Foreclosure Radar

As the market has shifted and distressed sellers are more plentiful, a variety of companies are trying to help home buyers and Realtors keep up to speed.  In response to the increase in foreclosures and short sales, Sean O’Toole founded a company called Foreclosure Radar.  Foreclosure Radar allows home buyers to track every foreclosure in California, accurately and easily. 

Yesterday, April 8th, 2008, the company release a new product called Foreclosure Listing Exchange (FLX).  This service allows users to search for homes that are bank owned, going to auction, or preforeclosures.  The system uses a 120 point validation system and is updated around the clock to ensure its accuracy.  According to O’Toole…

Here’s the deal, in a nutshell:
 
o It’s IDX search for foreclosure listings
o It’s a search widget that integrates seamlessly with a broker or agent’s site
o It gives consumers foreclosure information they previously had to pay for (on sites like RealtyTrac, etc.)
o Foreclosures outnumber MLS listings in many markets; broker now have a tool to market them

FLX tells you where the property is located, what the estimated value is, the loan amount and of course the basics like square footage and number of bedrooms.  From what I’ve briefly seen, this tool looks to be very appealing.  As a Realtor, I think this will help agents track down foreclosures(with accuracy) for their clients and also provide ammunition for writing those low offers, by using foreclosures. 

Next week I will begin a month long evaluation of FLX and Foreclosure Radar.  Obviously my results will be limited by my location and the amount of traffic to my site, but I will report back with my findings.  And in case you’re curious, O’Toole has purchased over 150 foreclosure properties…I think he knows a little about the business.  That’s all for now.