Brokerage rolls out REO search for consumers

A California real estate brokerage company has added a new feature that allows consumers to view bank-owned foreclosure properties that are currently on the market. CataList Homes today announced the launch of the bank-owned property-search feature for California and will roll out the same feature for Northern California within a few days, said CataList co-founder Michael Davin. The company obtained the data for bank-owned properties, also known as REO properties, from real estate research firm DataQuick Information Systems and cross-references that information with for-sale properties in multiple listing services. REO properties, which are bought back by banks through an auction process and then listed for sale through a contract with real estate agents and brokers, are not always specifically identified in MLSs, Davin said. While there are other categories of foreclosure properties, such as preforeclosure properties and properties available for sale through an auction, Dav...