A bank will lend money to a person in order to purchase a house. The bank is called the mortgagee and the person who borrows the money is called the mortgagor. In return the mortgagor agrees to make monthly payments to the mortgagee. If the mortgagor fails to make a payment as agreed then the mortgagee will declare the person in default. They will then foreclose on the property. Here is a guide on how to find foreclosures so you can buy a house at a discount.

Before the bank actually forecloses on the property they will contact the mortgagor and make a demand payment for the property. If the borrower fails to bring the loan current the bank will continue with the foreclosure process.

The bank is required to advertise the notice of a pending foreclosure for four consecutive weeks in the newspaper that is known as the legal organ for the county where the property is located. In bigger cities, this newspaper is probably not the main newspaper that you read every day. If you do not know which paper is the legal organ then you can call the deed room at the courthouse and they will tell you.

The best way to find foreclosures is to purchase this newspaper the morning it comes out. I said morning and not afternoon. There are some investors that have a system in place where they will purchase the newspaper at 5 AM when they are initially delivered. By noon they will have people knocking on doors of the properties that represent the best deal. Since you are competing against them then you need to get early access also.

Once you have identified a property then you can contact the owner yourself and see if you can work out an agreement to purchase the property before the bank forecloses. Reading the newspaper in search of foreclosure listings is the best way to purchase foreclosures.