Can Web Tools Help Demystify Sheriff Sales?
Here’s the thing about sheriff sales: while most folks have heard that they are an awesome way to snag a home for cheap(er) – and, in Philly, we take anything we can get in that regard – practically nobody, save investors and flippers, know anything about them. These sales are open to the public, but understanding how they work is really something that requires a For Dummies handbook.
Twinkle, twinkle little foreclosure: buyers now have a better shot at finding the sheriff sale property for them. Photo by Alex Roscoe of sheriffroscoe.com
A handful of third-party tools have been designed to help consumers identify sheriff sale homes in which they might be interested, by zoning in on specific neighborhoods and price points. This sort of application isn’t new. Sites dedicated to hunting foreclosures have been a staple of the WWW since time immemorial (…in internet time, of course), and those focused on sheriff’s sales have since gotten in on the action. Problem is, while national-level aggregators are easy to use and allow visitors to scan multiple locations, they tend to lack in local-level accuracy.
Enter SheriffRoscoe.com and a tool on Councilman Henon’s website, both of which utilize Sheriff’s Department data to populate area maps with homes on auction. The former site – which stresses its lack of actual affiliation with the city, and is named coyly for the programmer who designed it – is more sophisticated, allowing users to sort properties by how long they have been on the market and whether they are on tax auction or foreclosure, in addition to displaying sold properties. The sheriff’s office itself has lauded the site, pointing out that it lessens the “barrier to entry” for inexperienced would-be buyers. The city’s official listing of auction properties gives essential details, but makes it near impossible for consumers to narrow down the listings by the criteria important to them. And considering the level of customer service going on at the office’s real estate department, people need all the help they can get.
Education is a powerful thing, and while these sites can’t help someone fathom all the intricacies of the sheriff sale, hopefully they will be useful tools for those doing a bit of research before entering the fray. And hey, who knows – you never know when your dream property is going to wind up on the block. One troubled-but-still-functional shopping mall, anyone?
