'Shadow' foreclosures lurk in the dark
From Curbed.com blog
By Curbed.com, Tuesday, April 14, 2009.
According to a recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle, a vast swath of foreclosed homes have fallen into shadow. There are an estimated 600,000 properties across the country, that is, that have been foreclosed but mysteriously held off the market; watchers fear that a flood of these missing properties onto the market would further wreck housing prices, and life in general.
An analysis found more than a third of San Francisco Bay Area foreclosures in such "shadow territory." Some possible reasons for the shenanigans: banks are holding back on reselling, mindful of housing prices; banks are deferring sales so they don't have to record how much money they're losing; and "pig in the python," a glut of foreclosures that the system simply has to take a while to work through.
Copyright (c) 2009 Curbed.com LLC
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Submitted by Sean OToole on April 14, 2009 - 7:12am.
We estimate that there are currently 100k bank owned homes in CA that have yet to be resold. At the current rate of REO sales this is about 6 months supply.
What is crazy is that we are hearing from brokers all over the state that there are few available REO homes on the market, and that they are often receiving multiple offers.
Given the huge increase in foreclosure notices in March, banks would be smart to get more of their inventory listed and sold before the next wave hits.
Sean O'Toole
Founder / CEO
[http://ForeclosureRadar.com ForeclosureRadar.com]
[http://ForeclosureTruth.com ForeclosureTruth.com]
Submitted by Coin Storm on April 19, 2009 - 5:58pm.
The banks have said as much. About 6 weeks ago REO agents from our office who work with Countrywide were brought into a meeting were they told these and other agents to prepare for the coming inventory. They will be phasing them into the market over the next 3 months. On top of that is the Option Arm maturations that will take place over the next year or so. When Paulson said last year that certain borrowers could not be helped, these were the primary folks he was referring to.
I love the positive signs we have seen, but an honest look says we are not out of the woods by any means.