Here's the third and final lesson gleaned from a conversation with a customer in Long Beach, Calif., who needed help following up on properties she found on RealtyTrac. See Lesson 1 and Lesson 2.

Lesson 3: Listen carefully and speak concisely when calling the trustee
With the customer listening in, I called one of the trustees listed for a pre-foreclosure property. The customer had previously called the trustee and hung up after hearing the beginning of a generic message, but we listened to the entire message and found out we needed to press "0" to reach an operator. I pressed "0" and we were put through quite quickly to a person who was able to tell us the property had been reinstated by the owner.

When speaking to the trustee, it's important to be brief and to the point. Remember, they can't divulge any details about the foreclosure other than the current status and possibly the estimated opening bid. In this example I just said that I wanted to know about the status of a property in foreclosure and the trustee's rep asked for the property address and then the owner's name, both of which were listed on the property details page on RealtyTrac. Sometimes the trustee may ask for the trustee sale number or reference number, also listed on the property details page under Contact Information.

I hope these practical tips prove useful for those of you out there on the streets buying and investing. Your input is always welcome, either via comment on this blog or via e-mail at editor@foreclosurepulse.com.