RealtyStore Foreclosure Blog

According to a report issued August 25, Tolleson and Litchfield Park in Arizona were hit hardest by foreclosure crisis in the first half of 2008, when compared to the same period in 2007. Find Arizona foreclosures right now, or read on.

“Among Maricopa County cities, Tolleson led with the largest percentage increase in foreclosures and pre-foreclosures during the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2007.

“Foreclosures in Tolleson were more than 600 percent higher while more than 300 percent more foreclosure notices were handed out. There were 352 foreclosures in Tolleson from January through June, compared with 46 for the same time last year.

Continue Reading…


Source: “Tolleson, Litchfield Park have highest foreclosure increase” by Grayson Steinberg for the Arizona Republic. Copyright 2008.

Billionaire Sam Zell made an interesting housing market prediction last week, saying that he expected home prices to bottom-out at the end of March 2009, but some economists believe otherwise. One such economist, Michelle Meyer with the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in New York, does not feel so confident that housing market prices will stop falling by the end of 2009’s first quarter. Instead, she predicts that it will not fully bottom-out until the end of 2009 itself. Why might some economists feel this way? Despite the fact that home buying across the U.S. has lately risen, the number of available properties on the market continues to climb.

Bloomberg.com’s Shobhana Chandra provides the full story:

“Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) — Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. rose 3.1 percent in July, a gain that masked further housing weakness as inventories of unsold properties increased.

“Resales advanced more than forecast to an annual rate of 5 million, with at least one-third of the purchases coming from foreclosed properties, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. At the same time, the median price dropped 7.1 percent from July 2007, and the number of homes for sale jumped to a record.

“Sales averaged a pace of 4.95 million the past three months, the same rate as the previous period, indicating that purchases may have touched a bottom. At the same time, the glut of houses for sale means property values will probably keep dropping, putting pressure on household wealth and consumer spending.

“‘Existing home sales have likely stabilized,’ Michelle Meyer, an economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in New York, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. ‘In terms of demand, we’re probably close to the bottom. In terms of prices, we don’t think we’ll see a bottom until the end of next year.’”

Read the full article, “U.S. Economy: Home Resales Rose More Than Forecast.” Copyright 2008 Bloomberg.com

If you’re not already a RealtyStore member, sign up and start taking advantage of the current real estate market here.

An update on McMahon’s foreclosure situation. According to our post a couple weeks ago, “Trump to Rescue McMahon from Foreclosure,” Donald Trump had offered to purchase McMahon’s home and save him from foreclosure. Apparently Mr. McMahon did not accept Trump’s gracious offer to pay off McMahon’s debtors and act as landlord to the 85-year-old celebrity. Unfortunately, McMahon is unwilling to disclose who the buyer is and the identity of the buyer has not yet leaked to the Press.

Reuters Reports:

“LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Television celebrity Ed McMahon has finally found a buyer for his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills mansion, avoiding a foreclosure that would have made him among the most high-profile victims of the U.S. housing slump.

“The buyer of the six-bedroom, five-bathroom home was not disclosed, but McMahon spokesman Howard Bragman said on Friday it was not billionaire Donald Trump. The New York developer had said last week he was in discussions to buy the house and lease it back to McMahon after widespread publicity about the celebrity’s default on his $4.8 million mortgage.

“‘It’s a confidential deal, and the buyer wants anonymity, but I can tell you it is not Mr. Trump — and it’s not John McCain,’ Bragman said, joking about the Republican presidential hopeful’s admission this week that he did not know how many houses he and his wife own.”

Read the full story “Ed McMahon finds home buyer, avoids foreclosure,” posted August 22, 2008.

If you’re not already a RealtyStore member, sign up and start taking advantage of the current real estate market here.

Seasoned foreclosure and real estate investor (and billionaire) Sam Zell predicts that the Single-Family real estate prices will have fallen as low as they can go by the end of Q1, 2009.

In addition to his prediction, Mr. Zell reminded Bloomberg television viewers in an interview on “Fannie, Freddie & Sub-Prime Crisis,” that even as foreclosures are on the rise and housing prices drop, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. What could possibly be so great about the current market slump, you might ask? Mr. Zell pointed out the correlation between housing price drops and housing affordability; as housing prices go down, the pool of people who can afford to buy real estate expands. That being said, Mr. Zell is not currently investing in real estate, claiming that he cannot impact that market enough to see a large return; he believes the current real estate market is “fairly priced.”

“Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) — Billionaire Sam Zell said the housing market could start recovering as early as next year and he’s focusing on investing in debt rather than equity.

“‘We believe that the opportunities, particularly in difficult situations, are in the debt,’ said Zell, who made his fortune building the largest publicly traded office and apartment companies in the U.S. ‘We have been focused on, not only in real estate but in corporate, identifying debt situations where it is trading at a discount.”

“Early next year the U.S. may see the bottom of the single- family housing market, Zell, 66, said in an interview today with Bloomberg Television. ‘I think it will be relatively fragile as confidence builds and it will take probably another year for confidence to be completely returned.’

“Zell is focusing on debt as the real estate recession deepens. Existing U.S. home sales fell to a 10-year low in the second quarter and the median price for a single-family house dropped 7.6 percent. Record foreclosures have brought on more than $505 billion in capital losses and asset writedowns worldwide and companies that lent money to homeowners and repackaged the debt into securities saw those businesses falter.”

Read the full article, “Zell Focusing on Debt Investing While Awaiting Housing Rebound” by Sharon L. Lynch and Greg Miles, Copyright 2008 Bloomberg.com

If you’re not already a RealtyStore member, sign up and start taking advantage of the current real estate market here.

Donald Trump is in the negotiation process to help save 85-year-old Ed McMahon from foreclosure. His goal is to pay off the current lender and re-lease the property to McMahon. If Donald Trump invests in pre-foreclosures and foreclosure properties, there’s a good chance that there has to be reasonable profit potential there. The man is no fool. Sign up for RealtyStore and find yourself a pre-foreclosure right now!

Here’s the scoop on Trump’s rescue mission, published on August 15, 2008:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Billionaire businessman Donald Trump is offering to rescue TV personality Ed McMahon from foreclosure on his multimillion dollar Beverly Hills home.

“There are discussions, but it is not a done deal yet. We are optimistic,” McMahon’s spokesman Howard Bragman told Reuters on Friday.

Trump, a real estate developer and celebrity host of TV reality show “The Apprentice,” told the Los Angeles Times he stepped in after widespread publicity over McMahon’s default on a $4.8 million mortgage on his six-bedroom, five-bathroom home.

Read the full Story, “Trump offers to help Ed McMahon avert foreclosure.”

If you’re not already a RealtyStore member, sign up and start taking advantage of the current real estate market here.

The ultimate property “deal” has finally happened: in Detroit, Illinois, a foreclosure home sold for less than the price of a bottled water. In truth, the property likely is no longer worth a dollar, and would benefit more from being destroyed and rebuilt than from renovation. But hey, the land is worth more than one dollar, so not all is lost in the eyes of the savvy investor.

Why is the home is such bad shape? The property, sitting in foreclosure since Summer of 2007, has been the victim of the two biggest problems of foreclosures: vandalism and theft. Having been completely gutted and otherwise destroyed by scrappers (people who make their money in stealing and reselling items on the streets) and occasionally frequented by the local squatter, the lending agency who owned the property was desperate to offload the investment. The best part of the deal is that the bank is also paying closing costs, back taxes, and all other costs associated with disposing of the home, totaling nearly $10,000 in fees!

“DETROIT — One dollar can get you a large soda at McDonald’s, a used VHS movie at 7-Eleven or a house in Detroit.

“The fact that a home on the city’s east side was listed for $1 recently shows how depressed the real estate market has become in one of America’s poorest big cities.

“And it still took 19 days to find a buyer.

“The sale price of the home may be an anomaly, but illustrates both the depths of the foreclosure crisis in Detroit and the rapid scuttling of vacant homes in some of the city’s impoverished neighborhoods.

“The home, at 8111 Traverse Street, a few blocks from Detroit City Airport, was the nicest house on the block when it sold for $65,000 in November 2006, said neighbor Carl Upshaw. But the home was foreclosed last summer, and it wasn’t long until ‘the vultures closed in,’ Upshaw said. ‘The siding was the first to go. Then they took the fence. Then they broke in and took everything else.’”

Read the rest of the article, “Foreclosure Fallout: Houses go for $1.”
Copyright 2008 by DetNews.com

It is already well known that the American economy and real estate industry are floundering, largely as a result of declines in American real estate. For the most part, however, commercial property has been considered safe. At the top of the U.S.’s list for foreclosure rate hikes lies Las Vegas, where news writers are now reporting an impact on commercial real estate. The bulk of commercial closures in Las Vegas, unlike what Realty Store recently reported on New York City’s commercial buildings, are not related to actual commercial foreclosure, but are more likely to be related to the economic slump, job loss, and business owners moving out of town as a result of losing their homes to foreclosure.

By J.W. ELPHINSTONE

“Las Vegas has the distinction of having one of the worst housing markets in the country. But now that slump, along with job losses and high fuel prices, is infecting Sin City’s commercial real estate market, sending vacancies in all sectors sky high.

“The city’s commercial sectors clocked the second-worst increase in vacancies in the past year, according to Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, following only Orange County, Calif., where the main problem is too many empty offices.

“The first domino for commercial real estate was the loss of construction jobs. The second domino was the effect of job losses, foreclosures and lost home equity on the local economy. And the third domino was the national economic slowdown,” said Hessam Nadji, managing director of Marcus & Millichap.”

Read the full article, “Real Estate Close-Up: Las Vegas.”
Copyright 2008, El Paso Times

Weakened by the worst credit crisis in the nation’s history, the Top 25 Housing Predictor real estate markets in 2008 are showing signs of erosion. The once top rated market is beginning to run out of gas and has fallen from its #1 position and many of the other markets have changed.

Housing Predictor annually issues its Top 25 markets forecast the beginning of the year, and updates the forecast at midyear. But the update is being made earlier than usual this year as a result of a national housing market climate that has seen sales slow even more than forecasters expected. The ripple effect of tighter mortgage standards and increasing inventories of homes and condos on the market for sale are to blame.

Record high levels of foreclosures also account for drastic changes in many housing markets. Many markets have already deflated more than 50% in value from the boom’s peak. The Top 25 markets have the highest likelihood of hitting their forecast appreciation by year’s end, despite a growing belief that the economy is in recession and the majority of housing markets throughout the country are suffering from real estate depressions.

Housing Predictor forecasts more than 250 local housing market futures in all 50 U.S. states and provides independent unbiased analysis on market conditions. The top markets are scattered all over the U.S. Only four states have placed three markets on the list. Utah, Mississippi, Texas, New York, Oklahoma, Idaho and North Dakota placed markets on the leading list among other states.

Conservative North Dakota with one of the strongest statewide economies nationally, and the least subprime mortgage activity in the country, placed three cities on the list. However, neighboring South Dakota, damaged more substantially by the subprime mess failed to place any markets in the top.

Housing Predictor also provides breaking real estate news. Find your market forecast, search new listings and foreclosures at http://www.housingpredictor.com

As we all know, timing is everything, especially in the real estate market. The question on every home buyer and investor’s mind is - should I invest in a home today, in a month, or a year from now? Predicting the future is not possible. However, we can make pretty accurate assumptions. The Opinion selection of the New York Times offers important housing market statistics and takes a quick glimpse into the past, present and future of the US mortgage crisis.

New York Times - OPINION
May 19, 2008

“In responding to the subprime mortgage crisis, most Congressional Republicans and many Bush administration officials apparently believe they have time on their side. They are wrong.

“The housing bust is feeding on itself: price declines provoke foreclosures, which provoke more price declines. And the problem is not limited to subprime mortgages. There is an entirely different category of risky loans whose impact has yet to be felt — loans made to creditworthy borrowers but with tricky terms and interest rates that will start climbing next year.

“Yet the Senate Banking Committee goes on talking. It has failed as yet to produce a bill to aid borrowers at risk of foreclosure, with the panel’s ranking Republican, Richard Shelby of Alabama, raising objections. In the House, a foreclosure aid measure passed recently, but with the support of only 39 Republicans. The White House has yet to articulate a coherent way forward, sowing confusion and delay.

“The fits and starts are harmful. The housing bust is in the downward spiral of price declines and foreclosures. Single-family-home prices dropped 7.6 percent from the first quarter of 2007 through the first quarter of 2008, the largest year-over-year decline since the National Association of Realtors began reporting prices in 1982. Conservatively estimated, 2.2 million homes will enter foreclosure this year. An additional nine million homeowners — those with zero or negative equity — are considered at high risk of default because they have no cushion if recession or inflation, or both, make it impossible for them to keep current on their mortgages.

“That is because a category of risky adjustable-rate loans — dubbed Alt-A, for alternative to grade-A prime loans — is scheduled to reset to higher payments starting in 2009, with losses mounting into 2010 and 2011. Distinct from subprime loans, Alt-A loans were made to generally creditworthy borrowers, but often without verification of income or assets and on tricky terms, including the option to pay only the interest due each month. Some loans allow borrowers to pay even less than the interest due monthly, and add the unpaid portion to the loan balance. Every payment increases the amount owed.”

You can read more at NY Times - Teeing up the Next Mortgage Bust
Copyright 2008 by the New York Times

A majority of Americans have lost confidence in mortgage lenders and banks as a result of the credit crisis, according to a new survey by Housing Predictor.

The poll indicates that the majority of those surveyed have lost trust in the nation’s banks and mortgage lenders. Mortgage companies and lenders went on a free-wheeling lending spree for years making mortgages to even those at the highest risk of not re-paying triggering the subprime crisis.

The free wheeling days of mortgage lending ended in the worst epidemic of foreclosures in the nation’s history. Already, 2.4-million properties have been foreclosed and another 3.2 million foreclosures are forecast by Housing Predictor through 2011.

Some 56 percent of those surveyed said they have “lost confidence” in mortgage lenders as a result. The remaining 44% said they had not lost confidence in lenders. The online poll was conducted over a three week period, during which time Congress has been working on a plan to help many more homeowners under the threat of foreclosure.

Upward changing adjustable rate mortgages calculated to increase to higher interest rates, resulting in higher mortgage payments and a nearly record setting deflationary real estate market cycle has resulted in slower home sales in nearly all housing markets.

Housing Predictor forecasts more than 250 local markets in all 50 states and keeps visitors to its web site up to date on real estate conditions throughout the nation.
Housing Predictor regularly surveys visitors on real estate related issues in its widely monitored Predictor Polls, which have become increasingly popular as a result of the troubled housing market in the over-whelming majority of the nation.

The independent information driven web site regularly tracks housing markets with a staff of researchers and journalists to keep up to date on real estate market conditions, and reports on major issues related to housing markets throughout the country.

Read the report on the latest survey, other real estate news and search foreclosures and other real estate listings at http://www.housingpredictor.com