How to Find Out if a House Is in Foreclosure

Learn how to find foreclosure properties before everyone else with expert real estate investor Noelle Randall. In this podcast, you'll discover how to identify pre-foreclosures, spot distressed properties, use public records, recognize early foreclosure warning signs, and perform proper due diligence before buying a foreclosure property.

Whether you're a first-time real estate investor, home buyer, or experienced investor looking for hidden deals, this interview covers the foreclosure process, judicial vs. non-judicial states, delinquent property taxes, mechanics liens, code violations, foreclosure auctions, title searches, and the best strategies for finding discounted investment properties before they become widely known.

🔥 If you're interested in foreclosure investing, buying foreclosed homes, pre-foreclosure opportunities, or building wealth through real estate, this episode is packed with practical advice and actionable tips you can start using today.

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Transcript

0:00

I would say No. 1 is delinquent property taxes so once they stop paying their mortgage for most people their mortgage is a P I t I payment principal interest taxes and insurance so those things are escrow so when they stop paying the mortgage the taxes and the insurance are also not being paid and the lender eventually will step in when they have to and pay them but in many cases they won't they will you know start their foreclosure process and so that could be a early warning sign for an investor and we love looking at delinquent property taxes because that's county information it's free and it's a red it's a red flag that this person is in distress cause obviously if they can't pay their taxes probably not paying the mortgage if you can't pay hundreds per month you usually can't pay thousands per month so haha that's how that works welcome back to foreclosure.com if you've ever driven past a vacant property spotted a distressed home in your neighborhood or found a house online that seemed underpriced you may have wondered is this property in foreclosure knowing how to identify a foreclosure can help homeowners investors and real estate professionals uncover opportunities before they become widely known the challenge is that foreclosure information is often scattered across public records court filings county offices online databases knowing where to look and what documents to look for can save you a tremendous amount of time today we're joined by Noel Randall to discuss how buyers can determine whether a property is in foreclosure identify opportunities in pre foreclosure stage and conduct proper due diligence before making a move Noel thank you for joining us today welcome hi Tim good to be back here I love this topic and this is a great time to be talking about foreclosure oh yeah yeah we're seeing some some movement in the markets huh we are we are alright well let's dive in so for someone just getting started what's the quickest way to determine whether um a property is in foreclosure so obviously foreclosure.com is is the place in the website obviously it's in the name that this is a great website to go and find foreclosures um and it's all there in this space I remember when I first started in real estate and I wanted to find pre foreclosures and foreclosures I would have to go to the county website so say I'm in you know Georgia and I wanna look in um you know Decab County or cop county I have to go to the county's website I wanna look up you know some states have list pendants that's um you know judicial states where they filed and said hey your past due and we're gonna sue you if you don't pay and then that's how the foreclosure process starts in other states there's a notice of default again this is also public records but you literally will have to go to the county and you could pull a list and obviously you could still do that you know obviously that is still a thing to do um is to literally drive and I'm sorry to go on to different websites and pull the list of you know the list pendants properties create a list a spreadsheet um and then start going out and seeing those properties and sending the owners letters um or postcards or you know mailers and let them know hey um I may buy be able to buy the property for you for cash you know we can close quickly so you know it really is also the marketing and that's one of the things that I loved about going after foreclosures we can talk about that in a second yeah um but finding them um resources like foreclosure.com have made the process so much easier like I said I started this in 2,009 and the person that taught me was 70 years old so it used to be very manual now it is very digital haha yeah no that's for sure how the whole auctions take place whether online or at the courthouse right there's a lot of tips and tricks well let's let's let's keep going so so what public records or legal notices should buyers pay the closest attention to um and what information did those documents reveal so obviously like I said um the Liz Pendence is gonna be um the you know suit pending um I think is what that means in Latin um I literally had to look that up I'm like okay wait what did I say Liz Pendence was again I'm like looking down at my notes cause suit pending um and it's the official notice that the the the the lender has started that foreclosure process so that's gonna be your first like alarm bell hey this person is in you know it's one of the ways we'll talk about some pre pre stuff in a second as well give you some real tips on how to get it before even any of the competitors know about it but um lis pendens notice of default um and then straight up notice of trustee sale you know that's when it's really um about to be sold um the lender has you know exhausted trying to work it out with the seller and it is going into foreclosure um or you know cause there's options with foreclosure so let's talk about for that for just a quick second cause I would just be remiss yeah um if you could avoid them going into foreclosure they can do a short sale and so you as the buyer of that property could still benefit and still get a really good discount um on that property um talking to someone before the back the bank actually takes the property back so those notice of the false those lis pendens those trustee notices um those actually are are flags for you to start reaching out to that that that seller and saying hey let's make a deal yeah exactly okay and I know it differs between different states and I guess how how does the foreclosure research process differ between nonjudicial and judicial States yes so it's funny I had to look that up as well because I have lived in judicial versus non judicial states so judicial just means a a it has to go to court and the judge says okay it's foreclosed and obviously non judicial state um it it doesn't have to go through a judge and anything like that so let's talk about some popular judicial states cause I wrote this down cause obviously I'm here in Florida yeah Florida is a judicial state yeah OK so that is where it is going to the court county clerk you know and so you look for the county clerk that's the website you're kind of checking um and basically the lender must sue the homeowner for the property back in judicial states so states like Florida Florida um states like New York um Ohio um and Illinois those are some popular judicial states that non judicial states that I have that I've invested in obviously Texas Georgia California Arizona those are non judicial states so the lender bypasses the court um and does not have to sue the owner directly to gain repossession of the home so um both have their differences but for you as a real estate investor you saying okay I am buying some foreclosures and I'm gonna buy them because I get a discount on them I know this is the way to amass a a real estate portfolio at a discount I know that okay we know buying distress we already know that and you can ask anybody not just Noel Brandon we already know that so then you have to see okay what state and then just know the the the processes for your state so like I said I'm in Florida but I was in Texas before so before um in Texas I was looking for the notice of default I often say that and I'm in Florida and it's a lis pendens in Florida so it's the same thing basically though so you don't have to get so tripped up like oh I need to understand every bit of piece of this before I start making my move you don't have to understand every single piece of it in order to start moving forward and looking for properties and getting your first rental property yeah and essentially pretty much both pre foreclosures right notice of default or lis pendens so yeah um and that's kind of how we aggregate it on our website as well because of the different differences between different municipalities counties states you know there's a lot of laws out there exactly and that's where it like I said foreclosure.com helps so much because um let's think about it obviously in a judicial state you have more time you do um so in Florida I do I have more time to to negotiate with the seller that's why we do short sales and you literally can wheel and deal in Texas a non judicial state it's a fast thing yeah but they do have a lot of protections in Texas I will say to protect homeowners primary residents so you know it balances it out okay well I think it's important to have a balanced market I feel like we learn we're learning a little bit of the consequences of not having that balanced market because of all the moratoriums during Covid and now you're seeing like these big extremes and the volatility in in different markets around the country so exactly um exactly exactly it was good to help people but then you don't want to take it so far where the market gets out of balance yes you have people just in homes that they haven't paid for haven't paid taxes for cause that's enough like I said we'll get to that part go ahead I'll let you let ask your next question thank you I and I know you kind of touched on this but are there any early warning signs that a property may be entering pre for pre foreclosure before the official notice is filed yes Timothy you know I'm so happy you asked this question so that's what I was saying sign No. 1 is going to be before everybody gets in you can actually get in with immediately knowing the property taxes I would say No. 1 is delinquent property taxes so once they stop paying their mortgage for most people their mortgage is a P I t I payment principal interest taxes and insurance so those things are escrow so when they stop paying the mortgage the taxes and the insurance are also not being paid and the lender eventually will step in when they have to and pay them but in many cases they won't they will you know start their foreclosure process and so that could be a early warning sign for an investor and we love looking at delinquent property taxes because that's county information it's free and it's a red it's a red flag that this person is in distress cause obviously if they can't pay their taxes probably not paying the mortgage if you can't pay hundreds per month you usually can't pay thousands per month so that's how that works yeah that's a good old time yes that's like and again I've had so much mentorship and coaching to be really good and that's why I love coaching now because I was coached so I I actually say a lot of stuff coaches said to me but okay so keep going with this No. 2 is going to be code violation so obviously same thing if they have not paid HOA fees if they have not um they have the uh cars and dilapidated things on their property they they didn't they're not repairing the roof and there's a tarp that has been up there too long and they're getting code violations from the county those are red flags for you as an investor okay this person is showing signs of distress send them a letter give them a postcard leave your your your business card let them know you could help them in that situation another one this is kind of a hidden one this is Noel really giving a gem here okay mechanics lean most people don't really search for mechanics liens but that is a very high sign that this person does not pay and is having an issue paying if if now pool contractors especially here in Florida this is why I love haha yeah pool if pool contractors and aren't being paid and roofers and different people that you have had come in so basically a mechanics lien just to I know you know Tim but just for the audience a mechanics lien is something that a contractor or a vendor files against a homeowner for unpaid services so if I have you come do a fence at my property um and you don't pay me I can put a mechanics lien um if I'm a roofer and I fix your roof for you and you didn't pay me I can put a mechanics lien so mechanics liens of course are a lien that's a sign of distress and then of course water and utility shut off that's another easy one yeah but that also sometimes indicates they're they've left they've gone so um that is a good sign but a lot of times now you're trying to find them so a lot of times again some homeowners this is fun and this is why I love being an investor and I love targeting foreclosures one if you actually can help them it feels really good you know especially if you can help them avoid the foreclosure buy it out before it actually goes into foreclosure you can really really help a lot of people and they give you some warm love for that so that's first of all but another one is just how fun it is when people are in distress some of the things they do so I have had people and a many a number of people that are in foreclosure will just leave yeah they will just they will abandon the property take their stuff and go they will shut off the utilities and so that is another um water utility and water shut off is another thing that an investor can look for um for signs of distress cause again if they can't pay their utility bills or if they got shut off altogether um something's going on those are great tips those are great tips um so how can buyers use online platforms you know like foreclosure.com to find foreclosure opportunities um and verify the accuracy of the information they're seeing'cause I think that's an important step in the due diligence process definitely and that's why I love what sites like foreclosure.com just to be really really transparent I've done it the old way going to the county and then going to this site and then going to this site and the fact that all of the information is all there in one spot makes it so much easier and faster so really for me step 1 is what I tell people is come up with your target area where do you want properties at where do you want to be investing at what are some zip codes like find your target list and start building that OK so that's gonna be um a big thing you know what I mean and so you're not gonna always just base off your and you're not just gonna buy the that's why I said you wanna be targeted with your zip codes cause you don't wanna just buy a property um especially if you're just getting started obviously I'm at a much higher level I've done this so many times I will trust somebody else seeing it but when you're first getting started you wanna be able to put eyes on that property or someone that you love and trust put eyes on them even if it's not you it's your cousin your mama somebody put eyes on it so you um don't want to just trust third party websites so although yes there's a lot of great information you can't just rely on just that so um it does help you it speeds you up so that you can focus on your buy list you know what are you looking to buy what types of properties are you looking for what zip codes um what are some things going on in that area that you think these properties are gonna go up in value or how much you're gonna be renting them out for you can actually spend your time more I feel like on the numbers and targeting your list and you know and let the website do a lot of the other work for you cause it does it does it's so much great information really quickly at at your hands so the online um platforms like foreclosure.com they're amazing in many ways and you can be useful in very many ways but you do still have to do your own due diligence you should not just buy the property cause I saw it on foreclosure.com they gave me all the information and then I'm closing it's like yes they give you a lot and yes I'm gonna give you know Kudos to the progress that we've made in the business um but still have do your due diligence get a home inspection um have somebody put eyes on the property walk the property things like that you still need to do your due diligence get an appraisal you know that type of stuff yeah those are crucial those are crucial I mean we we pride ourselves on trying to have all the different data points the notice of defaults Lis pendens pre foreclosures to kind of get a high level overview what's going on in an area you're seeing the REOs the the pre foreclosures the tax leans and even the auctions right but we we are we stress this is that you always wanna have a professional you know making sure you're you're um crossing your t's and dotting your I's you know cause absolutely um there's a lot of details out there and and like you like you've Learned you know you had successful um mentors that helped you become successful so um building those processes and those teams I hear is probably one of the hardest but most important steps in the whole process of becoming a real estate investor or just being a home buyer and finding a good deal either way you wanna make sure you're you're covering all your bases so no that's that's great I love it like I said it's a business I absolutely love I don't say it's the easiest business but it pays well for a reason if you can if you tough and you can do this and talk to sellers and do these projects you can make a lot of money but it is just like being a doctor or dentist or anything else you have to get educated you gotta stay on top of what's going on in the market and you gotta know your numbers um and so one of the another amazing things that I put out there to any newbie investor you have an opportunity now this is one thing that Noel Randall's always talking about that's different from everybody else is about getting funding upfront you literally can build a business and get business funding so when these opportunities come to you you can take action if someone comes to you and they oh I'm I'm $7,000 past due on my mortgage I'm about to go into foreclosure and literally I can tell you there are ways to get that property for just what they owe you know what I mean on it and so if you have you know business lines of credit business credit cards business loans and you've built up this business where you have more access to other people's money that is the opportunity that exists today that did not exist 20 years ago so you take all of this amazing information of being able to get people that are in distress so now you can buy properties at a discount and you combine that with business credit and business funding there's no reason why you can't have a more wealth that's all I say a higher net worth that at a very minimum that's that's really interesting you say that cause the more I talk to people around the country the pillars in those communities that are doing this successfully they always mention that they always say how important that step of the process is so yeah so so once a buyer identifies a foreclosure opportunity what due diligence steps should they take regarding leans or or auction dates also definitely of course you wanna deal with our title company you gotta check to make sure there are not other liens and and so you as soon as you get that property under contract for example if you have a contract you're immediately giving that over to a title company or an attorney depending on again what state you're in some all states some states have to close with an attorney some we just call it a title office some we call it a title attorney that person let them do a search a thorough search for all of the liens yeah um a preliminary title report of course to make sure that the boundaries and that there's not stuff up there that is not supposed to be and the person who's selling it to you is the person that owns it I mean just so much that we can be here all day with um what the preliminary title and just the title company doing their searches how much that is going to help and be a big part of your due diligence um obviously too with the auctions um I would say with foreclosure.com and any website you want to just keep checking back to make sure that those dates are accurate yeah um obviously those dates change all the time and and sometimes the information that's being pulled into the system is um dated or old um I had mentioned earlier redemption rights yeah um making sure you know every state has different redemption rights so and there are states where literally after you have bought it the old buyer still has time um to come back and reclaim their property depending on certain situations you know um so be careful with that yeah no I I and there's some states that it's just like over two years or so I mean I remember during Covid like the average timeline of a foreclosure had jumped up like almost doubled in time frame you know so and extending that redemption period so yeah you're 100% right understanding that and the knowledge is key right having that yeah well this is this has been tremendous amount of information and and I really appreciate your time and that's pretty much all the time we have for today is there anything else you want to mention to the audience before we get out of here yeah just go ahead and start going for this is a great year to get started um investing in real estate owning even just your first piece of real estate um it is the No. 1 way to wealth and so you do want to make sure that you are getting into it because it is a tangible asset that generally speaking goes up in value so you want real estate whether it be little mobile homes or or hotels you know get into the business and find your spot that's great now we're definitely gonna add a link to your information at the bottom of this but just so the audience knows what's the best way to find you best way to find me is my YouTube channel Noelle Randall it we have over 1 million subscribers the channel is is dominating in this space and I absolutely love it I'm so proud of that so go over there I'm putting out content every single week giving and giving and giving like I said when I used to be broke Bear Bear in my parents basement I promised I would do this so I'm living my promise oh wonderful that means so much well Noel thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us today if you found this video helpful please like and subscribe and turn on our notifications for more real estate investing tips and strategies and don't forget to sign up for our free foreclosure email alerts receive pre foreclosures auction distress property opportunities delivered directly to your inbox until next time I'm Tim Jones with foreclosure.com and thank you for watching