Are Foreclosures Impacting you? (Denver: bank owned, sales, rentals)

[RonAriba]

Rocky Mountain New - 08-12-2008.

Foreclosure sales dominate. Median price falls $25,000 in July in Denver area. The median price of a home sold in July was $229,200, down from $255,000 a year earlier.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/11/foreclosure-sales-dominate/

Adams County, one out of every two homes closed from mid-June to the end of July was a foreclosure sold by a bank or other lender.

Casey said that three years ago the home in Green Valley Ranch, probably would have fetched $160,000 to $180,000. The home current asking price is $121,000

What effect are these foreclosures/declining market having on your home value and standard of living? How will you deal with it?

[Koji321]

I have resigned myself to retaining the property I own, and doing improvements based on what would actually improve our quality of living here as opposed to for re-sale consideration. Many of the homes in my neighborhood are bank owned; if I spoke to a realtor about what I could list my house for today vs. what I paid for it a year ago I would probably have a heart attack.

But I am trying to remain optimistic about growth / development in the areas surrounding my neighborhood; I am really excited about the projects as a matter of fact - hopefully we will benefit from it 5-10 years down the road.

My response to your post, I am riding it out.

[formercalifornian]

Absolutely, it has affected us! Our previous neighborhood, where we rented for two years, has been devastated by foreclosures, and property values are off 20% since the neighborhood was built three years ago. Lots of empty houses, distressed looking lawns, and deferred maintenance are taking their psychological toll on the community. Even those who can afford their properties are depressed about what is happening. The number of available rental houses is rising as homeowners who are unable to sell leave for greener pastures. The rentals are generally not as well-kept as those with resident owners, particularly those whose owners live out-of-state and cannot afford to hire a management company to keep an eye on things. The HOA is overwhelmed, trying to keep up with complaints and enforce the community covenants. I think the community is in a downward spiral, but perhaps things will turn around with Colorado's attempts to assist those who are in financial trouble.

One of our biggest priorities when we purchased was finding a community with low turnover and minimal rentals. We closed last month after researching south Denver metro neighborhoods and the national housing crisis for over a year. Hopefully we chose well!

[wanttomoveeast]

I'm doing the same thing as Koji. We did seek a realtor, and did have a heart attack, or mental breakdown, your choice. When we were done talking with her, it was basically, well, let's see if we can get enough money for you to walk away with no debt!! huh?

We've been in our home for five years. We are first time homebuyers with a fixed mortgage and good low rate. We are in Adams County. ugh.

There are several foreclosures around us. We are riding this out and doing minimal fixing, things like getting new blinds and keeping the place in tip top shape. I am very hopeful that in a year or two we'll be able to make some money on the place. Otherwise, I am happy to be a homeowner and not in the midst of bankruptcy like others are.

Originally Posted by Koji321

I have resigned myself to retaining the property I own, and doing improvements based on what would actually improve our quality of living here as opposed to for re-sale consideration. Many of the homes in my neighborhood are bank owned; if I spoke to a realtor about what I could list my house for today vs. what I paid for it a year ago I would probably have a heart attack.

But I am trying to remain optimistic about growth / development in the areas surrounding my neighborhood; I am really excited about the projects as a matter of fact - hopefully we will benefit from it 5-10 years down the road.

My response to your post, I am riding it out.

[gooberlx]

As buyers, it gave a lot of purchasing power to me and my wife when we bought a spec home from Shea in Reunion. As a result of the market in general we got them to drop the price, cover all closing costs and buy down our rate, with very little downpayment. I'm sure the plethora of foreclosures in nearby Green Valley Ranch have had some effect which enabled us to bargain so well in Reunion.

[.gif]

i'm looking to sell my condo this year at a 15k loss.

[bullfish15]

I think the housing prices are still too high. The market is correcting itself. Prices should have never gotten as high as they have and some people are going to loose their homes or thousands and thousands of dollars. It isn't something anybody is happy about, but it has to happen.

[MN2CO]

Originally Posted by Koji321

I have resigned myself to retaining the property I own, and doing improvements based on what would actually improve our quality of living here as opposed to for re-sale consideration. Many of the homes in my neighborhood are bank owned; if I spoke to a realtor about what I could list my house for today vs. what I paid for it a year ago I would probably have a heart attack.

But I am trying to remain optimistic about growth / development in the areas surrounding my neighborhood; I am really excited about the projects as a matter of fact - hopefully we will benefit from it 5-10 years down the road.

My response to your post, I am riding it out.

Smart!!

[livecontent]

The foreclosure has impacted my life; I do no care. The current foreclosure problem, for the most part, is caused by greedy criminal builders, banks, realtors, appraisers and greedy homeowners. Yes, greedy homeowners who want more, bigger, and better but do not have the means, the will, or the desire to pay for their purchases.

The homeowners claim that they did not understand the agreements; they say they did not know they could not afford this property. Yet, they were given an opportunity to purchase but they could not balance their lives and live without other luxuries in order to pay their mortgage. Where I grew up, you paid your mortgage first; you did not eat at restaurants; you did not go to movies; you did not go on holidays; you did not buy recreational vehicles--you saved and you paid your mortgage.

So I do not care. Sure, my house has lost value but again, I do not care. That is because housing is not losing value but returning to what the real value should have been before the builders, banks, appraisers, realtors and owners inflated the value of real property to make more money on sales.

I am willing to suffer the loss in value of my house in order to bring the value of real property to a lower level. I will suffer this because I want our children to be able to afford housing and this selfish greedy excessive appreciation has to stop. I do not care if people lose their home---too bad; I do not care if people cannot pay their new mortgage rates--too bad.

I am saying all this from a point of view of a person who lost my health, my career, my income, and my future and still had a mortgage. I became extremely frugal, got not help and paid my mortgage off. I have learned to live with less and I have no sympathy for the problems of the people who cause their own problems.

Do not give me all the stories about the small percentage of people who had problems beyond their control--I know they exist and should receive help. I am talking about the large majority of lazy, greedy complainers. Today many feel that it is right to walk away from financial obligations. If enough do this, then there will be no more financial markets, no more free business enterprises and no more capitalism. Perhaps I should not complain, maybe capitalism should be destroyed.

Yes, it has impacted my life--I lost value in my house; I lost value in bank interest; I lost value in investments but----maybe I am hoping it will help kill the evil greed that exist in home selling, buying and ownership.

Livecontent