How to Find HUD Homes and Foreclosed Homes for Sale

April 22, 2009 - PRLog -- There are tons of sites on which you can find HUD homes and foreclosed homes for sale. But one of the best sites to go to is Homesales.gov. These are homes for sale by the federal government.

The HomeSales.gov website holds an interactive United States map that lets you search homes by state and city and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms desired. The site has a simple search portal providing a host of properties for sale.

Once you click on a property's address, you will end up on a page containing more information about the property: Address, County, Type (i.e., Residential-Single Family), List Price, As-is Value, Listing Date, Bid Period (in this area, you'll be able to find out whether or not a property has a pending contract), Property Details (number of beds/baths/year built, HOA Fees, FHA Qualification), and more.

Further, in the Details section, you will be able to view a full property conditions report. To see a sample Property Conditions Report, which contains info on the property's electrical, structural soundness, plumbing, and so much more, visit this link:  http://doc1.hometracker.com/pemco/forms/pcr/Feb/wk1/105-0....

Anyone can purchase a government home, but to place a bid or to submit an offer on one of these properties, you must work with a realtor, servicing agent or broker. Find, specifically, a HUD realtor to help you submit your offer on a HUD home. I was previously a HUD realtor and to become one I had to go through formal training to be labeled a HUD realtor. The training was not difficult, but there are definitely procedures HUD realtors must be aware of to be classified as such.

HUD provides counseling services on everything from buying a home to mortgage info and more to anyone seeking to purchase a home from the government. You can go to the main HUD website at HUD.gov or call the HUD housing counseling referral line at 800-569-4287 for more information on their counseling services.

Another good place to find foreclosed homes for sale is RealtyTrac. This is a paid membership service where you get, according to their website, exclusive access to the resources you need to research, buy, and sell distressed real estate. RealtyTrac offers a 7-day, free membership so you can test before buying (as of this article's printing).

RealtyTrac has fast become a premiere website for real estate industry statistics. They are often quoted in national media. I often quote their statistics on my blog, http://www.Foreclosure-Millionaire.com. RealtyTrac has gone a step further in their sorting mechanism in listing foreclosed homes for sale. They sort properties for sale in the following categories: pre-foreclosures, bank owned (REO), foreclosure auction, online auction, live auction, reo home sales, resale/MLS and for sale by owner.

Another good place to find information on foreclosed homes for sale is your state's MLS service(s). There are several MLS services out there. For example, for the State of Georgia, I would go to the Georgia MLS (GeorgiaMLS.com).

If I were searching in Georgia for foreclosed homes for sale, I would indicate in the search criteria of the Georgia MLS that I wanted to see all homes for sale in the price range of $3,000 to $25,000. These lower-priced, single family homes are bound to be foreclosures, so I'd simply contact the realtors for some of those listings in my preferred zip code and ask them to send me info on foreclosed homes for sale in my area.

Search engines can be your best guide for finding foreclosed homes for sale. Simply go to GOOGLE.com, or your preferred search engine, and key in "foreclosed homes for sale." You'll be thrown out to several websites listing foreclosed homes for sale.

Please do extensive research before you buy. Also, look at several properties before you plunk down your hard earned cash. And, finally, be prepared to put a little elbow grease and money into your newly purchased foreclosure. Companies like Foreclosure Cleanup, LLC, in Atlanta, http://www.foreclosurecleanup.biz, and tons of other similar companies popping up all over the country, can help you clean, clear, repair and paint your new investment.

Happy Searching!

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Foreclosure Cleanup, LLC specializes in clearing out and cleaning up homes that have been foreclosed upon in the Atlanta area. Foreclosure Cleanup, LLC is the authoring company of "How to Start a Foreclosure Cleanup Business" e-book. Website: http://www.ForeclosureCleaningBusiness.com. Cassandra Black is the owner of Foreclosure Cleanup, LLC.