Foreclosed Home Search Made Easier for Homebuyers

Foreclosed home search has been made easier and more convenient for the homebuyer by online real estate brokers. The homebuyer does not have to take time off from work to view houses.

Online real estate brokers have been providing a lot of helpful features, giving detailed information on homes such as pricing history, date of price reductions, comparable home values, addresses and the existence of nearby restaurants, shopping malls, movie theaters and other facilities for families.

The web sites also allow prospective homebuyers to create a portfolio for homes that they like to monitor. Homebuyers can facilitate their foreclosed home search by using the sites’ targeted-search tools.

One of these online brokers is California-based ZipRealty, which has been helping homebuyers online since the late 1990s. It serves 35 major housing markets and manages full-service real estate agents who are mostly home-based. Recently, ZipRealty has added Suffolk and Nassau to its markets.

ZipRealty agents help prospective homebuyers by studying their online searches and foreclosed home search, e-mailing them and calling them up to provide needed information.

Another online real estate brokerage is Seattle-based Redfin, which has also launched its online support operations on the Island and in Westchester. Redfin also uses similar online selling techniques applied by ZipRealty agents.

Glenn Kelman, chief executive and president of Redfin, said that it will not open offices across the Island to launch its services. He said one office in either Melville or Huntington would be enough. The online brokerage would just develop and introduce better features, in addition to its foreclosed home search tools.

Kelman also said that the online service not only helps homebuyers facilitate their foreclosed home search and other home searches, they would also save sales commissions usually given in traditional sales.

Redfin charges only half of the typical three percent sales commission when it represents a homebuyer. If it lists a home for a seller, it charges a one-time $5,000 payment for a combined sales campaign, representation in sales negotiations and services during home tours.

ZipRealty, meanwhile, gives a discount of 20 percent off the real estate agent’s commission, according to Dorothy Ferrentino, a lead agent of ZipRealty in Nassau County.

Additionally, Kelman also added that the improved foreclosed home search has been helping real estate agents close more sales transactions a month than when they were not using online brokerage services.

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• How to Find Foreclosure Homes Smartly
• Find Foreclosed Home for Sale with Some Sleuthing Work
• Foreclosed Homes for Sale Fell in April