Foreclosure.com Parent Seeks Bankruptcy Court Protection

Foreclosure.com Parent Seeks Bankruptcy Court Protection
January 1, 2010, South Florida Business Journal

Even though foreclosure filings and interest in purchasing foreclosed homes is at an all-time high, a Boca Raton-based company that runs several prominent foreclosure search Web sites has fallen into bankruptcy court. FFS Data filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on Dec. 23 citing $9.1 million in assets and $27.5 million in debts. It listed gross income of $15.7 million so far this year. The company runs the Web sites Foreclosure.com, ForeclosureFreesearch.com and ForeclosureDatabase.com. It lists foreclosures, pre-foreclosures, bankruptcies, repossessed properties and tax liens from across the country and sends out foreclosure e-mail alerts. Brad Geisen, a licensed mortgage broker and real estate broker, founded the company in 1999. He remains president and CEO.

The Inman 100: Most Influential Leaders
December 30, 2009, Inman News

Inman News today releases an annual report that highlights the real estate industry's 100 most influential people.

3 Reasons Home Prices are Heading Lower
January 1, 2010, CNNMoney.com

After four months of gains, home prices flattened in October. Worse yet, industry insiders think that they'll soon start to fall. There are three main reasons for the reversal: a coming flood of foreclosures, rising interest rates and the eventual end of the tax credits.

Foreclosures Weigh on Home Appraisals
January 3, 2010, The Associated Press

Across the country, agents and homebuilders are complaining too many appraisals are coming in low, scuttling deals. The National Association of Realtors says nearly one in four of its members has reported clients losing a sale due to botched appraisals. The National Association of Home Builders, meanwhile, said low appraisals were sinking a quarter of all new home sales and argues it's not fair to compare distressed properties to brand-new homes. And that gets to the heart of the problem. Roughly 40 percent of all home sales this year were foreclosures or short sales, meaning the property sold for less than the mortgage. In some markets, like Las Vegas and Phoenix, they've hit more than 50 percent.

Real Estate in Cape Coral Is Far From a Recovery
January 3, 2010, New York Times

Fellow adventurers, refugees from winter and armchair archaeologists, we are here on this shiny green tour bus to embark on a safari of sorts. We’ll be exploring the local habitat, as upended and reconfigured by an epochal real estate fiasco. Our guide, Marc Joseph, stalks wildlife of the white-elephant variety. A real estate agent, he specializes in houses that proved financially disastrous for someone — the banker, the homeowner, the American taxpayer, often all three. Mr. Joseph’s bus is emblazoned with red letters spelling the name of this thrill ride: ForeclosureToursRUs.com.