This is the only time during the foreclosure process that you can inspect the property freely, make an offer, and close the deal much like you would in a traditional real estate transaction. But unlike a traditional sale, buying pre-foreclosures allows you to purchase property significantly under value.

Once you have located a good property investment that is being foreclosed upon, you will need to contact the homeowner to begin negotiations. This is the toughest part of buying pre-foreclosures because emotions are very high at this point in the homeowner’s life.

Your first contact should be made delicately with the homeowner’s vulnerable position forefront in your mind. Keep in mind that he is likely besieged by phone calls from creditors and will likely view you with more than a little skepticism.

Since the homeowner is likely screening his calls, you might find it difficult to get in touch with him. You could start the buying pre-foreclosures process by contacting the homeowner by mail. Letters are less threatening, and if they are worded the right way may get you an appointment with the homeowner.

Follow these letter-writing guidelines for buying pre-foreclosures:

• Make sure the envelope is nicely hand written so it looks personal and not like another bill collector. Letters that are too professional looking may also be a turn off. If you want the stressed-out homeowner to even open your letter, it must look non-threatening.

• Word your letter in a friendly way that makes the homeowner feel like you are trying to help him. Outline exactly what you can do for the homeowner. When buying pre-foreclosures it is common for the investor to pay off the loan and give the homeowner a little cash to pay off some other bills.

• Give the homeowner a way to contact you at his convenience. Never threaten or pressure. If your letters get no response, simply increase your efforts by sending more letters, but no more than two per month. A couple of phone calls might also do the trick, but only begin these as follow up to mail correspondence.

Once you have made contact with the homeowner, continue to be sensitive to the homeowner’s position. When buying pre-foreclosures you should never judge or treat the homeowner in a condescending manner.

A more effective strategy is to meet with the homeowner face-to-face. While this sounds daunting, it is by far the best way to close the most deals. Learn how to approach the homeowner during this time, and how to get them to work with you, and you will get far more deals.

About the Author: Chris Thomas is a real estate investor and author of the best selling ebook "Dominate Preforeclosures," which teaches you how to acquire property in pre-foreclosure with a successful, proven way to approach homeowners and get the deal. Learn the strategies that the top investors use daily, but refuse to share by visiting http://www.dominatepreforeclosures.com.

Technorati Tags: Foreclosure Investing, mortagages

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• • How do you approach them?
  • How do you build rapport with them?
  • How do you determine what to offer for their home?
  • Where do you find the paperwork you need?
  • How do you actually "Do The Deal"?

These are a few of the questions that keep the non-investor from trying to buy a home on a "rent to own" basis. There is now a new ebook that covers all of these questions and more.

The author, Charles W. Moore, directs his book to people trying to begin or improve a career in real estate investing. This is great for you even if you don't want to become an investor. Everything is laid out in easy to understand terms. He includes the forms you need, several bonus reports and maybe best of all a half-hour telephone session that can get you started right.

Many of todays' real estate investors started their careers by renting to own their own home. They discovered that it was a quick way to own a home even if they had bad credit

so they began offering their service to friends and relatives and another career was born.

If you are still renting your home or apartment, now is the ideal time for you to get become an owner and enjoy the advantages. Check out the Rent To Own eBook and I think you'll agree.

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The easiest way to own a home with poor credit is to try your best to get your credit back on track. If you can pay 2% less on the mortgage loan interest rate, you will be saving over $70,000 throughout the years.

The first thing is to order a free credit report and to go over it with a fine tooth comb. If you find any disputes that you want to take up with creditors, dig up your receipts, and write some letters trying to straighten out whatever is being falsely claimed. The law states that the credit agency will have to address the dispute within 14 days or they will have to remove the disputed item completely.

After all of your disputes have been settled, you should insist that there be a new (and corrected) report sent out to all of the creditors who have received your report in the last six months. The process of having the corrections sent out is laborious, but it could mean a greater chance of you owning your own home, so be persistent.

One way to own a home with bad credit is to go straight to the source. Many homeowners are willing to sell you a home under a selling finance agreement. This agreement provides a "contract" that allows you to make payments to the actual seller instead of making payments to a bank.

Another option when buying through a seller, especially if a down payment is not an option, is to find a seller that is offering a lease-to-buy option. When you do a lease option, you will have to work out the math ahead of time to determine how much rent is going for a down payment, and after a certain period of time, how much credit you are going to end up with.

You can dramatically raise your credit score by owning a home and making timely
payments. Eventually there will come a time come when you want to refinance your
house. Doing this can lower your payments and a good credit rating can improve
your chances more than 95%. This might enable you to make some money too and pay off some other debts. Most homeowners will refinance the house to do exactly
that. On the other hand, owning a home while you have a low credit score might
make your interest rates a little higher than most.

Becoming a homeowner is a gratifying decision, but it can also be a taxing one. Make sure that you don't become overzealous when trying to pick out a house to purchase. Don't try to live beyond your means, especially when your credit is less than ideal. Buy a house that is big enough for what you need, but cost efficient enough that you don't find yourself in greater financial strain.

John Edmond runs Credit Card Debt where you can read many more articles on credit card debt and for the latest information on creditreports checkout the blog.

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Basically you are trying to turn a bad situation into something that all sides can be happy with. Arranging a short sale can be complex thing usually involving a lot of negotiation with the lender. You will be working with a certain department of the bank that's sole purpose is to deal with loans that have gone into default. In a short sale you will have to convince the bank that there is not enough equity in the property for the current owners to get out of their debt and that their best course of action is to sell the home and cut their losses.

The bank has already taken their chance and lost out of not only the interest that they would be collecting but the property now becomes a drain on them costing them money every day that they possess the property. This is where the smart investor comes in and offers to take the property off their hands so that they can get on with business.

In this kind of investment more than any other in real estate, an investor needs to know their business. Dealing with banks and lenders when THEIR profits are concerned is quite different than applying for a loan. You are now talking about their money and as such you have entered a completely different world. In their ideal situation the original owner would be able to find a way to pay them the owed mortgage and get back onto their payment schedule, allowing the bank to start making money off the property again. Once this possibility is ruled out it then becomes a matter of the bank trying to recoup their losses and if you can make them an offer that makes sense to both you and them then you may just be able to arrange yourself a great deal on a home for less than what it is worth. This kind of property is tailor made for a home flipping situation as with time on your side, you should be able to fix up and resell the home for an excellent profit.

Preston Guyton is a professional Realtor® serving the Myrtle Beach real estate market. For more information on Myrtle Beach homes & properties, contact Preston today or visit www.prestonguyton.com.

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I live in the suburbs, more or less, of Portland, Oregon. If you follow the home and mortgage market news you are aware that this area is one of the least impacted by the cool down in home sales. Almost every area of the country is suffering through the doldrums now wondering what happened to the hot real estate market. Although we are not too severely effected out here, I was able to take these pictures of home for sale signs all within a one block area on my way to the library today:

These homes have all been on the market for over 60 days and two of them over 90 days. Notice that one of the home sellers who initially was going to go it alone and sell the house himself is now offering 2% commission to agents.

These are all prime prospects to approach with a creative financing proposal. One even says on his ad that he is offering contract terms.

I know that if these signs are around my town, you can find them in yours. So hop in the car or on a bike and start your hunt!

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