How can I find out if my landlord is in foreclosure?

The San Diego Union-Tribune passes along good advice:

“… you’re going to need to dig a little. First off, be wary if the lease you are signing is too good to be true…. A home or apartment offered for below the market rate or a deal that requires several months of rent upfront are clues that things might not be on the up-and-up. You might also want to check if there is a notice of default on the property…. If you see a notice of default, run, don’t walk, away. Once you are in a property, it’s a good idea to run the same type of check every couple of months to avoid any unwelcome surprises.”

To find out if a notice of default has been filed on the property in which you are renting you can inquire at the local courthouse or search Foreclosure.com.

Remember, too, that we now offer “Foreclosure Street Alerts,” which will notify you via email as soon as a house on your street goes into foreclosure. To receive these free alerts click here.

The sourced article also sheds light on what to do about payment, as well as what your legal rights are as a tenant (will you be evicted?), if you find yourself living in a foreclosed property.

Rent vs buy/own a house

To rent or to own, that is the question.

In theory, buying is always better than renting because at some point you will own your house outright whereas renters are perpetually filling the pockets of others.

In reality, it can be tough to make the leap from renter to owner.

That’s because there is a lot on the line — there are several unknown factors that can and often do influence these types of decisions:

Do you have a big enough down payment? Will you qualify for a mortgage? Can you afford maintenance? For how long do you plan to hang on to the property?

The Feb. 2010 edition of Foreclosure.com’s free educational newsletter, “Investment Exchange,” is now available, which details everything you need to know about “Rent vs. Own.”

Our goal is to get you thinking about this important decision sooner rather than later. The housing market is still extremely buyer friendly right now — interest rates are still low, limited-time government incentives are still available until April 30, 2010 and chances are good that prices in your area have never been better.

On the flip side, buying a home or investment property is still one of the biggest decisions you will ever make. So you still need to consider all the pros and cons before jumping in head first.

So check out “Rent vs. Own” today so you can decide whether or not a home purchase or lease is in your best interests.

To read this month’s free educational newsletter from Foreclosure.com CLICK HERE.

Foreclosed homes for rent … possibly to own

house-gavel

Foreclosed homes aren’t just great deals for potential homebuyers — renters, too, can enjoy the savings.

More and more homeowners and investors are realizing they bit off more than they could chew with their current mortgage commitments. It’s among the many reasons foreclosures are up across the board.

When the payments become just too much to handle, these homeowners and investors have few options other than to sell, rent or simply walk away and lose their homes to foreclosure.

The latter option, foreclosure, is really the worst of the bunch.

But sometimes it happens so fast — in as little as one to three months in several states — that homeowners and investors are left spinning, wondering what just happened to them.

The good news is that these folks are starting to catch on and realize that these are ideal rental conditions. Why lose a home when you can find someone else to move in and pay all or most of the mortgage bill?

Indeed, homeowners would prefer to rent their homes rather than to lose them outright.

Of course, homes in foreclosure are not necessarily always on the market as rentals. In fact, homeowners and investors may not even know that renting is an option.

That’s where you come in.

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