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Well, the reason I thought most of the foreclosures were along I-20 is Dallas Morning News had a colored map of the foreclosure areas a month or so ago and that's where they were. I'll have to see if DMN still has that map available.
I believe I read that Collin County had the highest foreclosure rate.
I checked REALTY.COM. Acording to the January 2007 findings Rockwall County has the highest foreclosures ( 1 per 172 houses) about 6.3 times the national average. Collin County had a 7% decrease in forclosures, but still has the second highest rate about 3.4 times national average. Dallas county had a 4% decline in foreclosures, 3.1 times the national average. DFW still leads the nation followed by Atlanta.
Either way, people have got to be more careful when buying houses. Personal and financial responsibility is important. Happy House Hunting!!!
saw in FTW paper that Mansfield's foreclosures had tripled from last year--went from around 100 to over 300--and some are not first time home buyers either
Agree w/Momof@ and w/FarNorthDallas--combination of factors--
one factor not mentioned however is the change/tightening of bankruptcy code---making it much more difficult to declare chapter 11--so people can't renegotiate a payment they can afford--almost guaranteed to make people go into bankruptcy under much harsher terms....(and I am not advocating easy credit)--but bad things happen to people all the time...
2 people +3 kids---borderline income+ overextended on credit cards---one person gets laid off or there are big medical bills and crappy insurance and they start to fall behind on payments---job loss, divorce or serious illness can cause even people with some savings to get into trouble
some people were encouraged to buy homes they could not afford--they heard what they wanted to hear from a sales person--
why doesn't the real estate liscensing board fine anyone who sold a house to someone who could not really afford it (and believe me, realtors know who can and who can't afford homes)---because they would have lost a ton of commissions --
Tract builders live on the float--they have to move product to get their quarterly sales high enough to meet Wall Street projections or stock goes in the crapper--so they do what they have to...
Some of these folks heard a commercial that told them they could get a house for the same they were paying for rent and that they are "throwing money away" and then some lender puts them in house for a bit more than rent, but doesn't include property taxes, insurance, homeowners association fees, repairs and maintenance. Then they charge new furniture, a lawn mower and pay more for gas since they moved further out and they simply can't afford all of this stuff.
I think that this pretty much nailed it.
Here in DFW, houses seem affordable compared to other big cities in the USA. That makes it possible for lower-income people to buy a house. Inherently, if something upsets the financial balance for "homeowners" who have low paying jobs, foreclosure looms.
I make about $120k/year (including bonuses) and used to "own" a 295k home with a $150k mortgage. TIPI, utilities (gas, electricity, phone, TV, internet, water), maintenance, HOA dues added up to about $2900/month. Furnishing the places was very expensive so was the commute and car payment. All in all I was looking at $3400/month in fixed costs.
Add to that food, entertainment, the occasional travel and 401k payments and there was barely anything left after each paycheck. BTW: No children.
Some will undoubtedly think that I was splurging and throwing away money, but my point is that even with a rather good salary and a modest mortgage, if you don't pinch pennies, a house can be a HUGE money drain.
I can easily see, how a family of four with a one-person income of around $55k (median in Dallas) in one of those $120k houses with a fantasy mortgage is living with one foot in bankcruptcy and foreclosure land.
As a side note: With the average time people live in a home, paying for a mortgage is just like renting: Throwing away money. You are banking on appreciation, which in DFW isn't big enough in 5 years to make up for interest, taxes and realtor fees. But you tie up a lot of your wealth in a house and are not flexible, if something should happen to your finances.
Everyone is somewhat right and somewhat wrong. The foreclosures here in the Dallas region are not widespread like one might think. Here are some of the reasons why you see large foreclosure rates in SOME areas but virtually none in the majority of the Dallas metroplex.
The areas w/ the highest foreclosures are actually in the very areas that you hear transplants to Texas say they were told are "THE PLACE" to live and everything else is bad. The fact that these areas attract mostly people that are very transient does not help in the number of foreclosures. While these areas are mostly new builds the people that move here from places like California that never dreamt that it would be possible to build their very own new house do just that. They skip over the 1-5 year old homes so that they can pick out everything they want. This leaves those that have a home to sell in order to move to their next job location less buyers as they all want the "new house". One good place to look for this scenario is Frisco. Look on realtor.com and you will find over 1800 homes on MLS for sale. Read the descriptions: "must sell", "$xxxx below market value", "bring all offers", etc. Several years ago a house similiar to mine in size and amenities in Frisco was easily $20K-$50K+ more. That is so not the case now. And they are sitting on them dropping the prices daily.
The other problem is the fact that people that move here from places that had such HUGE real estate jumps have gone in and bought a house for the same price they sold for since it was SOOOOO much bigger and newer. What they did not realize was the property taxes, utilities, etc are also MORE on a larger house. Falls under the "duh factor".
A few are just over their heads or got into financial trouble be it loss of job, medical, whatever.
Home equity loans. Yes they are relatively new to Texas and it was only afte a HUGE influx of businesses from out of state and others relocating here hammered it hard enough that it got approved. I don't know ANYONE that has gotten a home equity loan at all. Seriously. No one I personally know has done such.
Next you have the sub-prime loans. This is probably a smaller factor than all of the others. These are the ones that come in w/ the hungry eyes thinking they "HAVE TO HAVE".......... Go up to the most expensive house they can afford, lease vehicles, etc. Not smart w/ their money period for just about all purchases. Not realizing that in the last two years we had some REALLY low rates that they could have refinanced and gotten a fixed apr and been done.
Someone mentioned seeing whole neighborhoods full of forclosures. This is true in some areas and I know where some are but they are not in my area. These areas tend to be on the lower end of the spectrum dollar wise and attracted too many investors for rental properties AND people that just flat out can't budget their money to be able to afford a $120K+ home. They can barely budget the cost of living in an apartment so the investors end up dealing w/ them in these rent houses or if they buy one they can't save enough to afford all the costs associated w/ homeownership. Sure you can find tons of $100K new or fairly new homes but those are the very areas that get hit on this end.
You really think that transplants like me are causing the foreclosure problem. Most people that are being relocated here by their companies are pretty stable...not 'transient' at all. Think about it.....what would it take to move someone from say Socal to Dallas ? A better job, more money ? That's unstable ? Most are also moving here and putting more money down as well because they actually lived in an area where homes appreciated. I just don't see the connection.
Also, do you think transplants are the only ones buying in the new areas ? That's just wrong.
Also, I work in a very large company (Fortune 20, hundreds of people here locally) with with people than span the 35k to 200k pay grades, almost everyone is from TX or the nieghboring states, many live in Frisco/Plano and almost all have advised against most portions of Dallas and even the ones that live in Richardson/Garland tell me I'm better off going North and that these areas are going down hill, not improving - these are people that have lived here over 20 years.
Also, if you look at foreclosure rates (once you weed out areas where Chinese investors bought blocks of homes in Frisco and Mckinney), you also have to look at what price range has the highest percentage of foreclosures (sub-200k). I tend to think that there are fewer transplants buying in these price ranges...I agree with Ace in that Dallas is one of the only cities that has homes for everyone from the kid out of high school working at the grocery store to the exec running a fortune 500 company....I tend to believe that it's the entry level buyers and investors causing the foreclosure problems here, not transplants that are relocating for better quality of life, better job opportunities, etc.
Seriously, I have a 779 credit score that I have spent a lifetime developing and treat like a member of my family.....I'm not going to move here one day, buy a home, then get tired of it in a year and foreclose...then spend 10 years trying to regain a mediocre score....that just makes no sense to me. I would however spend 5 years renting out a place I bought at a loss, but not foreclosure.
I can definitely agree that new homes are far more seductive than older ones, especially when they are attached to some of the nicer up and coming areas to the north. I've referred many to these areas and all of them have written me and 'hands down' agree that just the feel you get from places like Stonebridge Ranch and SW Frisco is alot different from say Richardson or Plano. I find it odd how you and some of the other Dallasites hate these places and almost seem to have a vandetta towards them. There are trade-offs yes (i.e. commute), but you have to admit that they are pretty attractive and far more welcoming to outsiders because with a new area come fresh ideas and an assortment of people from all over, striving to live together. Not as insular as many of the older areas with 'trees'....trees grow, so I'm tired of hearing about trees.
I honestly think that that these strong biases/opinions/mass generalizations are what's making the board here go downhill quickly.
So in closing, before all the cannon fire erupts, I leave you people new to the area with this advice.
Look for yourself. The area is mammouth, so don't think you can do it in a day or even a weekend.
Get a list of the areas recommended here that span from Dallas all the way up to Mckinney (only 30 miles). Walk in the schools, take your kids to the parks and hang out with the parents of other kids. Go out to eat and night and talk to others while you wait in line, chat with the server....go to the mall and hang out at the kids play areas with your kids, chat with parents....Form your own opinion and try to only use what you learn here as a point of reference (that is extremely subjective).
Here's the comparison data of the number of foreclosures for the second quarter, the 2000 census population, number of Owner-occupied homes and a foreclosure rate based on the number of foreclosures divided by the number of homes. I also went back and looked at the estimated growth rate for the cities and applied the growth rate to the number of owner-occupied homes and calculated an estimated foreclosure rate. Statistically the last two columns are based on either old or estimated data and should be taken with a large grain of salt, but it should give a general idea as to how each zip code's number of foreclosures would effect the general population.
Population estimates for 2007 from the North Central Texas Council of Governments and 2000 Census. (Whole cities only, not by zip code, but should provide some insight into growth rates at least.)
[North Texas Council of Governments][calculated]
City.........2000.........2007......Growth rate
Arlington....332,969......364,300.....1.09
Dallas.....1,188,580....1,280,500.....1.08
Fort Worth...534,694......686,850.....1.28
Frisco........33,714.......92,100.....2.73
Keller........27,345.......37,700.....1.38
Mansfield.....28,031.......51,300.....1.83
Mc Kinney.....54,369......112,000.....2.06
As a 28 y/o single male from NYC who is considering relocating to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, it is enticing to look at home prices on websites and see that I can afford a home for under $100,000 in some areas. As you might know this is unheard of here in NYC.
The frightening reality of the matter is that the Dallas-Fort Worth area is among the metropolitan regions with the highest foreclosure rates in the country. I'm curious to know some underlying reasons why this is so.
I know that you guys might have talked about this before on this message board, if there is any topics which talked about this issue please direct me to it, I would appreciate it greatly. Thanks so much in advance.
Momo2 is correct. The types of loans and the number of homes bought in the last three to four years with a variety of these loans have gotten people in trouble. They purchase, then when their payments vastly increase they can no longer afford the home. This, in turn with the mass quantity of homes being built in our growing area, is why you can you get 'so much home' for your money. Think about it. There are hundreds of homes being built right now and also homes that are nearly new, built & purchased in just the last two to three years. The foreclosed homes have to sell at a substantially lower price just to compete with the brand new home.
BTW, in most places here, a home under $100 here will either be 20 yrs old or much older and in an area that you might not be thrilled to live in. Moderator cut: solicitation
Last edited by Trainwreck20; 06-27-2007 at 12:45 PM..
BTW, in most places here, a home under $100 here will either be 20 yrs old or much older and in an area that you might not be thrilled to live in. Moderator cut: solicitation
I agree. I said this once before and got yelled out and called a snob.
I think the selection of 100kish homes get better as you head west over into Fort Worth. Between the 75 and Tollway, there isn't much that you'd want to live in within this price range.
I know of a house getting ready to go on the market for around $120K, about 40 years old if not older and NOT updated since the day it was built. Probably about 1200 sq ft if lucky. Not in a desireable area either. VERY close to a high school that no one in Collin County would dare send their kids too. For those that are curious, no it is not in the city I live in either but it does happen to be in a north burb that so many think highly of. LMAO!!!
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