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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