One of the most difficult chores in any business is determining accurate data upon which to base your business decisions.  Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done.

 Many Investors rely on lists from nationally known companies, such as Realtytrac, to tell them which homes are in foreclosure within given cities or zip code areas.  The problem is, often the listings are old, and the properties have either reached a different status, or the home owners are now long gone and hard to track down. Many Lenders do not report their Lis Pendens filings to national listing services and so the record coming from national data centers can be incomplete. 

 Other services employ people to actually go to the court houses in major markets to gather Lis Pendens and other filings, but the coverage may be scattered and dependent on the timing and accuracy of the person getting the lead information.  Other lead generation services rely on homeowners who may be interested in selling, to fill out an online form asking for more information.  That list may be open to many thousands of investors; you’ll probably not have exclusive access to that information. 

 Many homes that are great Short Sale material may never make it to a foreclosure list.  Owners may have given up and be out of the picture. Owners may have arranged to have the properties listed with a Real Estate Agent, who may not even indicate that the property is Short Sale material when they market the property.  Lenders may be so backed up that a good Short Sale prospect may not even be listed for several months. 

 Even when you are diligent about driving around neighborhoods, it’s not always apparent which properties are in pre-foreclosure or which residents are hurting and about to fall behind in the mortgage. Watch for signs of neglect in the home—a yard that isn’t maintained or a house that needs to be painted.  These can be early indicators that a family is falling behind on mortgage payments, and you may be the first on the scene to help these homeowners out.

 Sometimes no national databases nor even careful local scouting will sort out the golden Short Sale nuggets.  You will either need to go to the court house regularly himself or herself to prospect the Lis Pendens filings, or they may want to hire someone to do this for them. 

 Other professionals like Mortgage Brokers, and Insurance Agents have large lists of homeowners who are clients and might give you some leads.

 You can also develop a strong team of local scouts.  Postal carriers and Fedex delivery people know who on their routes have received certified court documents and Lender notices lately.  They can also be on the lookout for vacant or neglected houses.

 Remember, a strong business is a diversified business.  Even if real estate agents are bringing you 40 new deals a month, you should always be on the looking for new methods to find deals.  Leverage your time so that you can spend it doing what makes you money – bringing in more qualified leads.