Why Aren’t More Banks Pursuing Deficiencies? It’s the housing market equivalent of “the dog that didn’t bark”: with hundreds of thousands of homeowners nationally on the hook for mortgage deficiencies in the wake of short sales and foreclosures, why aren’t more banks trying to collect? Anecdotally, there appear to relatively few such actions, leaving lawyers, Realtors, and...Read More
“$!#!%#@! Case-Shiller” A lot of Twin Cities Realtors today are muttering variations on the above in the wake of yesterday’s latest housing statistics. If you’re not aware, Case-Shiller’s just-released March numbers indicate that the national housing market has officially now re-tested its lows (“double-dipped”), and that Minneapolis is the worst performing major U.S. market over the...Read More
How Full — or Empty — is the Foreclosure Pipeline? Today’s New York Times includes a story that — at least at first blush — has ominous implications for Minneapolis and the overall Twin Cities housing market: In Minneapolis, lenders are bringing in at least six foreclosed homes for each they sell. –Eric Dash, “Banks...Read More
Or Foreclosures, Either What jumped out at me reading “It’ Buildings of the Other Boroughs” in The NY Times was the high (financial) bar for entry: “Mortgages are allowed, but only for half the purchase price, brokers familiar with the building said.” “A recent sale in the building, which requires a 25 percent down payment...Read More
“Hurry, Bank of America, This Offer Expires Soon!” If you owe the bank $100, that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem. –John Paul Getty Why can’t a [debt restructuring process] be put in place to help the millions of American homeowners who for whatever personal reasons ” usually no...Read More
Comparing Apples and Oranges: Case Study #17 I’ve posted previously about how a slow market — combined with a relatively unique property — can bedevil Realtors and appraisers alike trying to estimate a home’s value. That’s because to be valid, a comparative market analysis must include three sales of similar properties no further back than...Read More
