Old Neighbor in Preforeclosure

This is interesting! Last night, I was going through some preforeclosure listings and came across an address that seemed very familiar: it is across the street and about 2 or 3 houses down from the house I used to live in about 2 years ago! I never met the guy living there, but I know the neighborhood and the houses and they are both pretty nice.

From what I can tell, this property is not yet listed in the MLS, so the owner may not have an agent yet. I'm going to send him a letter today and hopefully, if he does decide to sell, I can do it without an agent, thus saving him some money on commissions (which, of course, means I don't have to pay as much).

I did some research on him this morning and it looks like it's the second mortgage that is foreclosing. He bought the property as a new home from the builder in 1995 and refinanced once in 1997. The home owner's association also filed a lien against the property in 2004 for about $2,000 in unpaid fees and took him to court to get that paid in 2005. The civil judgment hasn't been released yet, meaning he still owes them. With late fees and court fees, the amount is now around $2,800.

So my letter will emphasize that I used to be his neighbor, that I can buy his house quickly if he wants to sell it, and that he can save some big bucks on commissions by dealing with me. If I don't hear anything back in a week or two, I'll send a follow up letter. I sure hope the closing on the house I am selling now goes smoothly. It's scheduled to close on 9/16. If all goes well with this guy, I may need my cash by then!