Here are some helpful tips about bank-owned homes and REO from experts in bank-owned home sales.
bank owned
Tampa Real Estate Market Statistics for February 2014
I everybody, this is Lance Mohr, the Tampa real estate market expert and I’m going to go over the Tampa real estate market statistics for February. If you are looking at this on YouTube or another site you can just blow it up full screen. I know YouTube kind of distorts things with resolution. It is a little hard to read but if we look right here at the activity level in the market, you can see from statistics in January and February it is basically unchanged. Pending sales were up a little bit which is normal you know as we move into the months that are going to be up. I am a little surprised I have to admit so far that March is slow. It is a lot slower than I would think it would be. Generally speaking March is always the best month but anyhow sold sales in February are up and for the last couple of months as you know I’ve been telling you this is the way it is going to be. It is pretty much historic. It is like this all of the time. December generally there are a lot of closings because people want to get into a home before the end of the year and a lot of other reasons and then you have in January it dips off and then it starts to pick back up in February as well.
The one thing I’m going to point out, I’m going to get to another screen but first if you take a look at these, the short sales, you can see overall short sales are down below 10% which is normal and the foreclosed homes are picking up a little bit. There is still, it really depends on the price range if you are under 200,000 keep in mind there are a lot of fish swimming in that sea so things tend to go a little bit better and a little quicker than if you are say over $200,000 or even over $250,000 or $300,000. The higher you go obviously the less fish are swimming in the sea. So let me go over February’s statistics; a little bit more of a breakdown right here. You can see you have the active, you have the pending, and you have the sold. Now check this out, there’s in short sales there’s 1,346 pending short sales. The last month there were only 95 short sales that actually closed. That’s about 7%. That’s really, really low. I mean if you are looking for a short sale you better really, really like that home in order to you know wait that long for it and watch other homes pass you by because as you can see they are just not closing like they were. There’s again if you have been watching my other videos there’s reasons and I have explained that for that reason.
Anyhow if you look over here bank owned 480 bank-owned in the market and 213 closed. That’s about a 44% ratio on traditional sales, 1454 and 699 closed, that’s a little below 50% ratio about 48% ratio or so. So you can see most of what people are writing, you know I would really like to see about a 50% ratio. Somewhere I would say between 35 to 50% or over 35% ratio certainly not 7%. So just keep that in mind. You can look right here it is 70s. As you can tell the 95% of the short sales that closed let’s even take 466 short sales on the market once you start going over $200,000 they drop off and then the higher bracket you go the less there are. It is the same thing with bank owned as well. They are very similar and these you can see in the market up to $200,000 certainly from $100,000 to $200,000 15% of all the homes are short sale and 19% are all bank-owned properties out there. As soon as you go over $200,000 or $200,000 to $300,000 that 15% basically gets cut in half a little over half and so did the bank owned, so the short sales go from 15% to 7% and the bank owned go from 19% to 8% and then they drop off even more as you go higher priced. So hopefully this helps you understand where the market is. Let me just point out one more thing really quick. This is the inventory supply and demand so you can see we are in basically a stable market. It is still a slightly a seller’s market but it depends on what price range you are at. You can see down here $100,000 to $200,000 where most of the buyers are or there are lot of fish in the sea that I would like to say. The, so the short sales go from 15% to 7% and the bank owned go from 19% to 8% and then they drop off even more as you go higher priced. So hopefully this helps you understand where the market is. Let me just point out one more thing really quick. This is the inventory supply and demand so you can see we are in basically a stable market. It is still a slightly a seller’s market but it depends on what price range you are at. You can see down here $100,000 to $200,000 where most of the buyers are or there are lot of fish in the sea that I would like to say. They are at about 3.5 months of inventory so if you see a home you like don’t think about it too long or it is going to be gone.
When you start to get over $200,000 – even $300,000 – you have a little bit more time. But keep in mind; generally what you like someone else is going to like. If you have any question don’t hesitate to give me a call. If you like this video please share it. If you have any comments, questions, or statements write it in the comments. If you are watching this on YouTube or another site or even on my YouTube Channel. I do free home buyer webinars every week. You can go to my Facebook site, or go directly to them TBbuyerwebinar.com or TBsellerwebinar.com and register. I try to keep them about 30 minutes. They are very short and very to the point. No fluff at all. I hope this helps and I hope you have a great week. If you have any questions please reach out to me. Thank you very much. Visit my website tampa2enjoy.com.
Renters Are Getting The Shaft From Their Hedge Fund Landlords
With so many renters getting ignored by their hedge fund landlords it would be wise for them to start know their rights as a tenant. As a landlord of over 18 years I can tell you that most states have very strict guidelines of what a landlord can and cannot do. If the landlord keeps crossing this line they are going to pay a hefty price. If you know anyone who is going to be renting a home they need to read below.
Here's What Happens When Wall Street Builds A Rental Empire
“There's no escaping the stench of raw sewage in Mindy Culpepper's Atlanta-area rental home. The odor greets her before she turns into her driveway each evening as she returns from work. It's there when she prepares dinner, and only diminishes when she and her husband hunker down in their bedroom, where they now eat their meals.
For the $1,225 a month she pays for the three-bedroom house in the quiet suburb of Lilburn, Culpepper thinks it isn't too much to expect that her landlord, Colony American Homes, make the necessary plumbing repairs to eliminate the smell. But her complaints have gone unanswered, she said. Short of buying a plane ticket to visit the company's office in Scottsdale, Ariz., she is out of ideas.
Most rental houses in the U.S. are owned by individuals, or small, local businesses. Culpepper's landlord is part of a new breed: a Wall Street-backed investment company with billions of dollars at its disposal. Over the past two years, Colony American and its two biggest competitors, Invitation Homes and American Homes 4 Rent, have spent more than $12 billion buying and renovating at least 75,000 homes in order to rent them out.”
Good video on hedge funds buying up homes in Atlanta, GA
Renters need to understand how is renting the home to them and by all means get familiar with your rights as a tenant in the state you live in.
If you have any questions about real estate in Tampa Bay please get in touch with me by going to my website Tampa2Enjoy.
Large Discounts on Bank Owned Homes in Tampa Are Ending
Where have the bargain bank-owned properties in Tampa Bay gone? Prospective homebuyers who have put off taking advantage of the significant savings on foreclosed homes now owned by the bank are starting to ask that question. The hot tip for several years is seek out a foreclosure for an excellent bargain. The low prices were a result of the banks trying to unload millions of dollars of worthless debt from their books. Zillow recently announced the results of a study showing numbers for mid to late 2012, demonstrating the decline of savings in foreclosure purchases across the nation.
Bank owned properties in Tampa sold for nine percent less than comparable non-REO sales in September 2012. The discounted price slipped just .5 in twelve months, but represented a twenty-nine percent change from discounts of November 2008. The current Orlando REO discount of 4.6 percent is higher than the two percent discount in September 2011, but far less than the 24.4 percent discount during the first month of 2010.
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale area painted an equally dismal picture:
- Current REO average savings 2.9 percent.
- Decline of nearly 7 percent in September 2011.
- Overall drop from the August 2008 peak of 22.7 percent.
National Comparisons
The trend is similar on a national level:
- Metro area foreclosure discounts are down approximately 77 percent.
- Some metro areas peaked at over 30 percent in 2008/2009.
- All metro areas show declined discounts.
The national September 2012 REO discount average was 7.7 percent, a drop of 1.4 percent over the past 12 months. The higher the demand is for homes in a certain area, the less foreclosure discount is offered. Two cities with high housing demand, Las Vegas and Phoenix, offer no discount on foreclosure re-sales, but successfully market those homes due to the limited number of homes available for purchase
Changes for the Better Regarding Foreclosures
The rumble about reductions in foreclosures in Tampa, FL has been going around for a few months and recent figures from CoreLogic support that news. While there were 75,000 completed foreclosures in the United States for August 2011, the national total for August 2012 was only 57,000.
On a state level, Florida was second (California earned first place) in completed foreclosures, with nearly 12 percent of the those in the nation from August 2011 through 2012. The foreclosure inventory for the state, which includes any mortgaged home in some part of foreclosure, fell just slightly over one percent in that 12-month period.
According to records, there has been a drop of completed foreclosures from May through August. An extensive loan modification program had some influence, as homeowners qualified for lower interest and lower payments. That allowed them to retain their property and build more equity, since more of the payment goes towards the principal. In addition, some properties qualified for a reduction of principal if payments were made timely, another reason to make payments timely.
There is still the option of a short sale, as well as buyers with cash or ready financing to get the home of their choice.
Florida had the highest foreclosure inventory at 11 percent of all mortgaged homes, followed by New Jersey at 6.5 percent. That is yet another reason for those looking at bank-owned properties in Tampa and the area around it to act as soon as possible. The bargains are still available, but the numbers are dropping. Of course, that is a good sign for the current homeowner and hopefully the trend will continue.
The Reality of Short Sales in Tampa Bay
The recession displayed terms like short sales and bank owned homes so often it began to seem normal that so many thousands were losing their homes. Short sales gave homeowners the opportunity to sell homes rather than undergo foreclosure. A lot of paperwork is necessary, as the homeowner must convince the lender that without permission to proceed with a short sale, foreclosure will result. The lender either agrees to a discounted payoff or refuses to consider it. The current owner makes no money from the sale.
To help resolve the thousands of short sales in Tampa Bay and other parts of Florida, Bank of America made a dramatic move earlier this year to reduce approval time to twenty days. A waiting time of 180 days or more interfered greatly with offers from buyers and the ability of the homeowners to make a positive resolution in the disposal of property. Streamlining the process reduced the amount of documentation, such as pay stubs, and forms.
Gone is the image of dismal bank owned homes in Tampa Bay. Replace it with the image of a beautiful, well-kept home in the much-desired Wesley Chapel subdivision of Seven Oaks. It really does not matter that you work with your agent to get this home from the bank. The Community Center, pools, tennis courts and wonderful life in this beautiful area are yours to enjoy. The advantage is enjoying considerable savings on your purchase.
Waterfront homes in Tampa Bay may have seemed beyond your budget until you discover that some of these properties are bank owned, as well. Save tens of thousands of dollars off the market value and enjoy the beautiful view of the water from your tri-level home. Special features like a pool and the gourmet kitchen of every chef's dreams are yours, along with the instant equity with your purchase.
When property reverts to the bank, it must eliminate things like tax liens and delinquent HOA dues. The plus side is that a potential buyer can look at the home and decide what expenses will be involved to repair any problems. Adding anticipated expenses to the adjusted purchase price quickly indicates whether the home is indeed a bargain. Using other homes for sale in the neighborhood as comparison, you might find it is better to make an offer for one of them.
Click here to view all short sales in Tampa.
Pursue the Option of Bank Owned Homes in Tampa
If you are looking for bank owned homes in Tampa in order to take advantage of the lower prices, there are several things to know before undertaking that endeavor. Two important items should be done right away. First, locate a professional Realtor, as someone with experience in this type of action will help you navigate through the process. Second, secure funding in advance through a conventional loan, a Proof of Funds letter from a lender, or a personal bank account with a balance large enough to cover purchase and costs, if you anticipate paying cash.
With these two items in order, you are ready to begin your search for a nice home in a nice area, such as one of the beautiful homes in Wesley Chapel. You will find that homes are being sold for forty to eighty thousand dollars below market value, as the banks are not in the market to hold property, but rather want to see it occupied and their books cleared of the debt.
Gather information to help you make a decision, including property values and how long the home has been empty. Even if the home is everything you have always wanted and more, negotiating the price in the offer provides bargaining room with the bank. Your Realtor is invaluable with gathering the details needed for a successful purchase. Bank owned homes can provide more favorable negotiation room for the buyer than a traditional home purchase. The bank wins by recouping lost money on the loan; the buyer wins by closing a lucrative deal.
Keep in mind that bank owned homes in Tampa or any other location does not necessarily mean the buildings or property have been trashed or have less value. Unfortunate circumstances befall people from all walks of life, causing their plans to change even when it means giving up their home. Some homes may need repair, but you are just as apt to be shown one of the homes with showcase value. It all depends on what you are looking for in your position as a buyer.
Once you evaluate the information and secure funding , your Realtor will work towards a successful transaction. You could get an excellent deal on one of the amazing homes in Seven Oaks, where you have access to the various pools and other activities offered to residents. A Realtor is an invaluable asset before, during and after the purchase of a home in the Tampa area because of his or her expertise.
Reasons Bank-Owned Homes Are Plentiful
Certainly finding a home to move to in Tampa or any of the surrounding areas is important when you find out your company is moving to the area and you have been requested to relocate. If you have been renting an apartment or house where you currently live, you already may have a list of what you like and what you would like to improve about housing. For some people, it is a larger kitchen area and for others, it is a corner room away from the hustle and bustle of family life that will serve as a great office.
Tampa Bay bank-owned homes are one of the many types of homes available for purchase. The main attraction is the variety of homes and the locations they can be found. For that reason alone, a Realtor may be your best asset if this is the housing route you wish to take. Having someone familiar with local requirements, the paperwork that needs to be done, and businesses that will repair or replace any problems with the home you choose is a valuable commodity.
The huge amount of underwater homes in foreclosure ended the era of picking up property for a song during auctions. Wise investors do not throw their money away and recognizing the negative value of bidding on property with a loan balance exceeding the value of the home (and then having other fees on top of that!) resulted in no bids and the return of the property to the bank.
It is easy to be shocked by extra charges accompanying the bad debt. Foreclosure sales add attorney fees, interest and costs. A cashier's check for the purchase amount is required. In previous years, interested parties could borrow the money for a great bargain, but the foreclosure bargains disappeared. Unsuccessful auctions cause the property to revert to the bank, which now must determine the next step of what to do with the land, home, or building.
Bank-owned homes are also referred to as real estate owned (REO) property. The bank's next step is to have the occupants evicted from the home, resulting in additional fees. There might be government liens filed against the property for unpaid taxes or services, such as utility bills.
A Realtor understands the market in this area, including property values and the negotiable range of offers to the bank. In addition, the offer will be drafted to protect you as much as possible, including inspection requests for which you pay. The bank is more interested in recouping as much of their lost money as possible than making a deal, so the expertise of the Realtor will guide you through this process.
Bank Owned vs Foreclosure vs Short Sale
Over the last several days I have been getting quite a few questions from people and the main one seems to be, what is better to buy a bank owned property, REO, or short sale.
First, let me define a couple of things for you, as far as REO. REO stands for real estate owned so it could be a bank owned property or maybe a corporation like a relocation company would have real estate owned.
The second one would be the foreclosure. Now, foreclosure is the legal process that the bank is going through to get the home back. So if someone passes away and obviously not making their mortgage payment the home is going to be in a foreclosure or if it is a short sale and the seller has stopped making their mortgage payment because maybe they cannot sell it because they are upside down on it, that would be a foreclosure.
Most of them are going to be bank owned as far as the REOs and most of them in the foreclosures are going to be short sales, so it really comes down to what is better a short sale or a REO.
In my opinion, I would take a bank owned property 10 times out of 10 over a short sale for several different reasons.
When it comes to bank owned, the bank will make up their mind relatively quick. If an offer is submitted then they will usually make up their mind two to five business days from the time it is submitted. Now a lot of times the banks put the property on for a real low price because they want to force multiple bids. Well, you are paying based off what the home's value is not what they are asking or at least I should hope you are doing that. You could certainly get a real good deal with a bank owned property in a lot of situations. Now it comes down to supply an demand, if you are in an area like New Tampa, Riverview, Westchase, or subdivisions like Tampa Palms or Cheval, there is going to be a lot of demand. So you are not going to be able to get such a good deal unless the home is just absolutely destroyed or beat up to some degree where most buyers cannot buy it unless they are paying cash or rehabilitating it with hard money.
The problem is when it comes to short sales is this. Short sales can take a very long time from the time you submit the offer it could take anywhere from two weeks to two months to four months just to hear back from the bank. Now while you are waiting two or three months to hear back I guarantee you there is going to most likely be, unless you are very, very particular in what you want, some good deals coming up either on a traditional sale or a bank owned property that would probably meet your criteria. So you are going to be missing a lot of them. You could wait, and I just had this happen today, my buyers have been waiting three months for a property they like, probably had some that they could have bought, and the bank wanted the seller to sign a note and the seller refused to sign it so the deal is done. Now after three months the buyers are back looking all over again. They new this could happen because I went over this with them.
You have other things in short sales that could happen, it could be vandalized because of how long it stays on the market and not being lived in, you could have the seller decide to come back in the property because they have the key and take fixtures or take appliances or dump concrete down the pipes or even gut the home. You could have the bank where they went out and did their evaluation of the property and they used someone to do the evaluation that was brand new in the business and did not know what they were doing or they are coming from four counties over doing a whole bunch of BPOs not knowing what they are doing and they bring the property in at too high a price. The home is worth maybe $150,000 and the person doing the evaluation brings it in at $180,000 and the whole deal is killed and you do not know this for several months later. That is the biggest problem with short sales.
If you are looking for a deal, if that is your goal, then I would probably focus on bank owned if I were you. There are not nearly as many bank owned out there but you know the bank wants to sell it because they actually own the property. On a short sale the bank does not own the property so it does not really matter. Of course the bank wants to sell it but the problem is the negotiator, who is the decision maker for the most part, they are getting paid their weekly, monthly, or biweekly paycheck no matter what so they really do not care and they really have that attitude when talking to them on the telephone.
Again, obviously as a buyer if you find the perfect home in the perfect subdivision and it is a short sale and you just love it and you want to wait that is okay. But if I had my druthers and I had to pick between a bank owned and a short sale, I would never pick a short sale. It is just way, way to long of a process and there are no guaranteed results. There are no guaranteed results with anything, but I do not want to find out two and three months later that we did not get the property.
Lance Mohr is an expert in Tampa Bay bank owned properties and Tampa Bay foreclosures.
What You Need To Know About Tampa Bank-Owned Homes
Let’s face it – it’s time for a change of scenery. Whether you’re looking to move to a warmer city with a great nightlife or want to move the family to a new neighborhood with great schools and plenty of recreational activities, then it’s time that you considered moving to Tampa, the capital of sun, sand and surf in Florida!
Best of all, you don’t need the salary of a CEO in order to move to this fantastic and fun city. Thanks to the hard-hitting housing crisis, bank-owned homes in Tampa are offering average homeowners from all across the country the opportunity to live a luxurious lifestyle for a lot less. But of course, buying Tampa bank-owned homes requires plenty of research and know-how in order to get the best deal; luckily for you, www.tampa2enjoy.com is here to show you how to navigate like a pro!
Set A Budget – And Stick To It! Purchasing Tampa bank-owned homes offers you the opportunity to purchase a large family home or mansion for just pennies on the dollar; however, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t set a budget before you start to look at Tampa foreclosures! Like with any other kind of real estate purchase, you need to know how much home you can comfortably afford. By doing so, you won’t set your heart on a house that’s way over your spending limit!
Auctions Can Make You Overspend. The most important thing to remember about buying Tampa bank-owned homes is that you’ll want to avoid becoming too overexcited during the auction period. Of course, it’s hard to contain yourself when you’re face to face with such incredible deals – but there’s a good reason why you should remain as stoic as possible. The more excited and swept up you become in an auction, the more likely you’ll stretch your budget to purchase a home that you simply can’t afford. While banks are happy to see people get into a bidding war over their property, as soon as a potential home hits a price that’s 85% of your budget, back out quickly. You’ll need plenty of spare cash to accommodate closing fees, home renovations and other unexpected costs that inevitably pop up when moving to a new home.
Make A Great Bid. Before a home gets repossessed by the bank, many homeowners try to sell their homes in order to avoid entering the foreclosure process. If this is the case with the owner of your potential dream home, you can get a great bargain by entering into an intense round of negotiations. While a homeowners who’s just new to the market is unlikely to take you up on a lower offer, try finding an owner whose home has been on the market for several months and is swiftly facing foreclosure. He or she will be far more likely to take you up on a lower but still fair bid. It’s a great way to get yourself into the home of your dreams without having to go through a potentially expensive foreclosure auction!