patrick.net

I'm intrigued. What service would one utilize to find underwater properties?

Thanks.

Don’t know if there is a service that specifically focus on that. Perhaps it could be a revenue stream for Patrick – creating a database of underwater (or likely underwater) homes. Mortgages and liens on real property are public data, as are assessed values, which are derived from perceived market value. So for most holds sold within the past decade, one could deduce with a high degree of probability in most cases, the likelihood of ones being underwater or not.

I called a couple of realt-whores this weekend to speak to them about your suggestion, Pocky (I had to take a shower after speaking with each of them - GF's complaining about the water bill).

They both said that most houses purchased between 2004 and 2008 in Oakland were more than likely underwater.

One said he had the tools to find out what the mortgage was for on properties through his MLS subscription but that it would be time consuming to compile this data. He suggested I just go to the auctions and duke it out with the professional investor scum that attend the auctions and told me some of the nightmares about foreclosure auctions (properties constantly getting pulled/postponed, the guys that are at every auction representing big investor companies, etc.)

The other suggested contacting sellers who had delisted their (the bank's) houses and seeing if they wanted to make a deal.

Either way, both realt-whores were less than enthusiastic about the prospect of finding and approaching people and offering to buy their house.

Both of them said the legwork would be up to me (though I don't have access to much of the data so it would be hard to do this alone).

The thing of it is, realt-whores are going to go for the easy money. And I don't blame them. When you have a ton of suckers out there who still haven't realized the complete uselessness of realt-whores, it is going to be much easier to fleece these people for the easy commission.

When you think about the kind of person a realt-whore typically is: uneducated, jaded, corrupt, dishonest, would stab his/her mother in the back for a few bucks, lazy, looking for the easiest possible way to profit regardless of the harm it causes the people who are making the biggest decision of their life, well... I think it would be an insurmountable challenge to find one who would help a buyer with a strategy that would actually require time and effort.

Well if this isn't a good strategy that sux.

I think this is really only a good way for agents to get listings, BUT they have a huge advantage - they will eat any fish they hook and try to sell it. The average buyer is looking for one specific house thus its a huge deal.

Also I think once an NOD is filed the loan owners get 100 letters a day from agents to list thier house, you would be added to pile of trash they get mostly. hmmm

PockyClipsNow says

1. find a trustworthy agent (good luck!) or at least a hungry one (ez!)

I went with "C" drag one out of retirement.

Malkovich says

They both said that most houses purchased between 2004 and 2008 in Oakland were more than likely underwater.

Probably reliable information.