Florida’s real estate market is about to get messy! That sounds like something the voiceover for a move trailer would say but it is actually happening in real life. We all know that Florida has one of the biggest foreclosure levels in America — which means in the world as well –, but few would have expected the problem to still be getting worse almost 5 years into the crisis.
Archive for the ‘Foreclosures’ Category
Florida Real Estate: It’s About to Get Messy
by Overseas Property Mall on Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 in Florida, Foreclosures, United States Property
Rare Consensus on US Home Prices falling by 5% in 2011
by Overseas Property Mall on Thursday, January 20th, 2011 in Foreclosures, United States Property
The consensus of opinion is that US house prices will continue to fall this year, by a minimum of 5%. A slew of predictions for a down market have followed the recent report by Corelogic showing that US home prices fell 5.3% year on year in November, the fourth consecutive monthly fall and also acceleration on the 3.4% fall seen in October the report said.
IHS Global Insight is predicting a 5-7% fall for this year, in their predictions they point out that the tax credits lead to false hopes of a market in recovery which have since been proven so.
A sentiment echoed by Corelogic. Rather than draw many new buyers into the market, the credits “just pulled sales forward,” said Sam Khater, CoreLogic senior economist. The higher rate of decline in prices in November from October underscores the big challenges the market faces with recovery, he says.
Moody’s Analytics also highlighted the lull after the tax credits, further saying that the credits precipitated a double dip in the housing market.
The economy avoided a double-dip recession, but “Housing is double dipping,” said Moody’s economist Mark Zandi. Zandi also predicted a 5% fall but said it will have happened by midyear.
By the time prices hit bottom, the housing crash will have lasted five years and driven prices 35% off their 2006 peak, he says.
The Corelogic report showed prices rising in 6 states, New York, Wyoming, Indiana, Vermont, North Dakota and Maine. Maine’s 8.6% growth was by far the largest, with North Dakota a distant second at 4.4%.
Zillow, the second largest US property portal paints an even more dire picture. According to the firm, which does not count repossessed sales, the 5.1% fall in November represented the 53rd consecutive fall and brings prices down to 2003 levels.
Zillow expects sustained declines until late 2011. Even then, “The bottom will be very long and rocky,” says Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries.
Foreclosed Dubai Homes to go on Auction
by Overseas Property Mall on Sunday, November 14th, 2010 in Dubai Property, Foreclosures
A Dubai law firm has reported that the Dubai Land Department (DLD) will recommence property auctions from this month, including foreclosed properties.
“Recent discussions with the Land Department of Dubai indicated that they are now ready to re-commence property auctions, including foreclosed property, as the number of transactions processed daily by the department increases and they see the market stabilising. They hope to hold the next property auction in November,” Nick Clayson, Partner and head of real estate, Middle East, Norton Rose Group, told Emirates 24/7.
Foreclosure Fraudsters Increase Misery for US Home Sellers
by Overseas Property Mall on Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 in Foreclosures, United States Property
A recent article in Wall Street Journal touches on the local damage of foreclosures. We can all look at the bargain foreclosed homes being sold in wonderment, but imagine you were selling the house next door, or down the block.
Say your house is appraised at $220,000 and your hoping to get at least $200k for it in the current market. When a foreclosed home down the road sells for $80,000 you can kiss those hopes good buy — not least because recent local sales are all factored into an appraisal.
It is bad enough that the self-serving banks are flushing their bad loans out into your local market at crazy-low prices, but worse, the situation has provided an opportunity for greedy fraudsters. Not happy that they will get a discount of 50% or more, fraudsters are paying potential bidders off at foreclosed auctions to get properties even cheaper.
The latest case to be announced by the Department of Justice is that of Christopher J. Deans a real estate investor from Raleigh North Carolina, who pleaded guilty to rigging bids on Friday. Deans apparently paid co-conspirators not to bid on certain properties, which he then bought for a massively low price, allowing him to benefit from a quick-sale or high-yield rental income.
I hope it was worth it because Deans now faces up to a $1 million in fines and up to 10 years in prison.
Though there are no figures on how many properties Dean fraudulently nabbed, but the DOJ said that his campaign would have done damage to the local market, by artificially driving down prices.
“The conspiracy resulted in the suppression of competitive bidding on foreclosed properties which caused foreclosing lien holders and certain homeowners to receive a lower price for properties sold through foreclosure actions,” the DOJ said in a statement.
Deans case follows a spate of similar cases uncovered this year, including: the case of 43-year Stockton, Ca investor Anthony B. Ghio, who pleaded guilty in May, and that of Baltimore lawyer Harvey Nusbaum who pleaded guilty to rigging tax lien auctions in Maryland, also in May.
WSJ said it best:
“As the feds decide the future of the government’s involvement in the housing market, whether it’s reforming Fannie and Freddie, another stimulus, or more assistance to banks weighed down by foreclosed houses, the fraudsters may seem like just another nit in their hair to weed out. But for local markets, they’re a pretty pesky bug.”
US Homeownership Rate Slipping, Could Slip Back to 1960 Low
by Overseas Property Mall on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 in Foreclosures, United States Property
Homeownership in the US threatens to fall to its lowest percentage since 1960, because of the volume of foreclosures which has continued to increase into 2010. The latest data showed that 66.9% of Americans owned their home in the second quarter of this year, down from 69.4% in 2004.
“Anybody who knows anything about housing thought it would be flat in the second quarter,” said John Burns, CEO of John Burns Real Estate Consulting, a national housing market analyst based in Irvine, Calif. “Homeownership fell during the quarter when government was offering a tax credit (to first-time homebuyers). What do you think is going to happen now that there’s no tax credit?”
American Property Wholesalers: Good, Bad or Ugly?
by Overseas Property Mall on Monday, May 31st, 2010 in Foreclosures, United States Property
Property wholesaling is big business in the American housing market right now. When it comes to property, wholesaling is different from what it means in any other industry. Property wholesalers are flippers, who buy distressed properties cheap, and sell them for a few thousand dollars profit before the ink is even dry.
They are causing quite a stir at the moment because of the sheer volume of properties sitting on their playing field, and because of the immeasurable impact they have on the market.
For anyone that doesn’t know, wholesalers sell properties fast on behalf of people that can no longer pay their mortgage. They do not take ownership of the property, they simply take the owners contract and sign it over to the new buyer with their profit in the form of an assigning fee.
In March alone almost 370,000 properties received foreclosure notices, the highest monthly total since online foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac began tracking them in January 2005. 2009 was a record year; with 2.8 million American homes repossessed, but, because of the growth this year culminating in the record-breaking March, analysts are fearful that this year could be even worse.
Wholesalers certainly are not fearful, if anything they are gleeful. How everyone else feels about their glee, and their business, is as mixed as the properties they have to choose from.
Record US Foreclosure Jump In Third Quarter
by OP-Mall on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 in Foreclosures, United States Property
A California-based seller of default data, RealtyTrac Inc, which collects data from 90% of the US population, has revealed that property foreclosures in the US hit a record high in the third quarter of 2009 as more lenders took action against delinquent borrowers. 343,638 properties received foreclosure filings in September alone, the third-highest monthly total behind July and August of this year.
Distressed Estates Fed To Real Estate Vultures
by OP-Mall on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 in Foreclosures, Luxury Property, North American Property
What happens when an ex-managing director of Fortress hedge fund teams up with Sotheby’s in a real estate venture? Well, if you are switched on and know thy market you can probably guess – the vultures are leering!
George Graham, formerly of Fortress’s Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund, joined a real estate auction house last month. The house works closely with Sotheby’s (BID) International Realty in order to sell off luxury homes.
Foreclosure Prices Fall In Southern California
by OP-Mall on Thursday, August 27th, 2009 in Foreclosures, North American Property
Foreclosure sales are dominating the Southern California market which in turn is forcing house and condominium prices down by as much as 23 percent. MDA DataQuick revealed the median price dropped from $348,000 to $268,000 a year ago.
For the regions of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties the number of homes sold increased almost 19 percent in the last 12 months to 24,104.
