About Short Sales

Foreclosure investors who had been carefully watching the housing boom at the turn of the century unfold may have been able to anticipate the current housing crisis. Along with the growing number of foreclosures has come a wealth of investment opportunities.

In the last two years mortgage lenders have been reporting dramatic increases in defaults and foreclosure rates nationwide causing many sub-prime lenders to go under. Many real estate investors turned their attention to buying foreclosures. But what you may have seen is just a tip of the iceberg.

Its A Huge Foreclosure Investing Boom, But Can You Capitalize On It? While cashing in on the housing crisis might seem as simple as getting a list of properties which are in default, getting in touch with the owners and trying to make a deal before the bank retakes possession of the home. You may want to fix the home up and resell it or hang on to it and make your money from rental income. You probably think that there is no way to lose money on the deal, this is, however not always the case.

Getting into the foreclosure investing game could be an extremely lucrative move that alone could not only feed your family but pay for lavish lifestyle and vacations. Or it could turn into a big black hole consuming all of your time, energy and marketing dollars.

There are few people who consistently turn a profit on their foreclosure investments. Why is this? They are in a competitive, crowded market and are going about things the wrong way.

How Can You Stand Out in the Competitive Business of Foreclosure Investing? To call foreclosure investment a competitive field is understating things. A lot of news stories have come out about these investments, meaning that many investors have gotten in on the action. Investors send mountains of mail, deluge homeowners with phone calls and some even go so far as to show up at their doors.

In short, if a homeowner is behind on payments, you can be prepared for a major fight for his attention. Just imagine for a moment that person sitting at his kitchen table plowing through a pile of letters from lawyers, bill collectors and investors. Your mailing piece is just one of many that goes straight to the garbage can. You must find a way to differentiate yourself from the investment crowds. Here’s an idea that will put you ahead of the competition.

Take An Ethical Approach To Deal with Sellers Facing Foreclosure. People who are facing foreclosure are not exactly going to be eager to speak with you about selling their home. In fact, most see real estate investors as scavengers swooping in to profit from their troubles.

If you want to get people facing foreclosure to call you, what you need is to offer them the option of staying in their home.

Advanced Foreclosure Investing - Keep Homeowners in Their Homes Instead of Purchasing Their Homes As Your Starting Point. Reason number one is giving homeowners facing tough times a chance to keep their home is simply the right thing to do.

Yet another reason is, you’ll actually make money doing it. You can help them negotiate a repayment plan with their current lender (the process is called loss mitigation) and collect a fee for your service. There’re several companies nationwide with an in-house list of Loss Mitigation department contacts for literally every lender in the country that will do all the work for you. So, even if you never buy a single home, with tens of thousands of foreclosures in your hometown, offering loss mitigation services could turn into a lucrative income stream by itself.

Last but not least, this is also a highly profitable route to foreclosure investing. In many cases, the loss mitigation process will not work out for the homeowners and you will end up buying their home anyway. And whom will the homeowner turn to when they find that their best option is to sell? You guessed it, the foreclosure investor who tried to help them keep their home. Thats how the cookie crumbles back to foreclosure investing.