I was just asked to do a review about a site called FreeForeclosureBlog.com. I get requests all the time from companies that would like me to review their sites. Most I turn down, so why did I agree to do this one? Is it really any good? Does it offer something valuable to my subscribers and readers? Actually, the answer is… maybe. I decided to take them up on the offer to do a review, and here is what I found. Disclosure: I was paid a small fee to do this review with the understanding that I would be allowed to publish my honest opinions. So here they are…
The site promotes itself as the place to go for free REO foreclosure listings. As an active rental property owner, I’m always looking for a good buy, so a site like this could be worthwhile. Most foreclosure listing sites are not really free, at least not after the initial “trial” period. Sometimes, however, free IS really free. So, if I could find a site like this and it was of great quality… I’ll certainly use it.
The FreeForeclosureBlog.com still looks to be new and undeveloped. There is a lot of potential there, but I think it has an image crisis. Hopefully, the owner of the site will take this criticism as constructive and use it to make a really great and worthwhile site. So here are my impressions:
- It looks like the site was initially more of a project by it’s owner as she searched to find foreclosures herself. I think her initial idea was to try to aggregate the data from many of the different bank REO sites into one site where users could go and search for most of the REO listings out there from the major banks. Unfortunately, (and I’m assuming she has permission to aggregate REO data from these sites) freeforeclosureblog.com current is very, very sparse to non-existent on listing foreclosures in my area or other areas that I am familiar with locally. However, I know that there are many foreclosures in these areas. For example, I can go to a site like Realtor.com and search the listings to find more bank owned properties in my area. In addition, I can go to my county website and find literally dozens, if not hundreds, of properties in foreclosure/sheriff sale, (also for free). I think the site needs to upgrade their technology to do a better job of providing more free foreclosure listings. The good news is, if the site is successful at actually being able to include a large amount of listings, it would be quite a valuable site to visitors.
- The site also has an identity crisis of trying to be both a blog and a free REO listing site. Unfortunately, the blog is not often contributed to, but if developed could be a great source of information for new and experienced investors/buyers. There are multiple areas of the site, some of which seem very interesting, like REO Websites, Bailouts, Foreclosure Auctions, Real Estate Trends, etc. However, with the exception of REO Websites, the others lack any significant content… and the REO Websites section is only marginal with just nine links (although those nine links ARE useful!) When building a professional site, I’d generally recommend if you are adding a section… have enough good content BEFORE you add that section to your site. Otherwise, it doesn’t look as professional. Once again, excellent ideas, but lacking on the execution.
- Lastly, the site has a section that says “Do you have a home for sale? Add it here for free.” I didn’t quite understand this… where does this fit into bank REO foreclosure listings. Again, an apparent identity crisis.
So, currently it is difficult for me to tell readers that this is a very valuable site. Yes, it IS worth checking out, and maybe checking back periodically to see how it progresses as time goes on. FreeForeclosureBlog.com has, in my opinion, very good potential if it develops into a full content site– kind of a “one stop shop” for properties selling at a discount (foreclosures, REOs, etc). Hopefully the site will continue to develop and I’d be happy to take another look at it sometime in the future when they have made much more progress. I’d love to see a site like this succeed and develop into something that could be a very valuable, free resource to those seeking properties at a discount. Again, hopefully the site takes this review as constructive and pushes their site to new limits. I think they’ve made a good start, and as Walt Disney would say, “keep moving forward!”