So, now that you have made the decision that the place to invest is in foreclosed properties, you have one more thing to do. You have to locate the appropriate foreclosure homes. There are lots of places to start your search for this kind of property, and I have 2 very general classifications: government foreclosures and reo properties.

There are a number of sources you might consult to learn more about government foreclosures. The Department of Veterans Affairs is one starting point, as is the Department of Housing and Urban Development. You might also look into the General Services Administration and see if the Office of Property Disposal has any listings. Other resources include the Treasury, Small Business Administration and Agricultural Departments, law enforcement sources such as the Marshals Service, and banking sources such as Fannie Mae and the FDIC.

If you're looking for houses that have been through bank owned real estate then check online for listings of REO properties. These are posted by a number of banks. Directories of banks which do this also exist. Otherwise, try finding REO properties through asset management companies. They are employed to help lenders dispose of these assets and will often list such properties on their own websites.

A good investment possibility is homes that are currently in pre-foreclosure situations. Public notices are available at the County Clerk which can be searched by anyone and will be registered at various stages of the foreclosure process. This allows you to find properties that are on their way to foreclosure and you the owners may be willing to sell in order to avoid foreclosure. Keep in mind that in order to make this type of investment you must have a good understanding of how foreclosures work.

When a bank or mortgage company forecloses on a property, they have to make the process public by printing a Notice of Sale in the town paper. By hunting through the relevant sections of your local paper, you can find these notices pretty easily. Make sure that you know exactly what you're looking at with any property that you buy at a trustee sale, though. These properties are often marketed just as they are, and may need extensive repairs or remodeling.

It could be well worth your while familiarizing yourself with the county website for your target market to see what resources they offer online for researching foreclosures in that market. This could be useful whether you are interested in acquiring properties via pre-foreclosure or at foreclosure auctions on the county courthouse steps.

The best strategy is to use multiple resources in searching for foreclosure homes rather than subscribing to one database. The most successful investors utilize several different listings in multiple categories. For instance, to maximize your options, it is best to include the inventories of several banks, asset managers, government departments, and the country clerk in your review. Diversifying your search in this way will give you a great advantage compared to other investors.

At some point, you may have made the decision to begin dabbling in foreclosure investing, but you haven't yet started since you don't yet have foreclosure properties. Two key groups of listings include government foreclosures and bank owned real estate, and it is useful to think in terms of these two groups, as there are numerous ways to identify foreclosure properties. A good investment possibility is homes that are currently in pre-foreclosure situations. A step in any foreclosure is that a Notice of Sale has to be placed in the local paper. Look for trustee sales in the section where public notices are in local publications and magazines.