One of the most-asked questions I hear as a real estate agent is, “How do I buy this pre-foreclosure on Zillow in order to save some money?” I’m going to explain today.
When I pull up all of the foreclosures and pre-foreclosures on Zillow, you can see that the foreclosure homes have definite prices, while the pre-foreclosures just have an estimate. There’s actually a bigger difference between the two you should know.
“A foreclosure home is actually for sale. A pre-foreclosure home is not.”
A home that’s listed as a foreclosure is actually already for sale. If a home is listed as a pre-foreclosure, it’s technically not for sale. Zillow identifies these properties by a lis pendens, which essentially means that the homeowner has missed a payment or two on their mortgage and are in danger of pre-fault. Once they record the lis pendens on the title, it lets other people know that a couple of different things could happen:
1.The resident catches up on their payments.
2.The property goes into foreclosure, but we don’t know what price it will be until that time.
3.The property could be sold without hitting the market at all.
In conclusion, if you’re looking for a home in the next few months, I’d steer clear of pre-foreclosures. If you have any questions for me about buying a home or about real estate in general, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
