Archive for the 'States' Category

The bank foreclosure list of Brooklyn, New York-based Sovereign Bank contains lots of multifamily properties in South Florida, based on foreclosure filings in the county courts of Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade.

Among these foreclosed properties are four apartment buildings in Broward, namely Royal Sheridan, Palm East Apartments, Normandy Apartments and Heritage Green Apartments. All these apartment complexes were formerly owned and managed by the family of Constantin Ardelean, based on court records.

Of the four foreclosure judgments, the highest was the $6.9 million assessed against the Royal Sheridan, followed by the $5.6 million assessed against the Heritage Greens. Both the Normandy Apartments and the Palm East Apartments were each assessed for $1.7 million.

Sovereign Bank continues to struggle from its bad loans despite help from Spanish bank Banco Santander which acquired it early this year. According to Banco Santander, Sovereign’s nonperforming loans have been rising, accounting for nearly 4 percent of all its loans in the April-June quarter and marking a jump from 3 percent during the first 3 months of the year. For the first 6 months of this year, the bank allocated $742 million for mortgages expected to default and go into its bank foreclosure list.

Another bank hit by multifamily foreclosures in South Florida is Wachovia Bank, the mortgage lender acquired by Wells Fargo in December last year. Wachovia foreclosed on three residential projects called Homestar in the southern part of Miami-Dade, with one at Sunset Cove, the other at Miller Cove and the third at South Dade for failing to pay a total debt of $4.7 million. The original mortgage was last modified in 2006 at $12.8 million.

The Sunset Cove building has 22 units, with seven homes sold by developer Jose Hernandez and his firm. The remaining 15 units and two unsold units at Miller Cove were the ones foreclosed. Construction on the South Dade project was never started.

Wachovia Bank also filed foreclosure actions against Philadelphia-based developer Palm Club Apartments LLC, which acquired the 160-unit Palm Club apartment complex near the Palm Beach Community College campus in Lake Worth in 2004.

The developer also purchased an adjacent lot from the community college and borrowed $8.7 million from Wachovia. The next year, it increased its loan by borrowing another $3.5 million from the bank using the properties as collateral. The properties are expected to go into Wachovia’s bank foreclosure list if the developer fails to come up quickly with the millions to rescue the properties.

The town of Benson in North Carolina has received a federal grant to buy bank foreclosure homes. The town gets a total of $755,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) made possible by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The town of Benson applied for the CDBG funding in the fall of last year and received approval in the spring. A local match of $85,000 will be added to the CDBG funds, bringing the total amount of funds to $855,000 which will be used by the town to revitalize the Hall and East Branch streets area.

The CDBG program was launched by the HUD in 1974 to provide funds to communities to help them improve neighborhoods blighted by the growing number of bank foreclosure homes. According to town officials, the CDBG funds will be spent to rehabilitate 12 houses, demolish three houses, pave streets and upgrade sewer lines in selected areas. They said that the grant will benefit mostly property owners with low and moderate income.

The community revitalization project is slated to start in about a month’s time and expected to be completed in eight months. Officials explained that they wanted to address neighborhoods that have been identified to have sewer problems, to initiate redevelopment and stabilize neighborhoods.

The grant will greatly help owners of single-family homes. Town officials intend to expand the program and are planning to request members of the town planning board to provide recommendations for areas to be helped by the program.

The Wooten Co. of Raleigh has helped the town government identify the first 12 houses that will receive assistance. Representatives of the company said that they identified areas that have in great need of housing rehabilitation, adding that many of these properties belong to low-income and moderate-income owners.

Landlords or homeowners of the properties identified in the program are not expected to repay the CDBG funds provided that they do not sell the rehabilitated homes. If they sell the renovated houses, owners are required to repay the money spent on the house to the town of Benson which will then turn over the payment to the HUD.

Industry experts agree that federal programs providing grants to neighborhoods blighted by bank foreclosure homes are a great way to reduce the number of foreclosure properties that have glutted the housing market for some time now.

Investors are advised to buy bank homes in Orange County, California where mortgage defaults are still high and where profit prospects are great.

In October, banks have started foreclosure proceedings on 2,152 residential properties in Orange, down by more than 3 percent from proceedings in September but up by an overwhelming 133 percent from filings in October 2008.

The number of delinquencies also dropped, marking the third consecutive month that defaults fell in the county. The decrease could have been the result of the intensified efforts of federal agencies to pressure mortgage lenders and servicers to modify loans. According to the latest report from the Making Home Affordable Program, it has modified about one-fifth of all qualified home loans nationwide that were in default by at least 2 months.

In October, the total number of Orange County homes and condo units foreclosed and repossessed by banks climbed up to 763 units, an increase of nearly 8 percent from September and by 3.5 percent from October 2008.

Over the past three months, foreclosure activity slowed in Orange County, so analysts are still uncertain about how to interpret the rise in foreclosures in October in the county. But investors planning to buy bank homes have an additional 763 units to choose from.

Besides, many housing analysts still expect another uptick in foreclosures in the coming months because of the high unemployment rate in California, the resetting of adjustable mortgage loans and the redefault of modified loans.

The unemployment rate in Orange County in September was still high at 9.4 percent, despite its drop from 9.8 percent in August. Statewide, the jobless rate was 12 percent, based on data from the California Employment Development Department.

Meanwhile, both home sales and prices climbed up in October in 25 zip codes in Orange County while home prices increased in 40 zip codes by nearly 4 percent compared to October 2008.

Throughout the county, a total of 3,082 residential units were sold in October, marking an increase of more than 9 percent compared to sales in October last year. The October median sales price of $435,000 was 18 percent above the lowest median in 2009, which was the January median of $370,000.

But sales prices for single-family homes were still selling for 33 percent below their 2007 peak while condo units were still selling for 34 percent below their 2006 peak.

Investors planning to buy bank homes in Orange County have great profit prospects because of the positive trend of home prices in the county.

New York foreclosures for sale declined in October as more distressed homeowners were able to negotiate loan modifications with their lenders.

Foreclosure properties sales in Chicago increased by more than 22 percent in the July to September quarter, based on foreclosure home sales data from the Illinois Association of Realtors.

Total sales of foreclosure homes in Southern Oregon in October declined as a proportion of total home sales in the region, but the 42-percent share of foreclosure and other distressed sales is still very high. The share dropped from the almost 50-percent share of foreclosures over the past months.

Marriott-branded real properties located in Fort Collins, Colorado are facing bank owned property listings. Last August, notice of demand for sale and election were filed in Larimar County on the properties which are part of the portfolio of Los Angeles, California-based Integrated Capital LLC.

Industry experts have been seeing home foreclosures for sale spread from Massachusetts’ urban areas of Dorchester and Lowell to the suburban of Hinghams, Westons and Sudbury. They said that foreclosures have invaded places where in the past were spared from them.

Sales from bank foreclosed homes listings in the urban areas of Colorado climbed up in September compared to August, based on data from the Colorado Division of Housing.

The number of bank foreclosed properties for sale in the commercial real estate sector of Boulder Valley is rising, based on public records of commercial foreclosures in the area.