Broward County begins offering foreclosure auctions on the web.  Will Polk County be next?

The following article is from the South Florida Business Journal.

Swamped with foreclosures that need to be disposed of through courthouse sale, Broward County joins Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and nine other Florida counties in taking foreclosure sales from the courthouse steps to cyberspace. “So far, we have sold two or three properties,” Broward Clerk of the Courts Howard Forman said about 15 minutes after online auctioning began. In all, more than 200 sales are expected to be sealed today, he said. Winning bidders have until noon the next day to pay in full.

Lenders set a minimum price they will accept, and bidding starts from there, Forman said. Potential buyers have to register at http://www.broward.realforeclose.com and plunk down a 5 percent deposit based on what they expect to be their maximum bid. Bidders can access thousands of foreclosed properties, view pictures, and link to the property appraiser’s report. All bidders are responsible for doing their own research to ensure that the property isn’t riddled with liens or encumbered by additional mortgages that would have to be paid off to gain a clear title.

“It is just like buying any kind of real estate: It is buyer beware,” Forman said. Online sales are expected to be about double the 300 to 400 properties sold through traditional courthouse auctions, he said. “You are opening up a market that is global, not just in South Florida,” Forman said. It will also save the court money in these lean budgetary times. Traditional courthouse auctions soaked up the time of about a half-dozen court staffers, who can now refocus on other court tasks, Forman said.

Broward and the other Florida counties contract with Plantation-based RealAuction.com to conduct the auctions. The company is paid through a $60 fee charged to the winning bidders. “Foreclosures have just inundated our office,” Forman said. “Last year, we had about 52,000. In 2008, we had about 45,000. Compare that with 2006, when we about 9,000. So, we have seen a 570 percent increase.”