Foreclosed homes present an opportunity for people to afford to buy their dream homes or to buy a home on a budget.
There are many websites that offer property listings of real estate deals and foreclosure deals around the country – from New York to California. Properties present unique investment opportunities and foreclosure deal websites can help customers find these opportunities before they are made available to the mass market.
Home buyers and anyone on a house hunt should take a look at sites like Foreclosure.com to see whether there are any real estate deals that are suitable and of interest to them.
For the real estate investor or anyone looking for investment properties, sites like this can provide access to information on bargains before other buyers are alerted. Investors can then scoop up a deal and buy homes to flip or buy houses at a bargain to then re-sell later.
Most reviews of Foreclosure.com show that it’s a comprehensive online database listing over 1.8 million properties that are preforeclosures, foreclosures, auction properties, bankruptcy and distressed properties. It’s a paid subscription website that costs$39.80 per month, and they also offer a free 7-day trial.
In the past, people wanting to buy properties at a bargain, would need to scour newspapers or sift through courthouse records to find residential properties going up for sale. But now, thanks to website platforms like Foreclosure.com, the hassle of having to individually search for properties and then visit them one by one, is replaced with an easily accessible and searchable online platform.
While there may be some cons to the site’s functionality and the fact that sometimes data is not accurate or up-to-date, in general Foreclosure.com do an excellent job of providing a huge amount of information to prospective buyers and investors about real estate foreclosure properties.
Our review of their website looks in more detail at how the site works and what types of information it provides, as well as the pros and cons.
What’s a foreclosure?
A foreclosure is a home or property that has been put up for auction. Foreclosures usually happen when the owners are no longer able to make their mortgage payments and as a result, the bank repossesses the house and sells it at a foreclosure auction to recoup its loan costs.
About Foreclosure.com
Foreclosure.com is the largest online platform listing distressed properties in the USA. It boasts more than 1.8 million listings of properties, which are foreclosure auction properties, preforeclosures, bankruptcies, REOs (real estate owned by lenders), and properties from HUD, VA, Fannie Mae, and other government agencies. Furthermore, over 100 corporate sellers list their properties on the site.
The company provides comprehensive and up-to-date residential foreclosure property listings on its website, so that customers can easily access data and browse all the potential houses they may want to buy.
Foreclosure.com listings are provided by foreclosing lenders and government agencies, as well as an extensive network of corporate sellers, directly. The information is updated daily using technology to ensure accuracy and reliability of the data.
Foreclosure.com also provides information on distressed property statistics to relevant media outlets who use these marketplace trends for reporting purposes. They also offer a free email alerts so you can stay updated with the latest news and listings.
The user-friendly interface makes it possible to search their database of potential property investments according to the size of the property, zip code, city, and county. No matter where you are looking for a house, you no longer have to visit that area to search for real estate deals manually – you can do it from the comfort of your own home.
They also offer a broker network that helps connect you to real estate agents in your area.
How the Foreclosure.com site works
Below we explore how the Foreclosure.com website works, what features it has, how you can get a free 7-day trial, and how you can opt to subscribe for a fee. We also explore the various types of property listings that the site has, explaining these terms in more detail.
Foreclosure.com document centre for the customer
The Foreclosure.com website has a useful document centre that helps provide you with tips and information about buying foreclosure properties. These include a home buying checklist, buying foreclosure checklist, and home tour checklist. The document centre also advises what legal tax deed certificates and other legal documents you will need when buying a foreclosure property – such as an offer to purchase, contract for sale, disclosure statements, and lead paint disclosure documents.
Subscription costs on foreclosure.com
The Foreclosure.com website offers a free 7-day trial of their database platform where you can access all the features and benefits to get a sense of how it works and whether you want to subscribe.
If you opt to subscribe, the cost is $39.80 each month on a month-by-month basis and cancelling your subscription is therefore straightforward.
Property listing information on Foreclosure.com
The website provides a large amount of detail about each property listed. This includes information from property tax rolls (often including previous sale prices and the assessed value) and the lender’s files, as well as information about the neighborhood school district details, the type of property, street address, zip code, price range, size of the property, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, maps, and typically photographs.
Types of listings on foreclosure.com
There are various types of listings on the website and we explain these technical terms in more detail below, to give you a general overview.
Foreclosure listings
We’ve already explained what a foreclosure is. Once a property is foreclosed, it is put up for sale so that the lender can cover the costs of the loan amount. Properties being foreclosed will be sold by auction or via other types of property listings mentioned below.
Preforeclosure listings
A preforeclosure is when a property’s owner has defaulted on their mortgage or loan repayments causing the lender to start foreclosure proceedings. This usually starts with a “notice of default” being sent to the owner, which is the first step in the legal proceedings to foreclose a property. There are various factors which determine how long these proceedings will take.
Real Estate Owned (REOs) properties
These are properties that are owned by the mortgagee and are typically properties that didn’t sell during the foreclosure auction and were therefore acquired by the lender. The lender, often banks, are keen to sell these properties quickly so they are often priced very attractively.
City-owned properties
City-owned properties are ones that are occasionally sold by local municipalities, or cities. These can include vacant lots, condemned buildings, and abandoned homes. These properties are often sold by way of public government auctions. Just like many foreclosure properties, some of these city-owned pieces of real estate can offer great potential to prospective buyers.
Auction properties
Properties that are listed for public sale in an auction can be purchased at the foreclosure auction. The properties being foreclosed is due to the fact that the owners were unable to pay off their loans by the date of the auction and the lender wants to recoup their money by selling the property. These auctions usually take place at the county courthouse and are sold to the highest bidders. This type of purchase entails paying the arrears plus other costs. Foreclosure attorneys conduct the sales at auctions on behalf of the lender.
Properties from HUD, VA, Fannie Mae, and other government agencies
Certain properties that were purchased with loans, had their loans insured by a federal agency such as HUD or Fannie Mae – or were guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In such instances, the agencies that insured the loans will reimburse the lenders when the properties foreclose for the loan amount and some costs. At that point, the government agency takes ownership of the property and then sells the property using realtors.
What is a HUD property?
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is a federal agency and it often insures mortgages of homeowners through its Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Once these types of properties are foreclosed and the loans repaid by the agency, they are referred to as ‘HUD owned’ properties.
What is a VA property?
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a federal agency that sometimes guarantees mortgages of homeowners who have served in the military. Once these types of properties are foreclosed, the VA acquires properties and then sells the publicly to recoup their costs.
What is a Fannie Mae property?
Fannie Mae properties are ones that the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) or the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) takes ownership of after foreclosure – and then bundles them for sale on a secondary market as ‘mortgage-backed securities’. These properties are then sold to the public.
Reviews on Trustpilot
If you are looking to review any business in America, it’s a good idea to have a look on Trustpilot to find out what customers have said about the quality of the customer service and how the company deals with complaints.
According to their profile on Trustpilot, Foreclosure.com have an average rating of 3.4 out of 5 and there seems to be an equal number of excellent and bad reviews. Quite a few of the reviews by customers mention being charged for subscription services even when they were doing the 7-day free trial.
Pros and Cons of Foreclosure.com
There are several pros and cons to using the Foreclosure.com website. Our review provides detail on each of these below.
Pros to Foreclosure.com
There are many benefits to the Foreclosure.com website. Firstly, it enables access to a wide range of properties that are often sold at below market rate prices, offering great bargains to prospective buyers. This is attractive to both individuals looking to buy their dream home at a reduced cost, or to investors who are eager to make money by flipping properties.
The website also has advanced functionality in that it’s is searchable according to location, size, property type etc., and it is a central online repository which negates the need to do your own research.
Furthermore, it hosts a great deal of information on each property, sourced from a variety of credible data points.
Foreclosure.com also provides detailed market trend reports and information and tips about buying properties that are being foreclosed. This assists people who may not be familiar with the process or terminology.
Like many large online websites and platforms these days, Foreclosure.com also has its own app, which makes its services even more accessible.
Cons of Foreclosure.com
The foreclosure.com website has a comprehensive number of listings of properties that are being foreclosed, but it doesn’t include other types of properties like ones that are new builds or regular home sales. That means that users will need to navigate various sites to see all properties for sale in a particular area.
Another downside is that there’s a fee to subscribe and have access to the information on the Foreclosure.com website. However, they do provide a valuable service for that fee.
While Foreclosure.com does seem to do a good job of keeping its data as accurate as possible, because it relies on external data sources, it may not always be up-to-date or completely accurate. Therefore once you find a property you’re interested in, you may need to make direct contact with the foreclosure lawyers or realtors to find out more details and to check the accuracy of the data you’ve been able to gather.
Concluding review of Foreclosure.com
If you are looking for a property that costs less than market value, if you’re searching for a bargain, or if you’re looking to invest in property to make a profit, then Forecloseure.com does provide valuable information and services.
It would take much more time and effort for you to search for foreclosure information on your own, so being able to pay for a subscription to Foreclosure.com may actually save you lots of money in the long-run if you make a successful investment or purchase.
While there are pros and cons to the website, overall it seems to provide a lot of value and benefits. Do beware when signing up for the free trial that you read the fine print because some of the negative feedback on Trustpilot shows that otherwise you may be billed for their services.