Is RealtyTrac Overstating Foreclosure Numbers?
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If you are a regular reader to this site you know that I love Top 10 lists and am a numbers junkie. But according to a report from the Atlanta Journal Constitution one of my favorite sources has been overstating their numbers.
RealtyTrac overstated the foreclosure rate for Georgia by over 2,200 homes of the nearly 12,000 they reported in Georgia for September creating the impression that foreclosures were much worse in the state than they actually are.
Sensational news brings out the newspapers and blogs by the droves and amplifies reports like this. Kudo’s to the Atlanta Journal Consititution and Carrie Teegardin for digging out the discrepancy and getting to the truth.
RealtyTrac also deserves some credit. Their numbers may be wrong but they did not try to spin the research that the AJC did. Since tracking foreclosures is so difficult, what RealtyTrac is doing is pretty ground breaking work. However now that RealtyTrac knows there is a problem it is time for them to invest in fixing it.
RealtyTrac, one of the nation’s leading sources of foreclosure statistics, reported 12,602 July foreclosure actions for Georgia. But that total counted more than 2,000 properties twice, and sometimes more, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found in a review of the data.
There is little dispute that Georgia faces a foreclosure crisis, but the company’s July report overstated the magnitude of the problem. After a preliminary investigation, the company said Friday that its data show foreclosure filings in July actually rose by 14 percent — not by 75 percent.
A RealtyTrac executive acknowledged the mistake in an interview Friday. ajc.com.
Click here to for a Free Foreclosure search in your area if you are still interested in getting into the foreclosure game to find properties near your home.
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Comment by Robert Coté on 14 October 2007:
There were 12,602 July foreclosure actions for Georgia. RealtyTrac got nothing wrong. They are explicit and they did not overreport foreclosure actions. There is no overstating of what is being reported and no reason to change a simple measurement just because some REIC nattering nabobs of smoke and mirrors can’t understand math.
Comment by Tom on 14 October 2007:
Robert
They admitted they overcounted in the story to the AJC. They admitted to overcounting by 2,000 homes. They said the new company they used made an error.
This one is pretty cut and dried.