Find bank foreclosed properties in cities that have been topping foreclosure charts over the past months and follow the strategies of investors snapping up bargain-priced properties in cities like Detroit, Miami, Las Vegas and Phoenix.
According to Barclays Capital, there are about 639,000 lower-priced foreclosed houses available for sale from mortgage lenders and banks across the country, with most of them in Florida, Arizona, California, Nevada and Michigan.
These five states and their major cities have been topping charts of state and metro area foreclosure rates since last year.
Florida economist and real estate analyst Lewis Goddkin said that foreclosure-topping cities like Miami and Detroit are being deluged by investors who account for about 80 percent of buyers in these cities.
According to housing analysts, despite a slowdown in foreclosure activity in November, as shown in a recent report on nationwide foreclosures, the total number of 306,627 foreclosure postings still showed a high level of activity. The pace of foreclosure still rose by 18 percent from last year and the number of properties listed for foreclosure auctions still rose by 32 percent from the same month last year.
Real estate investor Jeremy Burgess, who has been buying a lot of bank foreclosed properties in Michigan over the past year, said that investors who know where to find foreclosures and how much money to spend can capitalize on the foreclosure crisis. He said he has purchased foreclosed homes at bargain prices in Detroit.
Investors like Burgess, according to analysts, represent the new types of flippers in the real estate market. These investors are dealing in cash and they know where to unload their cash and make profits in the short term or in the long term.
During the first months of the housing meltdown, flippers were blamed for their contribution to the record numbers of abandoned foreclosures across the country because they bought properties with low down payments, and therefore with low level of commitments.
During these times, when the competition for bargain-priced foreclosures is fierce, flippers are using cash, thereby eliminating the risk of property abandonment when things turn bad.
Based on foreclosure activity in November, investors have more opportunities in the four states ? California, Florida, Michigan and Illinois -- which still account for more than half of total foreclosure activity in the U.S.
Arizona and Nevada are also still profitable hunting grounds for bank foreclosed properties despite a slowdown in foreclosure in Nevada.
