The second plunge of the real estate market is beginning to rear its ugly head. For 2 months in a row, April and May, bank repossessions have hit a record monthly high. Nearly 94,000 properties in the United States were repossessed in May alone. Arizona foreclosures are the second highest in the nation. These numbers are an increase of 44 percent over a year ago.
These are not newly distressed properties, and many have been sitting empty for months—abandoned by their financially troubled owners—but the fact that these REO homes will soon cram the real estate listings is the real problem. When normal listings are placed side by side with bank owned repo’s the only way they can compete is by dropping their prices. If you are in no rush to sell your home, that’s probably not too troubling, but if you’re heading towards foreclosure yourself, or even just being relocated for your job, then you want a quick efficient sale. If your price can’t meet those of other homes, chances are that sale will be slow in coming.
Sure, Bob and Mary could walk into your home and immediately fall in love, realizing it’s the dream home they have always wanted, and after a little bit of haggling about the sales price you could be packing for your big move—but in reality this is a pretty rare event these days. You may have to drop the price of your home by $20,000 or more just to get some interested buyers, with offers coming in well below that.
What this means is that all homes will have their prices driven down again, more and more homes will go into foreclosure as financially distressed home owners are unable to sell them, relocated homeowners will be forced to rent out their home in order to carry two housing payments, and distressed neighborhoods could continue to become more and more blighted.
I’m afraid that the government’s attempt to salvage some of the housing market in the past has only increased the problem now. The Home Buyer Tax Credit kicked the market into action, but since it has stopped so has the market. Slow home buying activity combined with an increase in bank repossessions is combining for what will soon be a very unpleasant situation.
The beautiful Scottsdale home pictured is a current bank-owned foreclosure. Interested in purchasing a home like this? Call the Curtis Johnson team!
Want to get your home sold quickly before the market plunges deeply? Contact the Curtis Johnson team to learn more about our Quick Cash Options. Looking to invest? It’s an investor’s dream right now and we have many properties to suit you. Call the Curtis Johnson team today!
Go to CurtisJohnsonRealty.com or call 1-888-Curtis-J.
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