Southern California REO Bank Owned Foreclosure Deals!

Check out these latest Southern California REO Bank Owned Foreclosure Deals!

http://www.mrmlsmatrix.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=426619X0F08&p=DE-36728289-420

As low as $58 per square foot! Unbelievable prices! The banks want these SOLD now!

Decline in California Foreclosure Activity: Due to New Legislation

Last September, the California Senate Bill 137 was passed as response to the worsening problem in the state’s housing industry. The said bill included a provision that requires lenders to contact the distressed homeowner several times and wait for another 30 days after initial contact before filing for foreclosure. After its implementation, ForeclosureRadar.com reported a 61.8 percent decline in default notices and a 47.3 percent drop in trustee sales notices. Although this should be interpreted as good news, the website does not consider it as such. Instead, it believes that it has only made it even more difficult to understand and determine the real state of the local housing industry. For them, the long term effect of the said bill is to only delay the foreclosure process and not really provide troubled borrowers with genuine assistance. To make matters worse, the new legislation also encourages loan modification. The problem is that most of the troubled mortgages show negative equities which will make it close to impossible for lenders to change any terms of the mortgage. The only way a loan modification can work is if the lender agrees to significantly reduce the principal balance or lower the interest rates – both of which pose considerable risks to the lenders. If the lender agrees, it could encourage the other non-defaulting borrowers to default just so they could enjoy lower mortgage rates or principal reduction. For homeowners facing foreclosure in California, it is probably best for you to consider availing of the mortgage relief program sponsored by the government. There are certain requirements you must meet before qualifying but if you do qualify, you will be able to shift your existing mortgage to a government-backed housing loan, which has a fixed interest rate. Check with your local county office for more details about this program.

What this economy means for you

As the most serious credit crisis in decades rocks your finances, you've got to have questions. Here are the answers.

(Money Magazine) -- Back in January, when it first became clear the economy and the markets were in for a rough patch, the consensus forecast was that we'd have seen the worst of it by now.

Perhaps you put a bit more cash in the bank, trimmed the fat from your budget and tweaked your 401(k) allocations, but otherwise you were confident you could stay the course.

Then came the extraordinary events of September: the government's seizure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and rescue of American International Group; the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and pending sale of Merrill Lynch; the first money market fund loss in more than a decade; a series of bank fire sales; and a politically charged federal bailout plan that could carry a $700 billion price tag. You can't help but wonder what all this means to you.

Here are some key questions, from when stocks could bounce back to what's ahead for the economy and home prices. Choose a topic to get some answers.

The Economy
The Stock Market
Your Savings
Insurance
The Real Estate Market
The Credit Market
The Job Market
Your Retirement

Do you qualify for HUD?

The Housing Authority provides two basic types of rental assistance. The largest program is the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher. The applicant receives a Housing Choice Voucher once they have met all eligibility requirements.

The program participant can select an appropriate rental unit (house or apartment) and live where they wish.

The unit that is selected must:
Meet housing quality standards
Must have an appropriate number of bedrooms
The rent must be reasonable with regard to current market rents
Must also be affordable to the participant.

For more information, click below:

HUD information

Just a thought...

Okay, right now we have a heavy supply of Bank Owned (REO, Foreclosure) properties. And because of the competition on the market, and the desire for the banks to get rid of these properties fast, they are being priced extremely low.

So, now that President Bush is talking about the 'rescue' plans and the Presidential candidates are proposing everything from buying up banks and bad debt to restructuring loans to reflect current appraised prices, does that mean that more homeowners will be STAYING in their homes? Does that also mean less foreclosures? Less Short Sale properties? Less Bank Owned properties?

With the heavy amount of foreclosures and short sales, our supply of homes was greatly increased, which brought the prices down considerably.

Now, with the potential of so many homeowners having more options to save their home, does that mean a decrease in new properties on the market? More importantly, does that mean a descrease in the LOWEST priced homes (bank owned and short sale properties) on the market???

When the supply starts to descrease, the prices go up. Check for yourself. This link will take you to the most recent up to date REO listings that have hit the market within the past 5 days! Whether you click on it today, or next week, or next month, it will bring up the previous 5 days of RECENT REO, Bank Owned (Foreclosure) properties:

The LASTEST REO'S TO HIT THE MARKET!

Today (as I write this) there aer 85 NEW REO Listings (that does not include any REO properties that were listed before the 5 days). How many new REO"s will be on the market when you click on the link above!?!?

Good news for the homeowners, and potential sellers.

Eventually not so good news for the buyers.

Visit my REO blog today, and check out the amazing deals that are currently on the market. Sounds like they won't be around for long!

http://www.californiareo.blogspot.com/

U.S. seizes Fannie and Freddie

U.S. seizes Fannie and Freddie

Historic move would place twin mortgage buyers into the hands of new regulator. Top executives are out.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Federal officials unveiled an extraordinary takeover on Sunday of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, signaling the most dramatic move to date aimed at shoring up the nation's housing market. The plan, which was delivered by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and James Lockhart, director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise, places the twin mortgage buyers into "conservatorship" to be overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Under conservatorship, the government would temporarily run Fannie and Freddie until they are on stronger footing.

"We examined all options available, and determined that this comprehensive and complementary set of actions best meets our three objectives of market stability, mortgage availability and taxpayer protection," Paulson said. Both agencies will be open for business Monday morning. Dividends on both common and preferred shares will be eliminated in an effort to preserve capital. The regulators also ousted Richard Syron and Daniel Mudd, chief executive of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, respectively.

In their places, two finance veterans will be charged with restoring the mortgage titans to health. Herb Allison, who has shaken up TIAA-CREF in his eight years as chairman there, will head Fannie Mae. Allison formerly served as vice chairman of Merrill Lynch.
David Moffett, who served as vice chairman and chief financial officer of U.S. Bancorp until early 2007 and then joined the Carlyle Group private-equity firm as a senior advisor, will take over Freddie Mac. Mudd and Syron, who have shouldered much of the criticism of the companies' failures, will stay on to help with the transition, Paulson said. The executives have also come under fire for collecting multi-million pay packages as investors saw losses mount and share prices plummet.

Freddie (FRE, Fortune 500) and Fannie (FNM, Fortune 500), which were created by the U.S. government, own or back $5.4 trillion worth of home debt - half the mortgage debt in the country. Since last summer, they have suffered about $12 billion in losses.
In mid-July, the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve announced steps in to make funds available to the firms if necessary and Congress approved the sweeping proposals later that month.

Fannie and Freddie have become virtually the only source of funding for banks and other home lenders looking to make home loans. Their ability to do so is crucial to the recovery of the battered home market and the broader U.S. economy. The two firms buy loans, attach a guarantee, then sell securities backed by the loans' income stream. They have been badly hurt in the last year by the sharp decline in home prices and the rise in mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures. Both companies have been losing money for the past few quarters due to the subprime mortgage meltdown and steep declines in housing prices.
Shares of both companies are down more than 80% so far this year.

REO and Overall Home Sales Up in California

REO and Overall Home Sales Up in California, DataQuick Report Says
Carrie Bay 08.20.08

According to a report released by MDA DataQuick today, 44.8 percent of properties sold in California during July were REOs, up from 42.5 percent in June. Only 7.6 percent of California home sales were comprised of REO properties in July of 2007. DataQuick said a total of 39,507 homes – including REOs, owner resales, and new homes – were sold in California last month. That figure is up 12.2 percent from 35,202 in June and up 12.3 percent from 35,185 in July 2007.Based on DataQuick's numbers for California, the median price paid for a home last month was $318,000, down from $328,000 for the month before, and $478,000 a year ago. DataQuick cites half the drop in median price as a result of depreciation, the other half due to shifts in the types of homes selling and how those homes are financed.

The typical mortgage payment in California last month was $1,501, the real estate research company reported. That was down from $1,543 in June, and down from $2,316 in July a year ago. According to DataQuick , mortgage payments are back to where they were in early 2002, and are 41.7 percent below the current real estate cycle's peak in June 2006. It is no mystery that the California housing market is experiencing far-reaching adversity and has been one of the hardest hit states by the national mortgage crisis, but are we beginning to see a glimpse of recovery, or at least a plateauing of the downward spiral? Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions in the Golden State, DataQuick cautioned.

Foreclosure activity has reached record levels, but financing with adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) is near an all-time low; down payment sizes and flipping rates are holding steady; and non-owner occupancy buying activity is flat, the research company reported.MDA DataQuick, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies, and industry analysts. The company's numbers cover all sales, new and resale, houses and condos.

Will the homeowner rescue help you?

Check out the following link and read up on the latest 'rescue' plan:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/HomeFinancing/WillTheHousingRescueHelpYou.aspx?page=2

Gearing up for the weekend!

It's Thursday, and this week I'm planning on doing Open Houses on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The buyers are out and are looking for the good deals. I love to put together packages for those buyers. I'm sure plenty of Realtors will disagree, but I'm the kind of Realtor that likes to be LESS intrusive.

I think if people are driving around looking at homes, they aren't necessarily driving around looking for a Realtor. They could just be out with family and wanting to see what's out there. They could already be working with another Realtor. Or they might just want to look without being 'harassed' and followed around the property. Either way, I like to be available, and ready with information, if that's what they need. I like to have everything out in the open so that people can come in, browse some information on a table, and ask questions.

I guess I just don't think I'm the kind of person that tries to get information from people before they're ready to offer it. I want people to feel comfortable around me, and confident with my knowledge. If they have a chance to look at the free information that I have available, they can see that I'm knowledgable about the area and the 'product'.

So, needless to say, I'm really looking forward to the Open Houses. I love meeting new people. I think everyone you come across has the potential to be a 'life changing' moment.

Okay, not that I think that horoscopes are much more than 'entertainment', but mine pops up on my Yahoo page each day. After I posted this, I was browsing through the news online. This is what my 'horoscope' says for tomorrow, the day I'll be doing the Open House:

There is going to be a deep, true value in every exchange you have today, whether it's a brief conversation with someone at the checkout line or a long meeting with the influential people at work. Something that's said will change your life. You'll get even more value out of these talks if you expose your real self right away. There is no need to hide what you really think or wait for someone else to introduce a topic so that you will have permission to do so.

It's getting interesting...

Every week I write a half dozen or so offers on property, mostly 'Bank Owned'. My buyers are getting 'wise' to the fact that if a bank owned property is listed very low on the market, then it's going to have multiple offers on it within the first few days. So, they are offering $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 and more ABOVE the original Listing price (which is usually in the low $200,000's!) and guess what? We are being out bid, or so they say.

It seems like every Listing agent who accepts an offer that is not ours, is stating, 'I'm sorry but we accepted a MUCH BETTER OFFER THAT JUST HAPPENED TO BE ALL CASH'. My first thought, there must be a lot of CASH buyers in this market. Okay, I can deal with that. But now that 3, 4 and 5 weeks have gone by, these properties are closing escrow, and the Listing agents have to disclose the 'sold' price in the MLS along with the terms. And guess what, they are NOT 'MUCH BETTER OFFERS'. Some are cash, some aren't. But they are all lower than what we offered. And I hear this same scenario play out with most of my fellow Realtors as well. They are up against the same problem.

Now it makes me wonder if the Listing agent is playing 'favorites' with their listings. I've heard about agents who are throwing away any offers that aren't at LEAST full price, without even presenting the offers to the bank. I've heard of other agents who have said, "I'll let you know when I get another one, before I put it on the MLS". What? What happen to ETHICS? The other thing that is frustrating is that most of these listing agents who are selling 'bank owned' properties are suddenly so 'busy' that they can't get to their phones, let alone return calls. They are now leaving messages that state, "If the MLS says ACTIVE, it's AVAILABLE". But the minute you put in an offer, guess what? We're sorry, the bank JUST accepted another MUCH BETTER OFFER, ALL CASH.

Stop me if I'm way off, but it seems to be that it was these same LENDERS who are Listing the 'Bank Owned' properties for sale are doing so because they loaned money to 'ill qualified' buyers in the first place. It was their Bank that loaned money to these people who defaulted. Now these same LENDERS seem to be discriminating against the buyers who are purchasing using ANY kind of a loan. All they want to do is get CASH for these properties. They don't seem to trust anyone who is coming in with a loan. What does that say about their ability to 'qualify' buyers? They don't seem to trust their own judgement and they don't seem to trust the 'system'. Interesting.

I'm sure we're going to see this real estate 'market' continue changing and evolving until we get through this.

News Media and 'The Market'

If you were to listen to the News Media, you'd think that 'market' has gone to hell in a handbasket. If you're a seller, that could be true! But if you're a buyer, prices haven't been this good in years!

When I listen to the news talk about how sales have dropped to all time lows, blah blah blah, it just amazes me. First of all, they're so generalized it isn't even funny. But they also seem to be so far behind the 8 ball.

What I've seen in my own business, in my area, is an abundance of buyers who have noticed that the lenders are FINALLY pricing Bank Owned properties FAR below those of the 'regular' sellers. FAR below. It took awhile for the lenders to catch on, but once they realized that the lower they go, the more offers they will generate, which leads to an all out bidding war, therefore receiving offers that are WAY above the original listed price!

Here's an example: Three days ago my buyer and I saw a property hit the market, literally zero days on market (DOM). He says, "Put in an offer and make it $35,000 over the listed price!" We love those buyers! Two days later we drive to the property to 'preview' it. We could hardly find parking on the street! There was a STEADY stream of agents bringing their clients through the house we put the offer on (at least 5 different agents with 5 different sets of clients!) I'm thinking that this feels a lot like 2004! We went through the property, still liked it (although it had it's own faults), and then left as more and more agents showed up with their clients.

Later that night I get a call from the listing agent, "We're sorry but the 'seller' decided to accept a MUCH higher offer than yours". What? Much higher?!

Is this unusual? No, not in this market. Since January I've been submitting a dozen different offers on properties every single week, and if it's Bank Owned, and priced low, I'm up against multiple offers almost every single time. It's not unheard of for a property to have 10 or 15 offers, or for a property listed at $225,000 to sell for $50,000 or $75,000 more than that.

If you look at the Bank Owned properties on the MLS, there doesn't seem to be as many Active as a month or two ago, but that's because they are being bought up fast. There are more added every day, and hundreds if not thousands more to come in the coming months.

If you're a buyer, this is a great market, regardless of what the 'News Media' is saying.

Gorgeous Sunday Morning

Preparing for an Open House. Seems like it has been forever. Noticing some 'supplies' are missing. 5 hours until OH, plenty to do. I try to be thorough and offer things others might not have. Looking forward to what the OH will bring. It's never in my hands. And it's not about 'the sale'. It's always about the people that cross your path and ultimately what lesson can be learned. Looking forward to it!