That Las Vegas house is vacant and it looks like it is in foreclosure, how can I buy it?

The question gets asked often & many scenarios can play out with pre-foreclosure properties:

• The owner may catch up on payments
• The owner may get a loan modification
• The owner may file bankruptcy which could tie up the property longer
• The owner may list it as a short sale
• The owner may give back the title to the bank in a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure
• It may go to a trustee sale where a private investor buys it or goes “back to the bank”

The only way it MAY be listed in the MLS is if it is:

• Listed as short sale
• Gets declared in bankruptcy
• Goes back to the bank in a trustee sale
• Gets purchased by a private investor at the trustee sale
• Deed-in-lieu

Even in the above scenarios, lienholders can “bundle up notes” and sell a large lot of properties to private hedge funds.  Private investors purchasing a home at a trustee sale may also rent out the home rather than turn around and resell it.

In my experience I would say only about 50% of pre-foreclosure properties make it into the MLS in the first year after it goes to pre-foreclosure because so many scenarios can happen!

View the latest Las Vegas foreclosure homes for sale: