It's very nice to see mutual respect!

O.K. don't kill me because I answered an AZ question (BTW, I still do out of area questions - depending on type of questions).

Anyway, I came to this question because I am curious about whether other MLSs or Realtors subscribed services allowing our clients to search for pre-foreclosure, NOD, REO properties (what the question is really asking - similar to RealtyTrac). - I am looking for a good provider myself. .

I went to Don, Steve and Jay's links (sorry, Steve, Jay has a better look and feel - you asked, but you know that :-)); I don't see a place allowing search for REO, short sale, NOD, et.c.

Also, even if you do sign up for RealtyTrac, the status of those homes are not current either and the price are not realistic.

The best way to find those properties, Susan, as I see it, is to ask your Realtor, or any of the Realtors below who have answered your question, give them the location, the type of houses, etc, you are interested in, then they can help you find the right house to buy. Remember, even with REOs, you will need professional advise on what is the best deal out there.

Sylvia .

I wasn't going to reply any further, feeling as though there was no way I could add to what Jay has already said, but then I noticed that Sylvia just received the always helpful "thumbs down". That's a shame. Nothing Sylvia wrote was worthy of a thumbs down in my book.

Sylvia - just to be clear, I have no respect for Steve.

I'M KIDDING!! He's a great guy, and quite possibly the third best agent in the Phoenix area -- my wife being the best of course, followed distantly by me ;). Patrick is a good guy too. I haven't had the pleasure yet of meeting Donald.

You make a great point. It someone is looking specifically (and only) for REO's, short sales, etc, then the typical "agent solution" searches (mine included) don't have that sort of "resolution". I'm going to contact my IDX provider and see if that's a field that could be added...

But, the MLS itself does. And any agent should be able to set up very specific searches for those types of properties.

It's important for any "consumer" to realize that NO ONE provides true MLS access to the consumer. You have to be a licensed member of the MLS to get true MLS access. But we can use the tools the MLS provides us to set up very specific and detailed searches. Another thing to keep in mind is that teh MLS data is only as good as what is put into it. Sadly, many agents still fail to check the "Lender approval required" box, or note in the comments if a property is lender owned or in a short situation where lender approval is required. So it's quite liekly that no MLS search will actually reveal ALL such properties.

As an aside, every "national" REO search I've run across seems to be horifically outdated. There is a new one out there, ForeclosureRadar's Foreclosure Listing Exchange that seems very good, with much attention being paid to data accuracy. Unfortunately (for me, and questioner Susan) they are currently only available for California (and I'm not sure if that's all of CA or not. See the link below for a brief overview.

I'd plug my own site, but Jay just upgraded and now his is better than mine, so I second that choice. In fact, you could try mine and Jay's, reply back, and confirm that his is indeed better. It's just the boost I need to continue to try to keep up with the Thompsons.

Oh, and by the way, searching at realtor.com, in my opinion, is a bad idea. Realtor.com forces agents to pay extra to include all of the photos and virtual tours. As a result, most of the listings do not include all possible photos, only the lead photo. Why would anyone want to search there, if they knew it was only part of the full picture? If only the public knew what they were missing on realtor.com.

Wonder how many answers and links this one will get? :)

As others have said, find a real estate agents site that doesn't require registration. Some do, some don't.

We just set up a new map-based search on our site, no registration required. Search all you'd like. If you'd like to save searches, you'll need to provide an email address to log in, but no hassles, I assure you.

Susan,

I pay additional fees each year so my customers can see the MLS without having to "sign up" for anything. You can see ALL of the homes from ALL of the Real Estate Companies and ALL of the NEW HOME BUILDERS.

Here is your FREE ACCESS: http://www.DonaldKeys.com

No ads - no Realtor.com annoying pop ups - just quick fast easy access to the MLS!

go online and type in the name of the city you want to look at real estate, several real estate agents in the area will pop up, click on them one if not all will allow you to search the local mls through their site, it's free and easy. It's not that I don't like realtor.com but it dosen't allow you detailed info on all the listings.
good luck, I hope this helps
Leanne Smith - agent

Thank you Susan. Any Realtor would be able to give you a current list of REO`s, Lender Owned, Bank Owned. Foreclosure, Pre foreclosure, trustee sale, Short sale. You name it. FREE OF Charge.

Go here http://www.daltonsazhomes.com/blog/phoenix-bank-owned-homes/
tell him what you are looking for.

Good Luck

RealtyTrac http://(www.realtytrac.com) really isn't set up to be an "MLS site." It's primarily a database of 1.5 million foreclosure and bank-owned properties, although there are also a number of For Sale by Owner and traditional resale properties broken out by separate tabs - those, by the way, are free to view without any subscription or trial at all. And, contrary to what Sylvia said below, the data is updated twice daily, and run against title company records every night so that properties that change title can be marked as "sold." The site also doesn't typically post listing price; what you're more likely to see are the estimated market value, the mortgage amount and the default amount.

You're not really going to find one site with "the MLS," since there are currently 923 different regional MLS organizations across the country. Some of the larger brands (Prudential, ReMax, etc.) have pretty large MLS databases available on their websites. So, for that matter, does Trulia. Or you could just do a Google search for "(name of town) real estate" and see what comes up.

As noted numerous times below, Realtors have ready access to MLS listings locally, and are always a good bet.

Saying what has been said before....call an agent for forclosure list and bank owned.
That is what we do and it is free to you....
or search yourself in the Prescott AZ area at http://www.theprecottmls.com

Thanks, Jay and Steve. I am O.K. with the Thumbs; I call it "All in the day’s work on Trulia". I got a good chuckle out of it because it’so predictable, but then was pleasantly surprised to receive the support from the top three AZ Realtors (including your wife, the #1 AZ Realtor - I can see that your are wise, Jay :-))

I checked the ForeclosureRadar.com; the free report is from February, so that’s two months old. I think the property info is the same as RealtyTrac. There are a lot of nice features on this site, such as sort criteria selection, manage property, rating, sharing info, detailed info, etc; but not being able to size the window is truly a struggle. Same fee as RealtyTrac.

But back to Jay’s comment, I agree with you, the best source is the Realtor because we can get that info for consumers from various sources, including sites we belong to (MLS), subscribe to, and just other useful resource like the Title company; not to mention the knowledge about the properties and market.

BAREIS (North Bay Area) MLS required us to enter the Short/etc status, but the enforcement is difficult; hard to catch all the listings not coded properly: so the integrity of the report is only as good as what goes in. However, as Realtors, since we have other data available and access to realtors - tax record, last loan, property history onlline etc; we are able to provide better analysis.

Sylvia

Well that's just silly that someone would thumbs down Sylvia's post. I thumb up'ed it (thumbed up'ed? up thumbed?) to try to cancel out that nonsense.

I wish Trulia would just lose the thumbs up/down thing.

Susan,
THe Multiple Listing System is a very good tool. Work with someone you are comfortable. Any realtor could set up a search according to your needs and wants, bed/bath, lot size.
Be open to the realtor and express what you want. Only one person would have your e-mail address and you are free to say when you longer want it.

Our site does have easy MLS seach access and no registration. Plus, we have some great music on the site you can listen to while enjoying yourself.

You may want to try http://www.realtor.com/.

Happy Hunting.