Realtors Adapting To Suit Foreclosure Dominated Environment

June 24th, 2008

Agents and realtors are adapting themselves to the changed foreclosure dominated environment. Jason Pietrucha is one of the group. Two years he had foreseen the trend in Illinois and accordingly trained himself in dealing with properties in various stages of foreclosures. This strategy is paying dividends today.

Brokers have initiated training courses in foreclosures and have opened new websites. Companies dealing with properties are now widening their information banks to include the ever-increasing number of vacant houses. In one afternoon auctioneers are trading in hundred of bank repossessed units. There are even do-it-yourself kits for house owners trying to sell their troubled properties.

Agent Tim Soper has aptly put it by saying that they are all adjusting to a “new world”. His company organizes bus tours for potential buyers of foreclosed houses. Inside the bus, talks are given about the ins and outs of foreclosures. Soper calculates that one third of the company’s business has shifted to foreclosure related issues. The sheer volume is staggering. It does not seem that in the near future any substantial change will be perceptible.

According to First American Core Logic the number of repossessed houses in the country increased to 660,000 in April from 493,000 in January 2008. In January 2007 the number was 231,000. In the Chicago area the number had increased by double to 40,000. It comprised of 2.5% of all the houses in the area.

Terry Semmens of Zip Realty Inc has started training its agents to specialize in foreclosure matters. There is a good demand from consumers. One out of three deals in his firm relates to properties in some stage of foreclosure. He cautions that though bargains can be picked up it is not cheap and easy to come by. The matter is time taking and a lot of bureaucratic hurdles have to be overcome. It is something quite different from traditional real estate market. Nobody is giving away anything for peanuts. It is not all that the papers say. Generally one can rarely go 15% to 20% less than the market price.

When the floodgates of foreclosure marketing opened from late 2006, the agents and dealers were ill prepared to navigate through the turbulence. But slowly now they are getting a grip and auxiliary services are expanding. Many are selling information and with them scammers are also on the rise – vultures marching behind the predators as new seeds begin to sprout on the foreclosure rot.