How do I find homes that are in foreclosure?

Adian, "foreclosure" is not one kind of purchase. It is four different situations with four different processes and four different risk levels, and for a regular buyer using a mortgage, only one of the four is realistic. The other answers here give you good general encouragement, so let me give you the structure nobody laid out. Stage one is preforeclosure. The owner still owns the home. A case has been filed and it is public record, but nothing has been sold yet. You negotiate directly with the owner, and this is the only foreclosure stage where you get a normal transaction: inspections, title insurance, a closing date. The catch is that the owner needs enough equity to make a sale work. Stage two is a short sale. The owner sells for less than the loan balance, which means the lender has to approve the price. The list price is a guess until the lender responds, and the approval can take months. It is a real path, just a slow one. Stage three is the sheriff sale. Ohio is a judicial foreclosure state, so it runs through the court of common pleas and the county sheriff sells the property at public auction, or a private selling officer does if the court authorizes one under Ohio Revised Code 2329.152. In Franklin County those sales run Friday mornings at the courthouse on South High Street and online through the state platform at franklin.sheriffsaleauction.ohio.gov. Certified funds, no interior inspection, no title insurance, no walkthrough. Under ORC 2329.20 the property cannot sell for less than two thirds of the appraised value at the first auction. If it does not sell, a second auction happens between seven and thirty days later with no minimum, which is where the real bargains and the real disasters both live. Stage four is REO, meaning the bank ended up owning it. These are listed on the MLS with a regular agent, they are financeable and inspectable, and title insurance is available. For most buyers this is the answer. Two things sink people, and both are avoidable. First, run a title search before you bid on anything at auction. Junior liens are only wiped if the parties were properly named and served. Unpaid property taxes, some municipal liens, and federal tax liens can survive the sale, and you inherit them. Pay a title company a few hundred dollars. Second, winning the auction does not mean you own it. Under ORC 2329.33 the owner can still redeem the property right up until the court confirms the sale, by depositing the judgment plus costs plus eight percent interest. Confirmation is supposed to happen within thirty days of the return of the writ under ORC 2329.31, but courts can stay it. Your money sits and you wait. Where to actually look, in order: the Franklin County Sheriff real estate sales page and the pending sale search at sheriffrealestate.franklincountyohio.gov, the Clerk of Courts docket for new foreclosure case filings, the county auditor for tax status, and the MLS through a local agent for REO listings. One 2026 update, since you asked this in 2024: there is more of this inventory now. ATTOM counted 227,548 properties with foreclosure filings in the first half of 2026, up 21 percent year over year, with REO completions up 33 percent. Honest caveat: after repairs, holding costs and the liens you did not catch, foreclosure discounts are usually thinner than the headlines suggest. I am Zoltan Peresztegi, a real estate professional in Los Angeles and the South Bay, so I am not the person to walk a Columbus courthouse with you. But I am glad to connect you with a strong agent in my network who works Franklin County REO and preforeclosure, and who can pull the filings for you rather than selling you a subscription list. Zoltan

Adian, a simple Google search can get you pointed in the right direction. I gather you are asking this question as you think there is an opportunity to get a "deal" on a foreclosure property. Just keep in mind, those are few and far between these days, and the ones that exist are cash only deals. Keith Jean-Pierre Managing Principal The Dapper Agents Operations In: NY, NJ, FL & CA

This is a common question among Florida buyers and sellers, and the answer depends on your specific situation and local market conditions. Understanding the fundamentals before making any decisions protects your investment and your timeline. In Floral City, Citrus County, Florida, the real estate landscape has its own characteristics that affect how this plays out in practice. The Citrus County market attracts a diverse buyer pool including relocators from higher-cost states, retirees, and local move-up buyers, which creates consistent demand across most price points and property types. The strategic approach is to work with a local agent who can pull current comparable sales data and walk you through the specific factors that apply to your situation in Florida. Every market is different at the neighborhood level, and decisions based on general advice or national headlines often miss the local nuances that matter most to your outcome. Making informed decisions based on local data is always the strongest position. Kevin Neely & Kaitlynd Robbins | K2 Sells, Keller Williams Elite Partners

You can ask an a buyers agent for a list of homes that are in Foreclosure. The listing information on the home will say if the home is a Foreclosed home.

Foreclosures, once completed through the entire process, are listed with a local REALTOR and put into the MLS for maximum exposure. The bank wants the most amount of exposure for top dollar. We are seeing less of these on the market than we have in the past and usually banks are brining them up to a retail condition to sell them in most cases to get top dollar for them.

Work with a Realtor. They can help you find foreclosure properties.

You can use IMAAP to find pre-foreclosure homes but using the lis pendens option.