Free data sources?

One of the costs of doing business as a foreclosure buyer is purchasing the foreclosure data records themselves. In perspective, this cost is relatively incidental to the big picture and huge profits most investors will make, using this data.

Quality pre-foreclosure data services will charge you between $50 and $150 per month, for a subscription to their data. Their data will be made available to you on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, depending on the frequency of their publishing and the cycles of recording at the local County Recorders Office.

While these fees are usually more than fair, you may be able to obtain the same data, from your local title insurance company.

If you have a professional relationship with a local title insurance company, they are usually pleased to provide you with FREE customer support. This can include providing you with the current foreclosure data records, or a compiled data file containing all of the sales comparables (comps) of properties within your local area for the past 12 months.

Contact your title company's customer service department and ask for their "farm person". This is the person that typically prepares and compiles data lists for local real estate agents (mailing lists, historic data lists, etc.).

The Shark Bait Help instructions on Importing Sales Comps explains which data fields are required for Shark Bait's comp purposes, and what format the data needs to be compiled into.

You may also contact a local real estate agent. Try to find one with good computer skills, beyond the basics that most agents have. Most agents only know how to log on to the MLS, do their search and print it out. Offer to the agent your pledge to give them all of your listings to sell the foreclosure properties you intend to purchase, in exchange for their support in providing you with sales comp data from the MLS. They help you on the front end, and you help them on the back end!

If the agent is reluctant, or suggests that providing you with data is against the MLS rules, don't argue. Just find another agent, more savvy, and more willing to work with you. There is nothing wrong with their supplying you with this data, it happens everyday. Remind them that they are effectively providing you with MLS data when they either hand you a property listing, printed handout, or an email with listings and detailed property information. That's MLS data, just not the entire MLS database.

Be a shrewd foreclosure investor ("shark") and surround yourself with a shrewd team of professionals, willing to work with you on an ongoing basis. This is how the real pros do it!

< back