Pre-foreclosure leads in Franklin County, OH

The state you are in decides whether this list is any good

In a non-judicial foreclosure state, the lender records a notice and the sale follows in a matter of weeks. The record is fresh, the deadline is real and dated, and the owner knows exactly how long he or she has. Texas is the sharpest case: a trustee sale happens on the first Tuesday of the month with roughly three weeks’ notice.

In a judicial state, foreclosure runs through the courts on a filing that can sit for one to three years. By the time you reach the owner, the case has often been resolved, refinanced, dismissed, or has simply gone quiet. The record still looks like a live lead and mostly is not.

We take that seriously enough that it changes what we pull. It is also why this is our smallest category by a wide margin — we would rather hold less of it than sell volume that does not convert.

What the conversation is really about

Not price, at first. An owner in foreclosure has usually spent months being contacted by people who want something, and a good share of those contacts were predatory. The first job is being a person who is straightforward about what you do and does not pretend to be a rescue service.

The second is timing, because the deadline is the deal. Whether you can actually close inside the window is the question that decides everything, and being honest when you cannot is worth more than the lead.