Is that preforeclosure really for sale?
Real estate technology roundup
By Inman News, Thursday, July 17, 2008.Bookmarking Sites
First Team adds RealtyTrac data
Prospective home buyers searching for property listings at the Web site of Orange County, Calif.-based First Team Real Estate can now access information on foreclosures and preforeclosures from RealtyTrac. The site now provides access to properties in all three stages of the foreclosure process: preforeclosure, auction and bank-owned "REOs." After running a search query, visitors must register to see details on the properties that are returned. Registration is free, but requires users to create a password and enter their e-mail address and phone number, generating leads for First Team agents.
Many homes in preforeclosure are not on the market and their owners do not intend to sell them. Although preforeclosure properties that turn up in the search results at First Team Real Estate are accompanied by dollar figures, a disclaimer informs users that the dollar amount is not the list price, but a default amount or remaining balance on a loan. Listing sites like Yahoo Real Estate and Trulia have been criticized for not taking similar steps to make clear that preforeclosures from RealtyTrac that are mixed in with for-sale listings are not necessarily for sale (see story).
Ticor tracking distressed, REO homes with TrackPoint
Ticor Title Co. of California will use DepotPoint Inc.'s TrackPoint applications to track and manage distressed and real estate-owned (REO) properties. TrackPoint is a vertical processing system that reduces the time it takes to move properties through the default process, DepotPoint said. Ticor customers are typically large mortgage lenders and private equity firms that are seeking to reduce property carrying time and costs.
After a bank repossesses a property, it can take six to nine months to assign the property to an REO outsourcer, ready the property for sale, and market it to a new buyer, DepotPoint said. Each month the property is on the books costs the bank between 1 percent and 1.25 percent of the value of the property, DepotPoint estimates. TrackPoint generates daily task alerts based on each property's individual status, so processing staff address the highest-priority tasks each day.
Default TrackPoint and REO TrackPoint are capable of scheduling tasks based on the requirements of individual lenders and states. State laws dictate schedules from 55 days in Texas to 400 days in New York before a property can be sold as a foreclosure.
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Submitted by Tego Venturi on July 17, 2008 - 8:44am.
We recently had a situation where the RealityTrac report shows an outstanding balance but is only the 1st mortgage and did not include and underlying debts. Point is… there may be more to the story.
Submitted by David Podgursky on July 17, 2008 - 9:25am.
We're seeing a lot of game-play in Short Sales down here.
When I see "pre-foreclosure" and "owner motivated" I know it is a novice or a bad agent.
What we're seeing a lot of is agents that get listings as bait. They know that the price is way too low but they get a lot of traffic anyway. It isn't fair to the buyers or the other owners whose comps are messed up on an appraisal when they try to sell.
http://www.themortgagegotoguy.com
Submitted by Chris Matty on July 17, 2008 - 10:51am.
I'd like to take this opportunity to highlight some critical facts regarding "pre-foreclosure" listings on most listing sites.
Many of these properties are no longer in foreclosure as the debtor has re-instated the loan, has worked through a loss mitigation plan with the lender or the property has already been sold. Just getting a list of new foreclosure filings has very limitted value for those actually looking to buy.
Here are some hard facts. In many markets we are seeing where 40% - 50% of the foreclosures on these properties get cancelled prior to the scheduled acution date. There is one story where one disturbed home owner put a 15ft banner on their house saying "This house not for sale" as a re of constant "door knocking" by people seeking a short sale. The property had been out of foreclosure for months but no sites had properly updated the foreclosure status.
Further more, 50% - 85% of the original auction dates posted on these sites get postponed which makes for more time to structure a pre-foreclosure transaction.
This points to how critical it is to have verified accurate preforeclosure information. Our assessment is that most listing sites have a very low accuracy rate - less the 50% and in some cases below 5%. This data has traditionally been used to generate leads for real estate agents or as a limitted value subscription offering - not to actually help buy properties.
With the volume of properties now going into foreclosure it's critical to have verified accurate information. This significantly increases the efficiency of actually buying in this market segment.
Chris Matty
Chief Marketing Officer
ForeclosurePoint.com
Accurate and Verified Foreclosure Tracking
A DepotPoint Service
Submitted by Todd Hutcheson on July 18, 2008 - 4:45pm.
I run into people who are not even in foreclosure. I n Florida, a lis pendas is the starting point for banks to start a foreclosure, but it could also be the start of a specific performance lawsuit or some other lawsuit.
My point is do not assume that if a homeowner is on the list that they are indeed in preforeclosure
Todd Hutcheson
www.SellOrlandoHomeFast.com
Submitted by Victor Schultz on July 21, 2008 - 5:17am.
In the past 15 years I have helped several homeowners sell their home who were in some state of foreclosure. They are very motivated, but sometimes a few grand shows up and all of a sudden "Everything is fine, raise the price back up", or "It's not for sale anymore, get off my property".
Sometimes we are working with owners who may not use the clearest thinking, but are motivated only by today's circumstances.
Victor Schultz
President
VTGlobe
www.vtglobe.com