Frederick County, MD Weekly Real Estate Report: Foreclosures & Short Sales Update
The spring weather should encourage prospective home buyers to get to see what is available in the area. Timing may be critical in this unique market. Home prices are the lowest in many years. Mortgage interest rates are very low. Low down payment loans are available and qualified first time buyers have available grants to $7,500 to assist with the cash requirements of a home purchase.
All of these positive dynamics are expected to change in the coming months. Lenders are recommending early lock-ins on rates because of the upward pressure on interest rates. The maximum size of FHA loans is expected to go down and the down payment requirements are expected to go up. Conventional mortgage loan fees are increasing. This spring may prove to be the best time we will see in our lifetimes for a home purchase if financing is going to be used.
Home owners and prospective purchasers want to know about the impact of foreclosures and short sale pre-foreclosures when considering the marketability in specific neighborhoods. The number of active listings of lender owned foreclosures does not have as much negative impact as the larger numbers of short sales pre-foreclosures that are being offered.
There are 1,263 active listings of homes for sale in Frederick County, MD. 6% of the properties are lender owned foreclosures and 19% are short sale pre-foreclosures.
Lender Owned Homes: There are 73 homes for sale in the inventory of lender owned foreclosures (REO). Home sellers watch this inventory for competitive properties and home buyers watch this sector for purchase bargains. Click on the listing number for full details on each property. Sort by column headings.
Click the following URL to see the listings:
http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=1135923XDLVP&p=DE-138051078-827
What is the story with short sale pre-foreclosures? When the short sale listings have unrealistically low prices, they are less likely to be approved by the secured lenders. We are seeing many of the short sale listings going to foreclosure rather than being sold as pre-foreclosures. Home sellers need to closely analyze the offerings in their neighborhoods. Home buyers need to be very selective when considering short sales and should anticipate long delays in the process due to slow responses from the lenders. If the price is too low to believe, it will be unlikely to be approved.
There are 240 active listings of short sale pre-foreclosures in Frederick County.
Click the following URL to see the listings:
http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=1135923XDLVP&p=DE-138051093-757
The real estate statistics for the past month may be viewed by clicking on the following link: http://www.rbintel.com/statistics/frederick-county-md
During March, there were 202 closed sales and the average sold price was $268,275, up 3.63% from last year, with an average of 135 days on the market. The zip code reports provide a better picture of the various segments of the market activity in the county. Ask us to email a zip code report to you.
All home buyers that plan to use mortgage financing should obtain pre-approval for financing as the first step in the purchase process. The same advice applies to investors. Those without a pre-approval are not considered to be serious purchasers. Please ask for a referral if you do not have an existing relationship with a mortgage lender.
All of the active listings of homes for sale in Maryland may be viewed on Homes Prospector at www.roykelley.com
Trustee sales schedules and our real estate blog posts may be viewed at www.roykelley.net
Please contact us with your real estate questions. Your referrals of friends and family members will always be appreciated.
Blooming for home buyers!
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