RealtyTrac’s Rick Sharga Addresses Foreclosure Market Issues at October Industry Conferences

RISMEDIA, October 14, 2009—Rick Sharga, senior vice president at RealtyTrac, one of the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, will be a featured speaker at two national real estate conferences in October.

On Friday, Oct. 16, Sharga will be a panelist for the “Foreclosure and Bankruptcy” breakout session at the REOMAC 2009 Fall Conference. Given the increased number of personal bankruptcies being filed around the country during the current economic downturn, Sharga’s presentation will be a timely overview of the relationship between bankruptcy and foreclosure and the role bankruptcy will play in present and future foreclosure trends. Sharga’s session is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Fla.

On Tuesday, Oct. 27, Sharga will address a very specialized area of the foreclosure market as a member of a panel discussion titled “The Next Big Thing in Real Estate: Short Sales” at the AREAA/NAHREP Real Estate & Marketing Conference in Las Vegas. During his presentation, Sharga will differentiate between short sales and other methods of dealing with the current foreclosure crisis, including more traditional sales techniques. The session begins at 10:45 a.m. at the Palazzo Hotel in Las Vegas.

“Despite all the talk of a bottoming out of the housing market, the fact is that foreclosures will continue to be a large part of the inventory mix for some time to come,” Sharga said. “With the nation’s unemployment rate expected to reach double digits in 2010, and more and more homeowners seeking relief from bankruptcy courts, the foreclosure floodgates will most likely remain propped open for the foreseeable future.”

According to the RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for August 2009, the nation’s foreclosure activity decreased fractionally from the previous month but was still 18% above the level reported for August 2008. One in every 357 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during August.

Sharga is responsible for building and maintaining the RealtyTrac brand, corporate positioning and messaging, public relations and investor relations, as well as all sales and marketing communications activities. As a spokesman for the company, Sharga has been widely quoted by the news media on subjects ranging from foreclosure trends to general real estate and financial market conditions, mortgage banking, interest rates and technology.

For more information, visit www.realtytrac.com.