Once you've decided to start investing in foreclosures, you still have one big step left to handle. You must find the right foreclosure properties. There are numerous sources of foreclosure properties and I find it helpful to divide the sources into two broad categories: government foreclosures and bank owned property.

There are many different sources when thinking about government foreclosures. A few of the available sources of information include: va foreclosures within the Department of Veterans Affairs, hud foreclosures from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of the Treasury, the Small Business Administration, the Marshals Services, the USDA (Department of Agriculture), the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) and Fannie Mae.

Regarding bank owned homes, often, banks will have REO lists on their Internet page, and you can even find these banks on the Internet as well. Asset management companies also often list bank owned homes. They work to assist lenders to get rid of assets, and so they often have REO properties for banks that are their customers on their Internet page.

It is also very important to look at pre-foreclosure properties as a possible source for your investments. To be able to capitalize on this option you really need to have a decent understanding of the foreclosure process. But at various stages of the process notices are recorded with the County Clerk and these public records may be searched by anyone which gives you the possibility of locating properties that are heading towards foreclosure. You can then approach the owners about acquiring the property prior to foreclosure and help them out of a sticky situation.

When a bank or mortgage company forecloses on a property, they have to make the process public by printing a Notice of Sale in the town paper. By hunting through the relevant sections of your local paper, you can find these notices pretty easily. Make sure that you know exactly what you're looking at with any property that you buy at a trustee sale, though. These properties are often marketed just as they are, and may need extensive repairs or remodeling.

It would also be beneficial to become familiar with the website for the county that is your target area to make use of the resources that it offers for searching for foreclosures in the area. This will be useful for you whether you are looking for pre-foreclosure properties, or foreclosure auctions on the steps of the county courthouse.

So you can see there are many different sources of foreclosure properties and I encourage you to use multiple sources rather than just subscribing with one online foreclosure database. If you are reviewing the inventories of a few banks, asset managers, several government departments and the county clerk you will have a larger range of properties to choose from. And this will obviously give you a big advantage over other investors.