Pre-foreclosure homes
Pre-foreclosure is the stretch of time between the moment a foreclosure starts and the day the house is sold at auction. The owner is behind, the lender (or the county, when the debt is property tax) has taken the first formal step, and the clock is running. But the owner still owns the house, can still sell it, and in most cases can still decide how this ends.
The first formal step goes by different names depending on the state:
- Notice of default. In states where foreclosure runs outside the courts, the lender or its trustee records a notice that the loan is in default, and that notice starts the clock toward a sale.
- Lis pendens. A recorded notice that a lawsuit affecting the property is pending, often recorded when a lender files a foreclosure in court. Anyone searching the title sees it.
- Foreclosure filing. In judicial foreclosure states the lender files a lawsuit in the county court, so the case appears in the court's civil records with the plaintiff, the defendants and the filing date.
Pre foreclosure homes are different from homes already in foreclosure or bank-owned. Once a sale date is set, the house is on the sheriff's or trustee's sale calendar and the owner's window is closing. After an auction where nobody outbids the lender, the house becomes bank-owned (often called REO) and is sold by the bank, usually through an agent. A pre-foreclosure lead is the earliest of the three: the owner is still the one who decides.
This is investor data. If you are shopping for a foreclosed home to live in, listing sites and a local agent are the better place to look: these houses are not for sale until the owner decides to sell.
Owners in this position are among the most time-sensitive sellers an investor will talk to. Missing payments rarely comes out of nowhere: a lost job, a divorce, a medical bill, an adjustable rate that reset, or a parent's house that the children couldn't keep paying for. Once the case is filed, legal fees and interest pile onto the balance, and if the house goes to auction the owner can lose whatever equity they had. Selling first changes that: the loan is paid off from the sale at closing, the owner keeps what is left over, and they choose a moving date instead of having one chosen for them.
Federal servicing rules generally keep a lender from making the first foreclosure filing on a primary residence until the loan is more than 120 days past due. So by the time a case appears, the owner has usually been behind for months. From filing to auction, the timeline runs from a few months to well over a year, depending on the state and on whether the owner contests the case.
Owner-occupants and landlords are different leads
The same filing can sit on two very different houses. When the owner lives in the house, foreclosure is about their home, and the conversation is personal. When the owner lives elsewhere, the house is usually a rental or an inherited property, and the right price and a quick close often decide it. The absentee flag and the owner type on each record tell you which kind of owner you are dealing with before you write a word. Not every foreclosure is a bank, either: when property taxes stay unpaid long enough, the county or a tax certificate holder can foreclose too. Those cases are on the same list, labelled by plaintiff, and often involve houses with no mortgage at all.
Foreclosure list by market
Each live market's foreclosure list, built from court filings, recorded notices and the sheriff sale calendar, and tied to the house through the parcel number in the case. Counts are records (filings, pending-suit notices and sale listings), so one house can carry more than one.
Every market page breaks its foreclosure list down by city and shows anonymised sample records. See every market.
Sheriff sale lists
In a judicial foreclosure, the case ends with a court-ordered sale, and in many counties the sheriff runs it. The sale is advertised in advance, bidders register and post a deposit, and the highest bidder pays the balance on the county's deadline.
In many states the court has to confirm the sale before it is final, and a listed sale can be postponed or cancelled up to the last minute if the owner pays, files bankruptcy or the case settles. Some states also give the owner a redemption period after the sale.
A sheriff sale list is the county's calendar of those auctions: the case, the address, the sale date and often the opening bid. For an investor it is the last point where a direct sale can still happen. DealSherpa reads each county's sale calendar and follows every result, so a postponed sale shows its new date, a bankruptcy shows as stayed, and sold or withdrawn cases leave the active list. Each county's sheriff sale section, with its schedule:
- Cuyahoga County Sheriff Sale (Cleveland, OH): 341 sheriff sale records. Online sales on Mondays and Wednesdays at 9 a.m.; Wednesday sales are tax foreclosures (as of Oct 19, 2026)
- Montgomery County Sheriff Sale (Dayton, OH): 44 sheriff sale records. Online sales on Fridays at 9 a.m. (as of Oct 20, 2026)
- Summit County Sheriff Sale (Akron, OH): 80 sheriff sale records
- Oklahoma County Sheriff Sale (Oklahoma City, OK): 67 sheriff sale records
- Hamilton County Sheriff Sale (Cincinnati, OH): 27 sheriff sale records
- Franklin County Sheriff Sale (Columbus, OH): 61 sheriff sale records. Sales on Fridays (as of Oct 18, 2026)
- Marion County Sheriff Sale (Indianapolis, IN): 78 sheriff sale records
- Allen County Sheriff Sale (Fort Wayne, IN): 22 sheriff sale records
- Lucas County Sheriff Sale (Toledo, OH): 24 sheriff sale records
- Wayne County Sheriff Sale (Detroit, MI): 230 sheriff sale records
Working pre-foreclosure leads
People in foreclosure are often getting a lot of mail from investors, lenders and anyone else who reads the same public records. What sets you apart is being clear, being accurate and being patient.
- Work the newest filings first. Early in the case the owner has the most options and the least pressure from everyone else. Sort by filing date and mail within days, not weeks.
- Know the sale date before you call. If an auction is set, your timeline has to fit inside it. If the case was stayed or postponed, say so honestly; don't pretend the auction is tomorrow.
- Run the equity before you promise anything. Use the county value, the last sale price and years owned to estimate whether a sale can clear the loan, and run your number through the MAO calculator.
- Explain the choice, not just your offer. Lay out what a sale before the auction means for them: the loan paid at closing, money left over if there is equity, and a date they choose.
- Point them to free help, too. HUD-approved housing counselors give free advice to homeowners facing foreclosure. Mentioning that builds trust.
- Follow the case as it moves. Every postponement is another reason to get back in touch. Your CRM should remind you when the status changes.
Compliance
Several states have foreclosure rescue or equity purchaser laws that apply when you buy from, or contract with, an owner in foreclosure. They can require specific contract language, cancellation periods or other protections.
Never charge an owner a fee up front, and never promise to stop a foreclosure.
Numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry are off limits for sales calls unless an exemption applies, and under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) you need the person's prior consent before sending automated calls or texts to a mobile number.
Have a real estate attorney in your state review your contracts and your outreach plan.
What's in a DealSherpa foreclosure record
Each house appears once, with every foreclosure event and every other distress signal attached to it:
- The foreclosure: the filing date, the case number and the plaintiff (the lender, servicer, county or certificate holder)
- The sale, when one is set: the sale date, its status and the opening bid
- A pending-suit notice, where one is recorded against the property
- The owner of record, their mailing address, and flags for an absentee owner and for a company or trust on the title
- Property facts: the county's value, year built, years owned, and the last sale date and price
- Other lists the house is on, such as unpaid property tax or probate, each with a date
Phone numbers and emails aren't on the record. When you want them, skip tracing is pay as you go at 12¢ per owner searched. The foreclosure list comes with DealSherpa Pro ($99/month), which also covers tax delinquent, probate, eviction and code violation lists in every live market, Virtual D4D, the DealFuse CRM and DealSign. New accounts get a 3-day free trial, card required. See all plans and what each includes.