked a handful of times per year (which it's actually much more!), your bank account will grow exponentially with minimal effort, oftentimes without even seeing the house!
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