Foreclosures R Us
Framingham company riding high as the housing market falls
But they had no idea what they would soon be in for.
"We were releasing statistics in 2004, 2005, going, 'Oh, these numbers are huge,'" Farragher-Gemma said with a chuckle.
Since then, of course, foreclosures have become the subject of front page headlines. And Farragher-Gemma and Shapiro's company, ForeclosuresMass, has grown and expanded its focus. Today, the Framingham-based company is part listing service, part education provider for real estate professionals who want to learn about the foreclosure process, and part networking group for real estate agents, mortgage providers and real estate investors.
ForeclosuresMass has about 20 employees, many of them part-time workers who check the foreclosure records in local courts and report them back to the company. The company matches that information with online maps, tax histories and other information to give its members a good sense of the property.
The company also runs workshops on various aspects of the foreclosure process and real estate investment. Its monthly meetings in Dedham, featuring speakers and networking, typically draw 100 to 200 people, Farragher-Gemma said.
E-mails With Personality
ForeclosuresMass is clearly a widely respected source of statistics in the state, providing the foreclosure numbers for many newspaper articles on the real estate market. But you'd hardly know that from the e-mails the company sends its members, which are full of bolded phrases like "the single most important call you will ever hear about creative real estate marketing."
Farragher-Gemma said she and Shapiro originally sent messages to their members in more staid corporate-speak, but found they responded better to a more light-hearted tone.
"What we try to do is inject a lot of personality into it," she said.
But do email messages that seem to promise easy success disguise the difficulties of working with properties going through foreclosure?
Farragher-Gemma argues that it's really not that difficult.
"If you know what you're doing, it isn't," she said. "Just learning things the right way, it's not as bad."
But Farragher-Gemma acknowledges that getting involved in foreclosure properties is not for everyone. Some people take part in a ForeclosuresMass workshop and never buy, sell or refinance a property. And while some members make their whole living working with properties on the company's lists, for many it remains more of a sideline.
Jeff Hall, president-elect of the Worcester Regional Association of Realtors, who is not familiar with ForeclosuresMass, says that there are many time-consuming steps involved in selling a foreclosed property. He said that when he and his colleagues at RE/MAX Advantage 1 in Worcester are interested in a house that is in danger of foreclosure, the bank that holds the mortgage often has them drive by the property, report on whether it is occupied, and write up "broker price opinions" which can take three hours per property. If the home does go through foreclosure and ends up in the bank's hands, the agents must often knock on the door, talk with the former owners about their options, and, eventually, take the keys and have the locks changed.
Hazardous Conditions
After all that work, Hall said, he sometimes ends up dealing with properties that are in terrible condition. Few former owners bother to clean up behind themselves, and some actually trash the house before leaving, he said, splashing cans of paint on the carpet, pouring plaster down the drains or leaving raw meat lying around.
"They do as much damage as they can think to do before they walk out the door," he said.
Despite the difficulties, though, Hall said the process gives real estate agents like him a chance to help people in a rough situation while turning a profit. And Farragher-Gemma said the structure of ForeclosuresMass makes it easier to do just that.
Because the company encourages its members to network, they can help homeowners who are in trouble find a variety of resources to help them. For example, if a mortgage lender discovers that a potential customer will not be able to refinance his home, the lender could at least provide the name of a Realtor who might be able to help sell the house.
"It's really like a matchmaker," Farragher-Gemma said. "We're bringing the homeowner and the people who can help them together."
These days, ForeclosuresMass is expanding in all directions. It now operates not just in the Bay State but also in California, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Farragher-Gemma said she and Shapiro hope to add more states to that list before long.
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