Bank Foreclosures Sale Articles

Bank foreclosure listings have been slowing in Sarasota County, Florida as banks delay foreclosure proceedings and postpone releasing foreclosure properties to the market.

During the first 2 weeks of October, the number of foreclosed properties sold by banks was only 54, a drop of 42 percent from the 93 units sold off during the same two weeks last year. The level of losses suffered by banks from the discounted foreclosure sales was also higher this year than in 2008. In 2009, banks lost nearly 61 percent from the foreclosure sales, a big rise from the 48-percent level of loss they suffered in 2008.

Because of these rising level of losses, banks have been holding off on foreclosures and have been regulating the flow of foreclosure properties into the market.

According to Margaret Amador who works for Allison James Estates, banks have been delaying foreclosure actions on houses to cut costs. Banks know that they have to pay taxes and insurance premiums and have to maintain the properties once they seize defaulting properties.

So when banks do seize properties, according to Amador, they want to sell quickly to eliminate maintenance and other costs. In 2008, properties in bank foreclosure listings took around 4 months to sell. This year, banks only took less than a month to sell their foreclosure homes.

In the first 2 weeks of October, the median sales price for bank-repossessed homes was $81,000, a substantial drop of 30 percent from the $115,000 price median during the same two-week period last year. According to Amador, banks keep reducing prices so homes do not stay for a very long time on the market.

Banks have also been discounting their prices for higher-end properties, but not as much as their discounts for lower-cost properties. This year, banks reduced their prices for lower-cost properties by 62 percent and discounted prices for higher-end properties by 55 percent.

Last year, they discounted expensive homes by 54 percent while discounting lower-cost homes by 39 percent.

The bank which had the most number of bank-owned homes sold during the first 2 weeks of October in Sarasota this year and last year was Deutsche Bank. For the first 2 weeks this year, Deutsche Bank sold 17 percent of its repossessed properties.

Next to Deutsche Bank was USBank, which sold ten properties from its bank foreclosure listings during the first 2 weeks of October last year and six properties during the same two-week period this year.

Jacksonville foreclosures for sale are expected to keep the city’s recovery at bay despite expectations by some housing analysts that the city will rebound sooner than other Florida cities.

According to Metrostudy, economic recovery is expected by many to occur sooner in Jacksonville than in other areas of Florida because home prices did not overshoot as in other cities during the boom. The city’s shipping port and the presence of military bases are also seen as strong buoys for the city’s economy.

But the continued rise in foreclosures due to unemployment has been dousing positive expectations of recovery. Over the 12-month period ended August this year, Jacksonville employers laid off 23,000 workers, pushing the unemployment rate higher in September to 10.7 percent. During the three months before September, the city was able to hold the jobless rate at 10.6 percent.

Metrostudy analysts said that while the unemployment rate may have reached its peak, a significant rebound in job creation may not occur quickly.

The analysts also said that sales of single-family homes have been rising again, but the still high number of Jacksonville foreclosures for sale has been pushing home prices down.

Anthony Crocco, head of the Central and North Florida divisions of Metrostudy, said distressed sales are still showing their impacts on the market, although home price drops in Jacksonville have not been as sharp as in other Florida cities.

In the July to September quarter, starts for single-family houses declined by around 25 percent compared to the same three-month period in 2008. But when compared to the previous quarter, housing starts jumped from 916 units to 1,020 units, an increase of 104 units.

The Metrostudy report about the impact of unemployment on recovery in Jacksonville has also been discussed in another report on Northeast Florida, with focus on Jacksonville. This report explained the role of the chronically unemployed in the continued rise in foreclosures in the city.

Jacksonville posted an increase of 64 percent in foreclosures in the July to September quarter this year compared to the same three-month period last year, and analysts are not pointing to subprime mortgages or exotic loans as culprits, but the double-digit jobless rates.

Additionally, the effects of unemployment are now spreading into affluent neighborhoods and into commercial real estate properties.

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.

Sales of all types of homes, meanwhile, increased in the Chicago area by 2.4 percent, compared to third quarter sales in 2008. Total sales rose from 20,802 units in 2008 to 21,298 this year. The sales data included sales of condo units and single-family houses.

The home sales price median was $205,000, a drop of more than 16 percent from last year’s third quarter median sales price of $244,900.

The Chicago area includes the counties of Cook, DuPage, DeKalb, Kendall, Lake, Grundy, Will and McHenry.

While overall home sales increased in the Chicago metro area, total house sales in the main area of Chicago dropped by almost 5 percent to 5,821 units, compared to 6,117 units in the July to September quarter last year. The sales price median was $230,000, a drop of nearly 21 percent compared to $290,000 in the same three-month period last year.

According to Mike Onorato, head of the Illinois realtor group, the increase in foreclosure properties sales and all other types of home sales in Illinois showed the important role of the federal tax credit in increasing home sales. He added that the expansion and extension of the program will continue to push up home sales.

Onorato also explained that the tax credit does not only help first time buyers, sellers and real estate agents, but also provides a big boost to other trades such as storage, moving, home inspection, home improvement, title and legal services.

Statewide, overall home sales increased by 0.3 percent to 32,460 units, compared to 32,358 units in the July to September quarter in 2008. The sales price median was $165,000, a drop of nearly 13 percent from the third quarter price median of $189,500 in 2008.

Local housing analysts said that the increase in home sales and the decline in sales prices indicate that homebuyers were enticed by the attractive prices. With these lower prices combined with the first time home buyer tax credit and lower mortgage rates, a lot of prospective home buyers took advantage of great buying opportunities.

According to Genie Birch, head of the Chicago Association of Realtors, the increase in foreclosure properties sales and other types of house sales in the Chicago area will continue because of investors’ interest in the city and because of the expansion and extension of the federal tax credit.

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.

Indianapolis foreclosures for sale declined in number in the July to September quarter, but vacant foreclosed homes continue to be of concern to residents and officials of Indianapolis and Marion County.

About $20 million worth of luxury homes were sold in Boston foreclosures for sale at Back Bay. The foreclosure auction took less than one hour, with starting bid price of $1.075 million and average sale price of over $1.35 million.

The number of Brooklyn foreclosures for sale is expected to rise following the New York Court of Appeals’ ruling on the case involving the Stuyvesant Town apartment building. The court ruled that owners of the apartment building should pay nearly $200 million in damages and rent overcharges to tenants of about 4,000 apartments.

Detroit foreclosures for sale is continuing to be a major problem by city officials. Along with the rising unemployment rate, the increasing foreclosure properties in the city is a perennial headache to city officials.

It would not come as a surprise to industry experts if the number of bank foreclosure properties in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania would increase in the coming months. This is because banks are heavily burdened with bad loans for home construction.

Denver foreclosures for sale is still hurting the local housing market in Colorado. In August, home prices dropped by 1.44 percent compared with the same month the previous year. The LoanPerformance Home Price Index (HPI), which include distressed property sales such as short sales and foreclosures, has experienced a drop but not that big compared with the national average, according to industry experts.