Posts

What is a Boomerang Buyer?

/0 Comments/in , /by

 

You may be hearing the term Boomerang Buyer when people talk about the housing market. Boomerang buyers are people who lost their home in foreclosure or sold as a short sale, and are now beginning to return to the real estate market. These are going to be good strong buyers. They will have some added knowledge of the working of the real estate world, and are used to being home owners.

The latest bust in the market started around 2007, with probably the worst of it coming 2009. Many people lost their homes at this time, but still have jobs and ties to the community and will be ready to own again. Especially seeing the current prices, they will be interested in recouping equity and building wealth through real estate again.

In our local market, more than 2500 homes were resales from the foreclosure market in 2008-2011. And another 1000 houses were sold on short sales.

The homeowners who lost those homes will be back in the market, and many of them are coming back now.

Here is a chart from my #1 lender Linda Fitzgerald at iMortgage about the current wait time for people who have lost their homes, or had a bankruptcy about when they can get financing again to buy a home.

WaitFromForclosure

 

If you are a boomerang buyer, and want to get back into the market. Let Linda and I get you started on building some equity and wealth in real estate.

Zombie Apocolypse

/0 Comments/in , /by

It is kind of funny that the popularity of zombies has hit the real estate market.

According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, based off a study by Reuters, the media has started referring to homes that are vacant, but have yet to be foreclosed on as “zombie” homes. They are deteriorating because they are vacant and nobody is looking after the upkeep.

walkingdead_zombiHomes that have already been foreclosed at least have a maintenance crew that looks after basics..shuts the water off and checks on them periodically. Although I would have to say the maintenance is not very good. But at least it is something.

So what do you do if you have a zombie home in your neighborhood? By all means, keep your children and pets away from it. It will feed on their brains. Other than that, there is not a lot one can do in our area. If you knew the people who owned it, there still is a chance that it could be sold by a short sale. You could have them get in contact with me, and we could sell it and get new owners in there to take care of it.

Otherwise, it might just sit there for a long time. In the article, it says that possibly 50% of the houses in foreclosure in the state of Oregon are “zombies”. And with the current regulations, it could be a long time before the foreclosure process is completed, and that house comes on the market as a REO property. So you and the neighbors might just need to band together and take care of the poor zombie house until new owners can breath life into it again.

And again, if you knew the owners…put them in contact with me. Lets see if we can get a short sale done. Then the zombie would come back to life in only 4-6 months. 🙂

 

Short Sales in Southern Oregon

/0 Comments/in , /by
Short Sales:The brief definition of a “short sale” is when the owner of a house owes more to the bank(s) than the house can be sold for, and therefor a sale requires the bank to release the lien for less than full value.My House is Worth Less Than I own on it. What can I do?The comforting thing to know if you are a homeowner that owes more on your loan then your house is currently worth is that you are not alone. An estimated 22% of homeowners across the country are underwater. If you can make your payment and want to stay in the house you live in, then it really is something that you might just not think about.But what do you do if you can’t make the payment…or if you need to move for some reason (job change, divorce, etc…?)Well, maybe a short sale is right for you.I have been working with people both buying and selling short sales for a number of years now. And what I can tell you is the process is much easier to get through now than it was 3-4 years ago.

If you, or someone you know could benefit from getting out from under an underwater mortgage…let me know and I will see what I can do to help.

EMAIL ME HERE

Your contact with me will be kept strictly confidential. The professional consultation is free.

No matter how fun or depressing you may find your real estate situation at this time, it is my goal to not only provide the best advice possible, but to also make you laugh in the process.
Because a key to happiness is to be able to laugh in the bad times as well as the good times.

www.AgentInAKilt.com is the home for information on the Ashland Real Estate Market.

 

By the numbers–short sales and REO’s

/0 Comments/in , /by

In the last 3 months in Jackson County

  • 384 total sold residential properties
  • 125 sold REO properties
  • 35 sold Short Sale properties
  • Median price of REO/short sale properties is 20% lower than non-duress properties

Total 42% of the sold market is REO/Short sale

In the last 3 months in Ashland

  • 39 total sold residential properties
  • 4 sold REO properties
  • 2 sold Short Sale properties

Total 15% of the Ashland real estate sold market is REO/Short sale

In the last 3 months in East Medford

  • 91 total sold residential properties
  • 27 sold REO properties
  • 7 sold Short Sale properties

Total 37% of the East Medford real estate sold market is REO/Short sale

In the last 3 months in West Medford

  • 60 total sold residential properties
  • 19 sold REO properties
  • 4 sold Short Sale properties

Total 38% of the West Medford real estate sold market is REO/Short sale

In the last 3 months in Central Point

  • 65 total sold residential properties
  • 28 sold REO properties
  • 11 sold Short Sale properties

Total 60% of the Central Point real estate sold market is REO/Short sale

In the last 3 months in Eagle Point

  • 34 total sold residential properties
  • 15 sold REO properties
  • 3 sold Short Sale properties

Total 53% of the Eagle Point real estate sold market is REO/Short sale

To search for properties, please visit www.AgentInAKilt.com or www.realestate-southernoregon.com

Affect of Short Sales and REO’s on the market

/0 Comments/in /by

There is no denying that one of the major influences on the current real estate market in Jackson County is the competition between houses being sold under normal circumstances…and those that are being sold under duress.

REO’s (not to be confused with ROUS’s) are the easiest of these properties to gauge value of. Because these properties are already bank owned, when they are listed in the MLS, you know the bank will accept a full price offer…and probably one with 3-5% of the asking price.

However, the market is also being affected by the pricing of houses that are Short Sales. The problem with that is that these houses, even if a full price offer comes in may not be sold for that price…But their pricing has buyers gauging value of all homes based on those prices.

It turns into a bit of a spiral…because if sellers of non-duress properties want to sell and compete..they need to drop their prices…but then the short sale properties in order to be attractive must drop their prices as well.

I will provide a by the numbers report shortly…

P.S. For the definition of ROUS’s…please consult The Princess Bride.

Short Sales Success in Southern Oregon

/0 Comments/in /by

I have been tracking for close to a year the properties that are listed as short sales in Jackson county.

Short sales for those who don’t know are properties that are for sale that the proceeds of the sale if the seller gets market value are less than what the seller owes on the property.

I was working on short sales for a period of time last year, but came to the conclusion that they were not a very good way for the average buyer to get into a house. While the deals may seem good, one doesn’t really know if the bank will accept the asking price. There is a joke among Realtors that they are not really short sales, but they should be called long sales.

By the time you know if the bank will accept the short, you can have waited for 2 months or even more. One can be in line to buy a  house for months, and have the bank foreclose on it without even responding to the offers.Pie chart of Short Sale Success

So I was interested to track what the success rate was for properties that were listed as short sales, and how the asking price to selling price was affected. Short sale list to sales price graphOf the 379 properties I tracked, roughly 14% of them successfully closed. 44% of them were foreclosed on or came off the market for some other reason.

The average sales to list price was in line with our valley in the high ninety percentile.

So if you are looking to buy a short sale, you should know that the success rates are low…and it doesn’t pay to fall in love with a house, because who knows if you can actually buy it. And chances are high that it will become bank owned eventually, and then is the best time to try to get a bargain. At least once the bank actually owns the property, you can get a timely response.