Firm Touts Web-based REO Offer Management Platform

Southfield, Mich.-based Woodward Asset Capital, LLC said Tuesday it had officially launched OfferSubmission.com, a Web-based offer management platform designed for REO disposition. The firm says the online platform streamlines the offer and negotiation process for bank-owned real estate, with zero added cost to a seller — buyers, or the buyer’s agent, pay a $300 service fee if an offer is accepted by a seller on the platform. The firm is one of a growing number of companies looking to court buyer’s agents in the REO sales process; buyer’s agents have traditionally been locked out of the space, agents tell HousingWire. The platform relies on the buyer’s agent (rather than the listing agent) to submit binding financial terms of an offer online, which the company says allows sellers and third-party asset managers to generate an increased number of offers per property. The company says that National City Bank and an unnamed top-rated subprime servicer have been using the platform on a trial basis for the past two months. “In the first 60 days since OfferSubmission.com launched, our system literally doubled the number of properties sold compared to what the bank had historically sold from their portfolio,” said Ronald Jasgur, partner at Woodward Asset Capital. “Sale prices are exceeding 97% of BPO values, while days on market have been reduced to just 22.” Jasgur says 70% of the properties sold via the online platform are purchased by owner-occupants, a number he characterized as “remarkable” in a press statement, and more than the trial users had typically seen in sales taking place outside of the platform’s offer-management system. Analysts and industry experts say they expect a rush of tools in the REO space over the next year, many of which are likely to be tied to connecting buyer’s agents with institutional sellers. “It’s a growth market, as consumers are now actually looking to buy foreclosed properties,” said one banking executive, who asked not to be named in this story. Write to Paul Jackson at [email protected].