[Muggy]

I went to a bunch of open houses today. What a joke. I'll wait.

[Wendyb0077]

In my 25+ years of selling real estate I have never seen so many short sales and foreclosures. I took people out in PSL today to look at Foreclosed properties. A couple of the homes were short sales that the Lenders were willing to deal. (most don't want to) The prices were between 127k and 145k. built from 1999 to brand new. These buyers couldn't have touched these homes during and after the boom. Now with the huge glutt of homes going on the market these buyers are coming alive again. The problem is these homes are all being sold as-is and most of them need work, appliances, carpet, walls fixed, landscaping repaired, etc. etc. Just as I warned my buyers, make sure you have reserves in the bank before you buy. Old proverb...(count the cost) before you buy. Just a quick note to this. Foreclosed properties are much easier to get closed. Most of these short sale listings are priced by the Seller and Realtor. The bank is the one who makes the decision and it can take a long, long time to get an answer. A number of the homes I called on to show these people had a sales contract on them. Let's see how many will actually close. Time will tell...

[onegreatnurse]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

Yes, Muggy, I think that would be a better title. I believe that the banks must have them listed with an agent. Sometimes the bank has their own agent that represents them. I know GMAC has a guy locally that lists all of their property and he works for GMAC.

Here are most of the bigger banks websites for foreclosed/REO property. I definitely think you should go though me though.

Countrywide
Wells Fargo
Bank of America
HSBC
Indy Mac
Chase
M & T Bank
American Mortgage
Compass Bank
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
Hud Homes
Government Homes

You are a real estate agent? In what area of FL? I'm thinking of moving to FL from NJ (I hate the cold) but am thinking of renting first. I have been looking at the Jupiter area. What are your thoughts? I want to wait until the market corrects itself so I figured maybe I should wait until next year to buy, but I would like to come down and have a job lined up and be working in the area already.

[SoFLGal]

Hi greatnurse,

Unfortunately, that's not my area. I'm over on the other coast in SW Florida. There are many people that post on the board that do live in the Jupiter. I think it is wise to rent first if you are not familiar with the area.

If you are a nurse you should do OK with finding a job in Florida, although I'm not that familiar with the job situation in Jupiter.

Good luck with your move!

[joe aloha]

So let me get this straight to all those short sellers out there. A house is posted for say 225,000 on realtor.com it states it is a short sale which seems from these posts a COMPLETE misnomer. I come in with an offer say 25 to 50 thousand off this price you have not had anyone walk through your home to even take a peek and you are going to get insulted? Then why are you selling in the first place? Why should I even waste my time when there are just as many houses for the price I want without the hassle of short sale? I am really confused

[joe aloha]

On the other hand you got allot of nerve coming in and offering 50 cents on the dollar for anything! you either want to exploit the market and are a speculator which are the same type of people that got Florida in this mess in the first place or you cannot afford anything more than 50 cents on the dollar which in that case no bank would even look at you. What happened to fairness? Even if you could buy houses pennies on the dollar in Florida for investment purposes you will have one heck of a time getting a profit out of that house. In addition if these houses need work on them the price should reflect that and IMO not worth the effort with perfectly good houses up for sale right next to it.

[Hero]

Originally Posted by joe aloha

So let me get this straight to all those short sellers out there. A house is posted for say 225,000 on realtor.com it states it is a short sale which seems from these posts a COMPLETE misnomer. I come in with an offer say 25 to 50 thousand off this price you have not had anyone walk through your home to even take a peek and you are going to get insulted? Then why are you selling in the first place? Why should I even waste my time when there are just as many houses for the price I want without the hassle of short sale? I am really confused

My understanding with short sales is that the bank gets it all and the seller get to save his credit score/avoid foreclosure. The seller would be happy simply to sell the house.

25-50k off the listing price should be insulting only to the banks that can reject or accept or to the agents who are earning the commission.

[Hero]

Originally Posted by joe aloha

On the other hand you got allot of nerve coming in and offering 50 cents on the dollar for anything! you either want to exploit the market and are a speculator which are the same type of people that got Florida in this mess in the first place or you cannot afford anything more than 50 cents on the dollar which in that case no bank would even look at you. What happened to fairness? Even if you could buy houses pennies on the dollar in Florida for investment purposes you will have one heck of a time getting a profit out of that house. In addition if these houses need work on them the price should reflect that and IMO not worth the effort with perfectly good houses up for sale right next to it.

Housing analysis by NationalCity:
Miami - overvalued by 43%
Fll - overvalued by 17%
wpb - overvalued by 10%
Pt St Lucie - overvalued by 16%
Naples - overvalued by 25%

So homes are still overpriced, loans are harder to get, and prices are projected to drop another 15-30%. If you put down 20% to buy now, there's high probability that value will evaporate in agent fees and market correction in the next few years. IMO, offering 50 cents on the dollar is absolutely reasonable if it is the property's actually worth. Ultimately, it's a debate of what is actual worth. The data currently supports the buyers.

[lostbuyer]

Originally Posted by skrischke

As a Realtor-here is an honest answer.

Your offers of 50 cents on the dollar will NOT be accepted by the banks. This is because we are not at that point yet. There are still people (bless their hearts) that are buying at the current prices. What you need to do is educate yourself on SALE prices for similar homes to what you are interested in. Banks have brokers who do BPO (Broker Price Opinions) for them, and this is where they determine the sale price, bank typically reduce the price a certain percentage (depending on policy of that bank) each week that it sits on the market. But as you educate yourself (i.e. PSL we are seeing $150K as the "magical" number right now) when houses get to that point on a newer home or an older pool home it would be about $110K...this is the figure where we see it sell in 24 hours or go into a multiple offer situation.

So, by all means, if you see a foreclosure listed at $200K, feel free to offer 1/2 that, you may get it for 3/4 of the ask price...who knows. But most foreclosures are being priced pretty competitively right now. Playing the market, to try adn get a house for 50 cents on the dollar, that we are already seeing in short sales, but 2 things to be aware of:

#1. that ratio is based on the price they paid and owe versus what they can get ont he market...you are not going ot get it for 1/2 of THAT price, too! Make sense? If you want 1/2 THAT value, you will have to wait another year, I think.

#2. Not all sellers qualify for a short sale, so even though they have the house on the market in short sale position...the bank will never accept it, if they have assets, or have not shown hardship, etc...there are many variations)

Moderator cut: comment
Were you inthe market in the late 90's when we saw all the HUD homes for sale (they were pennies ont he dollar)...I remember selling a 3/2 house that was roughly 6 years old, had a nice corner lot and needed minor cosmetic work (from being vacant so long) and new landscaping for $26,000!! In PSL, you can barely buy a vacant lot for that price rightnow!!!! That time IS COMING, and that is what I am waiting on, not going to miss the boat this time around!

There have been 3 houses sold in Ft.Pierce (that is in a great rental area) for $33K, $13K, and $15K....talk about a great positive cash flow...when you can rent it out for $600/month (allow section 8 & guarantee your money, if you want), the mortgage is paid off in 3 years, and then all is net income. You deduct your taxes and insurance, and then whent he market comes back, you fix it up and sell it for pure profit...talk about a gold mine!

Best wishes, stay in tune ot market in the area you want to buy, and you'll succeed with your offers (eventually)!

I totally agree with this post,like they say at the bubble blog the market needs the knife catchers,I think the best bet is to wait it out further muggy I know I will,to the poster who said they see a turn around in the next 6-12 months how did you come to that conclusion,I would really like to know because everything I see,hear and read about is negative,would be interesting to see a different point of view..

[cfIfan]

My opinion based on 6-12 months for the market to stabilize is for a number of reasons. If you look back historically, and Election year has always been good for the real estate market. There have also been a number of posts which show figures for people relocating to the area as being 1200 per month. The majority of my customers are people relocating. Also consider, if you look at the statistics, whilst inventory of homes for sale is not declining, home sales are up. The problem is, and if you look at the stats, the homes which are selling are doing so because the sellers were realistic in their pricing. They know i suspect because they took heed of their realtors advice that they need to be well priced. The number of properties coming onto the market is high which doesnt really show people of the amount of sales, but if you do your homework you will see them. The problem is that even if you take the median prices for areas, they are still too high because the majority of people dont listen to their realtor and are still over pricing their properties.

I firmly believe that prices will stabilize at their true levels in 6-12 months then recover to modest levels. most people thinking that they can get a bargain and then in a couple of years sell them at the same sort of prices we saw at record highs are foolish. We wont see those levels for many many years because it was a false bubble, which is one of the reasons it popped so badly. You hear alot of people on here saying that they are going to wait for a couple of years etc etc. With pricing levels if you look properly being at great levels, if you sort though the over priced trash, why wouldnt you buy now because you can even get them lower than that is you put an offer in. The only reason people would want to pick them up for 50 cents on the dollar is if they intend to turn around in a short time period and try to sell them. This short term speculation is one of the causes for this mess. Whilst the real estate market has always been a good investment, it is only for the long term. No short term gains can be made, you only have to look at the last 2 yrs to see that.

Also consider things such as Regulators are lowering capital requirements for mortgage finance firms - a move that could pump hundreds of billions more into mortgage market, also announced a week or so ago was the new 'help now' plan. The plan, dubbed "Help Now," was floated by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), a nonprofit community advocacy group. It calls for the government to buy up at-risk loans, restructure the terms to make them affordable and sell the reworked loans back into the secondary market.

these are just the tip of the ice berg, and i expect there are alot more initiatives to come.