Foreclosures sales are currently being conducted in three stages across the United States. The first of these stages is Pre-foreclosures which can be very profitable for investors. California and Nevada are the top places to look for these kinds of foreclosures for sale. Illinois and Florida also happen to be experiencing an increasing number of pre-foreclosure filings in the first half of 2009. The number of pre-foreclosures has gone up in New York as well.

The second time of foreclosure sales are conventional foreclosure auctions. These are taking place almost all over the country. The entire belt starting from Washington and Oregon travelling down through Nevada, California and Utah and ending up on Arizona has a high number of foreclosure auctions taking place. On the other side Georgia and Michigan seem to be very promising.

The number of bank owned REOs has also gone up in the first half of 2009. This is another stage of foreclosure sales that can reap big time profits for investors. If you are looking for bank owned REO then you should pay particular attention to the states of Nevada, California, Arizona and Colorado. Up on the northern corner Minnesota and Michigan are two other states with a high number of bank owned REO going up for sale. Ohio, Tennessee and Georgia also have great money making potentials in the form of foreclosures for sale.

The entire solid chunk composed of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Idaho has experienced a considerable decrease in foreclosure filings and consequently the number of houses up for sale has gone down. However these areas were less severely hit by the others mentioned above hence it is not necessary that they have been recovering at a better rate. It is only that they were never hit as badly as the other primary states mentioned above.

The number of foreclosure filings has dropped in New Mexico as well. Louisiana, West Virginia and Maine are other states that have been braving the economic crisis and have experienced a cut in the number of foreclosures for sale.