The requirement was reported on Inman News March 7, following another story published March 4 on Palm Beach Post that revealed some banks are not wanting agents to tell if a property is indeed bank-owned.
The Palm Beach Post article stated that Wells Fargo Bank’s Premier Asset Services division instructs agents who sell their REO properties to list the owner as “Owner of Record,” rather
than specifying that the owner is Wells Fargo Premier Asset Services.
Officials with the Palm Beach Gardens based MLS told Inman News that the mandatory REO data field was already in the works before the Post published its story on the matter.
While including an REO field is not required by MLSs, Realtor.com stated that certain MLSs have made it an option to indicate if a property is bank-owned, but some agents opt to not fill out that information.
REO properties, which are typically viewed as requiring more repairs than non-foreclosed homes, have an advantage of selling at greater discounts and can be an attractive option to investors.
According to a RealtyTrac report, REOs sold for an average of $149,686 in the fourth quarter of 2011, which is 36 percent below the average sales price of a non-foreclosure home; the average discount on bank-owned homes for all of 2011 was 40 percent.
An article from RealtyTrac also listed the top banks to buy bank-owned properties from based on its foreclosure sales data. The banks and their REO sale price averages are Ally Financial, $60,254; Wells Fargo, $83,530; Citigroup, $68,406; JPMorgan Chase, $98,864; and Bank of America, $120,801.
Destin 30A Niceville Real Estate-Myke Atwater 