Type “Foreclosures” into Google, and you will find thousands of websites willing to help.  Only a few of these websites provide primary source information, however;  the rest of the search results are usually Realtor websites, often cleverly disguised by using official words such as “CityForeclosures.com” or “REOCity.com”. 

You can replace “City” with a city name and it is likely you will be taken to a Realtor website. Nothing wrong with Realtor Websites (we maintain an extensive one), but you must understand the difference between the information they provide and Foreclosures.com or RealtyTrac.com.   

RealtyTrac.com and Foreclosure.com obtain their listings from the County Records when a “Notice of Trustee Sale” is recorded. Many of the listings are not for sale yet and may never be listed for sale. 

The information they provide does not include complete address information or many property details. To obtain the full address, ownership information, etc. you must pay a subscription fee of $49.95 per month on Foreclosure.com. I assume the price is about the same on RealtyTrac;  I could not find the cost on their website but I assume they tell you when you register for their free trial.

I noticed a few differences in layout and content on RealtyTrac & Foreclosures.com:

http://www.Foreclosures.com: It is easier to view a list of properties and the pages aren’t cluttered with advertising as in RealtyTrac, but they do not give you a street. I also found almost five times as more properties on RealtyTrac when I ran a zip code search on 85641.

http://www.RealtyTrac.com: There are too many ads cluttering the pages, but it is easy to see information, including the street, about the properties. They also include an aerial photo, which is useful for viewing a snapshot of the neighboring homes.

The information on these lists can be helpful if you are planning to purchase a property at the Trustee Sale, but the home may also be under contract which could postpone the sale. I imagine you could also contact the owners directly, but they may be under contract with a Realtor.

Properties that are “Sold” at Trustee Sales are often not sold at all; the Lender often keeps the property as the bids are often too low. The Lender will then list the property, usually through an agent they have a relationship with. It sometimes takes a week or two after the Trustee Sale before the home is listed on MLS.

Type “Foreclosures Tucson” into Google, and you will find pages of Realtor websites willing to help you.  Some of the websites will have searches specific to foreclosures, while most websites will offer searches of all properties, regardless of status.

Searching all properties in an area, including Foreclosures, Short Sales, Relocations and “Regular” listings, gives you a better idea of market values in the area. You may also miss a good value by searching only Foreclosures; A property does not have to be a foreclosure to be foreclosure priced.  

The best part about searching on MLS is it only shows you property that is available and has owners that are willing to sell. RealtyTrac.com & Foreclosure.com include all properties with Trustee Sale Notices and unless you are Buying at auction, it may be difficult to locate interested Sellers from this list.

RealtyTrac.com and Foreclosure.com are also often out of date; homes may have been sold, Trustee Sales postponed, etc. The sales status of homes on MLS is usually updated the same day.

Our objective in designing InsideTucsonRealEstate.com was to provide the absolute best, single-source resource for information and advice pertaining to the sale or purchase of real estate in Tucson & Southern Arizona. We have also included extensive search capabilities into our website, as we know that over 90% of Buyers and Sellers search for homes on the Internet before contacting a Realtor.