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I remember foreclosures being almost null. And even the homes that were, it was kept a secret, as up until a year or so ago, it was embarassing as all hell to be pegged as a foreclosure. Hell, it's almost cool to be in foreclosure these days.
It's become like a sport, let's see who can squat the longest before physically being thrown out to the curb.
Now the real estate ads are running with it.
"Look here! Foreclosure! woo-hoo! you can almost steal this baby!"
Foreclosure this, short sale that...
The problem with a foreclosure is all of a sudden if you are in it and then the owner does somehow come up with the money, they can take it back from you...i forget what it's called.
People are getting laid off, houses cost too much, that's really all there is to it. Plus, there was a point (a few years ago maybe?) where you could get a mortgage for no-money down...so a lot of people who really couldn't afford them got them and weren't able to make the monthly payments. They have made it superhard to get mortgages now.
I agree with the spirit of what you're saying... but it's not even about the money down, it's the monthly payments and the credit. People with poor credit, getting approved for too big a payment. DTI over 50% just for the house!
Prices have dropped enough, especially in other areas of the country, that putting 20% down into the house isn't going to save anybody if it gets eaten up by deprecition or a soft market prohibits a quick sale. Psychologically, I think people are less likely to walk away and give up if they've got more skin in the deal, but the issue is the size of the payments, or the payments changing.
Overall, unless you're paying cash, I think the down payment matters little. If you put 50 percent down, but can't afford the payment you're not any better off then the guy putting down 3.5% but can afford the payment. You might be a better risk to the bank, but not to yourself.
I wonder what the average time to complete a foreclosure action is nowadays, in our area.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s a good attorney would be able to complete a foreclosure (meaning from the filing of the lis pendens to the actual sale on the courthouse steps) in 6 months IF the homeowner did not file bankruptcy. If they did, then add another month or possibly two for the additional time and work needed to file the necessary papers to get the "stay" lifted (it was always lifted, just needed the paperwork to be filed and the bankruptcy judge to sign it).
Less efficient attorneys would usually take 8-10 months to complete a non-bankruptcy foreclosure and 10-12 for one where a bankruptcy got filed somewhere along the line.
Btw, it was not automatic for the homeowners to file bankruptcy back then. Usually it was a last-resort thing that was done literally a week or two before the scheduled foreclosure sale merely as a delaying tactic.
That was during the housing boom and of course there were far fewer foreclosures than are happening today. So I am curious (since I used to work for a foreclosure attorney back then) how much longer it takes now that there must surely be a huge backlog of cases.
One thing I am sure of, though: the Courts aren't moving any faster nowadays than their traditional snail's pace!!
The problem with a foreclosure is all of a sudden if you are in it and then the owner does somehow come up with the money, they can take it back from you...i forget what it's called.
Once a house is sold at the foreclosure sale that takes place on the courthouse steps, it cannot be "taken back" from the person who buys it at the sale. Now if the person buying it at the sale does not come up with the full price within 10 or 15 or 30 days or whatever the terms of the foreclosure sale were, that's another matter, true. But during all the years working for a foreclosure attorney I never once saw that happen. And the person or company who buys it at the sale does not get possession of it until they pay in full, so they cannot be "in" the house before then.
Most of the people who bought properties at the sale were speculators or realtors who had no problem with either the 10% down payment at the sale or completing the transaction in less than 30 days.
Your average house-hunting individuals were only a very small percentage of the actual foreclosure-sale buyers, at least back then. I suspect that things have not changed much regarding that. Buying a foreclosure property at the actual sale is not something that property newbies tend to get into or know much about handling.
The "foreclosures" advertised on MLS are NOT advertising real foreclosure sales. Those houses are either (a) still in the process of being foreclosed on, i.e. still owned by the defendant or (b) REOs that have already been sold by the bank at the real foreclosure sale and are now being marketed on behalf of their buyer.
Last edited by totallyfrazzled; 07-16-2009 at 02:04 PM..
What you are talking about is called "Right of Redemption". It does not apply in NYS. I believe that there was an attempt to ammend the law to allow it a couple of months ago, but I don't believe it was enacted. Here's an easy to understand description of the foreclosure process in NY.
What you are talking about is called "Right of Redemption". It does not apply in NYS. I believe that there was an attempt to ammend the law to allow it a couple of months ago, but I don't believe it was enacted. Here's an easy to understand description of the foreclosure process in NY.
if the 'real' ones are not on MLS, where does one find them?
In the Legal Notices section(s) of a newspaper; often Newsday but sometimes smaller local newspapers (because Newsday is expensive to place things in) too. You know..those boring extra-small print sections that 99% of people just flip by without paying a bit of attention to.
Look for the legal notice caption "Notice of Sale"; the Plaintiff will be a bank or mortgage company and the defendant(s) will be the homeowners and usually other assorted defendants as well (usually second mortgagees and other lienholders).
The notice will contain the date, time and place of the foreclosure sale scheduled to be conducted. It will also contain the name and address (at minimum) of the attorney representing the Plaintiff (the bank or mortgage company).
You may have heard advertisements for foreclosure-sale subscription services on the radio. All these services do is to charge people for their time spent combing through local newspapers' legal notices for Notices of Sale and then notifying their subscribers of what they find. Something that you can do yourself for the price of a newspaper.
If you are talking about properties that are already bank owned, they are listed with real estates. If you are looking to buy pre-foreclosure or on the courthouse steps, a good source of information is https://liprofiles.com/Default.asp
Well, from what I know, you have about 2 years to stay in your house before it can be foreclosed on. My neighbour's house was bought in 2005 and in October 2007 it was boarded up, last month it was sold.
Someone I know has not paid his mortgage in almost a year (sept 2008) and he is still living there.
Yes. It takes a very long time in NY. And, even after you are foreclosed, if you are still in the house they have to go through an eviction procedure to get you out. The whole thing, from begining to end, can easily take two years or more.
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