Realestatetours gets a good plug near the end....
Bankruptcy deals to be gathered for site - 12-06-01
Canadian Foreclosure Sales Inc. sees profitable niche on real estate deals
By Peter Mitham, Staff reporter at Business in Vancouver
Buyers with an appetite for the real estate of bankrupt businesses and individuals have traditionally had to undertake the onerous task of building their own list of properties because -- unlike in the U.S. -- there is no single database in this country.
Although banks and insurers maintain lists of their own clients, there's no one list of mortgaged properties.
Vancouver's Canadian Foreclosure Sales Inc. (www.foreclosures.ca) hopes to change that with the launch of Canada's first Web site devoted exclusively to foreclosure sales.
"There seemed to be a real niche that was missing and this seemed to fill that vacancy," said president Deborah Skaey, a former public relations professional with 15 years' experience on policy issues with the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver and the BC Real Estate Association. "This was an opportunity to create that Web site and also that database."
She said that the site promises lenders an opportunity to recover a little more money a little faster than they would by sticking with traditional channels.
Launched four months ago with the backing of $100,000 from two private investors, the site depends on the support of lenders and the law firms handling bankruptcies.
Westminster Savings Credit Union and Lang Michener are among the institutions that have asked realtors to use the service in conjunction with other media to advertise properties in court-ordered sales.
Lindsay Goldberg, a partner with Lang Michener, said that he'll be interested to see how the site fares. The law firm has requested use of the site only since mid-May and Goldberg doesn't feel it's had enough time to prove itself one way or the other.
Similarly, Mark Carter, chief credit officer for Westminster Savings Credit Union, says that while the credit union has between six and 12 properties listed on the site, he doesn't know of a sale that can be directly attributed to a Foreclosures.ca listing.
"But again, that's difficult to pin down," he said.
Skaey herself is unaware of any sales stemming from use of the site, but she notes that monthly hits are cresting 190,000. She added that there are approximately 3,000 foreclosure sales a year in B.C., or 750 listings each quarter, and the site has listed 150 properties in its first months of operation.
But the service has also been free to realtors. The introduction of a $50 listing fee when the service rolls out nationally within the next three months could deter some realtors from using the service.
"The more places you are, the better off, but you can only pay for so many of them," said Shawn Hlookoff, a realtor with Sutton Premier Realty in Surrey. He has used the site while it's been free during its initial startup period.
Hlookoff estimates that only about five per cent of property sales can be attributed to ads. As an example, he cited one of his properties, noted as sold on Foreclosures.ca, that didn't sell through the site.
"I wish it did. Then I would be willing to pay for that. They want me to pay for that site and I'm not going to pay," Hlookoff said, adding that he would rather list on a site that advertises itself, such as Realestatetours.com.
"If they start charging realtors to go on their site, they're going to go out of business -- in my opinion, of course," he said.
However, Ron Antalek, a realtor with Re/max Ridge-Meadows Realty, said he is listing on the site because of the volume of foreclosures he handles -- 11 to date this year -- and the fact lenders demand that realtors use the site.
"I have put all of my foreclosure listings on Foreclosures.ca," he said. "We've [had] good reception from the lenders and from the public."
pmitham@biv.com |
