Foreclosure?

Ok, I'm positive this information is around here somewhere, but there's so much information/discussion I can never find something specific. So forgive the stupid question...

Is there a way for me to tell if a specific house is in foreclosure? One house on my way to work dropped it's for sale sign and I suspect it's being foreclosed. Another has a note posted to the door a month or so after the sign disappeared, but I can't read it from the street. I suspect foreclosure as well. How do I find out?

Comments

  • Go to the King County website. Look up the seller's name or tax id number and search that property for a Notice of Trustee's Sale.
  • Lake Hills Renter,
    ...Or shoot me an email with the address. I'll see what I can dig up using NWMLS records.
  • jjl wrote:
    Go to the King County website. Look up the seller's name or tax id number and search that property for a Notice of Trustee's Sale.


    Do you mean the parcel viewer?
  • Lots of fun info can be had by going to King County's Record search too.
  • parcel viewer won't show you if it's in the process of being foreclosed. you will need the owner's name and to search county records for a notice of trustee sale. you can use the parcel viewer to get the owner's name though.
  • edited April 2009
    parcel search = find the owners name
    records search = find the NOTS

    two sites to get to your goal

    records search is trickier, as there are many people with the same name

    or just do what Tim says below!
    1. Head to the King County Parcel Viewer and pull up the home by address to obtain the parcel number.
    2. Head to King County Records and in the records search form, select document type of "NOTICE OF TRUSTEE SALE" then put the parcel # from step 1 in the "Parcel # From:" and "To:" fields. Leave everything else blank and hit "Search."
    3. If you get any results, then yes, the property in question is in the process of foreclosure.
  • Thanks for the explicit instructions, Tim. And thanks everyone else for trying, but I'm really dumb apparently.

    Looks like the house with the posted sign had a notice of trustee sale in November.Weird that there are 3 results for the same property and same name. Does this mean it's gone into foreclosure 3 times for the same person?

    08/19/2005 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE SALE
    12/26/2007 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE SALE
    11/05/2008 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE SALE
  • Thanks for the explicit instructions, Tim. And thanks everyone else for trying, but I'm really dumb apparently.

    Looks like the house with the posted sign had a notice of trustee sale in November.Weird that there are 3 results for the same property and same name. Does this mean it's gone into foreclosure 3 times for the same person?

    08/19/2005 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE SALE
    12/26/2007 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE SALE
    11/05/2008 NOTICE OF TRUSTEE SALE
    Yup. Not all Notices of Trustee Sale result in an actual seizure by the bank. It's a 90 day notice that if you don't get current on your mortgage, the bank is going to take the house.

    So it's entirely feasible for someone to be delinquent long enough to get an NTS, then figure out some way to get current, then go delinquent again later, then get current, etc.
  • Hi LHR,

    Multiple NTS are not uncommon. A homeowner might receive a Notice of Trustee Sale and then gather the money together to make the loan current and deliver it to the trustee on time to cancel the sale, etc, just like The Tim mentions. Another way to delay or postpone a sale would be if a homeowner files Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which automatically gives the homeowner more time. Then, at the last minute, they could switch from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7, thereby delaying the sale even further.

    Sometimes a bank will delay the sale if a bona fide offer comes in as a short sale, giving loss mitigation time to review the sale and figure out if the bank is better off financially foreclosing or accepting the short sale.

    You're not dumb, it's just the "other side" of mortgage lending. The dark side; the Darth Vader side of the business that's not readily known.
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