It appears that former retail real estate agents aren’t the only ones flocking to the booming REO business these days. Online real estate brokerage Redfin.com said Wednesday that it launched a new version of its Web service that combines bank-owned foreclosure and for-sale-by-owner listings, along with more traditional broker-listed properties from various local Multiple Listing Services (MLS) in the markets the company serves. In a press statement, Redfin said it is “the only major site to offer actionable foreclosure data free of charge.” The move marks dot-com real estate maverick’s move into highly competitive territory for foreclosure marketplace listings — a market that includes RealtyTrac and Foreclosure.com, among others — and signals a growing realization on the transactional side of the real estate business that foreclosures are likely to represent a large part of the real estate market for some time to come. “Other sites show foreclosures but then ask the user to pay to see their addresses; often these listings are marketed as foreclosures when in fact they are in pre-foreclosure, where the owner has received a notice of default but is still able to avert foreclosure,” the company said. Redfin said it lists REO properties, including making their full address and bank contact details freely available; the company does not, however, show foreclosure properties scheduled to be sold at auction, often called pre-foreclosures. Many foreclosed properties can be bought directly from the bank prior to their being listed by a broker in the MLS, but buyers can only see them on most websites if and when the bank hires a broker. Redfin said user can now see the foreclosed properties on its Web site as soon as the bank takes possession, usually after an auction fails to attract a buyer willing to pay the amount owed on the mortgage. For more information, visit http://www.redfin.com.

More: