The nation’s top research firms produce the best foreclosure lists. They check county real estate records daily and update their databases nightly. They spend millions of dollars on research, data collection, and protecting the integrity of their work product.

For example, the best firms list more than a million properties. For each property, they include all the information you’d expect, including the description, address, pending sale, and the name of the lender who posted the sale notice. These items are available on notice. The best firms go above and beyond to include bankruptcy stays, litigation, taxes owed, all liens, and loan specifications. They can also include photos, comparable sales, and interactive maps. This is how the best companies stay at the top of their industry. Their product is easy to use and provides all the essential information needed to evaluate prospects.

All data is available online. Access is free during a trial offer. You can evaluate a service, usually for seven days, and then decide if you want to subscribe. If you choose to become a regular subscriber, the cost ranges from $30 to $50 per month for individual access. In seven days, you have enough time to preview all pending sales within 200 miles of your home. You can choose to compare multiple services over multiple weeks. You will discover that there are more than a dozen trial offers available from the best companies.

County records are the primary source. These records determine the rights of the lender and the borrower. The best companies implement strict quality control standards to ensure accuracy. In many cases, investigation companies download records from county databases. As a result, the product you receive is as accurate as the original county records.

When searching the Internet for a reliable listing, pay close attention to the categories of data provided for each property. Use free trials. If you’re serious about bidding at auction, you’ll find the utility of subscribing to a high-quality list invaluable. In less than a week, you could be bidding.