patrick.net

Google maps now has foreclosures on the real estate part. Not sure how accurate the data is though.

For example

You might want to try PropertyShark.com. They have a lot of information important to someone looking at property, not just foreclosure notices. I usually find a property of interest first and then search for it on PropertyShark. I don't do a lot of broad foreclosure searches but that function is there, I just had a look at it. The site is free although I think there are premium services you might want at some point.

Good luck!

Google maps now has foreclosures on the real estate part. Not sure how accurate the data is though.
For example

I was checking out Google Maps foreclosure data after seeing it mentioned in the daily links. In the area I was looking at (94061), they were mostly pre-foreclosure with mortgage holders having missed at least a payment or cases where a NOD had been filed. Some properties don't list an address and to get info about them, you get pointed towards a variety of websites with somewhat sketchy names. I cross referenced a few of the REOs on PropertyShark and they looked to have been repossessed last year and already sold to new owners. I inferred that the sketchy sites are interested in maximizing page views and don't care to remove stale listings.

At the very least, it serves me as a way to find what look like case studies of horrible house purchases over the last six years.

I use RealtyTrac to get basic information and then cross reference the square footage with Zillow to get the address. To complete the circle (verify that you indeed have the correct property) use PropertyShark to get the owners name and then look up the owner on the County Recorder's website, where you should see a NOD or NOTS has been filed.

Oh, it gets better. If the owner appears to be a developer in trouble, check the civil court records. You might find something like: the developers "were engaged in or were about to engage in business transactions for which their remaining assets were unreasonably small, and they believed would and intended to incur debts beyond their ability to pay".

trulia.com

~Misstrial