Discount Properties Offered, Concentrated in Four States

Online home auction company RealtyBid.com, Rainbow City, Ala., is offering close to 1,000 real estate owned properties to investors and homebuyers around the country during January. Hundreds of properties have been added to the home auction website, many from the states of Missouri, Ohio, Utah and Wisconsin. RealtyBid.com chief executive and president Tony Isbell said despite government moratoriums on foreclosures in 2009 that kept the number of REO properties available to buyers flat during the second half of the year, RealtyBid.com continued to break sales records last year. "In 2010, we have already seen increased activity, and we are expecting that trend to continue. We do not expect a tidal wave of properties but a continued increase in inventory as loan modification programs fall well short of expectations." Mr. Isbell said he expects lenders will free up more of their post-foreclosure inventory through the online bidding system.