Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Northern Virginia Real Estate Statistics
REAL ESTATE SEARCH
County Assessment Websites
Buy/Sell Without an Agent
Local Real Estate Agents
Housing Economics Blogs
Local Interest
Housing Bubble Links
Eastern Regional Blogs
Western Regional Blogs
- Bakersfield Bubble
- Bay Area Real Estate Blog
- BubbleInfo (N. San Diego)
- Burbed (San Francisco)
- Dr. Housing Bubble (SoCal)
- Patrick.net (San Francisco)
- Portland Housing Blog
- Professor Piggington's Econo-Almanac
- Rancid Truth (Orange County)
- Sacramento Land(ing)
- Seattle Bubble
- SoCal Real Estate Bubble Blog
- Socket Site (San Francisco)
Real Estate Blogs
REAL ESTATE AUCTIONS
Blog Archive
34 comments:
Built in 1926, 13 acres on the Potomac...I want it!
Care for some Saturday schadenfreude?
Short sale in McLean
Bought for $1.475 6.5 years ago, now over $2.5 mill. in mortgages--yet the house needs work. What idiot loaned them this money, and did they gamble it away?
C & VA_I, that is a truly beautiful place. I would lose the green paint in some of the rooms though. That shade of green is best as an "accent". I wonder if Ted will rustle up some friends on a Saturday to do some painting in exchange for pizza and beer...
Ace,
I'd pay a million for that McLean short. Great location and nice neighborhood.
You'd think the agent could put up a picture or two.
"What idiot loaned them this money, and did they gamble it away?"
Im guessing some business transaction that was cross-collateralized by the house.
VA_I,
A million might be a steal for that McLean house--per the agent description it will go for well above that. It is a prime neighborhood, but who knows what condition it's in? As you say, the agent should have posted photos. Any agent who fails to post photos on MLS (I don't mean a link to a "tour" somewhere else, though that's better than nothing) doesn't deserve a commission.
The Anon.,
Could well be - still, someone is asleep at the switch if s/he allows something as collateral when it won't cover the debt or even come close. My hunch (given that it's an "estate sale") is that there were health problems and inadequate insurance.
Ace,
You never know what a lender might end up taking. I've seen some unbelievable "close" prices.
It's amazing the percentage of buyer's who won't even look at something that is not turn-key.
I'm not moving again; even for a windfall of several hundred K.
"It's amazing the percentage of buyer's who won't even look at something that is not turn-key."
that's why i like fixers
Va & Pat-
I think part of it is most people either don't have enough cash to pay for repairs, so they would rather overpay for a house because they are fine with amortizing the extra cost for 30 years or they have enough money they don't mind over paying to not have to deal with the head aches that come with major renovations
hb,
You are probably right on those factors, but I think alot of it is that people way over-estimate the cost and time required.
Also, something occupied may appear "move-in" until the walk-thru is conducted and the real condition of the walls and carpet is revealed.
Kitchen and baths do take some time, but not nearly as much as people think. Light fixtures are a one day project.
To say nothing of roofs, windows, HVAC systems, sump pumps, fireplace liner tiles, plumbing, electrical systems, etc. While it's true that houses with old decor may be up to date structurally and with newer systems, often they aren't. When they see a house that doesn't appear on the surface to have had much work done in X years, I think a lot of buyers worry that they'll have problems and expenses in many of these other areas.
The best deal is often one where the house has been updated functionally but the owner's choices of decor are questionable or old-fashioned. You don't have to compete against as many other buyers, because some will just take one look at the decor and leave.
Yes Ace, that is what I am talking about for the most part - paint and carpet or refinishing floors.
A thorough cleaning, fresh paint and new flooring/lighting can result in a terrific buy.
When I used to buy reo's at the Courthouse I rarely got a chance to view the interior. It's easy, however, to examine the roof, the age of the cac unit, condition of any exterior components.
On any sale where you can enter the home, ugly paint, filthy walls, mildewed bathrooms, wallpaper and stained carpet are wonderful in my mind. Unfortunately, too many other investors know this too.
I can walk through a place and figure a rough estimate within 5 minutes. I have a contractor that can transform a place (including kitchen and baths) in less than a month. I have him now doing complete paint, carpet, countertops, faucets, lights, blinds, new doors and tile with a 10 day deadline.
Since we're on the subject of over-priced properties in McLean, what do you guys think of this house/price?
http://franklymls.com/FX7498640
It's a big house in a McLean neighborhood that's close to DC with a lot of expensive new houses, but to me it's as butt-ugly as some of the weird houses in the town of Vienna. Also, the interior seems to have a strange lay-out, with few high-end touches.
My bet is that the sellers will either take it off the market or reduce the price significantly. I could see them getting $1.20-1.3M for it, but not much more.
"It's a big house in a McLean neighborhood that's close to DC with a lot of expensive new houses, but to me it's as butt-ugly as some of the weird houses in the town of Vienna. Also, the interior seems to have a strange lay-out, with few high-end touches."
Mozart, I agree. And it's way too big. That's a nice neighborhood, though. I will bet it will go for more than $1.2 mill. There are a lot of folks around who like lots of space and McLean, and don't have your taste.
Mozart,
That house is ugly. I agree. It looks cheap, cheap, cheap. And they are asking over $2 million. People with that kind of money do not have that kind of taste. Too many people have bought houses in big lots to tear down and build the biggest home they could the cheapest way possible. This is an example. I doubt a real architect designed it. I think the builders did it.
This is for me another example of a bad renovation. http://franklymls.com/AR7438834
It has sat on the market forever at the same price, when other homes in that neighborhood could sell for that much.
The facade is horrendous. Look at the kitchen island. For a house like that it should be bigger or don't have one. Anyways it is definitely not my taste, and it seems not the taste of a lot of other people too since it has not sold in two years. Last year was not the first year it was listed.
dc2
yeah, look out the back window.
It's a huge house surrounded by little ones.
NOTICE OF SUBSTITUTE
TRUSTEE'S SALE
403 Skyhill Road Alexandria, VA, 22314-4919
By virtue of the power and authority contained in a Deed of Trust dated August 31, 2006, and recorded at Instrument Number 060023868 in the Clerk's Office for the Circuit Court for Alexandria City, VA, securing a loan which was originally $750,000.00.
750K house going REO, but, immunandria is immune
"NOTICE OF TRUSTEE'S SALE OF
VALUABLE PROPERTY AT
114 Franklin Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
In execution of that certain Indemnity Deed of Trust and Security Agreement dated May 25, 2004 recorded among the land records of City of Alexandria, Virginia (the "Land Records") at Instrument Number 040023781 (the "Deed of Trust"), default having been made in the payment of the indebtedness thereby secured, the undersigned will offer for sale at public auction on
January 27, 2011 at 11:00 a.m.
in the front of the main entrance to the City of Alexandria Circuit Court Courthouse, at 520 King Street, Alexandria, Virginia, 22314 all of the certain parcel of land located in City of Alexandria, Virginia (together with all improvements and fixtures thereon, if any, and all other rights and property encumbered and otherwise defined in the Deed of Trust) described as follows:
Lot 600, Resubdivision of Land of Nettie G. Embrey, as the same appears duly described, platted and recorded in Deed Book 1381, Page 1975, among the land records of the City of Alexandria, Virginia.
(hereinafter referred to as the "Property").
STREET ADDRESS/LOCATION: 114 Franklin Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
COUNTY TAX MAP/RPC No.: 081.03-01-37
TERMS OF SALE: CASH. A bidder's deposit of Nine Thousand Dollars ($9,000.00), or t"
(What's this, some HELOC going bad?)
pat,
Why would you think it's a second being foreclosed on?
pat & VA-
I agree I'm not sure why you think it is a HELOC. Did you misread the required deposit is 9K not the size of the note?
Pat -- this is not some HELOC. Notice how this references, "that certain Indemnity Deed of Trust and Security Agreement". An IDOT is used to secure the debt of another. Thus what likely happened is the owner of this house served as the guarantor of someone else's primary debt. That person defaulted, thus the lender is now going after the guarantor and his property.
"Pat said...750K house going REO, but, immunandria is immune"
Out of curiosity Pat, prior to the bursting of the bubble were there no foreclosures in Immundria? From the period 1749-2005, was immundria, 100% free of foreclosures?
pat,
Anon is right. There are foreclosures in any market, any locale, any price range. Always have been and always will be.
AR7438834 is hideous and out-of-scale.
Developers should thank the Arlington residents for convincing the county to restrict sizes going forward. It prevents them from building monstrosities that are hard to sell. That also happened in a community from which I moved.
I don't mean to stereotype, but my anecdotal shopping experiences have led me to believe that in many cases these huge, and often ugly, houses are built or rebuilt by people with names suggesting they may have origins in other cultures. It can be viewed as a sign of success to have a big house regardless of the lot size or surrounding neighborhood, and the taste choices are different from those of many people born and raised here.
Anon
I was wondering what it was
so it's an Idemnity deed of trust.
i didn't see a note value at all
Anon
I seem to recall a period where
there were single digit annual foreclosures in Montgomery county.
What it was is they required 20% down,
values were stable and the market was consistent enough investors would snap up foreclosures from the defaulting owner.
very few were hitting the courthouse steps. I can't comment on Arlington/Alexandria as i wasn't watching the markets there.
Pat-
Part of the difference is as long as housing prices are going up/haven't gone down people aren't underwater. If you are above water you generally have options (either sell or HELOC) rather than get foreclosed on. Either way I think we all understand that with some people underwater we will continue to see some foreclosures in all areas.
HB
also as long as people have a 20% down, there is usually room for a vulture to flap in, offer to buy the place for the Note plus $10K.
you get some moving expenses, the bank avoids a foreclosure, the vulture gets the place without a sales commission.
it's a reasonable outcome.
I knew a guy back in 99 was just having a lot of emotional problems and business problems.
Lost his house, but, the whole way down, people were knocking on his door to buy the place.
"I knew a guy back in 99 was just having a lot of emotional problems and business problems.
Lost his house, but, the whole way down, people were knocking on his door to buy the place."
Correct -- and those are never going away. Some people are irrational about "their" home, and dont want to sell it, regardless of price. Even in a roaring market, these people are destined to lose the house to foreclosure.
This has been a part of the market since the beginning of time and always will be.
Pat -- The only foolproof way to determine the note value is to go down to land records and look at the actual IDOT -- it should have the note attached to it as a schedule.
pat,
FHA has always been around and VA had no downpayment requirement. I had alot of 5% down arms in the 80's. So your 20% down theory doesn't hold water.
Even if someone has house equity on the first trust, there may be a second (and even a third) and/or judgements that effectively prevent a sale without a seller bringing cash to the table.
Foreclosure on a first will wipe out everything that came after it (except re taxes and IRS liens).
There are alot of investors that approach people as soon as the Trustee Notice appears in the paper. I found this, generally, a waste of time. People either have their head in the sand about the whole thing or don't disclose judgements, etc. Others file bankruptcy.
Even at the courthouse stuff was cancelled left and right just before the sale. If you do buy one at the courthouse, my experience is that about 1/3 or 1/4 are cancelled within 3 days and your deposit is returned. This happened to me many times.
Post a Comment