We don't have nearly that many.  I just checked the percentage in Montgomery County and it's only

134 listings out of about 6577 listings.

Here in MA they have a "freeze" on foreclosures for 90 days starting in May.  That means that late fall and all next year there will be a dumping on foreclosures on the market that will further depress it.   And yes, they all aren't good deals.  The ones on now are in the areas where the appreciation stopped first - the tough areas.  They are still tough areas, but now they are without appreciation.

 MD & VA Real Estate, Homefinders.com, Lenn Harley, Broker, New & Resale Homes  The secret is they are not entering them as foreclosures.  Some are listed corporate, bank owned and other.  Many are not even listed in the system.  I am referring to the biggest teams, seem to have slowed their sales...and are venturing out of their holes to work buyers.  My antenna is up!  Also if you look at Montgomery County sales for 2008 compared to 2007 is way off by 39.18%!  So proportionally it is believable that sales in foreclosures are not increasing, but may have plateaued adn are now declining!

The stats below are from MRIS Most recent March 2008 Public Statistics site.

Heath Coker  it is interesting to stop and think about the current foreclosures are they selling or are they accumulating?  Why would an agent that has over 100 foreclosure listings call me for buyers.  I think it is pretty transparent!  Most agents do not want to look at numbers, they are afraid to ask real questions or find out the truth! From what I am seeing the truth is very obvious!

Jim - Interesting.  I heard a statistic the other day on foreclosures in Pa (though I don't recall the exact number) but it seemed to me to be a very small percentage.  This post will cause me to do some searches though (and not just on how they are being entered per se), thanks Jim.

Foreclosures would be selling faster if the lenders were more willing to sell them at current market prices.  Too many lenders are fixated on trying to recoup the amount of their loans, or conversely, keeping a higher price and trusting their losses will be made up by mortgage insurance.

Jason Sardi, Pennsylvania Mortgage Broker   It is interesting, but we all need to stop being spoon fed information and do our own research.  It is readily available!  We need to question more!

That's a fact Jim, that's a fact...

Jim

There has been plenty of press suggesting that property facing foreclosures are removing kitchens, damaging the homes, or at the very least the buyer might be concerned about the heart ache associated with the destressed sale. So maybe buyers would rather buy a home that is cared for and been in loving hands until now.

Jason Sardi, Pennsylvania Mortgage Broker  I think for too long we had it so good in real estate that we forgot how to question things.  We need to go more on our gut instincts that when we feel something is not right, investigate it further before proceeding.

Steve Loynd  Yes!  I forgot about the vandalism and theft.  My first choice would be a motivated seller or a short sale.

Its odd that I have never sold a foreclosure  do not I see a lot of them in the market that I work. Nothing good happens to an empty home, it just keeps getting worst. Then again I sell few new homes. All the markets are different.

Jim, we don't have that many either, but Atlanta is huge. Interesting thought on connecting the dots, let's hope your right.

Right now foreclosures are being listed by the same brokers here locally who are on the banks list. Foreclosure are selling because of first time buyers, investors or others who cant afford a home thats a little bit more expensive. A lot of foreclosures have been abandoned and may or may not be in move in conditon being sold in "As Is" condition.  I know of a foreclosure that was sold 8 months ago to a builder who invested his $ in the home to update it who still hasnt resold it. So these buyers are really taking a chance with buying a property that is going to need some work, may not be worth the risk or what the seller is asking for it in the near future and may take longer to close being of their foreclosure problem. Correct me if I'm wrong?

Eric Bouler  It is odd, and markets are very different, but it is an interesting question!  I really wonder what is going on, no one really shares abou the absorption of foreclosures!  Now I am...

Stephen D White, E-Pro, ABR Cape Cod Realtor  A freind of mine recently sold a foreclosed home  that she negotiated to a 500K+ sales price.  In this lousy market, it still appraised for over 950K!  That is the exception to the rule!

That is certainly the exception to the rule. Most of the foreclosures we see here are in the $225K or less range. Evidently like you say foreclosures are hitting the upscale more expensive homes as well which I dont think is a good sign?!

We have more foreclosures than we've ever had but they are still not that plentiful.  We used to have one or two a year and now it is probably one or two a week.  They sell well in most cases.

steve white   Alt A and Jumbo defaults should start to hit later this year. Many banking institutions that have major Alt-A  portfolios found that in January of this year they had a spike in delinquency.  All of a sudden they had almost a 20% delinquency rate.  This is what started the stock market gyration within the last few weeks.  Banks that held these portfolios all of a sudden found themselves in a position where they could not sell the portfolio even at a discount.

Barbara S. Duncan ABR, CRS, GRI, e-PRO Searcy AR   Problems arise where there is a saturation.  It is the same as rain...too much rain and the ground can no longer absorb the water.  Too many homes for sale and too few buyers creates an excess.  Since I wrote this Blog I looked at FMLS and MRIS in Virginia and found that in general there is about a 20% sold from identified foreclosures.  We must also remember there is a voluntary moratorium right now from the big lenders for no new foreclosures.  What happens after?   Will we be lulled into a false sense of security only to have a tsunami of new foreclosures added on top of those we already have?

If you believe the GMAC Billboards around Metro Atlanta claiming 100,000 homes for sale and with 3,000 sold last month that means a 3 year inventory unless sales pick up during the sales season!!!  Obviously the market is being flooded with new foreclosures at an even greater rate and thus the bloodbath is going to get worse! Agents tell me their buyers are often looking for a deal and end up buying a foreclosure because they are so much less expensive (even after the necessary repairs). REO (Foreclosure) sales may be slowing down, but only because everything else is selling more slowly too!  I have noticed fewer bidders at auctions and even many of the "wholesalers" are having trouble moving inventory and resorting to all kinds of gimmicks to get a paying "body" into a house! The scary tightening credit negative spiral is a double whammy as the banks are approving fewer buyers and thus banks are having to lower prices on their REO's because they can't sell them (there aren't enough buyers!)! 

PS- I don't ever want to hear Mayor Shirley Franklin complain about affordable housing for working class people in Atlanta. There are plenty!!! I can show her thousands for less than $100k!!!

Phil  - If you drove past the sign last week they took the number off!  As of this moment, there are 114284 active listings in GAMLS.  It is harder to track the pending and closed sales in GAMLS, but the ones I quoted are accurate for FMLS and the Metro Atlanta area.  There were 10700 new foreclosures in February in Atlanta and over 7000 expired listings, and 3000 withdrawn listings.  Yep, in general there are several years of homes in some categories for sale.   The new range I see softening is the over 1 Million Dollar range!  I see a substantial tightening of sales.

 My manager stated that Countrywide is holding back a lot of the homes they own.They will add them to the market next year. They don't want to add to the foreclosure flood

Jim the statistics for your area on foreclosures is staggering. The inventory levels are just incredible. WIth that kind of inventory prices must be dropping fairly steadily?

KEEP IN MIND....every foreclosure STILL has a family/person that MOVED.  Where did THEY go?  Either the apartment market is tightening up OR it's a perfect time for an investor to buy and not consider selling but RENTING!

Foreclosures in Little Rock are up but appear to be REO rather than the HUD inventory.  REO's are too slow in realizing the market is down.  HUD is one exception I've found that when they get what they consider "too many" in inventory they Drop the Price! Look into the HUD homes.  There always appears to be better bargains in there.

Jim...as for the "appraised" value.  That means nothing from my point of view.  I don't think appraisers are "on the mark" like they used to be.  Their definition of "price at which a reasonable person would purchase in a reasonable period of time..." has something missing.  Reasonable is the key word here.  I think that time frame has changed a bunch.

Jim,

 I agree with your idea 100 percent.  Also, I'm not apt to show a buyer a foreclosure now since most of them are in horrible condition and it is a pain to work with the banks.  They are a little overwhelmed at this time.    I think the deals are found in situations where someone has to move to another state, estate sales, divorce etc.  You just have to know your market.

Jim,

 I agree with your idea 100 percent.  Also, I'm not apt to show a buyer a foreclosure now since most of them are in horrible condition and it is a pain to work with the banks.  They are a little overwhelmed at this time.    I think the deals are found in situations where someone has to move to another state, estate sales, divorce etc.  You just have to know your market.

WINDY HIXSON / Tarbell Realtors-Riverside Ca I agree...they do have the power to do that!

Bill Gassett Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate  Prices have just started dropping in the last few months.  What folks in Atlanta do not want to understand is that even though we did not have the major run up in prices, it was all done on sub-prime loans.  No money down, HELOCs, second mortgages, negative equity and no equity have created a false bottom on pricing. Declining sales show there are not buyers to absorb!

David W. Bolick  I agree fully with you!  HUD are not too big in our area.

Judy Greenberg- Coldwell Banker Long Grove/ Buffalo Grove Real Estate   I agree, I do no think that in this current market, that foreclosures are a better buy for the money!  So maybe they are not selling, but accumulating!

Mike Barry or Kelly Adams must have called you back.

Karen Luke --- Stockbridge -- McDonough Real Estate  Thank you!

Foreclosures are definitely not as good of a deal as they have been in the past.  I am looking for a home right now for myself and the amount of foreclosures and short sales are overwhelming!  There are many of them here and it seems the number is increasing.

Colorado Springs Realty Patricia Beck  In hte past they were a steal if you could get to the foreclosure before anyone else.!  Now there are loads of foreclosures, are they really a buy?  Even the buyers are starting to question their value!  A foreclosure is only a value if it is in good shape and priced right!

What a coincidence that I picked up on this posting; yesterday wrote a contract on one foreclosure and went to a home inspection on another.  The foreclosure market here in Fredericksburg, VA is "alive and kicking" as I have never seen it before.  Truly 30% of the sales in our area last month involved foreclosures.  Seems that certain jurisdictions are even higher than others.  No difference in acquisition price either!

Ed DeChristopher, CRS©,Fredericksburg VA  I think that in your market prices have been correcting for a good while now.  I firmly beieve your market is poised to start picking up!  Your prices are in line with the market!

I HAVE A GREAT IDEA FOR THE FED'S TO HELP BAIL OUT THE "FORECLOSURE MARKET CRISIS".

Pass a bill giving Real Estate Agents an Extra 3% Commission to "Move the Foreclosures".  It would be cheaper for the Fed's and get us off our computer and out in the field quicker !  LOL

David W. Bolick  I know you are on to something!  Most agents work their tail off in a foreclosure deal and what do they want to do?  Cut our commission!