“Ninety percent of the properties I invest in come through RealtyTrac. Within the first year of signing up with RealtyTrac, I sourced numerous investment properties and purchased several properties using the information I found on RealtyTrac, netting over $100,000. RealtyTrac has no geographical limitations within the U.S., so I can conduct multi-state searches. And, as a full time investor, the extensive database is extremely important to me.”
Seth Weinger
Riverside, CA
Investment Properties at Your Fingertips
In a weak economy, real estate is often a secure and reliable investment, but the current real estate frenzy has made it nearly impossible for an investor to find a good deal. That’s why pre-foreclosure and foreclosure real estate – historically a hidden market opportunity – has become a hot market for investors.
In the past, the time and money required to purchase expensive, specialized property reports, sift through listings in legal journals or research public records located at local city courthouses in order to take advantage of this hidden market were huge obstacles. This expensive and time-consuming process is no longer necessary thanks to RealtyTrac (www.realtytrac.com). Investors can use this online resource to find all different stages of foreclosure properties including multifamily, commercial and single family residences.
Seth Weinger is a professional investor based in Riverside County, California, and has been a RealtyTrac customer for more than three years. He has purchased several properties in California at below-market value in a competitive real estate market directly through the RealtyTrac website. Weinger explains that it’s easier than ever to find investment properties with RealtyTrac, which lists more than 550,000 foreclosure properties across the country.
“The properties I invest in range from commercial to single family residences in California and I’m currently researching similar properties in Arizona and Oregon,” Weinger said. “RealtyTrac was the first all-inclusive site that lets me search in any state and retrieve, by far, the largest number of available properties.”
According to Weinger, RealtyTrac offers many advantages to investors, including the most comprehensive and up-to-date repository of foreclosure and pre-foreclosure data. He also enjoys the fact that there are no geographic limitations, which makes it easy for an investor to conduct different state searches from one source. When using RealtyTrac on a regular basis, Weinger feels that he has the opportunity to make more money and be a fulltime investor, rather than wasting time sifting through legal journals and court documents.
Investing in a foreclosure property can yield high profits and is an opportunity to help distressed home owners solve their financial problems and maintain good credit. Over the past three years, Weinger has made numerous purchases through RealtyTrac, yielding hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits. Some of his successes include the following:
- He purchased two homes that were in the final stage – the auction sale – on the courthouse steps. He sold both homes, netting more than $100,000 in total profit for himself and his investors.
- One of the first homes purchased was rehabbed, sold, and closed escrow in less than 60 days.
- On another occasion, he rented a home he bought back to the owners for six months until their children finished their school year, giving him an 'interest income' for three months before starting the rehab process. That property netted $70,000.
- Another property was purchased prior to going into foreclosure and Seth agreed to allow the tenants six months rent free. The agreement enabled the owners to do required repairs on their cars, finish a work retraining program and find new employment. In the six months since the purchase, the property has also appreciated nearly 25 percent. The house will go up for sale soon, and Weinger expects to net approximately $50,000 in profit.
“Any property can be a good investment, as long as the person investing knows enough about the property to make a profit,” explains Weinger, who often deals with single family homes due to the demographic area in which he works. Right now he’s considering multifamily units in Oregon, Arizona and single family homes in Washington.
Investment Tips
So, what is the best stage of foreclosure to try to purchase a property and how should an investor contact the homeowner? Weinger explains that every property is different and that from experience the best time to contact the owner is about a week before or a week after the notice of sale has been issued. Notices of sales are posted on RealtyTrac as NTS or NFS properties, usually at least 2-3 months after the initial notice of default is issued. Notices of defaults are posted on RealtyTrac as NOD or LIS properties. Weinger says that during the first month of default the owner is in denial, and 90 percent of property owners ignore the notices. Weinger usually contacts the homeowners directly or uses independent contractors that front the deal.
Weinger believes investing in foreclosure property is not just about turning a profit, but also about offering genuine assistance to owners in default. He warns against some investors who are solely interested in taking unfair advantage of the owner’s predicament. A good investor will arrange a deal with the owner that benefits both parties.
Seth’s top investment tips
- Information is king – be prepared, do your homework, know the laws, and be familiar with the property and its location
- Caution is good – better to err and not buy a property then rush into buying a lemon
- Don’t get greedy – when trying to close a deal, consider the financial situation the seller is in (make a profit but don’t take advantage of people). And remember, the volume of doing fair deals will result in better profits, long term rather than trying to make that one BIG deal.
Weinger agrees that foreclosures do have an unnecessarily bad name but positive outcomes are possible. “In the end, if a person can sell their property without ruining their credit, that’s a good thing,” says Seth. “And I believe that RealtyTrac is a tool that can help potential foreclosures to have better outcomes.”
