Feds to launch home-sale portal

WASHINGTON – The e-government committee of the federal CIO Council has authorized giving $225,000 to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to develop a virtual home center portal that will give prospective home buyers information about federally owned homes that are up for sale. The online center will help the federal government sell property it acquires after owners default on government-related loans or property that’s seized from criminals. The portal will be online at www.Homes.gov. The initial quarter of a million dollars will be used to form an interagency task force consisting of HUD and other federal agencies that sell homes and to plan and develop an integrated database to maintain the lists of federally owned homes. The portal will only include residential property and initially focus on low-income potential home buyers.