Agencies Auction Foreclosed Homes

The departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs last year auctioned about 110,000 homes using the Internet and other telecommunications, according to Tower Communications, the Los Angeles-based company that built the auction system the agencies used.

The transaction volume represented $7 billion of real estate sale value and approximately 2 percent of the 6 million homes sold in the United States last year.

The system allows 80,000 real estate brokers to place bids 24 hours a day via the Internet, an automated interactive voice response phone system and a customer service center.

The company plans to develop new systems to help state and local governments provide financing and other assistance to first-time home buyers, a segment which industry experts estimate at 42 percent of all home buyers.