Archive for 'Arizona'

More than 5,000 foreclosure properties are expected to enter the Maricopa County market this month, according to studies of mortgages and foreclosures in the Phoenix area.

If the forecast comes true, it would be the county’s second time to post a monthly foreclosure record of more than 5,000. In February this year, there were 5,240 foreclosure properties in the county.

As of last week, over 45,000 foreclosure actions are in their first stages. In the past 3 years, a total of 73,000 foreclosure filings have been completed, adding 73,000 foreclosure homes to foreclosure listings.

Additionally, mortgage lenders have also filed 5,700 pre-foreclosure notices last week, an increase of 700 from the pending transactions last month.

Many foreclosure filings are taking more than three months to become actual foreclosures because homeowners are working out affordable repayment schemes with their lenders or negotiating short sales to avoid foreclosure.

In Maricopa, short sales have been rising, but short selling is still only around 5 percent of total home sales.

Puzzled by the large discrepancy between the number of foreclosure filings and foreclosure properties, property analysts are contending that banks are intentionally controlling the release of their foreclosed properties into the market to prevent further drastic declines in home prices.

Leading property analysts say the banks’ decision is the right approach because overloading the housing market with around 45,000 foreclosure properties all at once will push down home prices to unimaginably low levels and devastate the market.

Some analysts also say that some banks are postponing actual foreclosures on many of their properties to control the amount of their losses. Large amounts of losses would discourage investors reviewing the banks’ books.

On other hand, some housing analysts say that many lenders have participated in the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable Program. Either the banks really want to reduce the number of their foreclosure properties or they just want to comply with federal requests, especially for banks that received bailout money from the government.

But according to several federal bank regulators, the Obama administration’s foreclosure prevention program appears to be making a dent on the foreclosure problem, as shown in the data presented by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in his meeting with real estate editors.

As the Phoenix area is still experiencing large numbers of residential foreclosures, it is also expecting large numbers of foreclosure properties in the commercial property sector as developers of office, apartment and retail buildings continue to be downed by the recession.

Home sales and home prices of Houston foreclosures both declined in March by 16 percent, as foreclosure lists continue to rise, according to data gathered by the Houston Association of Realtors.

A total of 4,355 single-family housing units were sold through foreclosure listings. Most of the units sold were existing single-family homes, but there were several new homes sold.

The drop in sales and in prices in March was the 19th straight drop in sales in Houston, but the March decline rate was lower than the declines in January and in February when foreclosure listings were overloaded and when housing sales fell by over 20 percent from the previous month.

Vicki Fullerton, chairperson of the realtor association and top broker at The Woodlands and Spring unit of RE/MAX, said the slowing pace of price decline is a positive sign, but she said it is too soon to provide an outlook on Houston’s residential real estate market.

In March, the median home price was $145,000, a drop of only 4 percent from the price level in March last year.

A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas this month described housing conditions across Texas as still weak because of the continued addition of properties to foreclosure listings. But the report cited housing prices in most metro areas in the state that are holding up, resisting price pressures from loaded foreclosure listings.

The realtors’ association also noted that foreclosure listings in March continued to push down home prices in Houston, but the impact was not as great as in the past months.

Homes sold from foreclosure listings accounted for one-fourth of total sales of single-family homes in March, an improvement from the 34 percent contribution in January and the 28 percent share in February.

Homes sold at prices below $80,000 increased by 20 percent, mostly comprising of properties from foreclosure listings. Sales of higher-priced homes declined.

Notwithstanding the decline in sales and prices due to loaded foreclosure listings, the real estate agents are encouraged by the lower rate of declines. They also credit the drop in mortgage rates and the offer of tax credits for first-time homebuyers as factors for their renewed optimism.

Real estate agent Stephanie Edwards-Musa related she is optimistic because she has been receiving more inquiries from first-time home buyers and there are more borrowers getting mortgage loans.

Foreclosure listings in Arizona and in other states are bursting with listed foreclosure properties and other existing homes for sale, as foreclosures continue to overload the market and as surplus new homes stay in the market for months.

According to Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, there is an oversupply of 1 million new homes across the country and it would take two years before a balance of supply and demand can be seen in the housing market.

Glaeser’s estimate is however very optimistic, according to other analysts. California real estate consultant John Burns said there was overbuilding in many states and there is no need to build new homes.

The oversupply of homes can be seen in the 14 million vacant houses, apartments and condos nationwide, with 9.4 million units in foreclosure listings. Between the years 2002 to 2007, when households rose by only 6.7 million, housing units soared by 8.65 million.

An estimated 1.5 million families are added to household figures annually in the previous years, but factors such as delayed marriage, financial difficulties and declining immigration numbers have reduced the growth rate of households.

In Maricopa County, 117,000 housing units received foreclosure filings in 2008, making Arizona foreclosures among the highest nationwide in 2008, according to studies by foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac.

Phoenix officials said the failure of over 700 savings and loan enterprises in the 1980s also caused a mortgage and real estate crisis in Arizona, but they said the 1980s crisis, which mostly affected developers and construction firms, was more manageable than the current crisis of overloaded foreclosure listings.

While bursting foreclosure listings batter the housing market, cause neighborhood blight, eliminate lenders’ profits and force out borrowers out of their foreclosed homes, some groups are benefiting from the crisis: homebuyers, investors, real estate brokers and auction businesses.

The National Association of Realtors said existing-home sales in February increased by 5.1 percent to 4.72 million units compared to sales in January, the largest sales growth in 8 months.

The sales growth was largely caused by increased sales of properties from foreclosure listings and the increased number of first-time homebuyers who were taking advantage of low mortgage rates, tax credits and the attractive prices of homes in foreclosure listings.

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President Barack Obama is set to travel to Phoenix, Arizona to launch his foreclosure program. Phoenix was probably chosen because its housing market has been one of the most adversely affected by the credit crisis.

He is expected to set aside between $50 billion to $100 billion for the rescue of homeowners at risk of foreclosure. In Denver, the president signed into law the $787-billion bill from which funding for the foreclosure program would come from.

Under Obama’s foreclosure prevention plan, the annual payment to be paid by borrowers to their mortgage lenders would be reduced from about 38 percent to 31 percent of their annual income. For a borrower paying $19,000 to the lender, his payment would be reduced to $15,500. The decrease in annual payments would also come from the reduction of the loan principal rather than from a reduction in interest rates.

The program would also authorize bankruptcy judges to order mortgage loan modifications in bankruptcy filings. But the modification order would be applied only to mortgage loans taken before Obama’s signing of the $787 bill. Homeowners would also be obliged to notify their lender or service provider before filing for bankruptcy protection.

Obama will discuss some of these as part of his foreclosure program when he speaks in Phoenix, a city that has been battered by an oversupply of housing, slow home sales, subprime mortgages and continued foreclosures.

Arizona foreclosure rates have been among the highest in the U.S., with one unit in 182 homes being foreclosed in January 2009. The unloading of foreclosed properties into the already supply-laden housing market has pushed home prices down to more than half of their price levels in 2007.

Phoenix became a boom city when tourists, retirees and businesspeople flocked to the city, driving real estate developers to build properties and homes to accommodate people coming in. According to Robert Mittelstaedt, business dean of Arizona State University, builders put up properties one after the other believing that there would be people ready to buy them.

Nowadays, residential subdivisions are full of blocks of empty houses. Mittelstaedt estimates that there are about 60,000 unsold homes in Phoenix.

The case of Leroy Ford is just one of many in this city battered by the foreclosure crisis. Ford was recently laid off, so he has been trying to sell his house to be able to survive. But even if he is selling his house for $80,000, almost a third of the $220,000 he shelled out to buy it 2007, no one is buying. Ford’s case is one of many that Obama’s economic recovery plan would try to address.

President Obama officially unveiled $75 billion dollar plan for troubled housing market

Search Foreclosure Homes by Top Cities:

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Prices of houses in Phoenix have fallen more than 20 when compared with 2007 according to the Arizona State University–Repeat Sales Index. Karl Guntermann, Professor of Real Estate Fred E. Taylor, and Alex Horenstein, a research associate, put together this report. Guntermann said that with prices of houses waning for 15 months now, the housing sector now is getting to the stage where it would resemble the duration that was experienced in the beginning of the 1990’s. This, for Phoenix foreclosure homes, will not be good.

Even though costs of houses have been declining for more than a year, figures for the last two months are especially alarming. March-2008 has displayed a rate decline of -13, the first double digit drop for this cycle.

A greater part of the well recognized indices computed median home-prices. The basis ASU-RSI index is repeating sales, said Horenstein. Making use of data of repeat sales for same houses is considered to be the most precise way to gauge the transformation of costs in the housing industry, because the house is a constant.

What this means is that with repeat sales, the cost of a house is evaluated against itself, without having to worry about ‘quality’ factors of dissimilar houses.The method employed to compute indices by the ASU-RSI is the same as the one used by the S&P/Case-Schiller Index to compute indices for houses. The one dissimilarity is that with the data used by ASU-RSI, transactions where values of houses have risen more than 60 annually and where sale prices are less than 5,000 are given a miss.

Guntermann said that one positive thing that the ASU-RSI May figures displayed, was that this declining rate has reduced in paces in comparison to a month back. Costs of houses in metropolitan Phoenix, if April and May figures are to be compared, have seen a -3 fall. Costs of houses reduced from March to April at a -6 dip.

For foreclosure homes in Phoenix, this could be the start of better news to come.

Good news for homeowners on the Arizona foreclosures front, and that’s that the near record foreclosure rate highs we’ve seen in the state in the past year seems to be tailing off.

During December of 2007, over 5,700 Arizona foreclosure homes entered some stage of the foreclosure process, whether the first notice of default was issued or a home was actually sold at auction. This number is down almost 10% from the previous month, but more importantly this rate is down more than 35% since August.

This could mark the beginning of an upturn in the real estate and foreclosures market in Arizona. Many attributed the sky high rate of foreclosures to heavy investment in the area during 2004 and 2005. After the housing bubble in the area burst and, the market suddenly became flooded with properties for sale or rent, investors were stuck with investment properties they were unable to sell. Many of these properties also carried short term, adjustable rate mortgages, which carried extremely heavy monthly mortgage payments. With no other options, many investors allowed these homes to become foreclosed.

Tucson foreclosures, Phoenix foreclosure homes and other foreclosure homes in desirable areas were suddenly available in droves. This made foreclosure investing in the area very profitable, and now that the market seems to be slowing, it may be a perfect time to get involved in investing in Scottsdale foreclosure homes, Flagstaff foreclosures or other potentially lucrative properties in the area. Foreclosure purveyors like banks and HUD have a huge inventory right now, and are looking to sell for very low prices.

While experts predict that Arizona still has the potential to see more foreclosures in the near future, it seems that the worst of it may be behind the state, as the effects of the heavy investment and subsequent drop in property value and demand seems now to be slowing.

Figures have shown that the number of Phoenix foreclosure homes have experienced a rapid increase lately. With the city experiencing a rapid job market growth, high foreclosure rates mean plenty of housing options for those relocating to Phoenix to seek employment, both families and single families individuals. Large high technology corporations have their headquarters in this city. Relocated people won’t have a hard time adjusting to their new homes, as life within metropolitan Phoenix is known to be both exciting and fulfilling. With numerous museums and parks, there is always something for the whole family to do. There are also a lot of public and private educational institutions in the city, headed by the Arizona State University, which has helped produced fresh graduates to supply the demand of the job market. The Luke Air Force Base also calls this city home, providing yet another potential customer base for Phoenix foreclosure homes.

Buyers of foreclosures can also pursue several outdoor recreational activities the whole year through. The yearlong sunshine has made Phoenix foreclosure homes suitable for retired couples wishing to escape the cold winter snow and spend their days playing in one of the several fantastic golf courses in the city. They can also visit different culturally-related venues and explore the city’s past as a vast Indian settlement. Rigorous individuals can take advantage of the various hiking and biking opportunities in parks and mountains of Phoenix. Some of the good quality foreclosure homes listed in the area can be purchased for as low as $100,000, though lower deals can be had for a determined buyer. Most homes, however, have an average asking price of $160,000. And if these aren’t enough to convince one to purchase the homes offered, either for residential or investment uses, there’s also the fact that the city has a low cost of living. This makes acquisition acquiring Phoenix foreclosure homes a bargain only few can resist.

The rise in the national foreclosures rate for the first quarter of this year is being blamed on the many subprime mortgages, particularly those with adjustable interest rates. But many experts believed that the increase in foreclosures rate is not reflective of the true situation in the country. In fact, the only reason there was an increase was because of four particular states: Florida, Nevada, California and Arizona.

These states clearly influenced the national foreclosures rates since majority of the subprime mortgages that defaulted during the first three months of this year were located in these areas. For example, it seems that the investors who bought properties with adjustable rate mortgages are now walking away due to the falling home prices and re-setting interest rates, resulting to the thousands of distressed properties including Arizona foreclosure homes. In addition to this, national default notices have also broken records and shows how many Americans are still having trouble paying their mortgage dues.

However, the large number of Arizona foreclosure homes is attracting many potential investors because of several factors: historically low home prices, low interest rates, tighter lending practices, and of course, more housing units to choose from. Right now, the market condition is favoring these buyers as sellers only receive at most 90 percent of their asking prices. Most of the sales activities are coming from single-family units situated in cities like North Phoenix, where there is considerable increase in population growth due to good economic outlook.

These foreclosure homes in Arizona are wise alternatives to brand new homes and have been purchased by many seasoned investors from brokers like Foreclosure Deals. Buying from expert foreclosure brokers will definitely provide first-time buyers more convenience. There is no better time to buy these homes as the good supply means wider selection.

After only one year, the foreclosures rate of Arizona has increased by 88.66 percent. The state recorded a total of 11,757 homes in some stage of foreclosure for the first three months of the current year. With thousands of Arizona foreclosure homes available for sale, buyers are presented with really amazing investment opportunities.

The increase in the number of Arizona real estate foreclosures has lead experts to believe that many of the homeowners took out loans which they could not pay in the first place. As a result, they start missing payments and their lenders are left with no choice but to repossess their homes. What these owners do not realize is that there are ways to stop foreclosures.

If you are one of these owners, one of the first things you should do is to speak with your lender. Hiding or ignoring your lender would never help you in any way. As soon as you realize that you are having problems paying your mortgage, it is the time to contact your lender before things get worse. You would be surprised at how many lenders are willing to help homeowners manage their mortgage payments. Your lender can offer to re-structure your loan or even re-finance it, to effectively lower your mortgage payments.

Aside from these, there is always the option to sell you home. To attract more buyers, you should enlist the help of seasoned real estate brokers like Foreclosure Deals. They could feature your home in their foreclosure listings, which are often used by real estate investor to look for potential bargains.

As a last resort, you can always file for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which immediately stop foreclosure proceedings. You would then come up with a 3 to 5-year repayment plan to settle all your existing debts.