Archive for the 'NOVA Foreclosures' Category
Dear Mr Lender-I would have shown your listing Today
February 19th, 2010 Categories: NOVA Foreclosures, Selling Thoughts
However when my buyers and I arrived we couldn’t get to the front door.
I know it we have had an unusual amount of snow this year in Northern Virginia but buyers are still out looking for homes. In fact they are out in droves trying to find homes to put under contract before the current tax credits expire at the end of April.
You have a listing agent who you have put in charge of taking care of your listings for you. As you can see by the lack of footprints in the snow that not only are the sidewalks and driveway still covered in snow, no one has gone to check on the interior of the property.
We have had a lot of problems with leaks due to clogged gutters and if the house is winterized chances are it is freezing cold inside. Cold and wet are not a good combination as I’m sure you know. When a buyer can finally make it to the front door they may be in for an unpleasant surprise or two.
There is no doubt that you want your property to sell for top dollar and time is wasting. Would you please contact the listing agent, ask them to check on the home and hire a crew to shovel a usable path to the front door and check the interior?
My buyers are qualified and ready to go. Sorry we had to pass your home by.
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Looking for Foreclosures in NOVA?
February 11th, 2010 Categories: Buyers Corner, FAQ's, NOVA Foreclosures
At least three or four times a week I get a question about a “foreclosure” listing a buyer saw on RealtyTrak. They see an incredible price…that translates as LOW…and want to see the house right away.
Unfortunately the answer is chances are what you are seeing is not a listing at all but a notice of foreclosure scraped from one of the local papers. Foreclosure aggregators are trying to lure you in to buying a subscription to get to “real” foreclosure information.
You can check the local NOVA and DC papers such as the Washington Post, DC Examiner and Washington Times and see the same notices with the full information about the property. In Northern Virginia you will see the heading “Notice of Trustee Sale” which includes the property address, the legal description of the property and the amount owed on the loan. You will also see the date, time and location of the Trustee Sale.
Most of the time the price you see in listed in the Trustee Sale is far above what the current market value of the home might be. Occasionally you will see a home listed at below market value and those are the ones where purchasing at the courthouse steps might be an option.
Read the rest of this entry »
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You might be surprised at the answer.
In July I wrote a post “Strategic Foreclosures are Lenders Listing” which indicated from Wall Street Journal research that that once the value of a home fell by more than 15% the number of homeowners would simply “walk away” increased.
Now a new report produced by Experian and Oliver Wyman adds to that study with their own research about who it is that will make the decision to walk-away.
“New research using a massive sample of 24 million individual credit files has found that homeowners with high scores when they apply for a loan are 50 percent more likely to “strategically default” — abruptly and intentionally pull the plug and abandon the mortgage — compared with lower-scoring mortgage borrowers.”
There is some very interesting data to support the thought that strategic foreclosures are not something to scoff about.
The number of strategic defaults is far beyond most industry estimates — 588,000 nationwide during 2008, more than double the total in 2007. They represented 18 percent of all serious delinquencies that extended for more than 60 days during the fourth quarter of last year.With more Alt-A loans ready to reset in 2010 and the value of homes in Prince William County as much as 50% lower than 2005 this new research might be an indication of more trouble to come for the area.
Read the full article by Kenneth Harney as published in the St. Petersburg Times
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How Many REO Properties Does the Government Own?
October 2nd, 2009 Categories: NOVA Foreclosures, Real Estate Ramblings
According to the latest filing with the SEC, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac combined own close to 100,000. Rest assured not all of these properties are in Northern Virginia. In fact the Western Region of the US accounts for 46% of REO properties acquired in 2009.
The report indicates that the temporary suspension of foreclosures and work towards to completing more loan modifications have decreased the number of properties that both Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) own. Though the Midwest is the only region that has seen an actual decline in REO properties this year the other areas are holding steady. As expected Alt-A loans were the biggest pool of foreclosures that both companies currently own.
Hopefully as the government pushes for more loan modifications the inventory of GSE’s will continue to decline across the country.
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Should a Distressed Homeowner Get to Rent Their Home Back from the Lender?
August 5th, 2009 Categories: NOVA Foreclosures
A proposal being discussed in lender financial circles is whether an owner who has lost their home to foreclosure should be allowed to stay in the home, for up to 5 years at market rent. This proposal is a significant change from the current Freddie Mac REO Rental Initiative that allows current owners to stay as tenants on a month to month basis while the home is being marketed to potential buyers.
Part of the reason behind the proposal is the number of vacant homes sitting empty in neighborhoods across the country is rising. The vacant properties are becoming run down, lowering property values in entire neighborhoods. But is allowing the owner who couldn’t pay their loan the right way to solve the problem?
When we look around and see teachers, police officers, fire fighters and other deserving public employees who are still priced out of some markets I wonder why wouldn’t we offer them a chance at the property first? A lease to own program that gives them credit for their years of service and a reasonable market rent with a percentage going towards their down payment. There are some programs in place offering assistance to our public employees but certainly there are more who deserve the opportunity to become homeowners. Why not more government programs to support putting them in one of these foreclosed properties?
Perhaps I’m missing something in this new proposal that answers the question as to why a foreclosed homeowner will get a chance to stay in a home that has cost their lender thousands in missed payments and their neighbors even more in lost property value.
What is the rest of the story here?
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House Flippers-Do You Know About the FHA 90 Day Rule?
April 29th, 2009 Categories: Buyers Corner, NOVA Foreclosures
You just got a great deal on a foreclosure or short sale property in Prince William County. You brought in your crew to renovate and now it is ready to go back on the market. But who can you sell it to?
Recently my buyers have encountered two properties in Woodbridge that were pristine and within their price range. They were excited and ready to write an offer. However both properties were flips and didn’t qualify for FHA financing.
Since a large percentage of buyers in our area, especially at the lower price points are using FHA loans those newly purchased and renovated properties are not available for them to buy. When you look back at the month of March of the 750 properties sold in Prince William County 257 of them were purchased with FHA loans. So close to 1/3 of the potential buyer pool in the county can not purchase a flip.
Even though the FHA changed the rules last fall to provide relief for lenders handling foreclosures it does not cover individual “flippers” who purchase properties to rehab. In an area such as Woodbridge this can be a surprise to both the investors, listing agents and prospective buyers.
As an investor it is something that you need to consider before you decide that it will be easy to make a quick buck on a flip. Your pool of prospective buyers may be a bit smaller than you thought.
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Housing Inventory-More Questions Than Answers
April 23rd, 2009 Categories: Buyers Corner, NOVA Foreclosures
For anyone following my posts recently knows that I have been keeping an eye on the inventory, especially Prince William County, to see what might be coming next.
My first post pondered why the Prince William County housing inventory numbers reported in the MLS and by others was significantly lower than the previous quarter. The second showed some of the issues buyers were facing with the low inventory. Bidding wars in Prince William County started again resembling the hot market in 2002-2004.
Now Housing Wire has reported a number of critical numbers. Per Housing Wire the foreclosures decreased 77% in December and 79% in January from the previous quarter. During the same time period the number of loans that reported as 60 or 90 days delinquent increased 47%. Now these numbers are nation wide and don’t reflect only local numbers. However the Washington Post this week had 14 pages of Trustee Sales that have to end up somewhere and that somewhere is usually the MLS.
Even without a crystal ball it would seem that unless a significant portion of the delinquent loans are modified that there will be more foreclosures coming on the market in the next quarter. So the question becomes for those of us working with buyers at the lower end of the current Prince William County market should we advise them to wait and not get involved in the bidding process or move ahead and deal with the stress the current market has created?
March inventory numbers in Prince William County
March Prince William County Inventory Numbers
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Is the Market About to Be Flooded with Foreclosures….Again?
April 20th, 2009 Categories: NOVA Foreclosures
Last week in in a post entitled “PW County Inventory-What’s Missing from our Numbers I questioned the market reports that suggested that our local market had made a positive turn with significantly lower inventory. Since most of the larger banks had put a moratorium on foreclosures last fall we could see the impact in Prince William County. Inventory decreased, bidding wars started and houses flew off the market.
Now the floodgates of foreclosures appear to be ready to open again. And this time some analysts are suggesting up to 700,000 homes could be in this next round of foreclosures.
“J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac all say they have increased foreclosure activity in recent weeks. Those companies say they have lifted internal moratoriums which temporarily halted foreclosures.” WSJ 4/15/09
Driving around neighborhoods where foreclosures have been prevalent in our area you can find houses that have been sitting empty for months. You can only imagine what might be lurking inside a property that hasn’t had water, electricity or gas on for the entire winter. Recently while completing a BPO I found a home that had obviously become party central. The home was littered with empty beer cans, cigarette butts and other unmentionables left strewn throughout the house.
Are these numbers real? Only the lenders know how many homes they have been holding during the moratorium. However we have to be realistic and expect that later this spring we will see an increase in the number of foreclosure properties hitting the market in Northern Virginia. Hopefully it won’t bring significant price decreases in prices to some areas that were starting to see a slow recovery.
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Northern Virginia REO “Mythconceptions”
November 12th, 2008 Categories: Buyers Corner, NOVA Foreclosures
It never fails when you get a group of buyer’s together in Northern Virginia the talk turns to REO properties and the rumors that they have heard from their friends. From experience this year working with buyers on REO purchases I’ve encountered the following “mythconceptions.”
Banks will not turn on the utilities-FALSE
Very few banks refuse to turn on the utilities and most of the larger banks such as Countrywide and IndyMac have the utilities on. If they aren’t a call to the listing agent should take care of the problem. Don’t take no for an answer and if they continue ask them to show you the listing agreement where it says utilities will not be turned on.
Banks will not allow inspections-FALSE
REO properties can be inspected and most banks encourage you to do so.
Banks will not make repairs-FALSE
You can not go to the bank with a laundry list of items will an expectation that they will make the house as good as new. However they will in most cases remediate mold or other environmental hazards, fix broken major systems and repair leaky pipes.
You Can’t Use A VA Loan to Buy a Foreclosure-FALSE
Yes you can use a VA loan to buy most foreclosures. The home you are buying must be your primary residence. If the VA appraiser indicates repairs see the above myth and ask the bank for the necessary repairs.
Banks will not provide HOA or Condo Documents-FALSE
This may vary by state but in Virginia this is not true. If an agent tells you that the bank has said they will not provide the documents suggest that they re-read their listing contract. They can not do anything that is in violation of State Law and it is the seller’s responsibility in Virginia to provide the documents.
Buyers Must Use the Banks Settlement Company-FALSE
The banks may give you a “deal” to use their settlement company but they can not require that they use their company. Again this may vary by state but in Virginia our contracts clearly state that buyers have a choice of settlement company and the bank can not force you to use theirs.
If you are thinking about purchasing a foreclosure in Northern Virginia give me a call. I understand the difference between truth and “mythconceptions” in REO sales.
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Think 
about it for a second. If you want to know who is having trouble paying their mortgage the mailman may be the person to ask. The mailman is the one that is delivering the overdue notices and demand letters from the lenders to the house. It seems they should be the ones we should be asking what’s going on in the market. If all real estate is local then who is more local than the mailman?
This might seem a bit far fetched but it is it anymore far fetched than what the national news is reporting? The balance of what they tell us is stilted to the story they want to report. Facts may not be all that important and the numbers they use doesn’t always match the reality of a particular neighborhood.
It is true that the mailman might know who is getting the foreclosure notices but they don’t know how much the houses in the neighborhood are selling for. They don’t know what concessions the lenders are willing to provide to get a home sold. They don’t know how to write a contract that protects your interests and they don’t know how to connect you with the right lender. That is where buyers need the help of a Realtor® who is in the trenches everyday.
If you don’t want to be charged with stalking the mailman trying to find the next foreclosure in your favorite neighborhood call a Realtor®. They will be there to prtoect your interests and make sure that you don’t have to be out in the rain, sleet and dead of night to make it happen!
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