Continuing from last week’s article, “The Underbelly of an Online Listing Provider,” Foreclosure Research has delved into the listing side of Foreclosure Store (ForeclosureStore.com) in order to gain a better understanding of their illusory practices.

Luckily for us, most of the information (or shall I say disinformation) is available on the site without a subscription- at least the general information on the property.

The first noticeably suspicious aspects of the listings are the photos attached to the property addresses.  I searched for foreclosures in Fort Lauderdale and at fist glance there are homes with trees that have lost their foliage in the cold winter months. Also, homes with large pines and mountainous terrain in the background. Going further through the first page of listings there are more homes that seem out of place, and on page two there even appears to be homes with snow-covered yards; all of these factors improbabilities in South Florida to say the least. See photos 1-3 for details.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

I then searched for homes in Oakland, NJ for a comparison. Perhaps if South Florida had New England type homes and foliage then New England may have South Florida type homes and palm trees- possibly due to a North-South confusion in their backend. To my surprise there were no palm trees or beaches but instead the very same pictures used for the homes in Fort Lauderdale in the exact order! See photo4 for details below.

Photo 4

While these photos may simply serve as teasers or sample photos, one complaint spotlighted in last week’s report from Hevyn begs to differ. In Hevyn’s complaint she stated that the pictures did not change once she had signed up fort the free trial.

Photo 5

As for the sister site, Foreclosure World (ForeclosureWorld.com), their listings are just as dubious.  Again, I searched for listings in Fort Lauderdale, and contrary to the site name, I found not one foreclosure listing out of 9,719 records. All of the listings were bankruptcy listings or for sale by owner homes.

To make matters worse, the listings offered very little to NO information. For example, one listing states: Homeowner in Bankruptcy (under property type), Aventura (for city), “find out more” (for address), and “Low Price: Members Only” (for price).  Other descriptions under the address field included: desirable neighborhood, close to schools, and convenient location.  No information even resembling an address or area even.

Let this special report serve as a caveat for prospective buyers. If you decide to view a Foreclosure World home in a “desirable neighborhood,” for a “low price” in Miami Beach, and come to find snow in the yard, let me be the first to say, you took a wrong turn!