Advertising

The Seattle Times Company

NWjobs | NWautos | NWhomes | NWsource | Free Classifieds | seattletimes.com

The Seattle Times

Business / Technology


Our network sites seattletimes.com | Advanced

Originally published July 23, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified July 23, 2007 at 2:02 AM

E-mail article     Print view

Interface

Central tracking site for home lenders

A weekly column profiling companies and personalities. This week:

What: DepotPoint, based in Bellevue

Who: Prakash Kondepudi, 43, president and CEO

What it does: Uses technology to provide homebuyers, real-estate agents, mortgage lenders and attorneys with streamlined foreclosure data.

Three-fold function: DepotPoint tracks foreclosures, tax delinquencies and bankruptcies, providing an early-warning system for mortgage lenders. It makes information audit-ready for attorneys; and gives free access to foreclosure addresses and auction status on the Web site. It gives paid subscribers more detailed property information and advice.

Employees: 23. Expects to have 30 to 40 by the year's end. The company launched in San Diego recently and hopes its services will be available nationwide by next summer. Kondepudi said the company deals with only a few local nuances, which allows for quick expansion into new areas.

Roots: Founded in summer 2005 and launched in fall 2006. Kondepudi, formerly a vice president at Bellevue-based InfoSpace, sought to improve the foreclosure process by creating a technological solution to the fragmented, manual process of obtaining information.

Helping everybody: DepotPoint hopes its technology will provide not only more efficiency for lenders, attorneys and buyers, but also reduce costs for the borrower.

Money: Kondepudi's only comment on the private company's finances: "We're generating revenue."

Competition (or lack thereof): There are pockets of competition, mostly Web-site listings and advertisements, but Kondepudi says there's no other major player.

"Huge opportunity": Foreclosures represent a considerable portion of the housing market, but are complex and difficult to understand, Kondepudi said. He hopes his company will remove the mystery from the foreclosure investment.

The big picture: The few people knowledgeable about the process are grabbing heavy discounts on foreclosed properties, Kondepudi said. "We're democratizing this process," he said. Kondepudi admits DepotPoint's technology might mean less savings for the foreclosure buyer, but it means there'd be a more level playing field.

— Bibeka Shrestha

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

More Business & Technology headlines...

E-mail article Print view      Share:    Digg     Newsvine

advertising

The local, public face of Chase, Phyllis Campbell is trading on trust

10 investing missteps to avoid

Sunday Buzz: Boeing fighter to run on biofuel; Mastro bankruptcy trustee keeps job

On the Economy: Washington state has to play the add-value card, not low-cost-leader ace

How do innovators think?

Advertising

Video

Mourners gather at KeyArena for slain officer's memorial
Mourners gathered at KeyArena for the memorial service of Seattle police Officer Timothy Brenton on November 6, 2009.

Procession for slain SPD officer
Election Night: Approve R-71
Election Night: Reject R-71
Election Night: Joe Mallahan
Election Night: Mike McGinn
Election Night: Susan Hutchison
Election Night: Dow Constatine
Candlelight vigil for Officer Brenton
Flying Elephant on Aurora

Marketplace

nwautos

2009's most fuel-efficient sedansnew
Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment

Open Houses

Find this weekend's open house listings.
Or search by location:

 
Most read
Most commented
Most e-mailed
 
 
Advertising