You can find great deals on homes at any stage in the foreclosure process – pre-foreclosure, the foreclosure auction, or post-auction (from banks and investors) – but by purchasing the property directly from the homeowner in pre-foreclosure, you reap several benefits, including the following:

• A lower price, because you’re not competing against other investors in open bidding.
• An opportunity to inspect the home, because you can make your offer conditional upon the home passing an inspection.
• Buying directly from the homeowner assures you that you are buying the home.
• You won’t lose the home in redemption. In Wisconsin homeowners have the right to redeem their home (buy it back) after the sale.
• You can find homes in pre-foreclosure by reading the foreclosure notices every week they are published. By law, foreclosure notices must be published for a number of consecutive weeks prior to the sale in a local newspaper or county legal news publication.
• To reduce the competition even more, you may want to consider learning about pre-foreclosures even earlier in the process – before the foreclosure notice or notice of default is published and becomes public knowledge. To obtain early notice, try the following techniques:

1. Network with attorneys who work with distressed homeowners in bankruptcy, foreclosure, divorce, and probate.
2. Network with real estate and mortgage professionals.
3. Make sure you have the financing and resources in place.

Remember to choose your investments wisely. You won’t get every house you see, nor should you want every house you see. You can afford to be picky and patient – wait for the right opportunity to come your way. And do your homework to make sure it is the right opportunity for you.

Many homeowners contact me for advice when they reach the early stages of foreclosure. My goal is to help people faced with foreclosure by strategizing how to get their home sold with as little damage to their finances as possible. This usually requires a short sale or some other avenue that involves bank refinance or settlement. We maintain a database of these houses and with seller permission we have sold several homes before they even reached the market. If you are interested in obtaining a list of these homes just give me a call at 715 498-1248 or email me at mburns@remax.net.

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Mike Burns, CRS, GRI, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Realty Associates LLC
www.StevensPoint Realtor.com
www.StevensPointHomes.net
www.StevensPointMLS.com
www.Homepointers.net
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