What's the best way to contact homeowners facing foreclosure?

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Permalink Reply by HUD Foreclosed on June 9, 2008 at 6:07pm

Hi Tom,

It really varies from one market to the next. Your best bet is to try a little of everything and see what generates the best results.

I would say that door knocking is the most personal and will yield you the most information, especially if you are a "people person" and don't mind talking to neighbors and anyone else who might be a good source of information about the homeowner's situation, the condition of the property, and anything else you might want to know.

Phone calls are another powerful way to break the ice and interact with homeowners on a more personal level. If you have good phone skills, this is the way to go. If not, it's something you should work on. If you don't want to work on your phone skills, then you should probably consider auctions and REOs instead of pre-foreclosures.

If you can't get the homeowner's direct phone number, try calling neighbors and relatives. You'd be amazed at how quickly you can find what you're looking for (and more!), especially if you present yourself as someone who is trying to HELP the person, as opposed to someone who is trying to take advantage.

If you're a little more reserved, you could send out a series of letters and wait to see if you get any bites.

Personally, I would try all three in parallel.

To your success!

HUD Foreclosed

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Permalink Reply by Claudia Batson on June 15, 2008 at 11:14pm

Hi Tom. I work for a Company who contact homeowners in default. They believe that personal contact (door knocking) should be the first attempt. If unable to reach then a phone call can be made, but the personal contact seems to work best.

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Permalink Reply by HUD Foreclosed on June 15, 2008 at 11:35pm

Thanks for your feedback, Claudia. Feel free to include the name of your company in this thread as well as your profile so the rest of the community can get more information. What else does your company do besides contact homeowners in default? We'd love to get more of those folks into the network so we can connect them with people (professionals, buyers, etc.) who can help them out of their financial problems.

Thanks!

-HUD Foreclosed

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Permalink Reply by Claudia Batson on June 16, 2008 at 10:54am

I am a Realtor working for INTERO Real Estate Services in Woodland Hills. I've also partnered with Titanium Soluctions Inc., a company who hires Realtors like myself to contact homeowners in default. Titanium Solutions Inc. is being hired by major Mortage Lenders in order to connect the homeowner in default back with the lender. The goal is to assist the homeowners to prevent foreclosure of their home and to workout a solution with the lender. However, reality is that appr. 75% of homeowners are forces to sell their home. That is when I come in and assist them with the short sale of their home. At that time I would be looking for qualified people to purchase their discounted home.

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Permalink Reply by conniej on July 10, 2008 at 4:29pm

Cool. What a great service. I wish we could get more homeowners in default to use this site. It would be a great way to help them out of their situation without ruining their credit. The problem is that most of them are in denial. They hope the problem is going to fix itself, or that the government or some charity is going to bail them out.

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Permalink Reply by Claudia Batson on October 14, 2008 at 9:54pm

You are correct Connie, people in default are in denial and just do nothing until it's too late. Once they get the eviction notice is when they are looking for help. Unfortunately it's too late then. It's been a while since I wrote my first response. Since then bank are working even harder on modifying loans. I've also found out that it's not so easy to put someone into default. They have to contact the owner first and do everything they can do to work something out. At least that's what I was told by an attorney. Hopefully soon, or at least by next year, all of these foreclosures will stop.

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