I am just North of you in Wisconsin and I also work w/foreclosure properties - actually pre-forclosure to be exact. What I found works for me is in Wi, which is a judical state like IL, our Circuit Court in online, so I just go to their website and with a little info … date, county and the code for foreclosures, I put that info in and out comes all of the people, names and address’, of everyone from that county who has been served with papers. This way I am able to contact them way before it goes to the sheriff sale and then hopefully I can work something out w/the owner.
Difficulty With Finding Foreclosures? - Posted by Nimesh Patel
Posted by Nimesh Patel on April 11, 2003 at 23:14:50:
Hello everyone:
I live in Chicago and I enrolled with a service that gives me data on foreclosed and preforeclosed properties. But the big problem is that virtually all of the properties are located in ghetto areas. I have not found a property that is located in a decent area. So what should I do? Am I missing something here folks? Your help on this matter is appreciated. My goal is to purchase a property for below market value (any suggestions on that please?)? Thank you so much for your help.
I recommend that you concentrate your efforts on buying properties directly from owners in foreclosure in the middle class neighborhoods within the suburban counties that surround the city of Chicago. In his book, How To Make Money Buying Pre-Foreclosure Properties Before They Hit The County Courthouse Steps, Thomas Lucier, goes into detail on how to use zip codes to target the best areas to buy properties in. I hope this helps.
It is possible that the service you purchased is dishonest. The only way to know for sure is to do some research on your own to find out if there are foreclosures in the higher-priced areas. If I recall correctly, IL, is a judicial foreclosure state. That would mean going to the Cook Co. Courthouse and looking up the lawsuits filed for foreclosure in the “lis pendens” files.
You might also talk to professional foreclosure experts and ask them. They won’t all be honest with you, so be sure to ask several.
To find bargain-priced properties, I suggest you read Jack Reed’s book “How to Buy Real Estate for at Least 20% Below Market Value.” It is a compendium, a survey of bargain-buying strategies.