How do I find homes available to purchase through a short sale? Or is it just luck of the draw?

We just bought a short sale that we found just by looking in the area we wanted. I am unaware of any listing of these distressed properties, but best of luck.

I see short sales on Zillow and Realtor all the time. I wonder if you could filter for them?

Old Navy has a short sale on flip-flops...Saturday only for $1.00 a pair

I was expecting someone to go there with this thread. You did not disappoint, Happy.

MB,
Did you find yours through an online search or did you look at some of the local publications, contact local realtor?

We were watching any new listings of the area we wanted, and this one just popped up. We had no idea it was a SS until we started looking into it. We got a good deal, but it needed work and the transaction was very stressful. Oh, and it took from ~December 20th to June 24th from offer to close.

Oh, and manimal has an interesting idea. I imagine you could have your realtor put a filter on their MLS to ID all SS's, or possibly do it yourself on Zillow. Good idea manimal, you're the man.

I'm trying not to use a realtor. We're doing FSBO on our house and I have a RE attorney for that, so I figured if I ran into any issues with the purchase I'll use the attorney for that as well.

Do you know and RE agents (on a personal level, like a friend or neighbor) that could look on the sly for you?



That's debatable round these parts.

I thought this was about the midget trade...

We've been trying to do a FSBO for 2 months. All the offers we've had are to do a Lease to Own. I'm very leery of doing this.
1. I want to be done with the house and get it off our credit.
2. I have several offers from individuals to make a cash down payment and pay it off in 3-5 years. It's not a high priced property, but that's a lot of cash to come up with in that amount of time and my BSA sirens are going off "that would be a good way to launder money if your income isn't totally kosher."
3. If I list with a realtor, we definetely won't make any money from the sale, but at least we'll be done with it.

I don't know what to do.

Not sure how you have it listed (MLS?), but a price change (no matter how small) should 'refresh' it into searches that potential buyers are looking through.

We've listed in a local newspaper and put a sign out. We're on a hghway with alot of traffic and have gotten some calls from people who've seen the sign, but they've also been lease-to-own interests.

Maybe try expanding to additional newspapers with a larger coverage area? Also... have you hosted any open houses? Some folks will see a sign and just decide to drop in (that can be good or bad).

You can list it yourself on FSBO.com, I beleive zillow and other websites with pictures. I love the sites with pictures - helps to sell when folks moving into the area can see what's available without using a realtor.

WW...i know this guy that can help you out, his nickname is "Jimmy Sparks" if you catch my drift...

Can you forward me Jimmy's contact info, Happy?

If you are near a military installation, they have military.com that will have listings.

A few years ago people in our community got creative by offering a savings bond with the purchase.

Can you do an open house for local realtors?

Change your price point to just under the next "bracket". Seems like that is a common recommendation on the HGTV shows.

My advice is usually if you can't sell it on your own in 30 days, hire it done, BUT find a realtor who is serious about selling. Not the wife of a corporate executive who works for fun money.

Houses in Detroit are going for $1...

Have you gotten any feedback from the folks who have seen it? Do they all say "Oh I love the kitchen BUT..." or "I like this living room BUT..." etc. Might give you an idea or two for quick changes to alter the feel of a room and make it more appealing. (Of course, I have no knowledge what your house looks like and it could be immaculate already, just trying to think of ideas. )

Have you been to GSAauctions.gov? Can't believe there are 150 homes for sale on there. Can't be all Uncle Sam owned can they?
I really wanted to buy the 45k sq ft underground cave in KS they had on there. How cool would that be?

i've been to kansas...living undergroud is the only way i'd go back

That is how I feel about California

Peach, that's a really cool website!