Do You Remember the Numbers? You Should!

Jim, the percentage of the resales that are foreclosures in some markets is downright staqggering. Thanks for digging through the actual numbers for us all.

Jim,  The numbers are just too high to contemplate.  I heard the other night that 1 in 10 homes in this country is in default and will probably go to foreclosure in 2009.  It makes you wonder what these banks and mortgage companies are thinking.  They are so difficult to work with that half the agents out there won't even try, the other half who do run up against obsticle after obsticle in trying to get the transaction done, once we finally get an accepted offer.  I wonder, the banks have been trying to get in to the Real Estate Business for years, maybe they figure if they get all the homes on the market in their foreclosure banks everyone will just let them have their way.  Very sad for those losing their homes, especailly when the lenders are supposed to be helping these people and they won't do a thing to make the process any easier. 

I keep kicking this question around in my head and I'll ask you first.  Why do agents keep posting "doom and gloom" on their blogs?  I'm not suggesting burying our heads in the sand but at the same time we need to be also talking about the positives in this market.  I had a great year last year.  I've already had two closing this year and have two more scheduled this month.  Buyers are out and they are qualified to buy homes.

Yes foreclosures are through the roof in some areas but in most of the cases those homes and those owners could easily walk away because they never had a stake in their home or they used the equity to buy "stuff."  We need to keep encouraging buyers to get out and take advantage of the lower rates and lower prices to reduce local inventory.  With all of the google juice that AR brings I'm going to keep focusing my efforts on bringing the good news about my area and hope that it stimulates one more buyer to think about buying one more foreclosure and getting it off the market.

Remember Jim real estate always goes up in value.  At least this is what many had believed.  I never bought it in the first place.

The bank owned's and hud's are murder right now. I've got several listings at the low price end of the market here in Rogers and in each case almost all their competition are repo's. Sitting in peoples living room explaining that they have to compete with that for buyers is not fun.Trying to wait for the repos to sell doesn't work cause they just keep coming.

Jim, those are really nasty numbers you've got there!  Wonder what 2009 will give us?

I searched for several hours today to find comps for a short sale.  The bank does not want us to use Foreclosures.  The sales weren't there.  All I found was foreclosure sales.  What's a body to do when the only thing that is selling is foreclosures?

Too bad the loan numbers for investors haven't really improved as much as those for prinary homes.  I think you could entice a large number of investors into the market with the inventory that's out there.  Just cutting the number of loans from 10 to 4 really hurt my investor clients.

Jim - I have seen varying reports on the accuracy of RealtyTrac's data.  The most common complaint is that 'filings' not only includes properties that do not go to foreclosure, but also multiple actions on the same property.  Of course, even if they are off by a factor of 3, we would still have a 25% problem.  This is not true in Louisville, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the case in other parts of the country.