How do I find records from the early stages of a possible foreclosure?

Q: Is there any way to find out about foreclosure proceedings on a property before the sheriff's sale takes place? The property owner lives in the District of Columbia.

A: Try the Real Property Pre-Foreclosure Records–District of Columbia database (RPF-DC), one of 36 pre-foreclosure records databases available on Westlaw (and one of 10 released since July 31, 2008). Like other pre-foreclosure records databases on Westlaw, RPF-DC contains documents from the early stages of a foreclosure proceeding: notices of default, lis pendens notices, and notices of sheriff's sales. Information about releases of mechanic's liens and homeowner's association liens may also be included. These records can reveal useful details when you are conducting adverse information or asset research.

Pre-foreclosure records databases on Westlaw cover a combined 492 counties in 34 states and the District of Columbia, including 111 newly available counties in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Tennessee. Many of these newly added counties are in the foreclosure-torn regions of Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland, and the District of Columbia. (You can search all available counties simultaneously using the Real Property Pre-Foreclosure Records–Combined database (RPF-ALL).) Records are updated as often as five times per week; click Coverage on a database Search page to check the frequency of updates.

For example, to restrict your search to lis pendens notices, you can select the Terms and Connectors search method and add a filing-type field restriction (flt) to your query, e.g.,

Alternatively, you can simply type the individual's name in the Borrower/Owner Name text box on the fill-in-the-blank search template and click Search Westlaw.