There's good news and bad news for the Valley's housing market.
The good news is it's getting a little easier to sell your house because there are a lot fewer foreclosures to compete against.
"You may find quite a bit of interest, but the real problem is getting them qualified for the lending," said Dr. Jay Butler, director or realty studies at ASU.
He said the bottom may be in sight, but the market could stay there for a while. "It's going to be difficult to recover and it's really going to vary tremendously from area to area."
Butler said programs to help people keep their homes are helping lower the number of foreclosures on the market, but he's concerned that the Phoenix housing market is not yet reflecting the current job market.
"Without jobs you don't have income and without income you don't buy homes," Butler said.
Foreclosures made up about 51 percent of home resales in March. In April, that number dropped to 27 percent, yet the total number of resales climbed.
"Unfortunately we're sort of entering this period of the classic foreclosure which is where people lost jobs or income and now simply really cannot afford the home they're in," said Butler.
Arizona is one of only six states where home sales didn't drop the first quarter of this year.
"Well, I think we've probably got the bottom in sight largely because in some areas you'd really find it hard to go any lower," said Butler.
Realty Trac's Darren Blomquist said, while the news is encouraging, he doubts the crisis is over.
"Believe it or not, there's still a lot of homeowners out there in Arizona and other markets who are very susceptible to foreclosures, still," he said.
He agreed with Butler that the jobs market -- the high unemployment rate -- will force more foreclosures.
"From the previous year, Arizona's still trending upward in terms of foreclosure activity," he said.
"There's very high numbers of properties that are just starting the foreclosure process. So we'd expect that down the road in a few months those same properties will end up in the final stage of foreclosure, which we call reo, so that will continue to keep the numbers high for most of the rest of this year."
Showing posts with label arizona short sales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arizona short sales. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Arizona man warns other homebuyers about short sales
When it comes to stimulating the economy, are banks being stingy with their federal bailout money?
This is a hot button for a lot of viewers out there and that hot button has to do with short sales, which give a homeowner permission to sell a home for less than what that homeowner owes.
But, look what happened to Valley man when he tried to buy a short sale home.
When it comes to homes on the market, Jason Fritch says he's looked at a lot. In fact, 25 to be exact.
"There's always something wrong with it," Fritch said. "Either it has no appliances or the plumbing is ripped out."
But when Fritch's real estate agent showed him a home in central Phoenix, he said it was perfect.
"It was completely covered with trees and it had a big backyard for my three dogs and it had been kept up pretty well," Fritch said.
The good news is the home was a short sale and it was on the market for $160,000.
According to paperwork, Fritch offered the full asking price then waited for a response.
"I got a call from my Realtor saying, 'You got it! They accepted it. So go ahead and write your check out for escrow,'" Fritch said.
Fritch wrote a check for his down payment.
However, he claims when his appraisal came back showing the house was worth a lot more than what he was paying, the deal suddenly fell through and subsequently the house he was going to buy went back on the market for $210,000.
"Well, everyone wants these houses but to get them, it's difficult," said Dean Wegner, a real estate agent and mortgage broker.
Wegner said what happened to Fritch is common because he says banks try to mitigate their losses as much as possible.
As a result, people like Fritch get tangled up in the process and the glut of homes that are on the market remain on the market until the bank gets the best deal.
"If they can get a couple extra thousand dollars times thousands of homes, that helps their bottom line," Wegner said. "It's math."
As for Fritch, he's so disgusted he has stopped looking at homes and has a warning if you're thinking of buying a short sale or even a foreclosed home.
"They are willing to wait, they are greedy, they will wait for the market to come back around to hold on to these homes," Fritch said. I talked to the mortgage company who owns the mortgage and they say they are not to blame in any way for a couple of reasons.
One, they never approved the home to be sold for $160,000 to begin with because they always knew the home was worth more.
And, two, they claim they never accepted a bid of $160,000 and any confusion must be between Fritch and the Realtors in this case.
Regardless, just know that getting involved in a short sale or foreclosed home is always going to be more complicated than a regular real estate transaction.
This is a hot button for a lot of viewers out there and that hot button has to do with short sales, which give a homeowner permission to sell a home for less than what that homeowner owes.
But, look what happened to Valley man when he tried to buy a short sale home.
When it comes to homes on the market, Jason Fritch says he's looked at a lot. In fact, 25 to be exact.
"There's always something wrong with it," Fritch said. "Either it has no appliances or the plumbing is ripped out."
But when Fritch's real estate agent showed him a home in central Phoenix, he said it was perfect.
"It was completely covered with trees and it had a big backyard for my three dogs and it had been kept up pretty well," Fritch said.
The good news is the home was a short sale and it was on the market for $160,000.
According to paperwork, Fritch offered the full asking price then waited for a response.
"I got a call from my Realtor saying, 'You got it! They accepted it. So go ahead and write your check out for escrow,'" Fritch said.
Fritch wrote a check for his down payment.
However, he claims when his appraisal came back showing the house was worth a lot more than what he was paying, the deal suddenly fell through and subsequently the house he was going to buy went back on the market for $210,000.
"Well, everyone wants these houses but to get them, it's difficult," said Dean Wegner, a real estate agent and mortgage broker.
Wegner said what happened to Fritch is common because he says banks try to mitigate their losses as much as possible.
As a result, people like Fritch get tangled up in the process and the glut of homes that are on the market remain on the market until the bank gets the best deal.
"If they can get a couple extra thousand dollars times thousands of homes, that helps their bottom line," Wegner said. "It's math."
As for Fritch, he's so disgusted he has stopped looking at homes and has a warning if you're thinking of buying a short sale or even a foreclosed home.
"They are willing to wait, they are greedy, they will wait for the market to come back around to hold on to these homes," Fritch said. I talked to the mortgage company who owns the mortgage and they say they are not to blame in any way for a couple of reasons.
One, they never approved the home to be sold for $160,000 to begin with because they always knew the home was worth more.
And, two, they claim they never accepted a bid of $160,000 and any confusion must be between Fritch and the Realtors in this case.
Regardless, just know that getting involved in a short sale or foreclosed home is always going to be more complicated than a regular real estate transaction.
Monday, April 14, 2008
My first post as the Arizona Agent blogger
Welcome to my blog!
My goal with this blog is to provide an outlet for my Real Estate career and the things I learn everyday. Basically, I want you as the reader to gain an insight on what it's like to be an Arizona Real Estate agent and some of the new and exciting things to come in Arizona Real Estate.
Let's see how this works....!!!!
Enjoy
My goal with this blog is to provide an outlet for my Real Estate career and the things I learn everyday. Basically, I want you as the reader to gain an insight on what it's like to be an Arizona Real Estate agent and some of the new and exciting things to come in Arizona Real Estate.
Let's see how this works....!!!!
Enjoy
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