Rick Sharga of Ten-X Joins Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #470

Bruce Norris is joined this week by Rick Sharga. Rick is the chief marketing officer for Ten-X, of which he became CMO this month. This was after spending two years with Auction.com as an executive vice president. He is one of the country’s most frequently quoted sources on real estate, mortgage, and foreclosure trends. Rick has appeared on the CBS evening news, NBC Nightly News, CNN, ABC World News, CNBC, Fox, Bloomberg, and NPR. He has briefed government organizations such as the Federal Reserve, the Senate Banking Committee, and corporations like JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, and Deutsche Bank. Prior to joining Auction.com, Rick was an executive vice president for Carrington Mortgage Holdings. He has also spent 8 years at RealtyTrac, where he was the senior vice president. Rick is a member of the corporate board of governors of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. He was included in Inman’s News top 100 people, an annual list of the most influential leaders in real estate, both in 2013 and 2014. Bruce and Rick discuss his company Ten-X, their sale of commercial real estate, their use of auctions, the residential and commercial markets, his view of the national housing picture, relative return, the Japanese and Chinese markets, and much, much more on this week's Norris Group real estate radio show and podcast.

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Rick Sharga, Vice President of Auction.com Joins Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #448

Bruce Norris is joined this week by Rick Sharga, executive vice president for Auction.com. Rick is the one of the country’s most frequently quoted sources on real estate, mortgage, and foreclosure trends. Rick joined Auction.com, the largest online real estate place, in 2013. Rick has appeared on the CBS evening news, NBC Nightly News, CNN, ABC World News, CNBC, Fox, Bloomberg, and NPR. He has briefed federal organizations such as the Federal Reserve and Senate Banking Committee as well as organizations like JPMorgan Chase, Citbank, and Deutsche Bank. Prior to joining Auction.com, Rick was an executive Vice President for Carrington Mortgage Holdings, which owns and operates multiple businesses in the mortgage, real estate, and securities industries. Prior to Carrington, Rick spent 8 years at RealtyTrac, where as senior vice president he was responsible for marketing, business development, and debt operations. Rick is a member of various industry organizations and is on the corporate board of governors of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. He is a member of the Five-Star National Mortgage Servicing Association. He serves on the editorial advisory board for default servicing news and was included in Inman News in the top 100. He was listed as one of the most influential leaders in real estate, both in 2013 and 2014. In his spare time he accomplished receiving a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and he spends his spare time spending his lifelong quest to find the perfect wine to complement his baby back ribs. Bruce has also gotten into barbecuing and found it very relaxing. Bruce and Rick discuss Auction.com's beginnings, the challenge of having a for-sale property go to auction, commercial and residential markets, the foreign buyer's participation in the commercial market, creative financing, and much, much more on this week's Norris Group real estate radio show and podcast.

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Rick Sharga, Vice President of Auction.com Joins Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #399

On Friday, October 24, the Norris Group proudly presents its 7th annual award-winning black-tie event I Survived Real Estate.  An incredible lineup of industry experts will join Bruce Norris to discuss perplexing industry trends, head-scratching legislation, and opportunities emerging for real estate professionals.  Proceeds from the event benefit Make a Wish and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  This event could not have been possible without the generous help of the following platinum partners: Auction.com, HousingWire, PropertyRadar, the Apartment Owners Association, the San Diego Creative Real Estate Investors Association and President Bill Tan, InvestClub for Women and Iris Veneracion, San Jose Real Estate Investors Association and Geraldine Barry, MVT Productions, and White House Catering.  For event information, visit isurvivedrealestate.com.   

Bruce Norris is joined this week by Rick Sharga. Rick is the executive vice president of Auction.com. Bruce has known him for many years, going all the way back to RealtryTrac and Carrington. Bruce and Rick discuss Auction.com, the auction process, the secret sauce of being better capitalized, making Auction.com an eBay for real estate, diversification, Rick's reasons for being recruited and what attracted him to the company, the types of auctions available, absolute auctions, and much, much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.

The Norris Group would like to thank its gold sponsors for supporting I Survived Real Estate: Adrenaline Athletics, Coldwell Banker Town and Country, Elite Auctions, In A Day Development, Inland Valley Association of Realtors, Investor Experts, Jennifer Buys Houses, Keystone CPA, Las Brisas Escrow, LA South REIA, Leivas Associates, Pilot Limousine, Primary Residential Mortgage, Northern California Real Estate Investors Association, North San Diego Real Estate Investors, Real Wealth Network, Realty 411 Magazine, Rick and LeAnne Rossiter, Personal Real Estate Magazine, SONOCA Corporation, Southpointe Companies, Spinnaker Loans, Tony Alvarez, and uDirect IRA Services, and the Council of Multiple Listing Services.  See isurvivedrealestate.com for video of the live event and more on our sponsors




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Rick Sharga, Vice President of Auction.com Joins Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #370

Bruce Norris welcomes back Rick Sharga.  Rick is Executive Vice President for Auction.com.  He is their chief spokesman on topics related to the U.S housing market, mortgage market, commercial real estate, and international real estate. Bruce and Rick discuss where we are in the real estate market, investors being the main driver for changes in the housing market, the potential tightening of credit in the future, the first-time homebuyer segment, the B2R program, unemployment numbers being a mirage, immigration, the safest loans being created by the GSEs, and much, much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.

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Rick Sharga, Vice President of Auction.com Joins Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #369

Bruce Norris is joined this week by Rick Sharga. Rick is Executive Vice President for Auction.com. He is their chief spokesman on topics related to the U.S housing market, mortgage market, commercial real estate, and international real estate. Bruce and Rick discuss his new company Auction.com, trustee sales and auctions, the percentage of the residential real estate market that has been for sale by owner, seller bids, foreclosure levels and the number of people still in default, due diligence with commercial properties, the preferred agent network on Auction.com, the buyer premium on the final bid, and much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.

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I Survived Real Estate 2012 Part 7 #307

On October 19, 2012, The Norris Group proudly presented I Survived Real Estate 2012.  An expert line-up of industry experts joined Bruce Norris to discuss perplexing industry trends, head-scratching legislation, and the outlook for real estate in the coming year.  Over $77,000 was raised to benefit Make a Wish and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Bruce Norris brought up the entire panel of experts to discuss industry trends and the coming legislation.  Bruce discussed with them Chapter 9 bankruptcy, the housing bubble, government growth, commercial real estate, bank reserves, each panelist's view on the economy and where they saw it heading, and more. 

Thank you so much for everyone who supported I Survived Real Estate and for listening.  Tune in next week as Bruce interviews John Burns of John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

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I Survived Real Estate 2012 Part 6 #306

On October 19, 2012, The Norris Group proudly presented I Survived Real Estate 2012.  An expert line-up of industry experts joined Bruce Norris to discuss perplexing industry trends, head-scratching legislation, and the outlook for real estate in the coming year.  Over $77,000 was raised to benefit Make a Wish and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Bruce Norris brought up the entire panel of experts to discuss industry trends and the coming legislation.  Bruce discussed with them the FICO requirement for the average Fannie Mae loan, REITs, the new California foreclosure law, the California Homeowner Bill of Rights, the fiscal cliff, the general agreement on what needs to be cut, interest rate deductions, mortgage deductions, and more.  To find out more, tune in next week for I Survived Real Estate 2012, part 6.

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I Survived Real Estate 2012 Part 5 #305

On October 19, 2012, The Norris Group proudly presented I Survived Real Estate 2012.  An expert line-up of industry experts joined Bruce Norris to discuss perplexing industry trends, head-scratching legislation, and the outlook for real estate in the coming year.  Over $77,000 was raised to benefit Make a Wish and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Bruce Norris welcomed Rick Sharga of Carrington Holdings Company and Sean O'Toole of ForeclosureRadar to the panel.  Bruce discusses with them the business model for Carrington Holdings Company, the REIT format, the creation of new security products, the different sources for properties that can be purchased, note sales, the future of shadow inventory, and more.  To find out more, tune in next week for I Survived Real Estate 2012, part 6.

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Rick Sharga, Vice President of Carrington Holding Company, LLC, Joins Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #297

Bruce Norris is joined this week by Rick Sharga. Rick is an executive vice president at Carrington Mortgage Holdings, LLC. Rick is one of the most often quoted experts and has been on almost every television show about real estate records. He has been seen on NBC Nightly News, CNN, CBS, NBC. He is a trusted voice in what is going on in the real estate world.
Bruce and Rick discuss his company and how it has grown, their position in the marketplace, companies who plan on reaching critical mass, foreclosures back in 2008 and 2009 and how they have had an impact, the shorter process today for obtaining a FICO score, the change in attitude toward lenders in regards to principal reductions, the recent bulk sale of properties in Florida and California, and much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.

In other news, the fifth annual I Survived Real Estate will be meeting on October 19 this year.  The Norris Group would like to thank their gold and platinum sponsors for helping to make this event possible.  Rick Sharga will be joining the panel at I Survived Real Estate 2012.   

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Rick Sharga, Vice President of Carrington Mortgage Holdings, Joins Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #283

This week Bruce Norris is joined once again by Rick Sharga.  Rick is an executive vice-president at Carrington Mortgage Holdings, LLC.  Rick is one of the nation’s most frequently quoted sources on foreclosure, mortgage, and real estate trends.  He has appeared on NBC Nightly News, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNBC, Fox, and NPR.  Rick is a member of the Board of Directors of REOMAC and the president of the Technology Council of Southern California.  Bruce and Rick discuss how Rick handles trustee sales, the new challenges in the market, the shift from lender rights to people in foreclosure rights, the percentage of borrowers upside down, the change in the percentage of FHA loans to credit scores, the real estate market in the coming years, and much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.

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Rick Sharga, Vice President of Carrington Mortgage Holdings, Joins Bruce Norris on the Real Estate Radio Show #282

This week Bruce Norris is joined  by Rick Sharga.  Rick is the executive vice-president at Carrington Mortgage Holdings, LLC.  He is one of the nation’s most frequently quoted sources on foreclosure, mortgage, and real estate trends.  He has appeared on NBC Nightly News, CNN, CBS, NBC, and just about every possible outlook.  Rick is also a member of the board of directors of REO Max and president of the Technology Counsel of Southern California.  Bruce and Rick discuss what his job as the vice-president of Carrington entails, the company itself and how it was started, bulk purchases of loans as well as loan pools, the concentration in the location of loans, foreclosure laws, the increase in rental properties and rates, Rick's plans to create a REIT,  and much more on this week's real estate radio show and podcast.

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I Survived Real Estate 2009 part 8 #148

This week The Norris Group Real Estate Radio Show and Podcast presents the final eposide of I Survived Real Estate 2009. This segment features the much talked about panel discussion between Bruce Norris , Christopher Thornberg with Beacon Economics, Rick Sharga with RealtyTrac, John Young with the California Builders Industry Association, Pat Combs with the National Association of Realtors, Joseph Magdziarz from the Appraisal Institute, and David Kittle with The Mortgage Bankers Association.

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I Survived Real Estate 2009 part 7 #147

This week The Norris Group Real Estate Radio Show and Podcast presents Part 8 of I Survived Real Estate 2009. This segment features the much talked about panel discussion between Bruce Norris , Christopher Thornberg with Beacon Economics, Rick Sharga with RealtyTrac, John Young with the California Builders Industry Association, Pat Combs with the National Association of Realtors, Joseph Magdziarz from the Appraisal Institute, and David Kittle with The Mortgage Bankers Association.

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I Survived Real Estate 2009 part 6 #146

This week The Norris Group Real Estate Radio Show and Podcast presents Part 7 of I Survived Real Estate 2009. This segment features the much talked about panel discussion between Bruce Norris , Christopher Thornberg with Beacon Economics, Rick Sharga with RealtyTrac, John Young with the California Builders Industry Association, Pat Combs with the National Association of Realtors, Joseph Magdziarz from the Appraisal Institute, and David Kittle with The Mortgage Bankers Association.

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I Survived Real Estate 2009 part 5 #145

This week The Norris Group Real Estate Radio Show and Podcast presents Part 6 of I Survived Real Estate 2009. This segment features Bruce Norris finishing of his presentation and then we enter part two of the event which features all eight panelists including Christopher Thornberg with Beacon Economics, Rick Sharga with RealtyTrac, John Young with the California Builders Industry Association, Pat Combs with the National Association of Realtors, Joseph Magdziarz from the Appraisal Institute, and David Kittle with The Mortgage Bankers Association.

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I Survived Real Estate 2009 part 1 #141

This week The Norris Group Real Estate Radio Show presents Part 2 of I Survived Real Estate 2009.

Rick Sharga from RealtyTrac start off the show talking about current foreclosure trends and the moratoria that have delayed the inevitable foreclosure wave coming to the market. Rick is followed by John Young of Young Homes and is Vice President of the California Builders Industry Association. John Young gives the audience some insight inti what the building association is currently dealing with and what the profession is pushing for to level the playing field for the building industry.

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Rick Sharga with RealtyTrac 8-15-09 #135

This week Bruce is joined by Rick Sharga, the Senior Vice President of RealtyTrac. Rick joined RealtyTrac in 2004 as the vice president of marketing. Rick is also a panelist for I Survived Real Estate 2009.

Bruce asks Rick “What services does RealtyTrac offer?” RealtyTrac publishes the largest database of foreclosure and bank owned properties in the country. They also put a lot of related information about those properties in the database including property characteristics, comparable sales, and loan history. It used to take much longer and more expertise to get into the investing business, but RealtyTrac has helped change this.

Rick Sharga congratulates Bruce on producing some of the best educational services in the country.

Realtors use RealtyTrac in a couple ways. Some agents subscribe in order to get up-to-date information on foreclosure activity in their neighborhoods. Others use RealtyTrac to post their properties for sale and to advertise their services to buyers. Appraisers and investors look at property regions to determine property values. You can also use RealtyTrac to check the future inventory of a market place by checking the number of properties in the trustee sale stage. Realtors also use this tool for broker price opinions and to discuss short sale processing.

RealtyTrac’s data goes back to 2005. In 2005, about 530,000 were given foreclosure notices. Over 1.5 million properties have received foreclosure notices through the first half of this year.

Besides the great depression, this is the worst down turn we have ever had. Even professionals who knew this down turn was coming were stunned by how quickly the down turn hit us.

Prices are also falling with the number of foreclosures. In the past, people were taught to honor their contracts, but now one’s financial well being encourages people to walk away from financial responsibility. In many cases, the only option is to execute a deed in lui of foreclosure. The other option is to take the next 15 years to break even on the property you’ve bought.

Bruce asks Rick if he thinks that people consider it more acceptable nowadays to simply walk away from a payment because they do not feel like making the payment. Rick thinks that foreclosures have become so common nowadays that now people are not bothered so much by walking away from their homes. There is discussion in the industry about creating a forgiveness program for people who have gone through foreclosure during this period because the lending programs participated in making this problem worse. Bruce thinks that might make sense because they cannot make houses fast enough to solve the problem. There is discussion about shortening the forgiveness period from 5 to 7 years to 2 or 3 years.

This cycle is unusual because in the past downturns have been caused by an economic occurrence, which then caused unemployment, which then caused foreclosures. This time foreclosures started the problems because home prices were too high and people could not buy a home unless they bought a toxic loan.

Unemployment forces a selling decision that did not exist before. Option ARMs are going to be coming fast for the next 24 months, and they have already experienced a price hit. Option ARMs when they are resetting are always upside down in Riverside. Option ARMs are resetting a little early too because people are making teaser payments.

These home owners have very few options. They have no equity, they cannot afford the higher mortgage payment, and even if they can, they have to decide if that is the best decision for their family’s financial future.

Bruce asks Rick how loan modifications are working out. Rick says that they have done nothing other than give us a lot to talk about. Servicers are only focusing on the length of the loan and the interest rate. The Obama plan does not compel servicers to do principal balance write downs, and it does not moderate their loss. The only way to modify loans effectively is to do a principal write down.

Bruce asks Rick what the ramifications are for giving people principal write downs when they have lied to receive the original loan. Rick is not sure if we will induce more foreclosures by doing this. He thinks we may be overstating the number of people who are in the circumstance. There were not many people putting 50 percent down on their properties in the early part of the decade. People were using ridiculously relaxed financing to obtain properties that they could not afford. Rick thinks that it may be better to do a long term deferral instead of a principal write down. This might keep the home owner at a rate that they could afford, and sometime in the future that amount would be payable. Equity sharing is also one of the options for solving this problem. This involves writing down the principal balance, and requiring sellers to give a percentage of their profit back to the lender. Rick does not think that home owners would be interested in that plan.

States that have non recourse loans in place have a higher percentage of homes that become bank REOs. However, Rick has not seen a comprehensive study on this. There is a lot of discussion right now about increasing the number of loans that have a recourse option.

The House of Representatives passed something recently that will mandate a lender who forecloses on a property to give the former owner a five year lease option on the house. This has not been passed by the Senate yet, but it is coming to them next. Bruce and Rick think that this bill will affect loan programs going forward. Rick says that this is a valiant attempt to help prevent people from ending up on the street but most lenders are not set up to be property managers. People wonder how this will affect their capital structure. How do they treat the loss on that property, how do they treat the asset value, and what does it do to the loan risk profile? It could be a higher risk because more people will default, and it could be a lower risk because lenders will see more revenue.
Bruce asks if moratoriums have worked. Rick says that the only thing that these moratoriums are doing is delaying foreclosures. This could extend the length of the down turn. Moratoriums do not accomplish what they were intended for.

There are probably 10 states that account for approximately 75 percent of the total foreclosures. Most of them are doing moratoriums.

Core Logic says that 9 percent of California borrowers are at least 90 days late. Bruce asks Rick how that affects his outlook for 2010. Rick thinks we have seen the end of the subprime problem. The two big variables are unemployment and how badly Option ARMs will default. RealtyTrac’s forecast is that we may hit a numerical peak this year, because the raw number of option ARM loans was not as large as the raw number of subprime loans, but 2010 will look very similar to 2009. We may see an increase in foreclosure activity. If unemployment extends, and if prices continue to decrease, then 2010 may be worse than 2009.



Rick joined RealtyTrac in 2004 as the Vice President of Marketing. He is responsible for building and maintaining the RealtyTrac brand, corporate positioning and messaging, public and investor relations, and marketing communications activities. As a spokesman for the company, Rick has been quoted extensively in the press on foreclosure, mortgage and real estate trends, and appeared on NBC Nightly News, CNN, CBS, ABC World News and NPR.

Prior to joining the company, Rick spent more than 20 years developing corporate and product branding strategies for technology start-up companies and international corporations such as DuPont, Fujitsu, Hitachi and Toshiba. Rick created and executed successful sales and marketing programs in B2B, technology, consumer electronics and retail for companies like JD Edwards, Philips, Cox Communications and Honeywell.

Rick began his career with one of the world’s largest ad agencies, Foote, Cone and Belding, and also had successful engagements with Ketchum Communications and McGraw-Hill. He founded his own consulting firm, CJ Patrick Company, in 2002 to help companies develop business and brand strategies that clearly communicate a unique value proposition, create a position of competitive advantage, and leverage the strength of their brands in the marketplace.

A nationally-recognized speaker on Branding, Rick spends his spare time taking Tae Kwon Do classes with his 10-year-old son, and trying to keep up with his increasingly-mobile 4-year-old daughter. He also continues in his lifelong quest to find the perfect wine to compliment his BBQ'd baby back ribs.

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I Survived Real Estate 2008 part 2 #84

The airing of I Survived Real Estate 2008 continues to air. Video is also available on thenorrisgroup.com.

Part two picks up with Bruce Norris introducing Christopher Thornberg who represents the economics part of the equation. Christopher is a self proclaimed bear and was one of the few that predicted the downturn was coming. Christopher discusses employment, housing starts and how they can only go to zero, consumer sales, exports, his thought on recession and the varying views that exist, if the worst is yet to come, and where he stands.

Christopher talks about the housing market and the false indicator of increases in home sales. Christopher says homes prices got too ridiculous and that prices did not match what people were making. Increases in incomes did not keep up with home price appreciation. The only reason prices got that high was of the crazy financing that took place.

Christopher says the pace of home price declines look to be around 30% per year and the mix of foreclosures to home sales is not looking good. Christopher addresses how far prices will fall.

Christopher believes financial losses will total over $1 trillion and that several institutions will fail because of overexposure. The leverage of some institutions is 100 to 1 such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Christopher reviews some of the new features of the newly passed housing bill and how little it will actually accomplish. With the money that the government will release to California alone, doing the math it means California will only be able to purchase around 4,000 homes which is a very small piece of the large REO pie. Allowing banks to revise certain consumers loans. The government actually foots the bill. $140 billion lent to banks but they are still a big mess.

Christopher talks about the tax rebate and how it didn’t increase spending enough. He says the consumers are dealing with two bubbles. Savings rates have gone from 8% to 0% and that a great amount of net wealth disappear. Consumers will be forced to save for the first time and will also be bad for the short run. With contraction in spending, it means a slow down in retail and other consumer-driven sectors. Cocktail statement: Keep you’re eye on 2010.

Bruce introduces Rick Sharga who is the VP of marketing for RealtyTrac. Rick talks about foreclosures and the implication of the current glut on the market. Rick talks about the media obsession with foreclosures and the huge interest in foreclosure data.

Rick talks about how we got into the position we’re in; lending. What drove some of the behavior was Fed policy and that money became practically free. People who should never have been able to get a loan got one in the boom. Wall Street securitized these loans and had a voracious appetite to do so. Due diligence was practically thrown out the window. Bankers went from buy and hold strategy to buy, package and sell and do it again.
RealtyTrac captures foreclosure data from 2,200 counties nationwide. 1.2 million foreclosure filings occurred in 2006 and over 2.3 million in 2007. In California the numbers were much worse as a percentage compared to other states. 2008 will be far worse. Rick discusses the areas hit the hardest. He mentions 7 of the top 12 markets hit hardest are in California. In Stockton, 1 in 25 receives a foreclosure notice. Foreclosure homes are outselling the resale of homes at this point. Existing homes sales aren’t increasing like most would think. The resets for subprime will continue. 32 months of foreclosure data increases thus far with no end in sight. Alt A and Option Arms will cause more problems in 2009.

While the market is sure to continue its decline, Rick points out there will be plenty of opportunities for investors in the coming years.

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Rick Sharga with RealtyTrac #75

Bruce Norris is joined by Vice President of Marketing for RealtyTrac and panelist for I Survived Real Estate 2008, Rick Sharga. Bruce and Rick discuss preventive measures currently in the works to help the current real estate downturn, how these solutions are structured, market psychology, lenders being risk averse, social trends contributing to problems, lenders and the dance with Wall Street, the consumer and lenders as the true speculators, the definition of market value being skewed, RealtyTrac keeping up with the sheer numbers of foreclosures, military foreclosures and issues because of volume and people falling through the crack, fraud in the marketplace, how RealtyTrac counts foreclosures, conversation rate for notices of default, alt-A loans and what’s coming next, equity positions and behavior of different consumers, percentage of consumers buying with the intent to walk away from another home, the unintended consequence of adjusting principle on loans, percentage of US housing units facing foreclosure, REOs dictating prices in a market when they are the majority of listings, looking at the rest of 2008 and 2009, other areas not in the same position as California, other states that are doing well, California adjusting to allow for massive migration, why California could be extremely attractive in the coming years, underestimating the impact real estate had on jobs, auction attendance, the Internet and auctions in the coming years, bid4assets and RealtyTrac, shill bidding and the Internet auctions, realtytrac.com, isurvived2008.com

Rick joined RealtyTrac in 2004 as the Vice President of Marketing. He is responsible for building and maintaining the RealtyTrac brand, corporate positioning and messaging, public and investor relations, and marketing communications activities. As a spokesman for the company, Rick has been quoted extensively in the press on foreclosure, mortgage and real estate trends, and appeared on NBC Nightly News, CNN, CBS, ABC World News and NPR.

Prior to joining the company, Rick spent more than 20 years developing corporate and product branding strategies for technology start-up companies and international corporations such as DuPont, Fujitsu, Hitachi and Toshiba. Rick created and executed successful sales and marketing programs in B2B, technology, consumer electronics and retail for companies like JD Edwards, Philips, Cox Communications and Honeywell.
Rick began his career with one of the world’s largest ad agencies, Foote, Cone and Belding, and also had successful engagements with Ketchum Communications and McGraw-Hill. He founded his own consulting firm, CJ Patrick Company, in 2002 to help companies develop business and brand strategies that clearly communicate a unique value proposition, create a position of competitive advantage, and leverage the strength of their brands in the marketplace.

A nationally-recognized speaker on Branding, Rick spends his spare time taking Tae Kwon Do classes with his 10-year-old son, and trying to keep up with his increasingly-mobile 4-year-old daughter. He also continues in his lifelong quest to find the perfect wine to compliment his BBQ'd baby back ribs.

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Rick Sharga with RealtyTrac 10-20-07 #38

Bruce is joined by Rick Sharga for a follow up interview after having spoken in March about the current market situation. Rick discusses how RealtyTrac counts foreclosures, how rapidly foreclosures are growing, upcoming auctions, the liquidity crunch, foreclosures and their impact on prices, how the White House is trying to help with the new IRS bill, and which states are seeing the worst of it all.

Rick joined RealtyTrac in 2004 as the Vice President of Marketing. He is responsible for building and maintaining the RealtyTrac brand, corporate positioning and messaging, public and investor relations, and marketing communications activities. As a spokesman for the company, Rick has been quoted extensively in the press on foreclosure, mortgage and real estate trends, and appeared on NBC Nightly News, CNN, CBS, ABC World News and NPR.

Prior to joining the company, Rick spent more than 20 years developing corporate and product branding strategies for technology start-up companies and international corporations such as DuPont, Fujitsu, Hitachi and Toshiba. Rick created and executed successful sales and marketing programs in B2B, technology, consumer electronics and retail for companies like JD Edwards, Philips, Cox Communications and Honeywell.

Rick began his career with one of the world’s largest ad agencies, Foote, Cone and Belding, and also had successful engagements with Ketchum Communications and McGraw-Hill. He founded his own consulting firm, CJ Patrick Company, in 2002 to help companies develop business and brand strategies that clearly communicate a unique value proposition, create a position of competitive advantage, and leverage the strength of their brands in the marketplace.

A nationally-recognized speaker on Branding, Rick spends his spare time taking Tae Kwon Do classes with his 10-year-old son, and trying to keep up with his increasingly-mobile 4-year-old daughter. He also continues in his lifelong quest to find the perfect wine to compliment his BBQ'd baby back ribs.

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