All Forum Posts by: Sean OToole

@Will Fulton think about making those touches via multiple channels, rather than using one channel multiple times 30 days apart. Online ad, direct mail, email, phone and then ideally in person. 

@Marc Afzal with so many datasources if varies a lot. For trustee sale tracking were making updates every 5-15 minutes the day of sale, at the other end of the spectrum is is full county assessor updates which are typically twice a year, but may be once a year - which is due to the county, rather than us (though we do update owner info upon each transfer, so for important changes it is updated daily). Anyways, feel free to ask our support team if you ever have a question about frequency and timeliness on a specific bit of data.

@Marc Afzal From a data quality stand point I'd say we are comparable to Listsource (Corelogic), Data Tree (First American), and Agent Pro 247 (Black Knight / Fidelity) for assessor and recorder data (the big 3). For foreclosures were better in AZ, CA, NV, OR and WA, for 2 reasons: 1) they aren't timely in a bunch of counties, and while we buy a lot of data, we abstract foreclosure notices in those counties because we haven't found any sources we can buy timely enough data from, which our auction investors rely on, and 2) we track the trustee sale auctions (postponements, cancellations, sales), which none of those companies, or Rebo do.

I don't think any of the big 3 have vacancy, we do. Rebo has divorce and probate, which I've chosen not to offer, because I think the data quality is often poor, and more importantly there are better ways to do those businesses then public records filings (obits are available much earlier for example). Tax is easy to get from most counties, and while we will add it sometime soon (we have it internally), I'm concerned it won't be much of an opportunity after we make it widely available. My suggestion is to get down to your county now and work those while you can. We have many of the top tax default investors on our platform, and even though we don't offer those lists, they still use us for those properties, they just have to take the extra step of adding the properties to a List. We find people do this even when they subscribe to another product to get a list.

Finally, you've mixed some apples and oranges. Data Tree would be more comparable to Corelogic's Real Quest (property information, then Listsource (property lists). We're kind of a combo of the two property information and lists, plus people data (phone, email, demographics, social profiles), etc. That last bit, we really stand alone on, vs the big 3 (and others).

Hope that helps.

@Jay Hinrichs sorry about the one you missed. Did we not have it all, or just not the drop bid? We definitely work to track everything including drop bids. Not sure what you mean by "last second additions", it isn't legal to post new sales at the last second. ???

We've worked hard over the years to convince trustees to post drop bids early, but we still see them get announced at the sale fairly often. Unfortunately the only way to deal with that is to research everything with the assumption the bid may drop. :-(

Thanks @Jay Hinrichs. @Christi Hawkins we are working on it now, should have a beta version available to start testing early to mid summer. Best, Sean.

@Jay Hinrichs we've mostly got you covered on that front aerial, street, birds eye, street side, and overlaid parcel maps, that you can just tap to get all the details. Which USGS did you want? The topographical? Don't have that one yet, but I've been thinking about it.

Hi @Jay Hinrichs, yes we call it an app. Actually 3 apps - web/desktop, Apple iOS, and Android. Pretty much the same features across all three, but the phone versions are great for driving for dollars, or pulling owner info on the spot. The desktop version is better for research, marketing campaigns etc. Thanks for the mention and for being a customer. :-)

@Barkev Andriopoulos - why foreclosure homes? By foreclosure do you mean bank owned (REO)? Or do you mean the actual foreclosure auctions - trustee sales. If trustee sales they are never handled online in CA - you have to go to the live auction sites. Auction.com handles only a portion of the trustee sales in CA. If you want a complete list, you'll need to spend 100's of hours tracking them all down at county, or use a service. ;-)

@Randy Ritchie I'd avoid mortgage lates. That is credit data and if you follow all the laws necessary to use it, you will get zero response. Even if you break the law, you won't see great response.

The thing about mortgage lates, and even notices of default that so many get wrong, is that the owner is NOT motivated early in the process. They invariably think they can resolve it and won't lose their home, and don't need to sell. It is not until late in the process that they finally get truly motivated. The most successful preforeclosure investor I've ever met would use Pacer to track motions for relief from bankruptcy stay, after the foreclosure auction had been postponed due to bankruptcy. At the point the motion is granted, that owner is truly out of options. 

@Vic Reddy - going national is our number one priority right now, though we are also working on a bunch of other cool stuff. Still a few months out, but this year for sure.