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...]
In A Short Sale, Who Represents The Lender?
April 5, 2010 by 1 Comment
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...]
Traditional Sellers Have Window of Opportunity
September 23, 2009 by 1 Comment
A while back we released the 2nd Quarter Foreclosure (REO) & Short Sales Report, which not only debuted another revision to the methodology that decreased the counts of foreclosures and short sales significantly, but also showed positive trends in this market segment. Good signs included: New Lender Mediated listing activity has remained steady over the last 5 quarters Lender Mediated sales continue their 3-year trend - going up and up each quarter Lender Mediated inventory for sale has been dropping due … [Read more...]
Traditional, Bank Owned and Short Sales – A Comparison
April 24, 2009 by 9 Comments
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...]
Coming Soon – New Foreclosure & Short Sale Search Options
April 18, 2009 by 2 Comments
10 months after the Minneapolis/St. Paul area MLS (RMLS of MN) made available the somewhat-useful-but-really-bastardized-lender-mediated-mls-field and 14 months after I started openly pushing for specific fields, they have now come to see the light and are redoing the fields as three separate and distinct fields that address each of the major questions/problems of lender mediated listings: Three new required fields will be added to NorthstarMLS. (Tentatively planned for activation Tuesday night--we will let you … [Read more...]
Inventory of Foreclosures & Short Sales in Twin Cities Dropping Fast
April 16, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Today MAAR released the quarterly update to their report: "Foreclosures and Short Sales in the Twin Cities Housing Market," which was co-developed and authored by Jeff Allen from MAAR and myself. Today's headline number is that while foreclosures and short sales (what we call lender mediated sales) are still a large part of our new listings and our inventory, they are an even larger part of our sales, which means that the for sale inventory of these lender mediated listings is dropping dramatically. In fact, … [Read more...]
Minnesota 2008 Foreclosure Statistics Released
March 9, 2009 by 3 Comments
Thanks to the Minnesota Homeownership Center Blog for telling me about HousingLink's Q4 2008 update to their Foreclosure Report. What's especially interesting to me is the chart showing foreclosure counts as a percentage of total houses: MAAR did a similar "heat map" for the Twin Cities, specifically looking at 2008 "lender mediated sales" - which are foreclosures or short sales in our MLS: … [Read more...]
Q4 Lender Mediated Report & City Level Data Released
January 27, 2009 by 2 Comments
Today I am pleased to announce the release of the Foreclosures and Short Sales in the Twin Cities Housing Market: Q4 2008 Update. This is the 4th installment of quarterly reporting of lender mediated sales and their impact in the Greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area, which I co-author with the musically, intellectually, politically and statistically talented Jeff Allen. 2008 reports from quarters 1, 2 and 3 are also available. Here's how to know if buying a foreclosure or short sale is right for you. This … [Read more...]
Q&A: Twin Cities Foreclosure Information
December 14, 2008 by Leave a Comment
I often get questions on where to find information on foreclosure properties in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Here are a few free resources that you can refer to: Hennepin County Foreclosures Dakota County Foreclosures Search Foreclosures and Short Sales currently for sale Unfortunately the other counties have not become user-friendly enough to post their sheriff sales onlines... I really wish they would. I regularly reference Hennepin County's data for myriad reasons and I'm sure I'm not the only one. … [Read more...]
Twin Cities Housing Affordability Hits Record High
December 8, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Just released from MAAR: The Housing Affordability Index (HAI)�shot up 19 points to 180 thanks to the recent healthy declines in mortgage interest rates and a continued softening in home prices; the HAI has not been this attractive since we began tracking data in 1990. What This Means to You The dramatic fall in interest rates in recent weeks coupled with the substantial sales price reductions (mostly found in lender-mediated sales, which are foreclosures and short sales) has lead to an affordability index that … [Read more...]
