"The new "In Foreclosure/Lender Owned?" and "Manufactured Home" fields will be added to the NorthstarMLS database tonight, June 25."
This is a break through for sure. Currently agents put remarks in an agent remarks field to indicate that a home is bank owned. There are a few problems with that. One is that it is very difficult to count how many homes that are on the market are in various stages of foreclosure. I did just that a few months back for St. Paul only. I had to use a manual process where I read all the agent remarks on all the listings, it took hours but I had decided the that they should be counted. I call the post "The numbers no one wants published".
Not all foreclosure, or pre-foreclosure homes are listed in the MLS but the majority of them are. We will be able to look up foreclosures, and count them. In some cases we will eliminate them from searches. Soon our web sites with "home searches" on them like mine, will provide the same information to the general public, a "foreclosure search" field.
Foreclosures are still difficult to buy. I am working with a client right now who is trying to buy one. We have waited a week so far and still have not gotten signatures on the documents even though we have been led to believe that the seller, the bank in this case, accepts the offer. The agent representing the seller can’t be reached. His email and voice mail box is full and so is his voice mail box. Some buyers do not want to buy or even look at foreclosures because they need a home soon. Too bad the banks don’t know how to sell real estate. Some agents won’t work with foreclosures, it is simply too much work, often for nothing.
Some people do want to look at foreclosures and in some cases only foreclosures. We will have an easier time helping them find these homes. There are sites out there that people pay to use that claim to have the inside track on foreclosures but I am not so sure they do. The data is out of date and inaccurate. Our MLS is a much better place to search and for consumers using our home search sites they won’t have to pay a dime. On my site they don’t have to sign up or give away any information just to look for homes on the market.
We need to home if a home is bank owned so we can explain to our clients how it all works. They need to understand that it may take a lot more time, and be far more difficult to buy than homes that are no owned by corporations.
For other articles about foreclosures see: Foreclosures
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Hi Teresa, quick question. Are the homes that are trying to be short-sold going to show up in the foreclosure/bank-owned category? I think it’s a neat concept to have especially with the glut (and oncoming wave here in Tucson) of REO homes.
I think it’s great that there will be another way to search – either an exclusive search for foreclosures or a way to eliminate them. Too bad there wasn’t a “short sale” section too.
Teresa that is great for all the realtors in your area. Our MLS system in Coconut Grove hasn’t added a “foreclosure” section yet.
I recently did a little research and found that the method of only searching the “remarks” section for foreclosed properties was extremely flawed. On the one hand, people didn’t always say “foreclosure” specifically in the remarks. If they mispelled “foreclosure” then it wouldn’t even come up at all. And, if they wrote “pre-foreclosure” (which we all know isn’t a true foreclosure) the property would come up anyway.
I also found that the free websites out there that purport to offer free foreclosure listings had completely different results than I did. Many of the listings were “pre-foreclosures”, and some would use the word “bank” in the remarks but were not bank owned. For instance, they would read “bank of french doors”.
Good luck with your new search box, I’ll be looking forward to ours in the future.
Riley – that is why I have been doing manual searches. Our would say “bank owned” corporate owned, subject to bank aproval etc. There wasn’t a way to search with out reading all the comments.
Teresa; What a great advance that is for your MLS. We have to search remarks for “corporate addendum required” or “HUD” in our MLS, but that works pretty good.
I am one of those REO brokers, and your description isn’t wrong for many. On the other hand, it is amazing how many salespeople have a hard time with the phrase “as is”. – I know the listing says “as is”, but would the bank repair….” Which does not excuse their response, or lack of it.
You are 100% correct on the for pay foreclosure sites. Ony one site I know of one locally wwww.metrophillyforeclosures.com is actually run by agents who list REO properties. All of the others I see are really information you can find on the bank sites themselves. Homesteps, FannieMae, Countrywide, Downey Savings,and many other lenders and asset managers have sites that provide the information for free. Not always timely, but the price is right at leadt.
I think this is a great idea In Arizona we have a foreclosure problem for sure and it would be nice to know off the bat exactly how many REO sales are occuring. Also if that number is accelerating or declining, here in Tucson AZ the numbers have been increasing for the past 2 years.
As update to this, our SEF MLS added a “short sale” category today. But it is very strange to me that they didn’t add a “foreclosure” category also. (Especially since everyone prefers a foreclosure over a short sale).
Anyways, I saw it on the MLS today and thought of your post.
Love your blog…
Riley