Forclosures UP - Good News Bad News

Foreclosure starts are reversing course and are back on the rise, which is expected to continue to put downward pressure on home prices, a new report released Monday from Fitch Ratings says. With a jump in the inventory of distressed homes, Fitch predicts home prices to dive another 10 percent nationally before stabilizing.
Foreclosures are up by 7-10% in the last month depending on what source you believe. This trend was expected as the banks start putting their foreclosures on the market after the robo-signing scandal temporarily brought foreclosures to a standstill. Fact is banks need to get rid of these properties to improve their financials. Like they need to have more profit, but that’s another blog!
The spike is nearing the average rate of 14 percent that was seen between 2000 and 2010, according to Fitch’s RMBS (residential mortgage-backed security) Performance Metric.
Foreclosure initiation rates on borrowers who haven’t made a mortgage payment in more than six months also have nearly doubled in the last five months. This means that they are not as patient with the timeline needed for a short sale and are rushing to get into the foreclosure sale. Although the home is sold for less as a bank-owned property, banks do NOT give up their right to file for a deficiency waiver so can come after the homeowner for the difference between mortgage owed and sale price!
The good news is that for buyers there are some very competitively priced short sales and even lower priced bank owned properties. The bad news is for Sellers who find themselves competing on price just to get their house sold. That said, there are many Buyers who don’t want to mess with a distressed property and would rather have the home that is in the best condition and fairly priced. That rule remains the same. The shiny penny sells first in all cases.

Great Bank-Owned Properties to Buy in ABQ

This just in on the real estate stats for the Greater Albuquerque Area:

Listings are down slightly to last year 3.4% but the Federal incentive pumped up those sales.Pendings are down 11.2% which makes sense given the above fact. Closed deals are up 7.3%.
The Average ABQ detached home price was $230,417 15% higher than last year which may be because most of the sales last year at this time were below $150,000 for the first time homebuyers.

But most interesting is this:
Short and Bank owned properties are 28% of total listings, 55% of pendings and 35% of Closed deals. BOTTOMLINE: Great time to get a good deal on a bank owned or short sale property. And rates are still close to 5%. We have buyers who have paid less than the appraised value so walk into the house with equity. Can't beat that!! Call me and we'll go look at some houses. 505-220-9193. On my website you can search for foreclosures. Set up a search and I'll refine it for you and find you something.