Hattip to Ben's Housing Bubble Blog:
"On a sunny Saturday morning, 25 people from the area boarded a bus chartered by an enterprising real estate company for a first-in-the-region-tour providing a sampling of the estimated tens of thousands of foreclosed houses in the region."Opportunity," I've noticed, is the ubiquitous buzzword on foreclosure listings.
'You guys have a great opportunity today. There's not a lot of people doing this,' mortgage attorney Art Grace told the 25 house hunters on the bus. 'And I would say the general public doesn't know a whole lot about the great opportunity out there.'
. . .
The tour visited nine foreclosed properties in the Gainesville and Haymarket areas in under three hours. They included townhomes and stand-alone homes, ranging from $200,000 to $600,000. One home was only two years old; another was marked down by $200,000.
There were 28,455 foreclosure filing in the Washington/Arlington/Alexandria metro area in 2007, ranking it 41 in the list of the top 100 largest U.S. cities surveyed by RealtyTrac".
21 comments:
They say the Chinese word for "crisis" is written as the combination of the words "danger" and "opportunity" (although, I've also found articles debunking this.)
Seems as though realtors have it a little different---apparently "opportunity" actually means the combination of "crisis" and "danger".
It would behoove people to read the MarketWatch piece on Bernake's latest testament to what the banks must do. http://tinyurl.com/yprkc2
"opportunity" until you buy a place and another 5 places foreclose around you for another $10k-30k lower.
"Bernanke said that holders of the securitized mortgages should permit servicers to write down the mortgage liabilities of borrowers.
He said financial firms should consider reducing the principal of the trouble loans and not only the knee-jerk action of lowering the interest rate of the loans.
'In this environment, principal reductions that restore some equity for the homeowner may be a relatively more effective means of avoiding delinquency and foreclosure,' Bernanke said. "
Wow!!
"This is the best idea," said one rider, "I wish they started this a long time ago."
Well, duh, it wasn't started before because before there WERE NO foreclosures--everyone who had enough IQ to sign their name was allowed to sign up for a house!
From another article:
For first-time buyer Marie Morgan Henry, the experience was positive.
"It seemed overwhelming at first but there was so many knowledgeable and trained people that were on the bus that I can reach out to so I feel a little more comfortable that I'm in good hands," she said.
Henry took agents' advice ...
"I just think this is a great opportunity especially if this is your first time and you don't really know a lot about making the jump from being a renter to a homeowner."
UH-OH.
[sigh]
Bernanke says home prices will go LOWER?!?!?
BUT WAIT---they're not building any more land!!! The affordability index is at an all time high!!! Everything's different this time!!! Homes have never lost value!!!
[sigh]
BUT WAIT---they're not building any more land!!! The affordability index is at an all time high!!! Everything's different this time!!! Homes have never lost value!!!
Lol
Oh, a nitpick:
The affordability index is off its all time low!!! (It has a long way to go until its all time low.)
Or were you refering to the new updated Realtor (tm) affordability index that only goes back a few years? ;) I follow the old Wells Fargo index that's been backtracked to before the great depression. No need to undo what's worked for decades.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
FRANK LL0SA Va Broker- "BLOG.FranklyRealty.com said...
"opportunity" until you buy a place and another 5 places foreclose around you for another $10k-30k lower."
Am I the only one who finds it odd that a real estate guy is against the idea of people buying real estate?
Research in Fairfax is starting to show some big price declines.
http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-listing?listing-id=1510663
Sold in 2005 $680k
for sale price..$479k.
$200k down...
Other new subdivisions are also showing pricing stress
Here are a couple more properties in Manassas:
8983 MEADOWVIEW DR
MANASSAS, VA 20110
asking $329,900
last paid $429,000 11/17/2005
bank takeover 12/28/2007
2008 assessment $294,800
2007 assessment $367,100
Listing says "not your typical foreclosure," with new carpet/paint/granite in the kitchen...it's on a half acre close to Old Town...wonder what the bank thinks of the new assessment...and the fact that it will drop at least another 20% this year...
9495 MOUNTWOOD DR
MANASSAS, VA 20110
asking $399,000
last sale $659,350 12/28/2005
bank takeover 1/3/2007?
price history:
Aug 11, 2007 $504,000
Sep 29, 2007 $489,000
Nov 18, 2007 $479,000
Mar 03, 2008 $399,000
I find this street endlessly fascinating. It is lined with foreclosures, and the houses back to the PWC Parkway. Most sold for between $600K and $700K, with a few up to the mid-$700Ks, in 2005. They are sandwiched together, and virtually all the ones for sale now have unfinished basements. One house of note, 9581 Mountwood, sold for $611,606 on 8/16/2005, and then for $724,900 on10/19/2005 to a Mr. Ramirez, and was taken over by GMAC for $559,800on 6/29/2007. Current asking $458,200. I wonder if the original owners ever lived in it?
So now they're down to about $400K...and the builder still has dozens of empty homesites...
Then there's a house we almost bought, at 9409 Beauregard. Someone else paid $400K for it this January, and its assessment just dropped from $520K/2007 to $414K/2008, last sale $575K/2005. We had had a tentative deal at $350K plus closing covered...glad that didn't happen.
Hmmm...I just had an idea...I drive an airport van...maybe I should start my own "foreclosure tour" business...
;)
lance, I personally find Frank's perspective refreshing. A Realtor that doesn't try and spin everything saying you must buy, buy, buy, if you don't now you are DOOMED!!!!
Based upon his "frank" assessments, I'd probably see if I could use him to help facilitate my transaction if I were in the market. He seems like about as honest as a Realtor as you can get (sorry, Frank, no offense, it's your profession's fault:-)). And I'm sure that's what he is trying to target, people who understand he's in it to make money, but that he will do his best to give an honest assessment recognizing his own biases. I recognize he may not be completely honest (please again take no offense-but your profession has screwed it for you so far:-)), but from what I've seen, I'd sure as heck take him over your normal joe-blow Realtor!, and that's prob. all he needs to get an edge!
Lance: you obviously missed Frank's appearance on CNBC in June of '06 where he said that Arlington condos were in a bubble.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdLYlJqU1gs
Oh, a nitpick:
The affordability index is off its all time low!!
Yeah, but I mentioned it because it was one of the excuses used up until frighteningly recently. (Perhaps more by the press than real people.) I haven't checked it (any version of it) lately--I'm more interested in watching the case-schiller data and
www.recharts.com/mris/mris_5.html
Thanks Novawatcher.
Here's Frank as a click to view.
I noticed that the Dow was about 11,200 in the video. Wonder what they were paying for regular then?
Tabitha,
I've enjoyed reading your posts on your quest to find housing. It's like a soap opera and I don't want to miss a show. I feel if I dont' check the forums everyday I'll miss something. Please send me any housing updates to
teamski1@gmail.com and any advice on dealing with multiple kids. 7 kids!! I have no idea how you do it.
Good Luck
Tabitha has 7 Kids?
How the hell do you live in this area and take care of 7 Kids?
Do you have a show on the discovery channel to bring in extra income or something?
God bless you.
steve/stealth:
I don't want to hijack this excellent resource with tips on raising a big family...
I will say it is rather difficult around here. It was quite a transition when we moved here from North Carolina. But big families have a built-in efficiency of sorts, with shared rooms, shared clothes/toys, shared activities, and very little time to shop. Homeschooling also helps.
Tabitha, (close your eyes everyone else as this is completely off-topic)
That reminds me to put in a plug for Warrenton's twice-yearly kid's consignment sale:
http://www.kids-haven.net/
It's very well run and well organized. The 50% off day is great for getting brand-new smaller sizes for just a few dollars or less.
Never go on opening night with small kids, though. It's a complete people squish.
"How the hell do you live in this area and take care of 7 Kids?"
It's management and teaching responsibility.
I never did it but my mom came from a big family. Turns out that 8, 9 year olds can do "chores", laundry, diapers, dishes, wash the tub, not everyone needs an au-pair and a maid.
I got into it with a guy who was whining about the cost of summer recreation programs for his 4 kids, two were over 14.
My god, man, your kids are adults and can spend their summer cleaning your damn house, mowing the lawn, laundry, making sandwiches, watching their siblings.
"I'm not making them sacrifice their childhood. They need their summer recreation."
Tabitha is laughing her head off at that exchange.
Thanks, Harriet!
I have also had a lot of luck up when I visit my brother and sister-in-law in Ashburn on garbage day. These people must not have heard of Craigslist or Freecycle yet, because they put some AWESOME stuff out on the curb...
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