AJC: RealtyTrac's Foreclosure Data Is Bogus

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution confirms what a lot of people have thought for a while: RealtyTrac’s mortgage foreclosure data, supposedly definitive, tend to be bogus:

When the most frequently quoted source of foreclosure information released its April statistics, it estimated that 3,746 properties in metro Atlanta’s five core counties had been slapped with foreclosure sale notices.

But a review of local legal advertisements – the only official source of Georgia foreclosure information – suggested a decidedly different number for April, with 7,462 properties slated for auction on the courthouse steps.

So they were only off by a factor of 100%. Close! . . .

I’m surprised, though, that in this case the RealtyTrac numbers understate the actual data rather than overstate them. The original objection to RealtyTrac, you may recall, was that its figures tend to be inflated because the service effectively counts a single default as several foreclosures by tallying the foreclosure as a “new” each time it generates a new legal filing in the overall default-eviction-disposition foreclosure process.

How RealtyTrac also manages to come up with numbers that are too low is a mystery. Guesses welcome. . .

Comments

[nerdseeksbl...:]

The reporting requirement for this industry are not helpful and the problem goes beyond home buyers. How can the SEC ever get decent financials
from companies when the underlying assets can't be properly valued?

With automated data processing methods, it is cheap and easy to get numbers that many people can check against other sources,

www.federalreserve.gov...
www.sec.gov/comments/s...

Many industries have regulator or other govt web sites that make information available for free using automated access methods so it can be easily sanity checked by many people. Since real estate is largely a zero sum game, however, you get many vocal critics against efficient markets.

Jun 23 06:30 AM

[Burt:]

I was browsing the foreclosures in my hometown on realtytrac recently and was surprised to find my own apt on their list. I'm pretty certain I would know if I was going into foreclosure.

Jun 23 01:09 PM