Pre-Listing Alert: Bank Owned Condo is a post from: Orange County Real Estate-Orange County Homes For Sale

This cute little Single Family Detached home in a wonderful neighborhood is being prepared for market.  It has three bedrooms, one and a half baths, and over 1200 square feet of living space.  Bank Owned homes for sale in Mission Viejo don’t last long these days, so if you’re interested drop me a line or give me a call.  I’ll arrange a private showing and keep you informed about when it might be ready for sale.

Originally Posted at Orange County Real Estate

New Pre-Market Bank Owned Home in Mission Viejo is a post from: Orange County Real Estate-Orange County Homes For Sale

According to the the National Association of Realtors®, “distressed homes” represented nearly 2 of every fifth home sold in January 2010.  Clearly, real estate investors in Coto de Caza and around the country are taking advantage of good deals on cheap property.  But there’s risk involved.

This NBC Today Show interview first ran in March 2009, featuring real estate expert Barbara Corcoran. Despite its age, the message remains relevant. Today may be a terrific time to buy a bank-owned home — just make sure you do your research first.  There’s plenty of ways for investors to get burned.

Some of the tips in the video include:

• Buy in your own backyard
• Start small, then build to a bigger portfolio
• Watch receipts — rent rolls don’t matter if tenants aren’t paying rent

Corcoran also gives pointers on how to evaluate a prospective tenant.

Foreclosures should represent a large number of 2010’s total home sales and will offer interesting opportunities to bona fide real estate investors. Before you jump in, make sure to watch the video. The rents you save may be your own.

Remember, the stats and the data are from 12 months ago, but the advice stays meaningful.

How To Properly Screen A Prospective Tenant is a post from: Orange County Real Estate-Orange County Homes For Sale

Housing Starts Soar To 6-Month High In January… Or Do They? is a post from: Orange County Real Estate-Orange County Homes For Sale

The National Association of Realtors issued a press release today detailing efforts they are taking to help make the purchase of Short Sales less frustrating and problematic.

HAFA – Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives

HAFA is a Federal program with takes effect in April that is designed to help homeowners complete a Short Sale of their home when a loan modification is unsuccessful.  The program aims to streamline the Short Sale process, and provides incentives to both the homeowner and the loan servicer.  NAR has released a brochure about the HAFA program, and a HAFA Resources page on their website.

Short Sales Continue to Dominate Orange County Real Estate

Out of the over 8,100 homes for sale in Orange County, listed as “active” in the MLS, almost 2,300 are Short Sales.  In addition, over 4,150 of the more than 6,700 homes in escrow are Short Sales – about two-thirds of all pending sales.  In this market it is critical for buyers to work with a Realtor who is experienced in handling Short Sale transactions and can help ensure that a difficult process doesn’t end in the frustration of a foreclosure and lost deal.

New Programs Aim to Streamline Short Sales is a post from: Orange County Real Estate-Orange County Homes For Sale

It’s not difficult to find gloomy Real Estate prognostications, most of them focused on the huge supply of foreclosure “shadow inventory” that is expected to hit the market soon.  Estimates range from around 2.7 million to as high as 7 million foreclosures that will soon be unleashed on the national housing market.

Waiting for the Big Wave

The curious thing is that the impending shadow inventory bomb has been “coming soon” for two years now.  For example, this typical analysis from April of 2009:

Here is more on the story from Mr. Mortgage “California Foreclosures About to Soar . . . Again”: “Are you ready to see the future? Tens of thousands of foreclosures are only 1-5 months away from hitting that will take total foreclosure counts back to all-time highs. This will flood an already beaten-bloody real estate market with even more supply just in time for the Spring/Summer home selling season . . .

“Foreclosure start (NOD) and Trustee Sale (NTS) notices are going out at levels not seen since mid 2008. Once an NTS goes out, the property is taken to the courthouse and auctioned within 21-45 days. . . .

“The bottom line is that there is a massive wave of actual foreclosures that will hit beginning in April that can’t be stopped without a national moratorium.”

A Different Take

In April of 2009 Steven Thomas, President of Altera Real Estate wrote about “foreclosure shadow inventory” in his Housing Report:

Currently, only 15% of the active distressed inventory is a foreclosure. One year ago, it was at 20%. At its height, it was at 24%. Today’s active distressed inventory totals 4,006, a drop of 86 in the past two weeks. 613 of the 4,006 are foreclosures, meaning that the remaining 3,392 are short sales. Let’s just assume that the rumors are correct and that there had been a moratorium and that lenders were intentionally holding off foreclosures from the market. Even if the total surpassed the record mix of foreclosures, 24%, and rose to 30%, the total would only rise to 1,201, almost doubling from its current level. Yet, what everybody has failed to realize is that there is major pent up demand for foreclosures. Just ask any real estate agent or buyer that has written an offer on a foreclosure. You will quickly find that the norm is multiple offers, accepted offers at or above the list price, and losing property after property due to the bidding wars. This is a reality of today’s market that is most often misunderstood. When a buyers journey begins in today’s market, they have the expectations of isolating a foreclosure and getting a heck of a “deal” buy offering thousands, if not tens of thousands, less than the asking price. Buyers fail to consider that prices have already fallen between 30% to 40%. Almost all buyers have to learn the hard way about the realities of today’s market. There are 613 foreclosures in all of Orange County today and demand is at 938. The expected market time for foreclosures has dropped all the way down to .65 weeks, about a 19 day market, a deep, deep seller’s market. So, throw in even double the current number of active foreclosures and they will quickly be eaten up by the insatiable appetite for foreclosures. Given current demand, doubling the foreclosure inventory will increase the expected market time to 1.28 months, about 5 weeks, still a major seller’s market. The real story is that short sales are currently more successful than they were a year ago. Today there are 3,392 short sales on the active market and demand is at 1,106, representing an expected market time of 3.07 months. One year ago there were 4,379 short sales on the market and demand was at 444, representing an expected market time of 9.86 months. Some conclusions can be made based upon all of this data: foreclosures are hot; short sales are hot; expect a lot of competition; and, any increase in foreclosure activity will just help relieve current pent up demand.

Short Sale is King of the Foreclosure Wave

Where do we stand today?  Active Orange County REO listings have fallen from 613 last April to only 381 today.  That’s about a 5 to 6 week supply, based on the 293 Bank Owned homes that closed escrow in January, and around 5% of all the homes listed for sale in Orange County.  The number of foreclosures is even lower in Orange County’s premier cities like Irvine and Mission Viejo, at about 2.5% of the market.  Foreclosures in more affordable cities, such as Santa Ana and Anaheim, are standing at over 10% of the Real Estate market.

Meanwhile, Short Sales have fallen to 2,304 active listings (28% of the market), but those pending sale (in escrow) have climbed to an amazing 4,162 homes – 62% of all homes in escrow in Orange County.  This gives us a clue as to why foreclosures have continued to fall, even as homeowner defaults have continued to climb.  More and more distressed owners are opting for a Short Sale, and banks are moving in the same direction.   Expect 2010 to be the Year of the Short Sale – not the year of the Foreclosure Tsunami.

Where Have All the Orange County Foreclosures Gone? is a post from: Orange County Real Estate-Orange County Homes For Sale

In Pictures: The Severity Of The Foreclosure Crisis Depends On Where You Live is a post from: Orange County Real Estate-Orange County Homes For Sale

Here’s a little snapshot of the Real Estate market in Coto de Caza and Trabuco Canyon.  This data actually covers the entire 92679 zip code, which includes not only the approximately 3,000 to 4,000 in Coto de Caza, but also Dove Canyon, Robinson Ranch, Trabuco Canyon, Portola Hills, and Wagon Wheel.

Low Inventory

Inventory of homes for sale remains very low, with only 267 houses and condos on the market, and only 111 of those in Coto de Caza.  That means that only about 3% of the homes in Coto de Caza are for sale.  Another surprising number that’s not show in the chart is the number of distressed properties for sale.  As of this writing, there is not a single Bank Owned home for sale in Coto de Caza, and there are only 3 Bank Owned houses or condos active on the market in the entire Trabuco Canyon zip code.  In addition, there are only 16 active Short Sales (6 condos and 10 houses) in Coto, which amounts to 16% of the homes for sale.  That’s about half of the county-wide 34.5% level of distressed listings.

Trabuco Canyon and Coto de Caza Real Estate Snapshot is a post from: Orange County Real Estate-Orange County Homes For Sale

Orange County Home Buyer Tax Credit Reminder is a post from: Orange County Real Estate-Orange County Homes For Sale

Rancho Santa Margarita Home Price Update is a post from: Orange County Real Estate-Orange County Homes For Sale