Evidence of the Return of the Foreclosure Investor
The data and the stories of the burgeoning sales of foreclosed properties across America suddenly hit the newswires this week.
- Marketwatch 10/22/08 Auction of 100 Foreclosed Missouri Homes Attract Deal Hungry Buyers - sounds like an advertisement
- CNBC 10/23/08 Bargain Hunters Trickle Back into the Housing Market
- LA Times 10/22/08 Home Sales in California Jump - Foreclosure resales accounted for 51%
- Fresno Bee 10/21/08 Fresno Home Sales Surge 76% (YOY). The same article mentions Merced County surging 355%.
- Square Feet Silicon Valley Real Estate Blog 10/22/08 Uncertainty's Effect on the Housing Market mentions a San Jose foreclosure receiving 118 offers.
Note: I'm assembling data on the new funds and investors. Please contact me if you are an investor or developing a fund.
in addition to being a commercial Realtor, I am also a licensed auctioneer and run the auction division of our company. Auctions are a great way to move an inventory of properties, residential or commercial. And inventory must move before there is any hope of property values increasing. Supply MUST come more in line with demand and auctions may be the vehicle to facilitate this. There is definitely a right way and a wrong way to be involved in auctions. But for the savvy investor who has his financing in place, and has done his due diligence up front, it is a fantastic way to buy property. You really find out what the true market value of a property is on auction day.
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At Myrtle Beach Real Estate, we have several agents currently dealing exclusively with foreclosures and short sales. The deals are there to be had right now and we're beginning to see the investors return.
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Hi Pat,
In our county the number of bank owned homes that sold in the first 9 months of 2008 were 1230. The number for the same period last year was 0!!!!
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We are seeing a few investors return to the market in Orange County. There are some deals out there to be had, but not all "deals" are deals. We are still seeing a lot of owner occupied buyers looking to get into neighborhoods they could not have touched a few years back.
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Hi Pat -
I've actually gone up to the County Court House and watched the trustee sales "on the court house steps." There are a few investors picking up properties there for about 40% - 50% off the outstanding loan balance. Our values have declined about 30%, but if an 80% 1st TD is foreclosing (and the 20% 2nd was wiped out), there is room to flip it for a profit.
Of course, doing that, you need to pay real green CASH, and the sale is totally AS-IS. It also helps to know that the property is already vacant, or the eviction process can cost both time and money!
I'm now working with a group of investors who are planning to do this in the near future. Our biggest concern is the availablity of financing for the next buyer - FHA won't loan on a property that has been sold within 90 days.
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I stopped investing about 2.5 years ago, and think that I got out (sold the last property) at almost the perfect time. There are deals to be had now, but it is also going to be tough to move those deals when you're ready to sell. That said, if you're holding them as rentals, I would imagine that business is not too bad - after all, the folks evicted from these properties have to live somewhere.
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Pat - we are working with one group of investors interested in purchasing up to 100 foreclosures in the next 12 months in Contra Costa County.
Business is booming here in the 680 Corridor - foreclosure and traditional.
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Great to hear this John... anecdotal evidence really confirms a bottoming our of this market...
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It is finally affordable to be an investor again! This is a good sign for RE and the economy as a whole.
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Foreclosed property will always be a great way for the investor to build his inventory for future profit. Don't overlook undeveloped land either. The affordability is there, and overhead costs on vacant land is pretty much limited to the county land taxes.
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It appears that there is, and will be for sometime into the future, a problem for the subsequent buyers of forclosure investor's properties due to the difficulty in obtaining financing by the buyer. If it should occur that the investor would agree to utilize a promissory note, Deed of Trust, Private Mortgage or Land Contract secured by the property in the interim until the long term financing can be obtained by the buyer, I have a group of investors that will purchace that "prommisory paper secured by real property" and put cash back in the investors hand to fund the next investment deal. Let's get creative and not let the FHA hold up business for 90m days.
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