PREO.com Launches to Assist With REOs and Short Sales

Designed to dramatically shorten the short sale process, a new Web site, PREO.com, has been launched. The goal of the site is to shrink the transaction time of short sales and real estate-owned (REO) properties to weeks instead of months. By bringing together lenders, buyers, homeowners, and Realtors, PREO.com aims to more quickly turn foreclosed, short sale, and distressed residential properties back into family homes. The concept: Get pre-approved pricing from lenders, detail the properties on a site with a national reach to buyers, pay a standard commission to all Realtors involved, then complete the sale with a streamlined paperwork process. With this approach, PREO.com seeks to close on short sales in as quickly as 30 days. The site currently has approximately 3,500 listings driven by concentrations in Florida and California. PREO is talking to lenders around the country to grow its listings and expand its reach, and is focusing much of its initial efforts in states where foreclosure rates are highest, such as Florida, California, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas. “PREO’s system promises to be a major help to lenders who want to reduce their inventory of distressed properties,” said PREO President Eric Friedman. “We are very excited about the potential for our site to improve the flow of short sales, which will minimize lender and investor losses and help speed the housing recovery.”