Pre-foreclosure
How to build a list of pre-foreclosures from county records, for free
Updated September 2026. The free method first, the paid shortcut second.
Pre-foreclosure notices are public. In states where foreclosure goes through the courts, it starts with a lawsuit and a lis pendens. In the others, the lender’s trustee records a notice of default or a notice of sale. Search the county recorder and the court for new filings, read the legal notices for sale dates, then add each owner’s mailing address from the assessor. The list costs nothing to build, and it has to be rebuilt as owners catch up, sell or reach the auction.
- You need
- Your county’s recorder and court websites
- You get
- Owner, property, stage and sale date
- Cost
- $0 to search. Some recorders charge for copies
- Varies by
- State: court or no court, and which notices
Step by step, for nothing
-
Learn which kind of foreclosure your state uses
In a judicial state such as Florida, New York, New Jersey, Illinois or Ohio, the lender files a lawsuit and a notice of the pending case, the lis pendens, goes on record. In a non-judicial state such as California, Texas, Arizona or Georgia, a trustee handles the sale outside the courts and records a notice of default, a notice of sale, or both, depending on the state. Some states allow either route.
What you come away with Which office holds the notices: the court, the recorder, or both.
-
Search the county recorder for new notices
Open the recorder’s or register of deeds’ online index and search by document type: notice of default, lis pendens, notice of trustee’s sale, whatever names your county uses. Limit the search to the last few weeks of recording dates. Where the index cannot filter by document type, the office can tell you how to pull recent filings.
What you come away with Owner names, parcel numbers and the date each notice was recorded.
-
In a judicial state, check the court docket too
A foreclosure there is a civil case in the county’s trial court. Search the clerk of court’s case index for new foreclosure cases. The complaint names the owner and the property, and the docket shows how far the case has gone.
What you come away with New cases with case numbers, owner names and filing dates.
-
Read the legal notices for sale dates
Notices of sale are published in a local newspaper’s legal notices, and in many states the press association collects them on a free public notice website. In judicial states the sale is often run by the sheriff, who posts a sale list of its own.
What you come away with The auction date, which tells you how much time the owner has left.
-
Add the mailing address and drop what has resolved
Look each property up in the assessor record for the address the tax bill goes to. Before you reach out, check the recorder for a later cancellation or release and the court for a dismissed case. An owner who has caught up does not want your letter.
What you come away with A current list: owner, mailing address, stage and sale date.
Where the free method stops
A pre-foreclosure list goes out of date as you build it. Owners catch up, sell, refinance or reach the auction, so a list built this month is partly wrong next month, and every refresh repeats the searches.
Each county is also its own job. Recorder indexes differ in what they let you filter, some charge for copies, and in a judicial state the court docket is a separate site with its own search. One county is manageable. Several counties, refreshed every few weeks, is a standing task.
Before you make an offer, check your state’s rules on buying from an owner in foreclosure. Some states require set contract terms and a cancellation period, California’s Home Equity Sales Contracts Act among them.
Tools that list pre-foreclosures
Each tool below names pre-foreclosure on its own pages. Check a few of its records against the recorder before you rely on one: a notice recorded this week may not be in any tool yet. Prices from each pricing page, September 2026.
| Tool | Pre-foreclosures | Entry price | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
 Propwire |
One of its 21 lead types | Free to search, 10,000 downloads a month | Try Propwire free |
 PropStream |
A search filter | $99 a month | See PropStream pricing |
 PropertyRadar |
Foreclosure records, with a coverage table per state | $119 a month | See PropertyRadar pricing |
 DealMachine |
A signal it scores each property on | $99 a seat | See DealMachine pricing |
 REsimpli |
A list pulling filter | $299 a month, with the CRM and dialer | See REsimpli pricing |
Propwire’s free tier is the obvious first test, since it costs nothing to pull and download a county. One review we read says its auction date filter returned auctions from a month earlier, so check sale dates against the notice.
PropertyRadar publishes a coverage table for each state showing where its foreclosure records begin, county by county. Every California county has them from the early 2000s. In Texas, 202 of 254 counties have them. Look up your county before you pay.
Paid links. If you subscribe through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes our ranking order.
Pre-foreclosure lists: questions people ask
What is a pre-foreclosure?
A home whose lender has started foreclosure but has not yet sold it at auction. The owner can still catch up, sell or refinance at this stage, which is why investors look for these owners.
Where can I find pre-foreclosure listings for free?
At the county recorder, which records notices of default and lis pendens. At the clerk of court, in states where foreclosure goes through the courts. And in the legal notices of a local newspaper, which carry the sale dates.
How long does pre-foreclosure last?
It depends on the state and on whether the foreclosure goes through the courts, which generally takes longer. For a mortgage on the borrower’s own home, federal rules generally bar the first foreclosure filing until the payments are more than 120 days behind, so the first notice comes months after the trouble starts.
What is the difference between a notice of default and a lis pendens?
A trustee records a notice of default in states that foreclose outside the courts and use one. A lis pendens is recorded when a lawsuit over the property is filed, which is how foreclosure starts in judicial states. A lis pendens can also come from other lawsuits over a property, so read what the case is about.
Is it legal to contact homeowners in pre-foreclosure?
Yes, the notices are public. The calling rules apply as with any owner, and some states regulate buying from owners in foreclosure, with set contract terms and cancellation periods. Check your state before you make an offer.
Is a pre-foreclosure list worth paying for?
If you work several counties or rebuild the list often, a tool saves the repeated searches. For one county, the recorder, the court and the newspaper cost nothing.
What is the difference between a pre-foreclosure and an REO?
A pre-foreclosure still belongs to the owner, who can catch up or sell. REO, short for real estate owned, is a property the lender took back when the foreclosure sale drew no winning bid, and the bank then sells it itself, often through a real estate agent.
How we put this together
| Line | Source | What we read |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Public records | County recorder and clerk of court websites, for the documents each records |
| 02 | Rules | The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule on when a first foreclosure filing may be made |
| 03 | Pricing | The pricing and feature pages of every tool in the table, read September 2026 |
What we did not do. We have not compared how quickly each tool picks up a new notice. Foreclosure law differs by state, and nothing here is legal advice.