Website Offers Renters a Foreclosure Locator

PHOENIX - In August, more than 3,700 homes were in foreclosure. In many of those cases, the owners are renting those homes out, and the renters who've paid the money are out of luck when foreclosure hits. It's a pretty common problem these days.

So two Phoenix investors saw this happening over and over to renters, and have come up with a service to help. It's called LemonLandlord.com.

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The service helps renters figure out if the place they're renting is in foreclosure or facing foreclosure.

Bob and Linda Kurtz were enjoying retirement when they found a note on their door saying the house would be sold at auction.

The house they had just leased was in foreclosure, and the Kurtz's were forced to move out just two weeks after they moved in.

"When you pay [rent], unless that person pays the mortgage, you're going to go down that same sinking ship," says Mike Rodrigues, one of the founders of LemonLandlord.com . Potential renters can go to that website, type in an address, and see if that residence is about to go into foreclosure.

The website charges $8 for the first foreclosure report, and you can also pay for updates.

Keep in mind that this service offers public information, but what they're charging for is the convenience. LemonLandlord says they have several hundred customers after going live only a month ago.