Frustrated In Your Search For Foreclosure/Bank-Owned and Short-Sale Properties?

Does "frustrated" describe how you feel when trying to search for foreclosure/bank-owned and short-sale properties online? You’re not alone. Buyers often ask me why they can’t just click a search field labeled "bank-owned" or "short-sale" and pull up those types of properties on listing sites. Here’s the answer to that question:

Listing sites…

Realtor.com, HomesDataBase.com and other listing sites generally get their data from either the local MLS and/or a straight data feed from brokerage firms such as Keller Williams, RE/MAX, Century 21, etc. There are certain "standard" fields that data is pulled from. That data is then auto-populated into the listing site’s template.

MLS’s/MRIS…

Unfortunately, there is no field or check box labeled "Foreclosure/Bank-Owned" or "Short-Sale" for Listing Agents to use when uploading a listing into the MRIS. Because of that, there is no way for listing sites to pull "foreclosure/bank-owned only" or "short-sale only" data. Therefore, there is no way for you, the consumer, to search for only those types of properties.

But agent’s can search for them…

Yes, we can. But there’s no "magic button" or "insider trick" for us either. When searching for these types of properties, I have to check off several search fields such as "As is condition clause required", "Relo/bank addendum required", etc. Then I have to manually go through each listing to see whether it’s a foreclosure/bank-owned or short-sale property (or relo - they get thrown into that mix too). I check the agent-only remarks, tax records, owner records, etc. It’s frustrating for myself and other agents as much as it to you, the consumer.

To answer your next question…

I have no idea why the MRIS hasn’t done anything about it yet. And there’s nothing about them something about it on the horizon either. It’s ashame because the MRIS makes millions of dollars (literally) every month from all the dues they collect from agents. Yet, they can’t make a few programming changes that would make everyone’s lives so much easier. Instead, they waste their (our) money on things such as Mr. IS without ever consulting us about it first.