I have been wanting to write this post for quite some time as this
topic bothers me somewhat. In my opinion, prospective investors deserve
to know the facts about the true value of certain services so that they
can make an informed decision. If you ever search the Internet for
foreclosures (or some variation of that term) what you will likely find
is a slew of online “companies” offering “proprietary” lists of hot
foreclosures and pre-foreclosures, or access to some secret database
for just a small monthly fee. Many of these services even offer free
trials so you could see for yourself the incredible number of
properties they have.

Reality Check! Firstly, all the
information about upcoming pre foreclosures up for sale at the next
courthouse auction, is publicly available and can be purchased at the
county courthouse. Secondly, nowadays, all bank foreclosures (post
foreclosures) are posted on the local multiple listing service (MLS) by
the brokers that are marketing these properties. In most cases, local
MLS allow some form of access to the general public for free (in
Houston go to www.har.com). Lastly, you should be weary of sites that
claim to have deals from investors for investors. Many times, the value
information provided is inflated by the selling investor to entice
inexperienced investors.

I don’t have an issue with most of
these online services as plenty of businesses rely on selling the
convenience of providing useful information for a fee. My issue is with
the manner in which these services are marketed as proprietary and
secretive when they are selling publicly available information. My
advice to all investors regardless of their experience level, is to
work with a real estate professional that has experience in the
investment process (i.e. Signature Real Estate) that can truly help you sort out all the available information.

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