RealtyTrac on the Rise
Good morning. Little news item: RealtyTrac, which has been criticized because its foreclosure statistics tally several foreclosure "events" per home, is now keeping a new statistic that will eliminate double- and triple-counting of homes.
Bigger news item: RealtyTrac is growing into the dominant source of information on foreclosures, and it hopes to dominate foreclosure sales as well. From Mathew Padilla's interview with RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio for the OC Register: "RealtyTrac has become the best-known name in foreclosures.... Saccacio has grown the company from about $575,000 a year in revenue to a projected $43 million this year."
More: "He'd like his company to become the EBay of foreclosure-related home sales. Today, RealtyTrac makes most of its money by selling online subscriptions to its website.... His next step: convince homeowners in financial stress as well as banks to sell their properties on his website. We asked him to talk about his latest plans and the recent controversy."
Thoughts? Comments? Insights?
