The Phoenix Area Foreclosure Experts

The 300th post on ForeclosureExpert.info

This post has nothing to say about the status of the foreclosure market.   It's simply a reflection of the time I've spent on this blog.  I admit that initially it was quite a lot of work, and I had to force myself to post something every day.  However, it has become an  almost daily pleasure to post because of the positive responses I have received from many people.

Here is a summary of the blog:

• started 13.5 months ago
• 34,575 lifetime page views
• 85 average page views per day
• #1 Google rating  for the search term " Phoenix foreclosure expert" and most variations of that  phrase
• numerous referrals from Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. for a variety of  foreclosure related search terms

Thanks to all who read this blog.    I hope the statistics that I provide continue to be useful to all my readers. Onward to post number 400.

Can recent events stimulate the housing market?

Let's take a quick look at some of the more recent events that affect the housing industry and foreclosure listings:

• President Obama signs a massive housing stimulus bill into law;  the  legislation allows up to $8,000 in a "non-repayable" tax credit for first time buyers; the definition of a first-time homebuyer is someone who hasn't owned or co-owned a house during the previous three years

• Part of the stimulus bill is a relief program to keep 3 to 4 million home owners out of foreclosure and reduce the number of foreclosure properties; also, to refinance 3 to 4 million mortgages where owners can't otherwise qualify for a new loan because of property value declines

• Home  interest rates fell again -- this time to an average of just 4.99% for 30 year fixed rates; the Mortgage Bankers Association reported total applications for new mortgages increased by 48%  last week; there many foreclosure listings within the financial grasp of potential homeowners

The opportunities are pretty tempting to buy a house when you consider that prices are lower than they've been in  an extremely long time, an $8,000 tax credit is available for first-time buyers, and interest rates are so low.  In addition, the government is stepping in to slow the number of foreclosure properties and foreclosure listings. If people in the United States are tempted by these incentives, the demand for housing may start to increase.  If the demand for housing starts to increase, that is one factor that could help to stabilize housing prices across the country and in the Phoenix area real estate market.

What if your not as concerned with location when looking at foreclosure listings?

Location, location, location: the 3 most important factors when buying real estate.

What if your biggest desire is not necessarily location, but to take advantage of the high number of foreclosure listings to get the biggest house you can find for under $60,000? What if you wanted to avoid moving too far away from metro Phoenix -- but not live in a dangerous part of south Phoenix? Finally, what if you wanted a house bigger than a typical apartment? A house bigger than 1,100 sq ft? Where would you search for such a house?

How about El Mirage? That's where my client set her sights and offered on an 1,800 sq ft, 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage home built in 1999. The accepted contract price? Would you believe $55,000?

$55,000 is the accepted contract price with one important detail: the kitchen had been stripped of EVERYTHING. No worries for my client who works for a major cabinet maker. She expects to spend $6,000 with her employee discounts to rebuild the kitchen. OK, so she's spending $61,000 and not $60,000.

"Top five list" - cities with the highest percentage of foreclosure listings

Here is the list of the Phoenix area cities that currently have the highest percentage of foreclosure listings-- to begin February 2009.

1. 70.9% -- Town of Maricopa (971 total listings/ 688 foreclosure listings)
2. 67.7% -- Queen Creek (1,599 total listings/ 1,082 foreclosure listings)
3. 64.7% -- Glendale (2,013 total listings/ 1,303 foreclosure listings)
4. 57.1% -- Phoenix (9,810 total listings/ 5,600 foreclosure listings)
5. 52.9% -- Gilbert (1,995 total listings/ 1,055 foreclosure listings)

Click here to see the results from January 2009. The order is the same, but each city increased 3-5% from January 2009.

Higher credit score requirement

by Craig

This will be short . . . Here is an example of one investor, "Suntrust," who made an announcement a day or two ago (effective today) saying they no longer want to accept loans from people with less than a certain credit score.

You see how investors make accross the board changes like this to raise the bar for buyers and lower the risk for the banks. The higher the credit scores the less the default ratio goes.

"Effective for locks on or after Tuesday, February 10, 2009, the minimum credit score requirement for ALL loan products is 640"

Angela Madren
SunTrust Mortgage, Inc.
Correspondent Resource Analyst
1001 Semmes Ave
Richmond, VA

Fannie Mae allows investor up to 10 properties

by Craig Bohall

Among the daily bombardment of negative news from the media and the government, here is at least one nice thing... Fannie Mae is admitting that investors are needed to bring a housing recovery.  Home owners are great and that is the biggest part, but investors can buy 2 and 3 properties while home owners only buy one -- so you must have both to really get booming again. Besides, once people move out of an apartment and live in a nice rental home for a few years they are far more likely to go buy a home rather than the thought of going back to that small nasty apartment with rice paper for walls. So even those renters will likely become buyers in 2-4 years which is another reason that we need to help investors buy homes.

Here is a pdf Download Mulitiple mortgages change showing the changes to the policy that will now allow an investor to have up to 10 homes financed (currently the limit is 4) Bottom line - - - Fannie wants investors to be able to buy more houses.

Now when you read this -- unless you are weird like me and enjoy mortgage stuff -- it will bore you and loose you 1/2 way through. So the biggest thing you can see is the opening paragraphs that tell you that they are changing the policy to allow up to 10 mortgages. 

After that they go into a bunch of details of how and who can qualify for this. In other words they are opening the gates to investors but only those investors who can show A, B,C and D.  If you are an investor that has not paid their mortgages on time recently then sorry you don't get to go up to 10 mortgages. That seems resonable.

Top five cities with foreclosure properties sold; Metro Phoenix January 2009

Here's my monthly list for the "Top Five" cities with foreclosure  properties sold within the  Phoenix area real estate market for January 2009:

1. Glendale - 84.9% (220 foreclosure properties sold/259 Phoenix area real estate sales)
2. Phoenix - 81.6% ( 1008 foreclosure properties sold/1235 Phoenix area real estate sales)
3. Queen Creek - 80% ( 228 foreclosure properties sold/285 Phoenix area real estate sales)
4. Mesa - 73.5% ( 244 foreclosure properties sold/332 Phoenix area real estate sales)
5. Town of Maricopa - 73.4% (105 foreclosure properties sold/143 Phoenix area real estate sales)

 

Click here to see how this compares with December 2008.

74.6% of residential sales are "foreclosure properties" in the greater Phoenix area; January 2009

In the single largest increase in the history of foreclosure properties sold in the Phoenix area real estate market, January 2009's foreclosure properties sold increased 13.7% from December 2008.  The second largest increase of 7.9% was recorded just last month. The third largest increase was 6.8% from December 2007 to January 2008.

This phenomenon is going to cause "normal sellers" to do one of two things:

1. take their homes off the market because, face it, they can't compete with the prices of foreclosure listings
2. reduce their prices to a level where buyers are willing to pay a little more for a cleaner house

Read this chart in the following manner: In January 2009 there were 4,746 residential sales.  3,540 of those sales were "foreclosure properties," or 74.6% of all sales.

 

Toronto, Canada

Sunday's are days of relaxation, meditation, family, gratitude, and worship (if you are so inclined). I like to share my favorite photos on Sundays. I hope you enjoy this one. It was taken from Toronto Island looking at the city of Toronto, Canada during our June 2008 vacation.

30 years ago homes were priced like this

The glut of forclosure listings  on the Phoenix area real estate market has caused some dramatic price reductions, especially in areas where there is a high concentration of bank owned, REO properties.  Here is an example of just such a situation.

This home was originally purchased in June of 2006 for $215,000. It is currently listed as a real estate short sale for $59,000 with a trustee's sale date in March. Will the bank approve such a low price? Perhaps a better question is: how quickly can the listing agent get an approval.? There are 10 to 15 more homes priced in the same range all within a two-mile radius.

This is a standard 1500 square-foot home with three bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, and a two-car garage that was built in 2006.