foreclosures: Increase In Short Sales Give Housing Market Breathing Room - 01/03/12 06:03 PM
Short sales up, foreclosures down. That's because in many cases a short sale may be the lesser of two evils for banks and homeowners versus a foreclosure. It's a tarnished silver lining for people at risk of losing their houses and homeowners in neighborhoods blighted by bank-owned properties, but the robo-signing scandal that slowed the foreclosure process to a crawl appears to have increased lender interest in short sales.
Foreclosure sales are pretty devastating," said Faith Schwartz, executive director of Hope Now, a resource for homeowners facing foreclosure. "We'd much prefer a modification, but if homeowners don't quality, then the next best … (1 comments)
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foreclosures: Why Foreclosures Take So Long - 08/22/11 04:49 PM
One of the reasons banks favor short sales over foreclosures is that lenders are taking too long to repossess a home.
According to RealtyTrac, a firm that monitors the foreclosure market, homes in the U.S. spent an average of 318 days in some stage of foreclosure before a bank formally regained ownership during the second quarter of 2011. This marks an increase over last year when foreclosures were processed on average in 277 days.
To put this in context, RealtyTrac's data from the second quarter of 2007—the year preceding the housing crisis—indicate that back then, a foreclosure was completed 154 days … (3 comments)
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foreclosures: 6 Signs Of A Healthy Real Estate Market - 03/09/11 09:21 AM
Economists, investors and homeowners are all eagerly anticipating the return of a healthy real estate market. Even potential homebuyers want to know when the market will shift so that they can make their move into homeownership at the right time.
A variety of indicators such as home prices, sales volume of new and existing homes and the number of foreclosures can all be used to analyze whether the national real estate market is functioning well or should be on life support. But anyone looking at real estate needs to remember that all real estate is local. While prices may be still … (5 comments)
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foreclosures: Home Sales Rose 2% In December - The Fifth Gain In 6 Months - 01/28/11 09:03 AM
Pending home sales rose 2% in December from the prior month for the fifth gain in six months but remain below the year-ago period, according to the National Association of Realtors. NAR said its pending home sales index, which is based on contracts signed, increased to 93.7 last month up from a downwardly revised 91.9 for November and down from 97.8 for December 2009.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said good affordability conditions and economic improvement led to the monthly increase. "Modest gains in the labor market and the improving economy are creating a more favourable backdrop for buyers, allowing them to take … (1 comments)
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foreclosures: Is The Age Of The Mansion Coming To A Close? - 01/21/11 07:07 AM
The nation’s love affair with Mansions continues to wane: The average size of new single-family homes completed last year fell again, a trend expected to continue for several years, the National Association of Home Builders said at its annual conference recently.
In 2010, completed homes measured an average 2,377 square feet, down about 3% from the year earlier. By 2015, many builders expect the average home size to shrink to 2,152 square feet. This downsizing ends an expansion that spanned nearly three decades: The average size peaked at 2,521 square feet back in 2007.
More than half of builders expect to … (2 comments)
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foreclosures: Most Foreclosures Have Positive Equity - 06/15/10 06:53 AM
"Of all of the foreclosures in the RealtyTrac online database, less than 50% have mortgages worth less than what is owed, said Rick Sharga, senior vice president at RealtyTrac, during a session at REO Expo, which concludes in Dallas on Wednesday.
The RealtyTrac database covers foreclosure filings from notice of default to REO properties across more than 2,200 counties in the US. Sharga said while underwater borrowers are beginning to explore the possibilities of strategically defaulting, unemployment, not negative equity, is driving the current wave of foreclosures.
"We estimate there is one foreclosure to every six to 10 jobs lost," Sharga said.
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