13 Best Ways How to Find Foreclosures to Get a List of Bank-Owned Properties in Colorado (Free & Paid Methods)
From this guide to finding foreclosure deals for real estate investors, you will learn 13 effective ways to get leads on pre-foreclosure homes as well as those already repossessed by lenders.
I will show you the easiest ways as well as the ones that require more time investment. The latter are free and, besides that, offer the benefits of building a network of real estate professionals.
I’m Bob Vieira, the brains behind Universal Short Sales, the fastest-growing short sale processing firm nationwide.
Let’s get down to business.
PropTech Platforms
Real Estate Bees
Real Estate Bees (REB) is an online platform designed for industry professionals looking to take their real estate business to the next level. It provides access to robust tech stack, statistical data, comprehensive informational resources, and much more.
This includes pre-foreclosure and REO leads for real estate agents, investors, and wholesalers. All the leads are strictly generated via inbound marketing channels unlike data scraping, aggregation, and other outbound methods used by most other platforms.
Delinquent property owners from all over the US utilize the REB platform to find reputable home buying companies in Colorado who’d be interested in acquiring their distressed property — so they are highly motivated.
As a user of the platform, you can get access to these distressed properties, submitted by other industry professionals, absolutely FREE! You simply need to sign up to DealAlert, which is an advanced, yet free, property matching engine developed by Real Estate Bees.
In addition, you can also access distressed properties, submitted directly by property owners, by purchasing motivated seller leads through our advanced Lead Marketplace.
Other Platforms
Besides Real Estate Bees, there are many other tools in the market tailored to meet the needs of real estate investors.
They include various real estate wholesaling tools, property investment software, and real estate investing lead generation software.
These platforms offer a wealth of distressed property leads, including pre-foreclosures and repossessed homes, with automated connection to popular CRM software for real estate investors.
Via the following tools, you can discover both pre-foreclosure and REO homes to buy (along with other motivated seller types):
Additionally, several tools specialize in finding pre-foreclosure properties while being short on repo homes:
Foreclosure.com
Foreclosure.com distinguishes itself as one of the foremost REO search engines. With this website, it’s super easy to find foreclosed properties.
Like other SaaS tools, it offers a few packages with varying prices and functionality. At around $40 per month, you will get access to an amount of leads that will likely be enough for you.
The platform doesn’t require any special training for finding foreclosures online. A regular internet user will be able to figure it out quickly.
The focal point of its interface is a map where you can search foreclosures by address with ease. Simply click on your desired state to access comprehensive foreclosure data.
Let’s dive into another useful method concerning where to find cheap foreclosed homes for sale.
Auction.com
Auction.com also distinguishes itself as one of the best places to find foreclosures. It is the largest real estate auction platform in the United States.
The site offers an extensive inventory that offers both foreclosed properties and pre-foreclosures, short sale deals included.
Being an auction platform, it doesn’t charge subscription fees, rather having you pay a buyer’s premium only when your bid has won the sale.
Being one of the best websites to find foreclosures, it offers even more than real estate auctions. On the site, you can also buy other types of property that don’t classify as real estate.
The only drawback I can tell you about from the top of my head is that more often than not you won’t be able to apply your property investment due diligence checklist before purchase.
Actually, this is true for all real estate auctions. Just don’t forget about it, especially if you are a newbie who can’t afford buying a property and then find out it will require too serious repairs to make a profit.
Zillow
Perhaps, you’ve already tried Zillow: it’s one of the largest real estate websites nationwide. If you haven’t, you will easily figure out how to look up foreclosures there.
Zillow enjoys global recognition, with many investors leveraging its platform to find distressed properties for wholesaling or flipping among other Colorado property listings.
Zillow has a user-friendly interface. To find foreclosures in Colorado on Zillow, log in, enter the desired city or county, and then apply filters to refine your search.
For getting a foreclosed home, you have the option to select “foreclosures” or “foreclosed” in the “listing type” section in the dropdown menu.
In the footer of the site, there is also a link to short sales.
Colorado Multiple Listing Services (MLS)
An MLS is a valuable tool investors can use to get REO listings, but it necessitates a real estate license for access.
If you lack one, just ask a real estate agent to procure foreclosures on MLS for you in exchange for a fee.
Multiple listing services in Colorado look pretty much the same in terms of functionality. In the “property search” section, you’ll come across a dropdown menu presenting multiple options.
While browsing homes for sale in Colorado, opt for foreclosures, pre-foreclosures, or short sales in the filters. Then tailor your search according to your criteria: bathrooms and bedrooms, size, and other features.
That’s how you’ll be able to find foreclosures on MLS.
These resources keep me in the know as a realtor, are easiest to navigate, and the most reliable.
Colorado Real Estate Wholesalers
Investors who look for foreclosed homes should consider working with property wholesalers in Colorado.
Wholesalers get pre-foreclosure and REO deals from motivated sellers, including lenders, and offer them to real estate investors in Colorado at a fee.
You may ask, ‘why do I need to pay a middleman when I can just find a motivated seller myself?’ If this is your goal, you may skip this method.
But if you need to find a property and close on it fast, a wholesaler is well worth the fee. Many investors like finding wholesale real estate deals because they are pre-negotiated.
You don’t need to go back and forth with the owner about the price and determine how motivated they really are. The wholesaler has already done this for you.
If you don’t know how a real estate wholesaling transaction works, here is a quick overview.
A wholesaler finds a distressed seller, qualifies them, and does all other necessary steps to come to an agreement to buy the house for less than it actually costs.
The wholesaler and the homeowner sign a contract where the wholesaler’s name is written down as the buyer.
But instead of buying this property, at closing, the wholesaler assigns this contract to you, and it’s you who purchases the house instead of the wholesaler.
For this service, you pay the wholesaler an assignment fee, which is, of course, lower than the difference between the as-is value of the house and what you paid for it, so you still make a profit.
To delve deeper and gain insights into this strategy, consider exploring the beginner’s guide on how to start flipping real estate contracts.
You can further familiarize yourself with the regulations governing wholesaling houses in Colorado.
If a wholesaler is good at motivated seller lead generation and has many active agreements with motivated sellers at the same time, you can get a list of foreclosures in your area to pick from.
As you embark on your journey into house flipping as a career, this may be the easiest way for you to find properties to flip.
Most real estate wholesalers have direct access to homeowners and are the first in contact with homeowners facing foreclosures.
Sourcing foreclosures is not easy. A homeowner must accept the help being offered and a knowledgeable real estate professional is needed to negotiate with the bank.
In Colorado, transparency and communication is needed between the title company, bank, county trustee, and homeowner to ensure a sale can proceed before the property goes to auction.
In short, it takes a full team with experience to get the deal done. Most real estate agents don’t have this kind of experience (I’m also a licensed agent).
Colorado Real Estate Agents
If you are open to working with intermediaries, REO agents can also get you a foreclosed homes list.
REO, an abbreviation for Real Estate Owned, refers to properties seized by banks upon completing the foreclosure process. REO agents are the ones who market those properties to have them sold ASAP.
They list them on various websites with REO property search, like the aforementioned Zillow and Foreclosure.com, and implement other sales strategies.
As such, Colorado realtors serving lenders often have multiple bank-owned listings under their belt waiting for you to buy them.
Establishing a relationship with investment realtors in Colorado can be advantageous for investors as this is a way to find REO properties before they go public and become available to your competitors.
Real estate agents should be well connected. If they work regularly with investors looking for foreclosures, they should have tight relationships with those in the know.
This means realtors have relationships with short sale processors, title companies, banks, lawyers, homeowners and wholesalers.
These relationships should result in the realtor being in the know for their specialized/local area when it comes to foreclosure deals.
Realtors also have access to the many different listing services. They can then bring these foreclosure deals to their investors, keeping it all in one spot.
Many times, a homeowner will reach out to a real estate agent to list their home before they are actually foreclosed upon, especially in a market like we are in right now where many homeowners have equity in their home.
A realtor will have access to these listings in their MLS system.
Colorado Foreclosure Attorneys
Foreclosure attorneys in Colorado specialize in protecting homeowners or Colorado real estate lenders, depending on whom they serve, in foreclosure and short sale-related cases.
Sometimes, a dispute can be resolved by selling a property. This is where a foreclosure or short sale attorney in Colorado might contact you, helping you find repossessed houses for sale.
By offering assistance and demonstrating how your business can contribute value to theirs, you can foster mutually beneficial partnerships.
Don’t hesitate to offer them a referral fee as well, for extra motivation. But do this carefully as an attorney’s professional code may not allow being compensated for referrals.
Colorado Short Sale Processors
Colorado short sale processing companies are in the business of helping homeowners and homebuyers undertake the short sale procedure with minimum delay and no chances to fail it completely.
Purchasing a short sale house entails a lengthy and intricate journey, often spanning several months or even forever if you don’t know what you are doing.
This is why short sales are rather an unpopular (therefore less competitive!) investment property type among home flippers and landlords.
By having a reliable short sale processor by your side, you get a double benefit:
- They forward you deals.
- They take care of processing a short sale.
Take into account that it’s you who will pay for their services since they serve homeowners who, to get qualified for a short sale by their lender, must be in true financial hardship. This means they literally can’t pay.
Make sure to count the processor’s fee in your calculations of projected profit.
You can learn more about what short sale negotiators do for the seller and how they process short sales.
Colorado Real Estate Lenders
Sometimes, you don’t have to use any third-party services to get REO listings from banks. Why not try to contact them directly?
Gather phone numbers of local lending companies and tell them you need to find distressed properties such as repo homes that they probably have and are trying to get rid of.
Banks are highly interested in such offers because for them repossessed properties are unnecessary assets that they need to liquidate ASAP.
Real estate isn’t lenders’ niche, so they don’t want to take care of managing houses that are also likely deteriorating (if the debtor didn’t pay their mortgage, they may haven’t maintained their house either).
Smaller local banks are prime targets for sourcing. They often offer a more accessible avenue to connect with decision-makers.
In many cases, you’re just a call or two away from speaking with the one who oversees REO property sales.
Larger banks are normally less convenient in this regard, but you should try them, too.
Colorado Courthouses
This is a classic way to find foreclosed houses. However, with all those fancy online platforms, it has become less popular. But it’s still a way to get a foreclosed homes list for free!
Moreover, to find leads for wholesale real estate via a courthouse (or whatever official name it has in your county), often you’ll not even need to go there in person.
Just access your county’s website and see if it has an option to browse lis pendens right there.
Lis pendens are notices that basically show Colorado mortgage loan servicing companies putting homes into the pre-foreclosure stage.
Don’t forget about tax foreclosure properties. They are about to go to the sheriff’s auction for delaying property tax payments.
Since it’s the local government who is selling those homes, its website is the primary source where you can find properties with unpaid taxes.
Once you get a list of foreclosures from the courthouse and start making calls, you may get frustrated because the contact info of a homeowner is wrong.
What you need to do in this case is called real estate skip tracing — finding homeowners’ contact details by using their property address.
There is various real estate investor skip tracing software. It can swiftly provide contact information, including phone numbers, emails, and even social media profiles — a valuable tool for an investor to find motivated sellers.
Now, let’s explore another avenue you can use to find foreclosures in your area for free.
The counties’ public trustee’s office is where you can gain public access to foreclosure listings.
You will need to know the counties of the areas you are looking in. The city of Denver also holds its own database.
Some counties are better at giving timely information on these listings. The state used to keep a centralized list but this stopped in 2021.
You may find that these lists are not updated often or out of date. So, sifting through them can be time consuming and often frustrating.
Public records are the fastest way to find out about foreclosures because this is where the bank files to start the foreclosure process. It is straight to the source.
The potential downfall is most homeowners will tell you they’ve already taken care of it by the time it hits the public record and usually they haven’t.
You will want to go to the public trustee and foreclosures in the county in which you are looking. This will also give you the information to buy foreclosures at auction.
Bank Websites
To find out about foreclosures online, you can simply visit a bank’s official website.
As banks are interested in investors inquiring about their bank-owned repossessed homes for sale, they do their best to make it easier for you to find bank-owned properties for free.
Many banks have a free search tool right on their sites. Especially the largest firms like Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
Most often, their search has the same functionality as Zillow and similar sites do. Just adjust the state to browse bank foreclosures in Colorado and then set up the filters to show you homes with the specs you need.
Now, here’s one more piece of advice on finding foreclosed homes.
HUD Foreclosures
A notable chunk of the foreclosed properties were bought with government loans. HUD-backed mortgages are among the widest-used.
When HUD seizes those homes, it adds them on its website — hudhomestore.gov — another convenient resource for finding foreclosed homes for sale for free.
To find HUD foreclosed homes, once you arrive on the homepage, head to the central section where you can search HUD foreclosures.
Their foreclosed home search lets you browse listings by location, size, and other features.
Here is how you get free motivated seller leads, which is amazing when you are only starting a house flipping business and don’t want to heavily invest in marketing just yet.
Survey of Industry Experts
Which of the following resources do you use to find foreclosed and pre-foreclosed properties in Colorado?
Which of the following real estate professionals can be the best source of foreclosure deals for an investor in Colorado?
Get Expert Training to Find Upcoming Foreclosures Like a Pro
I am Bob Vieira, the proud founder and proprietor of Universal Short Sales, the fastest-growing short sale processing company nationwide.
Drawing upon my wealth of knowledge about short sales and pre-foreclosures, I’ve assembled an extensive resource for investors and made it totally free of charge.
My course is called Pre-Foreclosure Fast Lane. It consists of three phases:
- Short Sale and Pre-foreclosure Fundamentals
- Lead Generation
- How to Monetize Pre-Foreclosures and Short Sales
Furthermore, I’m excited to unveil my exclusive 12-step methodology to process short sale transactions — a valuable addition to the main modules.
This is my free gift to all investors who want to achieve financial freedom via investing in pre-foreclosures and short sales. Enjoy!
What Is the Primary Pitfall to Watch Out for When Investing in Foreclosures in Colorado?
When investing in foreclosures, the primary pitfall is not filing the proper documents to halt the sale before it goes to auction.
In Colorado, it’s a “Notice of Intent to Cure” that is filed with the county and accepted by the bank.
Once the sale processes, the funds must go directly to the county trustee and then dispersed to the bank.
If the funds from the sale go directly to the bank, there is a chance it can get lost in the hundreds of bank departments that don’t always communicate.
If the payoff is sent directly to the bank from closing, it can still end up going to auction and that is a mess to untangle.
Poor maintenance is often an issue in foreclosures. Major issues like water damage, foundation problems, electrical and plumbing issues may not have been taken care of.
Even the smaller issues like appliances that aren’t working can eat into an investor’s profit.
Foreclosure homes may also be left in poor overall condition, meaning they may need to be gutted and rebuilt studs up.
An experienced investor, however, will be able to spot these downfalls and know when a foreclosure will make a good investment.
I would also keep in mind that buying a foreclosure can sometimes be a slow process. There is a lot of dealing with banks and different red tape to cut through.
Home prices in Colorado have increased considerably over the last couple of years.
You will want to research to understand property values in the neighborhood and the potential for appreciation.
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About the author
Bob Vieira is the Founder and Managing Partner of Universal Short Sales, LLC. While serving clients as a licensed Realtor, he realized there was a need for a knowledgeable company, specializing in the short sale sector. Bob is an industry expert with a passion for guiding homeowners through the short sale process.