Foreclosure expert hopes site clicks with subscribers

Greg Harmon exudes pure enthusiasm when talking about his new real estate investor network.

“We already know how to get there and how to do it,” the real estate agent and property developer says. “I provide a whole different inventory.”
Known in mid-Missouri as a foreclosure expert, Harmon is open about the opportunities his Web site, www.reoinvestornetwork.com, can provide to anyone looking to buy property.

He starts off by explaining foreclosure: “If you don’t make your payments, the bank takes your home. If you don’t make your car payments, it’s called a repossession. If you don’t make your house payments, it’s called a foreclosure.”

Harmon’s service offers current information on properties in the foreclosure process. With this information in hand, buyers can choose properties for acquisition.

“In some cases, there are deep discounts on the property,” he says. This translates into a good return on investment for some buyers or a new home at a bargain for others.

A subscription to the REO (real estate owned) Investor Network costs $49.95 a month, or $295 for a one-year, pioneer membership.

Harmon works as a real estate agent for Gaslight Properties in Columbia and Hallsville and is a member of the board of directors of the Columbia Real Estate Board. The foreclosure information service, reoinvestornetwork.com, is an entirely separate venture. He has a full-time staff of two, office manager Amy Rickman and field services supervisor Kara Kelley.

One of Kelley’s duties, Harmon says, is to take photos of the properties listed on the Web site, which compiles information taken from public record.

A subscriber can track the progress of a property throughout the foreclosure process on the Web site, and the information is constantly updated, he says.

“It is all local information,” Harmon says, and it includes personal service. “Someone can pick up the phone, call me and say, ‘Hey is this current?’”

The service offers additional features, including cost estimates for repairs and projected return on investment; the capability to make offers online for foreclosed or real estate-owned properties; a list of recommended labor providers for repairs and construction; tips on how to make successful investments; and access to industry professionals for one-on-one advice.

Harmon says he also helps clients through the process of securing financing, although it doesn’t take “a big pile of money” to get into the market.

“All you need is some cash and pretty good credit,” Harmon says. People who subscribe to the service typically buy property for investment, to renovate and sell, or for personal use.

Harmon has maintained a long-term information sharing arrangement with 12 buyers interested in foreclosures. Before the Web site was developed, he had been sending the foreclosure data to only the dozen.
“We’ve just recently agreed to go public,” he says. “The Web site is a new player in the local market.”

And Harmon and his team are ready to play.