How to find lis pendens and preforeclosures (Lee: short sales, loans) - Fort Myers - Cape Coral area - Florida (FL) -Lee County - City-Data Forum

cav33901 · 03-17-2010, 04:18 PM

Is there a service, program, website that anyone knows about for the Lee County area that identifies recently filed lis pendens or identifies distressed preforeclosures. Thanks...

MrsTommy · 03-17-2010, 05:03 PM

Lee Clerk's web site: Contact Us (http://www.leeclerk.org/RealForclose.htm - broken link)

cav33901 · 03-17-2010, 08:16 PM

Is there any way to get this informaion with out having to manualy sift through hundreds of documents?

MrsTommy · 03-18-2010, 12:16 AM

You can pay to join a service like RealtyTrac but I have no experience with them or how current their info is.

jrmartin.mig · 03-30-2010, 09:04 PM

Depends on how early you want the information or what you are looking to do. If you want the information as soon as the lis pendens is filed, you would have to subscribe to a service like foreclosure.com. If your looking to find properties that are closer to going back to the bank, there is a service that you can subscribe to which will tell you which properties are going to auction two weeks ahead of time.

justNancy · 03-30-2010, 10:35 PM

A Lis Pendens can be on records for several months, even a year. What would the advantage be? Until a property changes hands, it still belongs to the owner and the owner can't accept an offer for less than he owes unless it's approved by the bank.

I'm no expert on this, just another consumer, so I'm only asking if someone knows what the advantage would be, since I recently found a home that is listed as a Lis Pendens. It was next door to a house I made an offer on, which is why it was "suspect" because I never saw anybody going in or out of it. Anyway, I asked a Realtor to get me additional information. He found the home on Realty Trac and called the bank, spoke to the lawyer representing the bank who said it's in process. (Lis Pendens of course means lawsuit pending) He was told that there's nothing the bank can do at this point and to contact the homeowner since he still has lawful ownership.

MrsTommy · 03-31-2010, 01:48 AM

I have to agree with Nancy. I really can't see the purpose of trying to snag a house that early in the process. Until the bank agrees with the terms of the short sale and the house is listed, there's no point in approaching the homeowner. You won't be able to work anything out without the lien holder's consent. You would probably be better off checking each Clerk's web site for foreclosure auctions. Even then, you would be bidding against the bank.

hiknapster · 03-31-2010, 12:15 PM

I agree with all of the above. No advantage.

If you want to buy like the big boys (and girls), you are going to have to head to the courthouse. Be careful. Those folks know what they are doing. Best to watch for awhile and see how it works. Make friends with the clerks.

nhkev · 03-31-2010, 06:57 PM

In a normal market you would want to find the preforeclosures so you could approach the seller offer to take property off their hands and then work out a short sale with the lender but in today's market it makes absolutely no sense because of how underwater the owners are in this market.

2009 was the year of "save the homeowner" by issuing moratoriums, gov't programs to refi or modify, gov't trying to keep interest rates low. But it has not worked. 2010 will most likely be a year of short sales. There has been a lot of guidance issued lately from the gov't and streamline processes done to get them out quicker. it has shown to be less costly to the lender than foreclosure.

The banks are stronger balance sheet wise to start taking some of the write downs and have ramped up their hiring in loss mitigation. they have a lot of shadow inventory that they want to put out on the market but can only goes as fast as the courthouses can process and with gov't budget cuts they are not adding anything to make the system go faster. So again the banks have to get some of the bad loans off their balance sheet and short sales may be quicker for them then the foreclosure process. There are going to be plenty with a lot less competition than foreclosure dept. If you are looking for a nice house for a good price work with a realtor that has a lot of experience with short sales and they can help you stay away from the ones that won't close.vs the ones that can.

jrmartin.mig · 03-31-2010, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hiknapster

I agree with all of the above. No advantage.

If you want to buy like the big boys (and girls), you are going to have to head to the courthouse. Be careful. Those folks know what they are doing. Best to watch for awhile and see how it works. Make friends with the clerks.

Haha, I guess I'll take that as a compliment as I have purchased a significant amount of property there over the last year! In all honesty though, dont worry about going down there to watch and learn as the whole auction goes online starting next week. Be very careful though as I have seen many unprepared people lose a great amount of money down there. Also, keep in mind that if you plan on buying at the courthouse or through their auction, plan on cutting the bank out as you must pay the full amount right now by 4pm and next week by the next day. It is however, a great way to get a great house at a great price.