Bank Foreclosures & Preforeclosures

Foreclosure and Tax Sale properties offer a way to acquire their homes at incredible prices, sometimes saving as much as 30% to 90% on the price of their home. For first-time buyers or those looking to profit from buying real estate and reselling it at a profit, foreclosures, preforeclosures and tax sales can be purchased for a fraction of their market value. Not long ago finding foreclosure homes meant buying expensive lists or knowing someone with inside information. Websites like those listed below maintain databases of thousands of foreclosure and preforeclosure homes and allow home buyers to search by state and zip code, zeroing in on their target area. This provides potential home buyers with details about the house or property, what the price of the house is, who to contact, and usually the address and a photo.

Pre-foreclosures are homes or property that are about to go into foreclosure. This is where some of the best deals can be had, before they are seen by every real estate broker and buyer on the planet. These are generally negotiated directly with the owner, who is eager to avoid the hassles of foreclosure.

Tax lien and tax deed properties sales are also great investments. Tax liens certificates are virtually risk free investments and tax deeds are another type of foreclosure found in the listings of the sites below.

What's important here? The most important criteria in selecting one of these sites are 1) Listings; do they have plenty of listings? 2) Currency; do they have the most up-to-the-minute information from banks & sellers? and 3) Contact Information; do these sites give you the information you need to contact the owner or bank? Our top recommendation in this category is again Government Auctions.

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Reviewed: Government Auctions       Rating: 10 of 10

This is a one-stop-shop site which has houses listed under $10,000 and consistently had the newest listings, the most homes, and by far the most preforeclosures and auction listings (including property tax sales). It also has extensive non-government For Sale By Owner (FSBO) lists so you have the widest range of discounted houses from the widest range of sources, and never pay realtor fees again.  

Listings - More listings = good; fewer listings = bad. Two types of listings included. The first is a list of every upcoming real estate auction in your area from all bankruptcies and government agencies. It has detailed info on local, state/province, and federal auctions listed in the US & Canada. The second list or sublist contains every individual preforclosure, foreclosure, tax sale and FSBO property listing. We counted over 250,000 property listings, including banks and FSBO (For Sale By Owner). Each has property details and most have pictures of the property. If you're trying to make or save money, and want the largest number of choices, then this is your one stop dream site.

To see photos of sampled listings (1 house for $1,000 in NE, and 9 under $11,000) click NorthWest, NorthEast, Central, SouthWest, SouthEast.

Pre-foreclosures - A hidden gem; many pre-foreclosure home listings! This is where you can really do well buying houses, before the foreclosures are listed by every real estate agent on the planet.

Contact info - Too many of the auction sites don't provide contact info; again, these guys get it right. Almost every listing has direct contact info: name address, phone number, etc.

Bonus - When we last reviewed the site, they were offering a hotel voucher worth more $300. We grabbed ours and used it. This alone paid for our membership many times over. (Guess which one of us got to use it? One of the benefits of heading the team...!)

Price: $39 Annual Membership. Click here for a Government Auctions 50% discount (regularly $78, advanced real time data upgrade coming with new monthly payment plan. Join now for a full 1 year access and avoid the monthly fee)

Government Auctions did not engage in any of the shady or questionable practices we've seen on many of the sites. No automatic re-billing, and no "hidden" charges.