The demand is so deep that it appears that buyers will be gobbling up the usual springtime surge of new inventory…..if there is a surge.
Who will be listing?
We can’t expect much from the banks, they quit foreclosing and will drip out whatever they have left.
Because the large investment firms got in so cheap and are enjoying the rising rents, they will be happy to hold long-term, rather than to cash out and pay capitals-gains tax (a big stumbling block for all investors).
The homeowners who are underwater will want to hold out and see if their previous equity might re-appear.
There are 77 million baby boomers, the oldest of which are heading into their retirement years. Can we expect more inventory from them?
From the AARP video below:
Only 9% of boomers are affluent (making over $150,000/year pre-tax)
25% of boomers have no savings
33% of boomers don’t have a retirement account
Only 11% plan to stop working
Won’t there be an exodus of baby boomers who are down-sizing, or have to cash out their equity to pay for living expenses for them and their kids/parents?
According to the survey:
Only 6% of boomers plan to downsize
76% of boomers plan to “age in place” (not move), or buy a larger home.
Will the only relief to this frenzy be affordability, or lack thereof?
Most big-time flippers are mis-reporting their trustee-sale purchase price these days, but the majority of buyers are committed to paying the right price, regardless.
Joseph Keller doesn’t expect he’ll live to see the end of 2013. He blames the house at 190 Avondale Avenue.
Five years ago, Keller, 10 months behind on his mortgage payments, received notice of a foreclosure judgment from JP Morgan Chase. In a few weeks, the bank said, his three-story house with gray vinyl siding in Columbus, Ohio, would be put up for auction at a sheriff’s sale.
The 58-year-old former social worker and his wife, Jennifer, packed up their home of 13 years and moved in with their daughter. Joseph thought he would never have anything to do with the house again. And for about a year, he didn’t.
Then it started to stalk him.
First, in 2010, the county sued Keller because the house, already picked clean by scavengers, was in a shambles, its hanging gutters and collapsed garage in violation of local housing code. Then the tax collector started sending Keller notices about mounting back taxes, sewer fees and bills for weed and waste removal. And last year, Chase’s debt collector began pressing Keller to pay his mortgage, which had swollen, with penalties and fees, from $62,100.27 to $84,194.69.
The worst news came last January, when the Social Security Administration rejected Keller’s application for disability benefits; the “asset” on Avondale Avenue rendered him ineligible. Keller’s medical problems include advanced liver disease, hepatitis C and inactive tuberculosis. Without disability coverage, he can’t get the liver transplant he needs to stay alive.
“I can’t make it end,” says Keller. “This house, I can’t get out.”
Keller continues to bear responsibility for the house because on December 23, 2008 – about two months after he received Chase’s notice of sale – the bank filed to dismiss the foreclosure judgment and the order of sale. Chase said it sent Keller a copy of its court filing on December 9, 2008. Keller says he never received any notification. Either way, his name remained on the property title.
WITH IMPUNITY
The Kellers are caught up in a little-known horror of the U.S. housing bust: the zombie title. Six years in, thousands of homeowners are finding themselves legally liable for houses they didn’t know they still owned after banks decided it wasn’t worth their while to complete foreclosures on them. With impunity, banks have been walking away from foreclosures much the way some homeowners walked away from their mortgages when the housing market first crashed.
“The banks are just deciding not to foreclose, even though the homeowners never caught up with their payments,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, a real-estate information company in Irvine, California.
Since 2006, 10 million homes have fallen into foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac, a number that in earlier, more stable times would have taken nearly two decades to reach. Of those foreclosures, more than 2 million have never come out. Some may be occupied by owners who have been living gratis. Others have been caught up in what is now known as the robo-signing scandal, when banks spun out reams of fraudulent documents to foreclose quickly on as many homeowners as they could.
La Costa Town Square is a mixed-use development that is starting construction in SE Carlsbad. There will be 253,000 sf of retail, 50,000 sf of office space, a gas station, and 98 homes built by Davidson Communities and Taylor Morrison.
It also happens to be adjacent to La Costa Oaks, where this home is located.
This REO was foreclosed in October, 2012, so they got it to market fairly quickly following the trustee sale. The first NOD was filed in 2009, prior to this tragic event that occurred at the property:
Our humble thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. These senseless acts of random violence upon innocent people will hopefully be discussed until a solution or solutions are found to stop them.
What does it mean for real estate?
Home buyers will gravitate towards the more secluded, private settings in an attempt to gain a more safe and secure feeling. Gates, alarms, cameras, and other security devices will likely be appreciated, and all sorts of home-security kits will be offered.
Shy away from buying homes that have an exposed, out-in-the-open feeling. Those may not have registered any concern when we were kids, but it is a different world now. People are much more aware of their own personal security, and will be making home-buying decisions with those in mind.
