Source: News-press online: BY PAT GILLESPIE • pgillespie@news-press.com • April 4, 2010
Sitting in a bathrobe, sipping coffee may be the new way to buy a foreclosed Lee County house. Starting Monday, you can do just that. That's when they will be sold online through an auction process similar to eBay. Starting Monday, you can do just that.
That's when they will be sold online through an auction process similar to eBay. The Web site — www.lee.realforeclose.com — has a calendar of each day's foreclosure sales along with links to the property's information on the Clerk of Court, Property Appraiser and Tax Collector Web sites and photos, if available.
By expanding Lee County's houses to a global audience, Lee County Clerk of Court Charlie Green believes it could help the value of available properties.
"Hopefully, it'll generate more money for the seller or bank," he said. "It should increase the value of properties with additional bidders."
Charles Cosby, a real estate investor who owns The Foreclosure Team, said there are positive and negative consequences to going online. People who might not know the pitfalls of a house, such as it having Chinese drywall, existing liens and vandalism, could lose money if they don't do research.
"The more accessible it is for the average Joe, the more potential for hurt," Cosby said. "A lot of people don't know the process."
Until now, bankers, buyers and others working on behalf of investors invaded the Lee County Justice Center to bid on houses one by one. With the increase in foreclosure cases in the last few years, as many as 2,500 filed a month, the bidders became so numerous they were moved to a room on the second floor to avoid disruption.
Though foreclosures have decreased in recent months - about 1,100 were filed last month - Green now will get people scouring the properties out of the building altogether.
"This is something we needed to do," Green said. "This is a big deal for Lee County."
After target dates of January and March came and went, Green's main hang-up was that Realauction.com, the company that would be hosting foreclosure sales, would be collecting and transferring the millions of dollars used to buy the houses purchased daily at the courthouse. Green said he now feels confident in the process based on a change in bidder payment options.
Lloyd McClendon, CEO of the Fort Lauderdale-based company, said that as of Friday, 935 bidders had registered on the site and $1.5 million had been deposited.
"We're ecstatic," he said. "For us, we're excited to bring in a client that was so large. It was a long time coming."
Users create names and passwords and deposit money into an online account on the Web site. After winning a bid on a foreclosed house, users must pay 5 percent of the winning bid and then the remaining balance and fees within 24 hours.
Registry fees are 3 percent of the first $500 and 1 percent of the remaining sale price. Other fees apply.
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