foreclosures

Seattle bucks the national trends yet again.

ha, there's a funny story behind this. i sent this press release to the PR Newswire on monday, but they forgot to put my contact info on it, so i never got any calls. this afternoon i did a quick google news search, and this came up.

Quoted: A nonprofit group representating homeowners believes there's a way for the U.S. Government to prevent foreclosures in neighborhoods across America.

New Foreclosure website for the PNW, just released a couple of months ago.

I took a look at the site and it appears to put together, in one place, info that you can obtain from other sites for free or very low cost (vs. an $80 monthly fee here). It is an info amalgamation site that can be more convenient for the end-user.

I have issues with how they calculate discount % and market value. I believe their use of both of these figures is misleading. Also, like many foreclosure lists, there is no indication on the site - as is - that shows which properties are available for purchase or will be available on the day of the auction. I did a random sampling of properties I found on the site and several were for sale or pending the close of a sale. Perhaps the paid version of the site better filters the results? Without a filter, casual investors will put a lot of time into finding the right foreclosure property, ordering reports, etc only to find that the property is no longer available on auction day.

Another problem with buying foreclosures is that the foreclosure lists are readily available from a variety of sources. Professional investors will likely hit an unlisted, solid property prior to the auction date. I know I would try to snab a great deal quickly and with the least amount of competition.