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The Perfect Bank Foreclosure Client

I have been working with one foreclosure seller for more than two years now and it has been a great experience.  While you hear of many horror stories about the process and the problems, I am thankful to say that I haven't had those issues with this seller.  My inventory with this seller is almost all sold so now I am on the lookout for a new relationship with the same characteristics.  Here is what I'm looking for in a bank foreclosure client relationship: Treat Each Property Like A Real Property Part of the … [Read more...]

Are Higher-End Twin Cities Foreclosures Coming?

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For a while now there's been some talk that the foreclosure activity would become more prevalent in the higher-priced home market - well as of yet we haven't seen that materialize.  In fact, by far the strongest activity remains in the lowest price ranges for both foreclosures and short sales: In the future we may see an influx of foreclosures at higher price points but for right now our local MLS is showing the foreclosure activity is still more heavily found in the lower price points. … [Read more...]

How Much 'Shadow Inventory' Is There?

The National Association of REALTORS has put together a video discussing the amount and type of  'Shadow Inventory' nationally.  The biggest problem with such figures is that they are still based off of sampling & definitions of what is or is not counted in the definition.  Regardless of what the actual number is, the video discusses how banks are putting more focus on short sales than they have in the past - which I believe to be a much better option than letting these properties go through the entire … [Read more...]

2010 Foreclosure "Tidal Wave" Just Another High Tide?

For a year or so there have been stories of more foreclosures coming.  While I don't doubt the warning and we're starting to see a tick up in sheriff sales, I do think that given the speed that the banks are going that it will be 2011 before we see much of this expected surge of foreclosure/REO inventory on the market. Minnesota Home Ownership Center's report of mortgage delinquency (pre-foreclosure) notices are very high, a lot of the increasing delinquencies are sitting in limbo in the period prior to a … [Read more...]

In A Short Sale, Who Represents The Lender?

Twin Cities February closed sales showed that bank owned foreclosures were 35% of the month's closed units and short sales represented another 13% - making Lender-Mediated homes sales almost 50% of all residential home sales in the Minneapolis/St. Paul region. On a bank-owned home the Seller is of course the bank and therefore the Listing Agent represents the bank.  On a short sale however, the Listing Agent represents the Seller, which in this case is the current homeowner.  So while the agent must treat all … [Read more...]

Foreclosure and Mortgage Delinquency Data Released

Last week was a notable week for those data buffs among us - HousingLink released their 2009 Foreclosure Report and the Mortgage Bankers Association released their quarterly delinquency survey. As Chris Snowbeck from the Pioneer Press notes in a recent article, the HousingLink data is good news but can't be considered a sign that the foreclosure problem is waning - there are many efforts being made to reduce foreclosures and they've had an impact www.orarily but not all these efforts will be successful and there … [Read more...]

Something Fishy with RealtyTrac Numbers?

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Bumped into a blog post from the folks at Smart Politics regarding the RealtyTrac foreclosure data released for November 2009.  I was stunned by their quote that the foreclosure rate is up 56% in Minnesota in the last year.  I heavily track foreclosure activity and haven't seen nor felt that amount of increase.  At first I thought it was a mistake on their part but then I started digging and came to a different conclusion completely. RealtyTrac uses a combination Notices of Default, Notice of Foreclosure … [Read more...]

Minneapolis & St. Paul Foreclosure Short Sale Report Updated

MAAR's Foreclosure and Short Sale Report (FSS for short) has been updated for November 2009.  Since October we are now publishing this report MONTHLY and have broken out foreclosures, short sales and traditional sales separately. There is a TON of information in here to see but some of the big items of note: Foreclosure/REO new listings are down 42.4% from November 2008. Foreclosure/REO inventory is down 63.4% from November 2008 - now at less than 2 months' supply. Foreclosure/REO median sales prices ROSE 2% … [Read more...]

Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension Impact

Another day, another tax credit extension proposal. So the latest idea still includes an $8000 tax credit to 1st time buyers and a $6500 tax credit to repeat buyers that have owned their previous home 5+ years.  While it doesn't say it in the CNBC article, I have heard from other sources that the proposed extension would expire at the end of April but allow purchase agreements signed before that date to close up to the end of June. While this is quite different than the proposal that was floating around just a … [Read more...]

Traditional, Bank Owned and Short Sales – A Comparison

Most of my buyers are NOT housing experts... they are "regular people" and are experts in whatever field they work in but not in real estate.  That's just fine because that's why people like me have jobs doing what we do!  One of the most frequent topics that comes up is the differences between traditional sellers, short sales and bank owned (aka foreclosure or REO) homes.  Below you will find a summary of many of the big differences, which is also available in a PDF one-page format if you'd like to print … [Read more...]

Disclaimer

TwinCitiesRealEstateBlog.com is not a Multiple Listing Service MLS, nor does it offer MLS access.
This website is a service of Aaron Dickinson of Edina Realty, a broker Participant of the Regional Multiple Listing Service of Minnesota, Inc.