Jan 11, 2010 6:09 pm US/Pacific
Fla. Foreclosed Homes Hit Online Auction Block
MIAMI (CBS) ―
Over the holidays you probably shopped online for clothes, books and even electronics. Well, beginning Monday, you can buy a foreclosed home in Miami-Dade County without leaving your house.
Think of it as eBay for the homebuyer looking for a deal.
CBS station WFOR-TV reports that Miami-Dade currently has 110 thousand properties foreclosures, making the county the third largest in the nation. According to Clerk of Miami-Dade Courts Harvey Ruvin, those properties are supposed to be sold 35 days of a judgment. But with such an enormous backlog – that's just not happening.
Under the current auction system, only about 450 auctions are held a week, with the time between judgment and sale dates dramatically expanding.
"We are now setting cases into July," said Ruvin, who explained that the new online auction system will help. "It will enhance our productivity and efficiency. And we'll be able to serve more people online rather than in-line."
The online action process will also be a money and time saver for the county. Ruvin estimates that the new online system will save the court 23,000 man-hours a year while auctioning foreclosures three times as fast.
"This narrow market that used to be dominated by only people who could get here is now global," said Ruvin.
"I was born a skeptic with a side of optimism," said Julian Dominguez of Invest Florida.
Dominguez, a 28-year veteran foreclosure bidder, believes this system will not only move sales along, it will curb bullying where regulars convince or confuse novices into bad deals.
"They know that you are going to get burned and you are not going to come back. And that's one less competitor that he has to do with," said Dominguez.
Currently about a dozen other Florida counties say they've had success selling foreclosures online. Ruvin hopes the county will be able to unload an enormous backlog of foreclosures in record time.
To place a bid, interested buyers must first register at
miamidade.realforeclose.com. Once registered, buyers will be able to make deposits, place bids, monitor auction activity and pay for their winning bids.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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