How to Find Pre-Foreclosures in NYC & Nationwide

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on July 15, 2024.

Pre-foreclosures, or lis pendens, are properties at the very beginning stages of the foreclosure process in which the owner and/or borrower has defaulted on their mortgage payment, but still has time to reverse the process and keep or sell the property. Accordingly, learning how to find pre-foreclosures can lead you to new opportunities long before they appear on anyone else’s radar.

Specifically, knowing how to find pre-foreclosure homes efficiently will save you time, money and effort; maximize your ROI; and potentially lead you to your dream home or rough gem with great potential. As such, investors, brokers, developers, house flippers, and homebuyers who keep an eye on the pre-foreclosure sector can secure profitable deals and gain the edge over their competition.

Additionally, being skilled in how to find pre-foreclosure homes can empower you to find homes or investment properties in a more collaborative way than with foreclosures. It may even be a potentially safer method as you might secure more information about the target property from the current owner than you would with an already foreclosed property.

How Do I Find Pre-Foreclosures in My Area?

Similar to finding foreclosures, how you find pre-foreclosures depends on the time, labor and financial resources you’re willing to invest into prospecting for lis pendens.

How Do You Find Pre-Foreclosure Listings Most Commonly?

1. Public records: If you’re wondering “how do I find pre-foreclosure listings for free,” check your local county record, since lis pendens, notices of default and notices of sale are a matter of public record. Visit your county clerk in person or use the county’s online database to research notices of default, lis pendens or other similar legal filings to find the property address, owner’s name, outstanding debt amount and foreclosing lender. However, keep in mind that public records will contain limited information and crucial data — such as outstanding liens; property details and characteristics; and property photos — will be unavailable.
2. Local newspapers: Notices of default and lis pendens filings will usually be listed in the legal notices section of your print and online local newspaper. In this case, distressed properties are published as soon as the property or property owner receives notice and, thus, are guaranteed to have the latest information pertaining to pre-foreclosure cases. But, again, these will contain only basic information and require multiple time-intensive searches.
3. Local courthouse: Check notice boards for pre-foreclosure filings.
4. Auction houses: Most auction houses (whether digital or brick-and-mortar) will list properties before they go to auction, which allows you to make an offer before the property hits the block.
5. Drive by/explore in person: Driving around neighborhoods and looking for signs of distress is a classic approach in how to find pre-foreclosure houses. In this case, look for physical signs of neglect, such as overgrown lawns; peeling paint or other ignored maintenance; notices posted on doors; or “For Sale” signs accompanied by stickers noting “Recently Reduced.”
6. Direct mail campaigns: After identifying the defaulting owner, make a fair written offer of purchase to the owner. Be sure to emphasize your interest in buying the property before it’s foreclosed on
7. Real estate or foreclosure attorneys: Beyond just the potential of insider information, real estate and foreclosure attorneys are familiar with all of the legal requirements and pitfalls of buying a home in pre-foreclosure.

How Do I Find Pre-Foreclosures with Newer Methods?

1. Real estate agents & multiple listing services (MLS): Real estate agents and brokers have access to their local MLS, which can uncover distressed properties before they officially hit the market. They may also be aware of distressed properties through their network.
2. Real estate websites: Real estate websites gather information from a wide range of sources, including:
   1. Internet listings services: Usually, you can run at least a few free pre-foreclosure searches, but property information and lien details may be limited.
   2. Real estate data providers: Generally, real estate data providers like PropertyShark will have a larger pre-foreclosure database; officially sourced auction information; loan details; and property information, including building characteristics, tax and sale history, liens, potential risks like flood zones and much more. Plus, real estate data providers will usually have more robust and detailed search parameters with reliable results.
3. Credit counseling agencies: These agencies collaborate with homeowners who have defaulted on loans with a goal of avoiding foreclosures.
4. Title companies: Turn to a title company to check for encumbrances or liens of any type on target properties in order to identify hidden opportunities.
5. Banks, local lenders & credit unions: Banks and credit unions have dedicated departments for handling pre-foreclosures, foreclosures and real estate-owned properties (REOs). It’s also worth reaching out to smaller local lenders if you’re looking for pre-foreclosures.

How to Find NYC Pre-Foreclosure Listings in Minutes: PropertyShark’s Pre-Foreclosure Service

The easiest method for how to find pre-foreclosure listings in NYC* is PropertyShark’s Pre-Foreclosure service, which offers you a seamless experience with all of the necessary information centralized into one place. Here, you can access up-to-date pre-foreclosure listings from home or on the go — without manually searching through county records or newspapers or hiring a professional.

Whether you’re curious about how to find pre-foreclosure houses, condo units, or something else, sign up for a subscription (or try our three-day foreclosure trial) and discover how to find pre-foreclosure listings in your area quickly and with minimal effort. Not only can you explore details of the defaulted loan, but you can also research the property’s characteristics; foreclosure and sale history; and documents, as well as run accurate comparables based on similar sales in the area.

How to Find Pre-Foreclosures by Auction Details, Building Class, Debt, Location & Map

First, make sure you’re signed into your account and have an active Elite or Platinum membership (or have activated your three-day foreclosure trial). Otherwise, your access, search filters and tools will be severely limited.

Next, click the “Foreclosure” option in the top menu and select “New York City Pre-foreclosures” (or your appropriate location) to bring up the general pre-foreclosure page for NYC. Then, to narrow your search by location, use the left-hand menu to filter by location (including by map); building class; property and building characteristics; debt; and/or auction details.

1. Location: Choose your city, county, borough, or zip code or use the “Select by Location” option to filter by neighborhood, zip code, school district, community district, town or borough. You can also combine your foreclosure prospecting with advanced map layers from the Maps tool: Simply select your target borough at the bottom of the search menu.

2. Building class: Use the quick-search options at the top of the page to widen your search. Or, for more precise searches, go to the bottom of the left-hand menu and select your target building class from the drop-down menu or type in the building class code manually. 
3. Property characteristics: Specify the number of stories and units; square footage; lot depth; year built; and/or year renovated.
4. Debt: Set minimum and maximum outstanding mortgage or tax lien limits.
5. Auction details: Index number and lis pendens date.

Organize Your Search Results

Knowing how to efficiently find pre-foreclosures is not enough, though. As you narrow your search criteria and review results for quality leads, you also need to organize your results to quickly pull them up when needed or follow up on developments. To do so:

• Use the “Notes & Tags” function on individual listings to add them to your Watchlist.
• Write Notes pertaining to the property that only you can see.
• Schedule Follow-ups for potential leads.
• Select properties for printing.
• Export the results of your pre-foreclosure search to Excel or PDF.

Research Individual Foreclosures Deeper

PropertyShark’s pre-foreclosure listings include all of the data points available in public records or in your local newspaper’s legal notices section, as well as essential property characteristics, like the size of the property, year built, assessed value and more. What’s more, if you’re in need of even more data to make a decision, the pre-foreclosure listing will also have the property’s tax value, mortgage amount and date.

Additionally, you can also open the full property report directly from the listing. This report will contain even more information, such as tax class, sales history, financial documents, permits, violations, risk, occupancy, FAR, valuations, additional property characteristics and even the owner’s name.

You can also run highly customizable comparables directly from the foreclosure listing and even export your comps to Excel, CSV, Wintotal or PDF format.

Knowing how to find pre-foreclosures can unlock a wealth of opportunities for homebuyers and investors alike. That’s because pre-foreclosures offer a unique chance to secure deals long before they appear on anyone else’s radar. Overall, understanding how to efficiently locate and assess these properties can save you time, money, and effort, while also maximizing your return on investment and boosting your ability to capitalize on distressed property opportunities.

Disclaimer

Information provided on this page is purely informational. It is not and should not be regarded as investment advice. Individuals looking to invest in pre-foreclosed or distressed properties should always complete their own due diligence.

*Service available to Elite and Platinum clients in select California, New Jersey and New York counties.