There are hundreds and thousands of houses foreclosed on a regular basis in today's markets. A pre-foreclosure happens when a person fails to make payments of mortgage loan to the banks or any other financial creditors. In this case the bank or the lender re-claims the house by foreclosing it and recovers the amount by selling it below the market value.

Pre-foreclosure lists contain the lists of thousands of foreclosed homes that are going up for auction. These pre-foreclosure lists can be an excellent opportunity for both the buyer and the potential homeowner. Buying a home prior to going to auction directly from the homeowner or bank can drop the price up to 50%. The buyer has enough time to research on the foreclosed property before investing; if you take the time to find a reliable list. Pre-foreclosure lists are considered as a reliable source of information for people investing in real estate.

Few ways to find pre-foreclosure listings:

1) A search of public records will help a person get the entire list of properties facing foreclosure. Public records like County Clerk or County Records Office does not cost a single penny. Some of them even allow individuals to search properties that have been already been foreclosed.

2) Various websites that offer pre-foreclosure lists and some even offer a great deal more information. Some of them charge a fee, either weekly or monthly to get the additional details on these foreclosed properties. Some are free to use, but the details may not be very reliable. Generally, these lists contain information on bank and government foreclosures. Through these search one can get detailed information like, complete address of the property, telephone numbers of the agent, loan amounts, lien holders and the price of the foreclosed property.

3) Pre-foreclosure listings are also available in local newspapers. Here sale notices published for public through a "Notice of Sale" advertisement.

4) Some lenders will also provide pre-foreclosure lists to the people interested in purchasing foreclosed houses.

Investing in pre-foreclosure properties has some disadvantages as well. All these above options help to gather information before buying a foreclosure house and make the deal profitable.

For an easy search on pre-foreclosure properties, these listings are normally divided in several smaller sections:

- Government foreclosure
- HUD foreclosure
- VA foreclosure
- Bank foreclosure
- Court auction
- Homeowners in bankruptcy
- Sale by owners (FSBO)

These divided sections help both the buyer and the homeowner. Through these divided sections a person can get the information on a specific type of foreclosed home. If you are in the market for HUD foreclosures, then you can view just these types of listings, saving you both time and money in the end.

To avoid the embarrassment, homeowners try to sell the home before the auction. This could be an advantage to the buyer because they sell these houses in below market rates. In pre-foreclosure lists, a person should be able to get a systematic guide to proceed in this real estate business. Following a pre-foreclosure list, one can make money quickly. Apart from searching pre-foreclosure lists, a lot of homework will be required. As long as the investor gets the knowledge from the pre-foreclosure lists, everything should go smooth and make profit.