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Foreclosed Properties

I've looked up old foreclosed properties in the newspaper that are going to be auctioned. It is very hard to contact the bank for permission though, because it is just very hard to get through to them or make them understand what you're talking about. The people staffing those offices probably never heard of a metal detector.

So it's hard to ask the bank and if you ask the people whose house is getting repossessed, it's bound to be embarrassing to them to let them know that you know their circumstance. Especially if you know them.

I only ever hunted one house like that. Mostly though I just think about it and don't act on it because the grass is usually knee high at those foreclosures.
 
One idea is if you go to the bank in person and offer to mow the grass for free in exchange for permission to detect afterward, that MIGHT work.

The house we bought was a foreclosure held by a bank for several years and when we moved in I had grass/weeds/sticker vines, some of which were taller than me :lol: that I had to cut down.

(on the plus side, thank God, was we got a fantastic deal as banks don't like holding onto such property too long, we watched the price go down to where we got a 4 bedroom house with 1 1/2 acres of land included for just $35K ! and the house was not even that old !)
 
I have done this several times with a 100% success rate. I contact the realtor.

Interesting side note: one of the properties was a 5-acre foreclosure with a run-down small farmhouse and barn, about a mile away. Bank was asking $60k. Buddy made an offer of $40k, and was rejected. Less than a year later, this property sold to someone else for $14k!

Inside info, as my wife prepared the loan paper work at her CU.
 
I've looked up old foreclosed properties in the newspaper that are going to be auctioned. It is very hard to contact the bank for permission though, because it is just very hard to get through to them or make them understand what you're talking about. ....

These are words of wisdom. I have worked for very large corporations before, and ... you're right : An odd-ball request such as this will languish in the perpetual limbo of desks that it's passed-to. Or they pass the "pressing request" on to desks of legal-beavers. Who ... of course ......... pass out the easy answer :roll:

Meanwhile, they're 1000 miles away and wouldn't have cared less or noticed or thought about it.
 
I'm asking cause I have been trying to get a permission for an 1898 house right in my neighborhood. The house is falling apart and the real estate company just wants to sell the land. Left a message with the agent twice and never received a call back. Also, called the real estate company general number and got through to someone and was told which agent manages the property (which I already knew). Today I called an agent in regards to another property and the agent was kind of rude to me. Pretty frustrating. I'm at a point where I'm still pretty scared about door knocking...
 
.... Left a message with the agent twice and never received a call back. Also, called the real estate company general number and got through to someone and was told which agent manages the property (which I already knew). Today I called an agent in regards to another property and the agent was kind of rude to me. Pretty frustrating......

Here's a thought : Call any shopping center management Co (the type that overseas scores of malls and shopping centers in several states) and ask:

"Can I walk through your shopping center parking lot, heel-to-toe, and whistle dixie ?" I'll bet you get the same non-answers and/or rude replies.

Heck, go to any city hall, and ask permission to walk heel-to-toe and whistle dixie while walking down a public sidewalk. I'll bet you either get no reply, or get told you need a parade permit, blah blah.
 
Call the realtor back and ask them to call you back and let you know if it's not okay to metal detect on the property.
 
Here's a thought : Call any shopping center management Co (the type that overseas scores of malls and shopping centers in several states) and ask:

"Can I walk through your shopping center parking lot, heel-to-toe, and whistle dixie ?" I'll bet you get the same non-answers and/or rude replies.

Heck, go to any city hall, and ask permission to walk heel-to-toe and whistle dixie while walking down a public sidewalk. I'll bet you either get no reply, or get told you need a parade permit, blah blah.

OH ! NO!...….another possible never ending debate :laughing:
 
OH ! NO!...….another possible never ending debate :laughing:

Nope. No debate about that. You will indeed get no answer from the shopping center or city-who-administers the sidewalks. Or .... get rude replies. Or odd-ball answers about needing a parade permit. No debate at all. :roll:
 
Nope. No debate about that. You will indeed get no answer from the shopping center or city-who-administers the sidewalks. Or .... get rude replies. Or odd-ball answers about needing a parade permit. No debate at all. :roll:
I was referring to a debate from the "permission seekers"
 
I'm asking cause I have been trying to get a permission for an 1898 house right in my neighborhood. The house is falling apart and the real estate company just wants to sell the land. Left a message with the agent twice and never received a call back. Also, called the real estate company general number and got through to someone and was told which agent manages the property (which I already knew). Today I called an agent in regards to another property and the agent was kind of rude to me. Pretty frustrating. I'm at a point where I'm still pretty scared about door knocking...

Take the detector and if anybody asks tell them your thinking about buying depending on what you find.
 
Springfield occasionally puts condemned homes up for auction, I called and asked if I could go on the properties and take some measurements and "stuff". They said it would be alright. Most of the properties where to trashy to be any fun. I still hit them and any other city/county owned property that's not fenced or posted. I have hit some foreclosed properties without permission, but only the burned out, run down places where the neighbors are happy to see an old man detecting instead of bums shooting heroin.

We have a slumlord with 500 properties that where part of a bankruptcy when his girlfriend shot him back in January, He's been in a coma ever since the banks and courts are still trying to figure it out. A couple of them are old route 66 motels that are slummy weekly rentals now but I know there is treasure under all that trash. several big old grand homes that have been divided into apartments, and a bunch of small houses. I have decided they are all open unless someones living there. If anyone asks my plan is to tell them I do have permission, just ask Chris as soon as he wakes up.
 
I've tried to get permission to property via realtors before (active properties, though, not foreclosures), and never had any success. I wish you luck!
 
"If anyone asks my plan is to tell them I do have permission, just ask Chris as soon as he wakes up."

The ultimate loophole!

"Yeah, I talked to the owner Chris back in early January, he said 'no problem, have fun.'"

Let them figure that one out!
 
I've never had success with approaching home sellers and the reason around here is pretty obvious. Houses sell pretty quick and are likely to have people driving by or buyers agents stopping in at all hours. I wouldn't be happy with my real estate agent if I found out she gave permission to somebody to detect while all of that is going on.

I did try to use the "Did you lose any jewelry while you were living here?" angle instead, but that didn't work either. Instead, I'll just wait for the house to sell, and then approach the new owners.

You're mileage may vary. In particular, it might be different for homes in markets that sit for months and even years.
 
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