FInding Foreclosures in the Northern Virginia MLS

Short sales, foreclosures, bank owned, terms that we hear the press throwing around every day in Northern Virginia. Buyers want to know more about them and whether they are good deals. Agents are specializing in listing them and yet can you find them without spending hours searching through the MLS?

In a previous post I talked about the number of foreclosure properties that are not currently in the MLS at all and maybe coming in to the pipeline in the near future. However finding the ones that are in the MLS is no easy feat either. Agents are not taking the time to correctly identify them through a very simple process. Mark the field labeled "current financing" in the MRIS when they are entering a listing. Foreclosure, Pre-foreclosure, short sale they are all there to choose.

So doing a search this morning for detached homes in Lake Ridge yielded 5 properties listed as "foreclosure" using the financing flag. However, if I use the general remarks and put in the terms "foreclosure, REO, short sale" it yields 27 properties out of total of 109 properties on the market. Now experience tells me that if I go through those 109 properties I will find others that are actually in one of the above categories as well that the agents have labeled with another term.

For agents who are listing these properties please make them easier for your fellow agents to find. We might have clients who are interested in buying them. If we have to spend hours and hours reading ever remark in the MLS chances are that we are going to miss a couple that might have been good candidates for our clients. It is a simple process that could lead to one more property being SOLD instead of sitting on the market. For buyers who are interested in looking at foreclosures make sure that you are working with an agent that knows that there are more out there than a quick search is going to find.

More information on Northern Virginia Foreclosures

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As an Associate Broker with RE/MAX Allegiance in Northern Virginia and native of the area I can assist you whether you are buying, selling or renting a home anywhere in Northern Virginia. For more information about the area or my services you can check VaRealEstateTalk or my Northern Virginia website.

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