RepoFinder.com - The FREE List of Bank & Credit Union Repossession Sales

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RepoFinder.com - The FREE List of Bank & Credit Union Repo Sales - Repo Trucks for Sale

The FREE List of Bank & Credit Union Repo Sales - Repossessed Cars and Homes. RepoFinder.com is a great resource to locate repo trucks for sale.

uncovering-bargains-in-bank-owned-real-estate

uncovering-bargains-in-bank-owned-real-estate

Uncovering Bargains in Bank-Owned Real Estate

By James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer

As housing costs continue to soar, more and more people are looking into the option of buying foreclosure properties. Some opt to look for properties in the early stages of default; others frequent auctions or sheriff’s sales. But if you don’t have the nerve to approach homeowners in default or the cash in hand to bid at foreclosure auctions, buying a bank-owned property may be the best way for you to tap the hidden market of foreclosure real estate.

Bank-owned properties are known as REOs, or Real Estate Owned (owned by the bank or lender). These properties have gone all the way through the foreclosure process and become the property of the lender. Once a property becomes an REO, the lender clears the title of any liens, evicts occupants if needed, typically does a limited amount of repair and clean-up work to the property, and prepares documents for the issuance of a title insurance policy for the buyer.

REO properties tend to be slightly less risky investments than properties purchased at an auction. In addition to the work done by lenders as noted above, potential buyers of REO properties are entitled to having a professional appraisal or inspection completed on a property they are interested in before making any sale final. They will also generally have the opportunity to tour the property personally and assess the neighborhood. None of these safeguards are available to someone buying a property at an auction. These benefits, along with the possibility of reaping a potential bargain, make REOs an attractive alternative for investors.

Homebuyers can often save money by purchasing an REO. Many banks want to get REO properties off their books and will price properties to move. This means REO sales tend to move rather quickly, so anyone interested in purchasing an REO property needs to be ready and able to make a quick decision.

But make no mistake! This doesn’t mean every bank is willing to dump REO real estate at pennies on the dollar. In recent years, some lenders have been willing to hold properties a little longer than usual, in order to benefit from steadily-increasing real estate prices. While finding a middle ground that works for both the bank and the buyer can be tricky, the following tips should help investors and buyers negotiate great deals on REOs.

Find REO Properties as Early as You Can
One of the often-overlooked strategies for purchasing an REO property is to make an offer on it before the lender has listed it for sale. Doing this ensures the bank of a short sales cycle and saves them the expense of listing and marketing a property. There are several ways of finding these REO properties early in the process — such as tracking properties scheduled for auction, closely watching the classified ads in the local newspapers and visiting the county recorder’s office. Online services such as RealtyTrac, which hosts the nation’s most comprehensive database of pre-foreclosure and REO properties and sends daily e-mail notifications when new properties arrive, make the process much easier.

Know who to contact – bank or agent.
Once you find an REO property you would like to make an offer on, you should contact the bank in possession of the property directly and ask for the department or person who handles REOs. Some banks have REO or “asset management” departments that handle the sales of these properties, making the process much easier for potential buyers anxious to make an offer.

Sometimes you will hear that the sale of the property has been turned over to an agent. If this is the case, the bank should be able to refer you to the person handling the sale. Working with the bank’s agent is, in most cases, a lot like working through any other real estate agent.

Hold that offer! First find out what the property is really worth.
Prior to making an offer on any property, you’ll want to do a bit of research to obtain as much information as possible about the property. It’s wise to obtain information about comparable sales in the area, either through a buyer’s agent or from the agent responsible for selling the property. You can also do this through online services like RealtyTrac, which offers a complete set of property valuation reports on its site.

Inquire whether any inspection reports are available, whether the property is being sold “as is” or if the bank plans to pay for any repairs and how offers should be presented to the bank for consideration. You’ll also want to find out how long it takes for the bank to review and accept an offer. In some cases, offer acceptance is subject to corporate approval within five days — a much slower turnaround time than is expected with traditional real estate transactions.

Lastly, never underestimate the value of a professional inspection. Inspectors are trained to find things you won’t even know to look for, so they are well worth the investment if you are really serious about a property.

Consider the bank’s bottom line
Banks foreclose on property to recover a debt owed them by the property owner. The amount of that debt — plus foreclosure-related expenses — is the bottom line that banks need to recoup when they sell the property to avoid a loss on their books. The more you know about the bank’s bottom line, the more leverage you’ll have in negotiating a great bargain.

The debt amount is included in the public foreclosure documents filed by the bank. You can sift through those documents at the county courthouse or find the same information online with services like RealtyTrac, which maintains a daily updated national database of REO properties.

Make an offer, but be ready to play hard ball
Once you’re ready to make an offer, who you present it to depends on who is handling the sale. If you’re working through the bank’s agent, the transactions will be quite similar to those with any traditional real estate purchase. The only real difference it that you are likely to have a bit more negotiating room, since the property is an REO that the bank is motivated to unload, rather than a property a seller has lots of personal attachment to.

If you are dealing with the bank directly, you need to be prepared for the process to take longer and be a bit more cumbersome than it might be with the help of an agent. This is a strong incentive for you to be as prepared as possible to at least move things along quickly on your end.

According to real estate investment trainer and author T.J. Marrs, “when presenting an offer to purchase an REO, one essentially needs to follow the same procedure a realtor would follow. Of course this is done without the benefit of having the realtor to help you complete the paperwork.” Marrs suggests the following three strategies to improve your chances of success when making direct offers to banks selling REO properties.

Have all your paperwork ready. Use a standard purchase and sale agreement and have your earnest money ready. In fact, Marrs suggests buyers have their earnest money already waiting in escrow, and send a copy of their escrow receipt to the bank along with their offer.

Have your loan approval ready and submit it with your offer or have cash in escrow. The more you can prove you are a serious player, the more likely your offer will be taken seriously.

Do not EVER offer the asking price. “You can't offer too little, but you can always offer too much,” says Marrs. “My rule of thumb is, if they accept your first offer, you offered too much. You can always negotiate a little but you can't go down in price once the offer is accepted.”

Keep in mind that the bank must attempt to get the highest possible amount for the property and must demonstrate this to its shareholders and auditors. Once you present an offer, don’t be surprised if the bank submits a counteroffer that is much higher than your offer. The amount listed in the bank’s counteroffer is rarely the lowest the bank would consider. This is your cue to counter again.

The key to countering a bank’s offer is the understanding that, while they are certainly motivated to sell, bank representatives are also quite well-versed in managing money. They know precisely how much they can afford to sell the property for, but it’s your job to research what that amount is. The trick is to be patient and chip away at the bank’s price slowly in order to avoid paying over market value.

A bit of advice to remember when engaging in multiple rounds of counteroffers: try your best to separate your actions from your emotions. If you keep a clear head, you might find that the time and frustration spent countering with the bank has paid off, translating into your owning a property for a lot less than you might have paid in a traditional sale.

For Marrs, a successful investment is one that is purchased well below market value. “As an investor, you'll never survive unless you stick to paying less than market value,” he advises. “When the market calms down, the over-paying speculators will get killed, while the real investors who work hard at buying below market value will win.”

An Update On The Housing Recovery | Investing.com

An Update On The Housing Recovery | Investing.com

In July of last year, I asked the question of whether housing was really recovering or not?  There has been much hoped placed on the "housing recovery story" over the last few years as it relates to the economy and I thought it was time to update the data to see how far we have progressed. With each passing month, all eyes have been glued to television screens, and headlines, as the latest estimations of housing starts, completions, new and existing home sales, etc. are trumpeted as a sign of a renewed housing cycle. This is no trivial matter as real estate is seen as a bedrock to economic strength as much as it is the sign of achievement of the "American Dream."

It is true that in past housing was a large contributor to the strength of economic growth in the U.S. Just recently Chris Puplava wrote:

"While residential investment represents a small portion of gross domestic product (GDP), housing is perhaps one of the most cyclical sectors of the economy and tends to lead economic swings by months to years. As such, keeping a close eye on housing provides a valuable insight into future economic trends. While housing represented a major headwind to the economy after the housing bubble burst, as I show below, it is now providing a major tailwind instead."

While Chris is correct in his assumptions, the question is really how sustainable is the current recovery in housing.  More importantly, what really drives long term economic growth is not residential investment as much as "household formation" where a couple buys a home, raises a family and continues the consumption cycle that supports economic growth.

At The Margin
The problem with most of the analysis each month is that it is based on the transactional side of housing which only represents what is happening at the "margin."  The economic importance of housing is much more than just the relatively few number of individuals, as compared to the total population, that are actively seeking to buy, rent or sell a home each month.  In order to understand what is happening in terms of "housing" we must analyze the "housing market" as a whole rather than what is just happening at the fringes.  For this analysis, we can use the data published by the U.S. Census Bureau which can befound here.

Total Housing Units
In an economy that is roughly 70% driven by consumption it is grossly important that the working age population is, well, working.  More importantly, as discussed in "Obama's Economic Report Card:"

"Full-time, benefit providing, employment is the only type of employment that matters for the average American. Full-time employment allows for an increasing standard of living, household formation, and higher personal savings rates."

To present some context for the following analysis we must first have some basis from which to work from. Our baseline for this analysis will be the number of total housing units which, as of Q3-2013, was 132,845,000 units. The chart below shows the historical progression of the seasonally adjusted number of housing units in the United States.

 Home-Inventory

As an example, the most recent report of "existing home sales" showed that 4,900,000 homes were sold on an annualized basis in November, 2013 (the last reported month). Since this is an annualized number, we must divide it by 12 months to see the estimated seasonally adjusted number of sales in November was actually just 408,333 homes. This number of existing home sales represents just 0.3% of the total number of homes available. This is what I mean by "activity at the margin."   When put into this context the "existing home sales" report doesn't seem nearly as exciting.

What about new homes? New home sales were 421.000 on an annualized basis this past November (the last reported month) which equates to 35,023 new homes per month. This makes up an even smaller percentage of the total homes available at just 0.02%. 

Understanding "sales" represent only a very small fraction of the housing market we must look at what is happening within the total housing market to get the real story. In this regard, we can use the Census Bureau data to see how many homes are just sitting vacant, owner occupied or being rented. From this data we can get a much better picture of the real strength of the economy, and how much of a potential "tailwind" there may be.

Vacancy Rate

Out of the total number of housing units some are vacant for a variety of reasons. They are second homes for some people that are only used occasionally. They are being held off market for one reason or another (foreclosure, short sell, etc.), or they are for sale or rent. The chart below shows the total number of homes, as a percentage of the total number of housing units which are currently vacant.

 home-vacant-heldoffmarket

If a real housing recovery was underway, the vacancy rate would be falling sharply rather than hovering only 0.5% below it's all-time peak levels.

Owner Occupied Housing

Another sign that a "real" housing recovery was underway would be an increase in actual home ownership. The chart below shows the number of owner occupied houses as a percentage of the total number of housing units available.

 Home-owner-occupied

Despite the Federal Reserve flooding the system with liquidity, suppressing interest rates and the current Administration's efforts to bailout banks and homeowners, owner occupied housing remains near its lows.

Home Ownership

The simple reality is that there has really been very little actual recovery in housing. With five years of economic recovery now in the rear view mirror, it is clear that the average American is really not recovering as evidenced by the lowest level of home ownership since 1980. 

 Home-ownership-rate

At 65.3%, the current level of home ownership shows the lack of household formation which is a detraction from longer term economic growth. The weak economic growth rates and widening wealth gap certainly explain the fall in homeownership rates and the lowest level of birthrates on record.

However, the recent reports of sales, starts, permits, and completions have all certainly improved in recent months. Those transactions must be showing up somewhere, right? 

REO To Rent

While the Federal Reserve, along with the current Administration, have tried a litany of programs to jump start the housing market nothing has worked as well as the "REO to Rent" program. With Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, and the banks loaded with delinquent and vacant properties, the idea was to sell huge blocks of properties to institutional investors to be put out as rentals. This has worked very well. 

The chart below shows the number of homes that are renter occupied versus the seasonally adjusted homeownership rate.

 Home-renters-vs-occupied

Do you see the potential problem here?  Speculators have flooded the market with a majority of the properties being paid for in cash and then turned into rentals. This activity drives the prices of homes higher, reduces inventory and increases rental rates which prices "first time homebuyers" out of the market. The problem is that when the herd of speculative buyers turn into mass sellers - there will not be a large enough pool of qualified buyers to absorb the inventory which will lead to a sharp reversion in prices.

Maybe this is why the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC, are looking to relax the regulation put in place after the last housing bubble which required banks to have "skin in the game."   By removing that restriction banks can now go back to providing mortgages to unqualified buyers, pool them and sell them off to unwitting investors. Haven't we watched this movie before?

While the surge in housing activity, which still remains at historically low levels as shown in the chart below, has certainly been welcome it should not be forgotten that it has taken massive bailouts, stimulus and financial supports to induce such relatively small amounts of activity.

 Home-TotalActivityIndex

The mistake, however, as I addressed in "Housing Recovery, What Has Been Forgotten" is that:   "There is no argument that housing has improved from the depths of the housing crash in 2010. However, while the housing market remains at very recessionary levels, recent analysis assumes that this has been a natural, and organic, recovery. Nothing could be further from the truth as analysts have somehow forgotten the trillions of dollars, and regulatory support, infused to generate that recovery.   I recently penned an article showing the $30 trillion, and counting, that has been thrown at the economy, and financial system, to keep it afloat over the last 4 years. Of that, trillions of dollars have been directly focused at the housing markets including HAMP, HARP, mortgage write downs, delayed foreclosures, government backed settlements of 'fraud-closure' issues, debt forgiveness and direct buying of mortgage bonds by the Fed to drive refinancing and purchase rates lower. Of course, the Fed has also maintained its ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) during this same period with a pledge to keep it there until at least 2015.   The point here is that while the housing market has recovered - the media should be asking 'Is that all the recovery there is?' More importantly, why are economists, and analysts, not asking the question of 'What happens to the housing market when the various support programs end?' With 30-year mortgage rates below 4% we should be in the middle of the next housing bubble - not crawling along a bottoming process."   The housing recovery is ultimately a story of the "real" employment situation. With roughly a quarter of the home buying cohort unemployed and living at home with their parents the option to buy simply is not available. The rest of that group are employed but at the lower end of the pay scale which pushes them to rent due to budgetary considerations and an inability to qualify for a mortgage.   As I stated previously, the optimism over the housing recovery has gotten well ahead of the underlying fundamentals. While the belief was that the Government, and Fed's, interventions would ignite the housing market creating a self-perpetuating recovery in the economy - it did not turn out that way. Instead, it led to a speculative rush into buying rental properties creating a temporary, and artificial, inventory suppression.    The rising risk to the housing recovery story lies in the Fed's ability to continue to keep interest rates suppressed. It is important to remember that individuals "buy payments" rather than houses. With each tick higher in mortgage rates so goes the monthly mortgage payment. With wages remaining suppressed, 1 out of 3 Americans no longer counted as part of the work force or drawing on a Federal subsidy the pool of potential buyers remains contained.   While there are many hopes pinned on the housing recovery as a"driver" of economic growth in 2014 - the lack of recovery in the home ownership data suggests otherwise.

Nationwide Bank REO List - Bank Owned Real Estate (Updated Daily)

21st MORTGAGE CORPORATION (Mobile Homes)
BANK OF AMERICA
BANK OF THE WEST
BAYVIEW LOAN SERVICING
BB&T 
BBVA/ COMPASS BANK
BERKADIA BANK
BMO HARRIS BANK
CAPITOL BANCORP
CHARTERBANK
CHASE BANK
CITIBANK
CITY NATIONAL BANK
DOWNEY SAVINGS 
FANNIE MAE
FDIC
FIFTH THIRD BANK
FIRST CITIZENS BANK
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF AMERICA
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF AMERICA (Rose Land & Finance)
FIRST PRESTON BANK
FIRST TENNESSEE
FREDDIE MAC
HSBC
HUD
INDYMAC BANK (OneWest)
INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
KENNEDY FUNDING
KENTUCKY HOUSING CORPORATION
KEY BANK
KEYSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT
M & T BANK
NEW BRIDGE BANK
OCWEN BANK
PEOPLES UNITED BANK
PNC BANK
RECONTRUST 
REGIONS BANK
REPUBLIC BANK
SECURITY NATIONAL
STEARNS BANK 
STERLING-GOLF SAVINGS BANK
SUNTRUST BANK
TRANZON
TREO SERVICE NETWORK
UNITY BANK
US BANK
US GOVERNMENT HOME SALES
USAA FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK
USDA
VANDERBILT MORTGAGE AND FINANCE (Mobile Homes)
VIRGINIA HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
WASHINGTON FEDERAL SAVINGS
WELLS FARGO BANK
ZIONS BANK