Real Estate Blog - FORECLOSURES FOR SALE IN MARYLAND AND NORTHERN VIRGINIA. AND THE FAT LADY SANG!

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FORECLOSURES FOR SALE IN MARYLAND AND NORTHERN VIRGINIA. AND THE FAT LADY SANG!

FORECLOSURES FOR SALE IN MARYLAND AND NORTHERN VIRGINIA.

OR. . . . . .

DID THE FAT LADY SING??

Kevin Wood of Tucson offers an analysis of the foreclosure market in his area.

I'm not acquainted with the details of the "foreclosure market" in other areas around the country. However, I am quite aware of our foreclosure market and it appears that it is OVER.

Of course, the news is full of FORECLOSURES, FORECLOSURES, FORECLOSURES.

KEVIN SPECULATES THAT THE BANKS ARE HOLDING THE FORECLOSURES OFF MARKET.

I'm not sure that applies in the Maryland and Northern Virginia real estate market. I am of the opinion that they have simply SOLD OFF!

Of course I could be wrong.

What do the banks have to gain by holding properties off market?

Bank owned homes for sale in Maryland and Northern Virginia are less than 1% of the ACTIVE listings.

That is hardly a glut of bank owned homes for sale. On the other hand, Short Sales are about 12% of our ACTIVE listings. County to county, the number varies.

So, with that many "Potential Short Sale"s offered and understanding the small percentage of Short Sale listings that actually close, it's not hard to believe that there are more bank owned homes coming on market.

What does all of this mean? Who knows??

Are bank owned homes for sale still in demand? Indeed. More than half of the contacts I receive from prospective home buyers in Maryland and Northern Virginia inquire about foreclosures.

What will our message be to them? Sure, we'll be glad to show you foreclosed homes for sale. In fact, we'll show you bank owned listings, short sale listings and regular listings of homes for sale.

WE'LL SHOW YOU THE MARKET AND HELP YOU FIND THE BEST HOME FOR YOUR MONEY.

Courtesy, Lenn Harley, Broker, Homefinders.com, 800-711-7988.

For a tour of homes in the Centennial High School area and other areas of Maryland real estate, contact Lenn, 800-711-7988. Ask about our services for home buyers including a FREE One Year Home Warranty.

To search for all homes for sale in MD visit Homesdatabase.com which contains ALL active listings of homes for sale in the area.

WE'LL SHOW YOU THE MARKET AND HELP YOU FIND THE BEST HOME FOR YOUR MONEY in Maryland or Northern Virginia.

Posted by Lenn Harley, Real Estate Broker, Maryland & Virginia on 09/12/2009 05:55 AM

Comments (19)

Bank Owned Homes in the Sales Strategies / Tactics Channel

bank owned homes in maryland, bank owned homes in virgina, foreclosures in maryland, foreclosures in northern virginia

Originally posted at: MD, VA Foreclosures, First Time Buyers Grants, CDA Loans MD, Rehab Loans MD & VA: FORECLOSURES FOR SALE IN MARYLAND AND NORTHERN VIRGINIA. AND THE FAT LADY SANG!

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19 Comments on FORECLOSURES FOR SALE IN MARYLAND AND NORTHERN VIRGINIA. AND THE FAT LADY SANG!

SEP

Just an 'of interest' article I perused earlier this morning. LA Times article. Your post made me think about it again...

Susie. Interesting article. Thanks. One thing for sure, the credit industry is bent on lowering all of our credit scores in order to justify charging higher interest rates for just about everything.

Time will tell if there is a large inventory of unlisted REO properties. In Montgomery County, the number of active REO listings is now too low to adversely impact the overall market in the county. Short sale listings are now more disruptive.

Roy. Right you are. In fact, that is the case throughout our market.

Lenn, it would be great if that were true. In my market, I've seen a real increase in BPO orders. I don't know if that is for refinance, modifications or possibly future foreclosures.

Lenn,

Foreclosures, short sales whether they are a little or a lot of the market doesn't matter. The point I think you are making is buyers need to see the WHOLE market and be shown bank owned, short sale and regular listings of homes to determine what is the best value in the market place! Just because it is a foreclosure or short sales doesn't mean it's a good value. It could be but many times they are not and the procedures you follow for acquistion are not worth the aggravation!

Gabe. I'm just looking at hard numbers of listings. Very few foreclosures.

Dorie BINGO!!! We'll go to any length of aggravation, but if there are no foreclosures in a market price range, the buyer has to consider alternatives.

I have long eschewed buyers who are more interested in the negotiation rather than finding the best home for their money.

Lenn,

From the steady amount of BPO's we are doing, it seems that the pipeline for foreclosed properties is still chugging along here in Northern VA. Not a real pick up in the numbers, but a steady flow that doesn't appear to have end in sight in the near future.

Just our experience extrapolated out...

AJ and Jodee. BPOs are one thing, actual listings are another. I did hard numbers yesterday and the foreclosures and REO Properties in the MLS are few.

Buyers looking exclusively for bank owned properties and I get a lot of them, are not going to be happy.

Lenn,

According to the last Case-Shiller Index, the Washington, DC metro area has the highest home prices relative to year 2000 prices for the 20 big markets studied.

It is not surprising that you would have fewer REO properties now for sale.

It may not seem like it on a daily grind basis, but (economically) the DC-Northern VA part of your area is really the Happy Hunting Ground.

Jim. Well, of course. One of the things that saves our market from the depths of distress experienced in so many areas is the relative stability of our employment.

Hello Lenn, here in Vancouver WA the Active REO listings were just under 5% of the total Actives; while the Pending REO listings were 24% of the Pending listings. The Shorts were 25% and 18% respectively. One of our office's agents is at every auction as an active buyer, and they've noticed a definite valuation shift by the banks in the southerly direction -- in other words they want someone else to be the winning bidder more often than the bank themselves. It works for this guy as he picks them up cheap, rehabs them, than lists them at a short-sale price level. Thus, depending on the market, many of these foreclosures may not become REO listings but rather, inventory of a rehabber or investor. - John

SEP

John. Of course. However, my interest is only listed foreclosures or REO properties.

They are the only ones really and immediately available for sale. Last year and the year before, the percentage of these active listings was much higher than today.

We have agents out there every day writing offers for home buyer/occupants. However, there were multiple offers, cash offers, active bidding, etc., and they've cleaned out the market.

Lenn~

I subscribe to and always read the posts on your BLOG. I appreciate the conversation you generate, and have learned so much from you along the way over the past many years...

Here is yet another post that demonstrates why I subscribe. THX for the info.

janeAnne. Thanks. I love subscribers. Enjoy and stop by often.

Lenn,

thanks for your support and the link. I sincerely appreciate your help. I'm still stunned at how little impact foreclosures have made for you locally. It's just the norm out here and I've assumed literally every agent is up to their neck in them. It's great knowing there is a beginning to this end.

Kevin. I'm not saying that foreclosures have had no impact on our market. They have made a huge impact for the past couple of years.

However, the stats are showing that the inventory is virtually gone. Investors and first time buyers were out in drives and bought up everything in sight.

Lenn, seems that foreclosures have slowed in hitting the market in my area, but there does not seem to be any shortage of the foreclosure ads in the newspaper each week... leading me to think they don't have clear titles yet or the banks may be indeed holding some of them waiting for an upswing in price to minimize their losses.

Tammy. That is exactly why I published this. I did stats on foreclosures this week and there are a dearth of available bank owned homes.

The investors have cleaned them out.

I've double checked on many foreclosure ads and they are blowing smoke.

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