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Montgomery County, Maryland Weekly Real Estate Report: Foreclosures & Short Sales Update

By
Industry Observer with Retired

Montgomery County, Maryland Weekly Real Estate Report:  Foreclosures & Short Sales Update

Only 3% of the homes for sale are lender owned foreclosures.

The beautiful spring weather is getting families excited about purchasing a new home. However, they are seeing the news that the real estate market is now in a double dip mode and will be a long time before recovery. The metro market of Washington, DC is ahead of most of the major markets and appears to be recovering quite nicely from the housing recession. The national market is good to talk about but all need to look to the local market for the true indicators.  In Montgomery County, MD, there is a shortage of available properties in some price segments and many of the well priced properties, including lender owned foreclosures, are attracting multiple contracts. Home buyers that start out thinking that they should make low offers are finding that they are competing with others and may actually need to pay more than the asking price for some homes.

It is a time of great opportunity for home buyers and real estate investors.  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. By the way, a first time buyer is defined as one that has not owned a home during the past three years

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.

The FHA mortgage insurance premium was increased, on April 18th, by 0.25%. Prospective home buyers should compare the cost of conventional financing with the charges for using FHA financing.

This report shows the impact of  lender owned foreclosures and short sale pre-foreclosures on the market. Generally speaking, the number of lender owned foreclosures (REO listings) is now too low to influence the home values in the county. It is another story with the short sale pre-foreclosures which are creating an artificial market segment that has a very negative influence in the area.  3% of the 3,495 homes for sale in Montgomery County are REO properties while 16% are short sale pre-foreclosures.

Lender Owned Homes:  117 lender owned foreclosures are included in the current inventory of homes for sale. The listings are sorted by city.

There are 49 lender owned foreclosures (REO) for sale at or BELOW $200,000.  Click on the listing number to see the full property description. Sort by column headers.

Click the following URL to see the listings:
http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=1135923XDLVP&p=DE-139475556-396

There are 68 lender owned foreclosures (REO) for sale at or ABOVE $200,000. Click on the listing number to see the full property description. Sort by column headers.

Click the following URL to see the listings:
http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=1135923XDLVP&p=DE-139475608-691

There are 565 active listings of short sale pre-foreclosures offered for sale in Montgomery County. The pricing on many of these listings is unrealistic and a high percentage will never reach settlement.  Only a small percentage of the short sale listings will reach settlement before being withdrawn or going to foreclosure auctions. This is a classic situation where the perception of the number of available homes differs from reality.

There are 194 short sale listings, at and below $200,000 on the market.

Click the following URL to see the listings:
http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=1135923XDLVP&p=DE-139475758-528

In the price range at and above $200,000, there are 371 short sale pre-foreclosures on the market.

Click the following URL to see the listings:
http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=1135923XDLVP&p=DE-139475935-540

Home sellers should study the inventory in their areas to determine the negative impact of short sale properties. Weight needs to be given to the actual settlements but the short sale listings need to be closely examined for credibility. Home buyers need to be very selective when submitting offers on short sale listings to avoid the disappointment of a cancelled sale after much time has past. Many of the short sale listings are also being sold at trustee sales without notice to the purchasers that have pending contracts.

During March, there were 756 closed sales in Montgomery County, MD and the average sold price was $450,671 with an average of 92 days on the market. The average sold price was up 15.55% from last month and 13% from last year. The zip code reports provide a better picture of the various segments of the market activity in the county.  Just ask us to email a zip code report to you.

The real estate market statistics for the past month may be viewed by clicking on the following link:  http://www.rbintel.com/statistics/montgomery-county-md  The new statistics are posted on the tenth of each month.

All the active listings of homes for sale in Maryland may be viewed on Homes Prospector at www.roykelley.com

Trustee sale schedules and many of 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 Montgomery County home buyers!

Posted by

Roy Kelley, Retired, Former Associate Broker, RE/MAX Realty Group

Gaithersburg, Maryland  

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