Foreclosures

Buying a foreclosure is hard

Foreclosures

Sometimes buying a bank owned REO foreclosure home is well… hard.  Sometimes it’s very hard. It’s not that the homes are sketchy (sometimes they are).  It’s not that the homes come without any disclosures of condition (they do). It’s not that the seller won’t guarantee anything during or after the sale (they don’t). It’s not [...]

10 December 2010 Read the full article →

Pets abandoned in foreclosure homes

Central Phoenix

A shocking number of dogs and cats have been rescued from local foreclosure and short sale homes where their owners have abandoned them, leaving them to starve to death. Your donation of food and supplies will help to save the lives of these homeless pets who have been rescued by Lost Our Home Pet Foundation. [...]

8 December 2010 Read the full article →

Bank owned home for $11,000?!

Foreclosures

Yep. You might remember my periodic series The Highs and The Lows? This is a definite low. Within the past 30 days, some lucky buyer got a bank owned REO foreclosure house for $11,000. It was a 2 bed, 2 bath home built in 1947, located in Avondale. So my Canadian friends and other out [...]

7 December 2010 Read the full article →

How long do banks take to reply to an offer on an REO foreclosure home?

Foreclosures

I wanted to use the title “when banks hold up their own closings”.  I also considered titling this “I hate banks.” The short answer is “banks reply whenever they feel like it.” The longer answer is: usually, in Metro Phoenix, in Fall/Winter 2010, banks take about 2-3 business days to reply to an offer. Once [...]

30 November 2010 Read the full article →

Bank of America halts foreclosures in all 50 states

Foreclosures

Just announced today, Friday, October 8, 2010 – Bank of America will stop all foreclosure proceedings in all 50 U.S.  states while they review their internal legal procedures related to the foreclosure document filing process. From the official statement: “Bank of America has extended our review of foreclosure documents to all 50 states. We will [...]

8 October 2010 Read the full article →

I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with banks

Foreclosures

Really, I’m 110% over the bank owned REO thing. I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with banks and their stupid requirements. I swear that lately the big banks and Fannie Mae, and especially the Realtors who work for them, are trying to make it hard to buy their properties. Here’s a mere sampling of [...]

1 September 2010 Read the full article →

Not all banks are utterly moronic

Foreclosures

Last December our buyer clients found a house online that they loved in a big way. It was priced at $2,195,000 and their budget was $1,800,000 max. It was a short sale, headed for the foreclosure auction block in 2 days. We saw it in person. They fell in love. I checked the tax records:  [...]

28 June 2010 Read the full article →

The Highs and the Lows, some more

Foreclosures

A periodic series about the highest and lowest priced homes in the local MLS. Properties must be: single family, detached homes bank owned currently Active in the ARMLS (Ariz. Regional Multiple Listing Service) located in the Greater Phoenix area (Wickenburg, Florence, Coolidge, etc are excluded; Surprise, Buckeye, Queen Creek, etc are included) 1 House, 2 [...]

25 May 2010 Read the full article →

HOA tries to collect fees after man loses home

Foreclosures

The Arizona Republic ran a hot-button story today with a zinger of a headline: HOA still seeking fees despite man losing Chandler home. A former Chandler resident is learning the hard way that you can’t walk away from homeowners’ association assessments even if you’ve lost your home. In my opinion the paper does a lousy [...]

23 April 2010 Read the full article →

Your Federal Government – fashionably late to the party

Foreclosures

I gave President Obama some advice (over a year ago) on how to fix the foreclosure epidemic: President Obama to focus on Foreclosures (published on 2/18/2009) and OButter’s Plan – the Real Solution (published on 2/23/2009) My 2 key points, boiled down to a couple sentence each: 1. If the bailout, loan modification, or whatever [...]

26 March 2010 Read the full article →

The Highs and the Lows #4

Foreclosures

Wherein I periodically post about the highest and lowest priced homes in the local MLS. Properties must be: single family, detached homes bank owned currently Active in the ARMLS (AZ Regional Multiple Listing Service) located in the general metro Phoenix region (Wickenburg, Florence, Coolidge, etc are excluded but Surprise, Buckeye, Queen Creek, etc are included) [...]

21 March 2010 Read the full article →