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A place where you can find out the latest real estate trends, comment and ask questions based on your experiences with the foreclosures market. In addition, we want this blog to develop into a community where you can connect and share ideas with others interested in the foreclosures market.
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May 2006 - Posts

Improved postcard system for contacting homeowners
Based on member requests, RealtyTrac has updated its postcard process to give you more choice and flexibility when sending postcards to homeowners in pre-foreclosure. The new postcard system features a broader selection of postcards, plus the ability to send and schedule multiple postcards in sequence. In addition to these improvements, RealtyTrac members can now track all scheduled and sent postcards in one place.

Here’s a synopsis of the new postcard features:

•    12 new pre-written postcards to choose from or customize.
•    The option to send multiple postcards to a homeowner.
•    Scheduling feature to send postcards over a given time period.
•    A new "save favorites" feature to expedite the setup process. 
•    Tracking feature showing all scheduled and sent postcards.

This new postcard process will allow members to create effective direct mail campaigns rather than simply sending a single postcard and hoping for the best. But it doesn’t eliminate the follow-up or leg work involved in buying pre-foreclosure. Before you send postcards to a homeowner in foreclosure, it’s always a good idea to do some research to make sure that the property is still in foreclosure and that the investment potential justifies making contact with the owner in the first place.

Learn more about RealtyTrac's new and improved postcard system, and good luck with your search!

Published Tue, May 30 2006 1:27 PM by darenb
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Finding Foreclosure Auctions: New Search Feature
RealtyTrac members have been asking for property search functionality that allows them to find all properties in a given area that are scheduled for foreclosure auction on a certain date or within a certain date range, and we're happy to announce that functionality is now here.

If you're logged in as a RealtyTrac member, you can search and sort your search results by auction date using our Advanced Search -- available by clicking the "Advanced Search" link on My RealtyTrac or by clicking the "Search" tab on any page when you're logged in.

Scroll to the bottom of the advanced search page and select "Auction Date" in the Sort by dropdown box. Use the preset date range or enter your own date range and click “Begin Search.” The search results page will display auction properties sorted by their auction dates, with the most recent auction date first, and the auction dates will be displayed on the search results page.

If an auction date is in the past, the search results page will prompt you to call the trustee to find out if the property actually sold at auction or if the auction was canceled or postponed to a new date.

We hope you enjoy this new feature, which should allow you to search for and find foreclosure auction properties more efficiently. Let us know if it works well for you or if you have any questions or suggestions.

Published Wed, May 24 2006 3:44 PM by darenb
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Top 10 Metro Foreclosure Rates
RealtyTrac today released its first ever U.S. Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report, which ranks the nation's 100 largest metro areas by foreclosure rate in the first quarter of 2006. Here are the 10 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, along with the percentage of households in foreclosure for each area:

1. Indianapolis -- 1.45%
2. Atlanta -- 1.42%
3. Dallas -- 1.01%
4. Memphis, Tenn. -- 0.99%
5. Denver -- 0.95%
6. Detroit -- 0.83%
7. Jacksonville, Fla. -- 0.75%
8. San Antonio -- 0.75%
9. Canton, Ohio -- 0.72%
10. Las Vegas -- 0.71%

For the full list and more details, view the press release for this report.

As you can see, no one region dominated the top 10 list, but conspicuously missing are any cities in the Northeast, Gulf Coast and West Coast. Somewhat of a surprise was Jacksonville, Fla., which has low unemployment and strong home price appreciation, but it could be that rising interest rates combined with more risky financing are taking a toll in that area.

Any thoughts on what is contributing to the high foreclosure rates in these areas (or the low foreclosure rates in other areas)?
Published Tue, May 23 2006 1:57 PM by darenb
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Bubble monitoring
It's always fascinating to see the different ways people use RealtyTrac's foreclosure data. For instance, there are a plethora of blogs such as The Housing Bubble and Northern New Jersey Real Estate Bubble that use the rising foreclosure numbers shown by RealtyTrac's data to support their theory of a real estate bubble about to burst. Many of these bloggers take the time to drill down to the RealtyTrac data in their area and display that to their readers.

One of the best reads among the bubble blog genre is Bubble Markets Inventory Tracking, which regularly uses RealtyTrac data to track how a "property flipper in trouble" has fallen into foreclosure on several investment properties. And of course I like what this blogger, ocrenter, had to say in a blog post yesterday regarding a Sacramento Bee story about exploding housing inventory. The highlighted one street where seven homes are listed for sale, but missed the fact that there are three pre-foreclosures on the same street. Ocrenter wrote:

"You think seven homes for sale on one street is bad, what about the Real Story of three pre-foreclosures on one street?!! Here we have the reporter interviewing a Realtor and getting the standard picture of homes just oozing equity. Yet, the story of homeowners drowning in debt from multiple refinancings and oversized mortgage from the price run-up is completely missed.
"Tip for the Sac Bee reporter Mr. Wasserman: sign up for a 7 day free trial of RealtyTrac and look it up!"
Published Wed, May 10 2006 11:10 AM by darenb
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$15.75 million pre-foreclosure purchase of Don Johnson's home
A last-minute pre-foreclosure sale last week allowed actor Don Johnson of television's "Miami Vice," to avoid foreclosure on his Aspen, Colo., estate, according to an article in the Aspen Daily News.
"Don Johnson may have saved his Woody Creek ranch from being sold Wednesday at a foreclosure auction, but it was because the celebrity unloaded his 17-acre property Monday for $15.75 million, according to records at the Pitkin County Clerk & Recorder's Office.

"An attorney for Johnson said Friday that a portion of the sale proceeds went toward paying off the alleged default to New York-based lender D.E. Shaw Laminar Lending Inc., which lent Johnson $10.6 million in August 2004."
This story shatters the misconception that only run-down properties in poor neighborhoods fall into foreclosure. There are plenty of examples of highly valued homes in exclusive neighborhoods in the RealtyTrac foreclosure database.

It also demonstrates that owners in default often wait until the last minute before deciding to sell to avoid foreclosure. That means pre-foreclosure buyers need to be patient and persistent when dealing with homeowners in default. And they need to be ready to act quickly when the homeowner decides to sell.
Published Wed, May 03 2006 11:09 AM by darenb
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