How to find short sales and foreclosures

So you’re buying a house and you’re thinking to yourself, “I want a deal, and in this market I should be able to find someone who is represented by an amateur (who blew their staging and marketing) and will sell their house for less than it’s worth. Or better yet, someone who has to sell or they’ll be foreclosed on.” (That’s a dangling participle, if you’re keeping score)

You’re in luck. Short sales are being advertised.
You only need to search for the code words. Here is what the code words for foreclosure are showing us today:

“Short Sale” – 18 homes and condos for sale in the greater Seattle area
“Motivated Seller” – 125 homes for sale in the greater Seattle area
“Foreclosure” – 11 homes and condos for sale in the greater Seattle area

If you want to see foreclosures as they come on the market, you can save a search with one of those keywords and subscribe to get emails every time a foreclosure comes on the market.

While doing this survey I spotted another example of mediocre representation. Directly from the description of one of the foreclosure homes: “All offers will be reviewed 07/31/2007 and may be subject to bank approval.” The home is still for sale. Oops! Maybe the agent should have included more than one photo. Or more than 2 sentences in the description. Seller, you need to ditch that loser and try out Estately Agent Match.

Have more words we should add to the list? Let me know if the comments and I’ll add ’em.