Shopping for foreclosures eBay-style
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties are moving toward eBay-style online foreclosure auctions with a hope that it can speed up the selling process and reduce the distressed property glut. Miami-Dade went live with its Web site Monday and plans its first auction for Jan. 11. Palm Beach County has scheduled its first online auction Jan. 21. And Broward is working toward a February launch. The online auction system is designed to open up the bidding process to anyone with Internet access. With more bidders and a more efficient system, officials hope to push through the backlog of foreclosures faster than holding the traditional auctions at county court houses. And getting through that glut is a necessary step for the residential real estate market to recover. "We were doing around 750 per week," said Harvey Ruvin, clerk of the Circuit and County Courts of Miami-Dade County, referring to property auctions. "That ought to be at least doubled, and maybe tripled once we get going with our five-day-a-week auctions online." The Miami-Dade area ranks third in the nation in foreclosure filings with some 110,000 open foreclosure files and it's seeing 7,000 new filings a month.  By Luis F. Perez