Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Foreclosure Process

The basic steps of foreclosure
WASHINGTON – Aug. 24, 2011 – In recent news, Fannie Mae has publicly assured homeowners going through foreclosure that they will be protected from losing their homes while applying for a federally funded loan modification. Homeowners can apply for a modification at any point before or during the foreclosure process.

If a modification is approved, homeowners can keep their homes if they make their adjusted payments. Absent that, here are the stages of a typical foreclosure:

1) In default: A loan is in default when a mortgage payment is 30 days late.

2) Warning: When a loan is 60 days past due, the bank, credit union or mortgage company warns that foreclosure is the next step.

3) Proceedings begin: After 90 days, the lender refers the loan to its foreclosure department, and hires a local lawyer to begin foreclosure proceedings.

4) Sale advertised: The lender's lawyer advertises the property for sale for four consecutive weeks in a local newspaper. The sheriff's sale date is listed in the advertisement.

5) Sale held: The sale is held on the published date. A sheriff's employee conducts a courthouse auction and the highest bidder wins, usually the bank that owned or serviced the mortgage.

6) Sheriff's deed: The winning bidder gets a sheriff's deed that lists the last date the homeowner can redeem, or take back, the property, usually six months from the date of the sheriff's sale. During this redemption period, the homeowner can live in the property or try to sell it.

7) Redemption period: To redeem a property, the homeowner must pay off the mortgage and all interest and late fees, court and attorney fees, title and appraisal fees, taxes and insurance. Otherwise, they will be evicted from the home.

Copyright © 2011, Detroit Free Press. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

June 2011 Pinellas County Real Estate Statistics

June was a great month for writing new sales contracts. A whopping 46% more properties went under contract than occurred in June a year ago. True, a lot of the contracts were on foreclosed homes—but it’s a good thing as these properties tend to close more quickly. In the second quarter 2011 the average single family price was $173,100 and average price for condos was $119,900. The average quarterly price for the Tampa Bay area (Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas Counties) was $190,800 for single family and $148,300 for Condos.
With the inventory currently at its lowest point since December, 2005, you would expect prices to begin rising, and it seems they did. The median price in June was $132,100 for single family homes and $95,000 for condos, the highest so far this year in both categories. Granted, one month doesn’t make a trend, but there has been a steady upward trend for the first six months this year even though year over year the median price is still down.
Overall residential market sales increased from 1,226 to 1,320 or 7.7% from June 2010 to June 2011. The median sales price for the same time period dipped 11% from $135,000 to $120,000, but is up $20,000 month over month. Active listings fell by 22% from June 2010 to June 2011.
Single family listings are down from 6,479 to 4,655 or 28%. The median sales price is down from $144,000 to $132,000, an 8.8% decline from June 2011. Single family sales showed a 2% decrease for the same time period.
Condo sales from June 2010 to June 2011 are up nearly 26%. The median sales price for condos has been fluctuating between $75,000 and $95,000, for June it is $95,000, a decrease of 17% from June 2010. Condo listings decreased from 5,344 to 4,584 or 14% for the same time period.
The number of properties available is nearing 2005 levels when we had a boom market. Over half the properties sold in June sold within the first 90 days. The average days on market for foreclosures was 77 days. Non-distressed properties took an average of 113 days to sell and short sales as always are taking the longest amount of time to sale at 179 days.