Distressed Properties Sale Articles

Record job losses continued to drive Detroit distressed properties, based on studies by the Brookings Institution and real estate firms.

The Brookings report said that the Detroit metro area suffered a total job loss of 15.6 percent over the period from the start of the recession to the final quarter of 2009. Only two metro areas suffered worse than Detroit: New Orleans, which posted a total job loss of 16.4 percent, and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area, which suffered a 17-percent job loss rate.

There were only two metro areas which gained jobs during the recession: the Texas metro areas of McAllen-Mission-Edinburgh and Austin. The McAllen area gained 0.7 percent more jobs and Austin gained 0.4 percent more jobs.

Of the 100 large metro areas surveyed by Brookings, only 21 areas posted job growth rates in the last quarter of 2009. Additionally, almost two-thirds were not showing rates of post-recession job recovery that approach the rates of job recovery after the recessions in the 1980s, 1990s and in 2001.

According to data from the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, the Detroit unemployment rate in December decreased to 14.9 percent, down from the November rate of 15.4 percent but far above the December 2009 rate of 10.6 percent.

But some local leaders have been saying that the actual jobless rate was closer to 50 percent, as the official unemployment figures do not include part-time workers looking for better jobs and job seekers who have given up their job hunting efforts.

In February, the number of distressed properties in Detroit continued to surge. Foreclosure postings in Wayne County, which includes Detroit, reached 5,782 filings, a staggering spike of 69 percent from filings 12 months before. Detroit, which functions as the administrative city of Wayne County, was among the largest cities in the U.S. and in Michigan before the collapse of the auto industry.

Amid the continued spike in foreclosures in February, local real estate brokers were encouraged when the price median and nondistressed sales improved in metro Detroit.

In Wayne County, the price median rose to $15,157, an increase of more than 26 percent compared to the February 2009 median. Total sales of non-foreclosures also surged to 590 units while foreclosure sales dropped from 1,359 units to 1,057 units.

With these initial improvements in prices, it is hoped that investors and owner-occupants who bought Detroit distressed properties finally see improvements in their prospects for profits.

Boston distressed properties continued to surge in suburban communities, based on records from Warren Group, the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association and local realtor associations.

Previously, the foreclosure problem was contained in the center of the city and in lower-income communities, but as the economy worsened and executive-level positions were included in layoffs, the claws of foreclosure crept into upscale neighborhoods in the suburbs.

Not only primary homes were affected; vacation houses in white-collar suburban neighborhoods were swept up into the vortex of the foreclosure crisis.

According to the Massachusetts Office of Labor and Workforce Development, unemployment in the state in December hit 9.1 percent, a sharp jump from the November rate of 8.3 percent. The Merrimack Valley posted record job losses, pushing up the jobless rate in the Lawrence-Methuen area to a staggering 13.7 percent and the jobless rate in the Billerica-Lowell area to 9.7 percent.

The only places that posted rates lower than the statewide rate was Peabody, with 9.1 percent, and the Haverhill-Amesbury area, with 8.9 percent.

Kevin Cuff, head of the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association, said that many of the suburban families whose homes entered listings of distressed properties in Boston had strong credit scores and were earning incomes much higher than most in the area. Because of their high levels of income, they were able to buy bigger and more beautiful homes, but when they lost their jobs, they could no longer make their loan payments.

Foreclosure filings in Billerica surged by 36 percent year-over-year to 157 while postings in Middleton rose from only three in 2008 to 25 filings in 2009.

In Essex, Andover, Beverly, Manchester-by-the-Sea and other suburban areas, foreclosure auctions were being held by Stanley Paine Auctioneers at a rate of ten to 12 auctions a day.

Among the homes auctioned off were a two-family house in Danvers that was sold off for $167,000; a house in Newbury that was taken back by lender Bank of America because nobody topped its starting price of $434,738; and a waterfront house in Essex which was sold off for $505,000.

In Lynn, the biggest city in Essex, a total of 313 homes were sold at public auctions last year, many of which were located in middle-income neighborhoods.

According to the Neighborhood Legal Services and United Way, the number of Boston distressed properties has been rising in the suburbs mainly because of job losses and sharp reductions in income.

Atlanta distressed properties have crept into almost every sector of real estate in the metro area, aside from the single-family subsector, as condos are getting sold off at auctions, stores and offices are getting foreclosed and schools are getting closed.

Distressed home listings are expected to soar with underwater properties throughout the country, as more and more mortgages become underwater.

Buy fixer upper homes for sale using 203(k) loans from the Federal Housing Administration, so you can make repairs immediately without worrying where to get the money for materials and labor.

A distressed property auction in Orange County, California is being held nearly every day. The county auctions may be conducted in a different way compared to other public auctions conducted elsewhere, but the requirements and the general proceedings are almost the same.

Distressed commercial property postings in Dallas are soaring. For the March public auction, more than 250 commercial properties representing $183 million worth of delinquent loans have been posted.

Distressed property listings surged by 29 percent in Columbus, Georgia in February this year, according to legal notices filed in the city courthouse for the March 2 foreclosure auction.

The number of distressed property owners is still surging in San Luis Obispo County, California, based on data from a real estate research company based in San Diego.

The list of distressed homes is now growing sharply in cities previously untouched by the foreclosure crisis in the early months of the meltdown.