Investors and consumers shopping for real estate-owned, or REO, properties online will be able to make offers and counteroffers on the Internet through a new software product launched by RealtyTrac.
The RealtyTrac Asset Management System enables asset managers and agents to post, manage and sell their REO properties online. It is available as an on-demand service or as licensed software, and is integrated into RealtyTrac and its REO property-focused Web site, Bank Homes Direct.
Realty agents can post properties, proactively market them, and take offers from pre-qualified buyers, while asset managers can track and manage properties to assign to agents, calculate return on investment, initiate and monitor tasks, run reports, and manage every step of the real estate sales process.
RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio believes the software will help return more qualified offers on these properties.
“If a person saw a property on the Web site, they’d look at it, get an automated valuation, and can look at the amount of the bank’s desired sale price,” he said. “We require them to go through getting financing first,” he added, and the company also suggests using a real estate agent to assist with making an offer.
In addition, consumers and investors can sign up for e-mail alerts that will inform them when a property matching their criteria has entered the system. They’ll be able to make offers with the click of a button.
RealtyTrac provides foreclosure data to the real estate industry. The company is the exclusive foreclosure data provider to AOL Real Estate, MSN House & Home, Yahoo! Real Estate and HomeGain.
RealtyTrac also has a program for real estate agents interested in working with buyers on REO properties.
As real estate prices flatten, interest rates rise, and default rates climb, the industry will likely begin to see increasing inventory of pre-foreclosure, foreclosure and REO properties, creating a need for easy-to-use asset management systems.
The RealtyTrac software is built on the Microsoft .NET platform, and is easily integrated into most existing IT networks. Saccacio said it also could be used for for-sale-by-owner homes or new homes, for instance.
“It’s a workflow tool that has the capability to manage assets. The fact that we can push and pull offers and bring those qualified offers back to the desktop is a huge advantage,” he said.
Other key features include complete property management, real-time access to new offers and offer history, professional network management, and the ability to post and update properties.
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