Archive for the 'General' Category

A new study shows that home prices in the United States fell an average of 13% from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008. These sorts of drops are huge, and many fear that the housing market is in its worst decline since the depression era of the 1930’s.

Foreclosure has in many instances been blamed as a leading cause of falling home values, and ironically, more foreclosures actually contributes to falling home prices, creating a vicious cycle. Foreclosures drag down the property values of homes all around them. Other contributors have been low demand and the sluggish economy overall.

The index of the top 20 metropolitan areas saw the average home value fall 2.2% from February to March alone, and experts are expecting to see this continue as 2008 wears on. Many predict the worst is far from over, which should raise concern among government officials and economists.

Las Vegas and Miami are seeing some of the biggest home value declines.

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After years of rising home prices, prices have begun to recede, however, the number of foreclosures for sale have increased. In March 2008 the number of foreclosure homes increased 57% above the pace being set one year prior. Bank foreclosures and government foreclosures coupled with the new sub prime mortgage market are becoming a nationwide epidemic with an estimated one million homes to face foreclosure within the next year. Government Tax foreclosures and tax lien foreclosures traditionally were auctioned off 4 times annually. However, due to the staggering number of foreclosed homes in this market, these additional auctions are scheduled and with a record setting number of these repossessed homes being placed on the auction block.

What do all these foreclosures do to the housing market? First, they are bringing property values down. Some may argue that property values were not realistic to begin with, however, they were appraised and priced what the market would bear. Foreclosures can ruin a neighborhood. Houses that are vacant due to the homeowner being evicted or “walking” are an invitation to vandalism, squatters and looters. Foreclosures are causing mounting stress and deep psychological issues to not only the parents, but the children found in this predicament who are now forced to move and leave the only home they have ever known as well as changing schools, finding new friends etc.

The silver lining of the foreclosure market is for would be homeowners. Should persons looking to purchase housing purchase a home in foreclosure, they will often times find themselves paying 25% less than the market price of the house, and sometimes considerably more. The banks and lending institutions are facing a similar financial crunch as not only are they not being paid the money that was promised to them long ago when issuing the mortgage, the property is sitting, producing no revenue at all. Thus, the banks and mortgage companies are dropping prices and open to all negotiations to well qualified buyers. If you are a well-qualified buyer and considering a real estate purchase, you will greatly prosper from a membership on our site. Dedicated to servicing those seeking to purchase foreclosure properties, you will find all the information needed to make a well-informed decision.

According to a report from the National Association of Realtors, their Pending Home Sales Index fell by 1.9 percent in February to 84.6 – the lowest since 2001. This index is for “homes under contract for sale”.

Last January, the index was recorded at 86.2, which was already 21.4 percent lower compared to the same period in 2007. Many experts were betting on an index of 85.2 for February but the lower-than-expected index clearly proved that the entire housing industry is still struggling with the negative impact of the subprime meltdown. The steepest decline in pending home sales index was actually recorded last 2001, during the 9/11 attack.

The NAR predicted that existing home sales will decline by just 4.7 percent for the whole year compared to 2007. As for the first quarter of 1007, the Realtors are projecting a 23.1 percent drop versus last year.

For the group, the poor pending home sales can be attributed to the tighter lending guidelines and standards that are currently being imposed as well as the obvious absence of speculative buyers. In addition, the NAR also lowered its projections for GDP growth and non-farm employment growth for both the first quarter and the full year.

Although the outlook is not positive for the first half of the year, the NAR believes that the second half will be better considering the combination of new monetary policies and economic stimulus enactment.

Home buyers are actually waiting for the right market conditions before taking the plunge. Despite the abundance of homes for sale including foreclosed properties, many individuals and families are holding back especially with the weakening dollar. Although this is expected, you should know that many experts believe that the time to buy a home is now. Clearly, market conditions are favoring the buyers and waiting too long might mean losing profit in terms of equity.

For more helpful tips and information, you should head on over to Bank Foreclosures Sale for the latest in foreclosure news.

The Senate Foreclosure Prevention Bill that has been stalled due to arguments over provisions between Republicans and Democrats lately finally looks as though it is primed to move forward and be passed. Many are remarking that the longer the Senate stalled, the more pressure they came under to do something about the foreclosure situation. Now the two sides are working to put partisan politics aside and focus on aiding homeowners in foreclosure.

Sometimes when buying foreclosures, buyers will find that properties may have other liens held against them in addition to the mortgage default debt, and such properties are known as tax lien foreclosures. Tax lien foreclosures can be dangerous for buyers, because in buying them, they can sometimes become responsible for the debts themselves, and that can hurt your overall cost analysis, and ultimately negate the savings you stand to earn by buying homes on a foreclosures list in the first place.

Why should you invest in bank foreclosures when there is so much variety available in the real estate market across the United States? There is only one reason and that is: to save money & make profit. At the end of the day investors will buy property that will bring them some amount of profit and who wouldn’t want to buy good real estate property for less than the market price. This is exactly the reason why so many people have started to look at investing in foreclosure homes as a serious business option.

Yes! You can find cheap foreclosures for sale. Many people will wonder how this is possible especially in the wake of skyrocketing real estate prices. Well! There is a lot of difference between the real estate market and the foreclosure market. In the foreclosure homes market, you can get a good discount while buying a home. The discount more often hovers between 10% and 20%. It is not a rare phenomenon to find a beautiful villa with a personal gym and a neat swimming pool for a price tag of $180,000 in an up-market locality. The market price of the same villa would probably be around $250,000. So you are able to actually save $70,000, which is a lot of money.

It is not really surprising that you would want to try your hand at real estate investing. Although it is strongly recommended that you learn about the industry before making any buying decision, investing in foreclosure homes will surely be worth all the work. When thinking of purchasing bank foreclosures for sale, there are at least three things you should consider.

Just like any other investment, foreclosure investing requires some degree of knowledge and experience. You can not simply decide to jump right in without knowing the basics of buying these bank foreclosures for sale for investment. Naturally, you have to start somewhere. It is not enough that you have the money to buy them. The question is – will they be worthwhile investments? Here are some of the advantages of purchasing these bank foreclosures.

The current real estate market condition in the United States shows a considerable rise in foreclosures rate. This means that many home owners have failed to keep up with their mortgage payments and gave up their home to foreclosure. Over one million homes succumbed to foreclosure in 2006, resulting to a large inventory of bank foreclosure properties. So what are these properties?