Three Valley entrepreneurs have developed an online service that generates daily updates on the foreclosure status of any property in the country.
Chandler-based
The tracking service, launched in late August by Michael Rodrigues, Frank Kelley and Jeff Kadlec, has signed a couple hundred clients — a number expected to climb to more than 100,000 in the next 12 months.
“This is going to be a new behavior for renters and property owners,” said Rodrigues. “This foreclosure crises will change the way people operate and protect themselves.”
Nationwide, 358,471 foreclosure filings were reported in August, up nearly 18 percent from August 2008.
Elise Otero has been using Lemonlandlord to keep track of the 160 homes her Apache Junction real estate firm manages for owners. In the past year, at least five have gone into foreclosure — and in each case, the owner failed to notify her company or the renters.
Once a property goes into foreclosure, renters have little recourse.
“We’re encouraging every tenant we have to sign up for (the service),” said Otero, who runs
Lemonlandlord charges $7.99 for an initial report and a $3.99 monthly fee thereafter. Rodrigues would not disclose the names of the national data providers that are paid to generate the information.
Foreclosure notices are public, so they can be accessed free by anyone, but officials contend the time and resources devoted to tracking a property costs more than Lemonlandlord’s monthly charge.
The Web company raised more than $200,000 from investors and will earmark some of the funds for a national radio campaign. As of press time, Lemonlandlord had inked agreements with 26 vendors, ranging from family-oriented Web sites to apparel companies.
The founders recognize they are capitalizing on a window of opportunity, given the nation’s foreclosure problems, and that Lemonlandlord could lose some of its luster when the market rebounds.
