Where To Find Foreclosures & REO's

If you're looking for foreclosed property, or REO's as they are often called in the real estate and banking business, try some of these websites ...

• For Freddie Mac properties: http://www.homesteps.com/;
• For HUD properties: www.hud.gov/homes/homesforsale.cfm;
• For Veterans Administration guaranteed properties: www.ocwen.com/reo/home.cfm
• For Countrywide properties in the west: www.reconstrustco.com/?Action=PortalForeclosures&linkid=
• Other Countrywide Properties: www.countrywide.com/purchase/freo.asp;
• Wachovia (Horizon Management Services): http://www.horizonmsi.com/;
• Integrated Asset Services: http://www.iasreo.com/;
• The Premiere Asset Services public website is: http://www.pasreo.com/.

Give these a try next time you are looking for REO properties.

For more information about real estate in the Tampa Bay area, visit my website at http://www.thestpeterealestatesite.com/.

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What's Selling? What Isn't?

Being the intellectual that you are, you may spend your days and sleepless nights pondering such age old questions as "What is the true meaning of life?", "Big bang or divine plan" or the even more confounding "Paper or plastic?".

For months now, I've been wrestling with the seemingly unanswerable question of "What's selling and what isn't?" in the world of Pinellas County real estate.

I've done a little research -- very little, I assure you -- and come up with some interesting if not too enlightening facts that may shed some light on this darkest of questions.

At the end of September, 2008, there were 15,703 residential properties listed for sale in the Pinellas County Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Of these listings, 787 were sold during that month -- proof that there are a few buyers out there who are ready, willing and able. Those sales include both single family homes and condos.

Ah, but what did those 787 people actually buy?

Here's the list of the most active sales categories during September for single family homes ...

1. 11.2% -- $120,000 to $139,999
2. 10.3% -- $140,000 to $159,999
3. 09.9% -- $200,000 to $249,999 and $300,000 to $399,999 (tie)

The least active list is composed of higher priced properties, as you probably expect. Here are the least active price ranges.

1. 0.6% -- $900,000 to $999,999
2. 0.6% -- $800,000 to $899,999
3. 0.7% -- $700,000 to $799,999

Single family homes priced under $100,000 also saw very little activity; probably because there are not very many of them as a percentage of overall listings. (Gadzooks! What stunning insight I have on these matters!)

What about condos? Well, here's the ranking ...

1. 12.4% -- $200,000 to $249,999
2. 11.2% -- $120,000 to $139,999
3. 10.8% -- $100,000 to $119,999

The least active prices for condos were in the higher price ranges ...

1. 0.0% -- $700,000 to $799,999
2. 0.8% -- $800,000 to $899,999
3. 0.8% -- $900,000 to $999,999

Lower priced condos, those under $59,900, saw very little activity with sales of only 1.2% of the total. I suspect that is because there are few priced that low. (Hey, give me another Gadzooks on that as well.)

Well, there you have it. You can draw your own conclusions from this mountain of fascinating data. Or, you can conclude that the data support no conclusion. Or, you can conclude that no conclusion is worth the effort required to create a conclusion.

As for me, I'm off to resolve that confusing matter involving chickens and eggs.

For more information on real estate in the Pinellas County area, visit my website at http://www.thestpeterealestatesite.com/.

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September Sales Figures Remain Flat But Prices Drop Bigtime

The September real estate figures are in for Pinellas County. They remain flat.

Let's look at the Absorption Rate (AR) for September for single family homes. The rate stood at 6.2%. In July and August it was 6.1%, virtually identical. For condos, the rate got worse in September. It stood at 3.6%. In July and August it was 4.3%. Remember, AR is the inventory turn and is calculated by dividing the number of units sold in the month by the total number of properties listed in the MLS.

For single family homes, there were 8,642 properties listed in the MLS for September. This is virtually the same as in August (8,621) and July (8,643). Clearly, there has been no reduction in inventory for the past three months. Sales are flat. For September, 536 houses were sold. In August, there were 526 sales and in July just 529 for Pinellas County.

The biggest bit of news for September was that prices seem to have fallen substantially. The median price for a single family home in Pinellas County for the month was $165,000. In August it was $175,900 and in July it was $180,000. Do you see a trend? The last time the median price for a single family home in Pinellas County was at the current level was February, 2003. Any seller who does not keep these figures in mind will probably overprice his property and see it sit unsold for months on end. The real estate market is extremely price sensitive right now. There are buyers out there, but they are only making offers on homes that represent great values. Sellers have to recognize that market value today is about the same as it was in early 2003 for single family homes.

For condos, well, things are not any better either.

In Pinellas County, there were 7,061 condos in the MLS for September. That is pretty close to the 7,134 in August and 7,276 in July. This slight drop in inventory can not be attributed to sales as only 251 condos were sold in September. In August there were 306 condos sold and in July there were 312 condo sales.

What is more, condo prices have flattened. The median price for September stood at $150,000. In August it was $150,800 and in July it was $152,000.

The last time we saw a median for condos at $150,000 was in November, 2004; in December 2003 it was $151,000. We can only hope that the fall and winter buying season will breathe some new life into the condo market, but recent national and international financial problems which are resulting in the erosion of buying power among retirees may limit the number of condo sales in the Pinellas County area and statewide.

So, there you have it. We hear news reports that in some areas of Florida, such as the Miami-Dade area, that sales have taken a bit of an upturn recently. The reports also point out that this upturn is driven by low prices. Today's buyers are motivated to buy based on price. So, if you are a seller, you should keep in mind that in today's market the price you want may not be the price you get -- or even the price you should ask.

For more information on real estate in the Tampa Bay area, visit my website, http://www.thestpeterealestatesite.com/.

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Where Do Agents Spend Their Time?

Ever wonder what your real estate agent is doing between the time a contract is signed to buy your house and the closing?

Most likely, a whole lot more than you think.

A recent time study shows that agents spend most of their time in three areas:
1. Showing Property and Negotiating Contracts;
2. Supervising Financing/Funding Matters;
3. Removing Contingencies From The Contract So The Property Can Close.

Of those three things, agents spend 10 percent of their time dealing with financing matters. They spend 25 percent of their time showing the property and negotiating the final contract. The remaining 65 percent of time spent on a real estate transaction by an agent involves handling and removing contingencies from the contract so your property can close.

A lot of this time spent removing contingencies is spent by the agent on the phone, arranging inspections and repairs, double checking closing procedures and progress, dealing with title matters, contacting various vendors to the sale and a host of other related duties that buyers and sellers never see. Sellers and buyers need to remember that virtually nothing gets done toward completing a closing unless the agent makes it happen in a correct and timely manner.

So, next time you think your agent gets paid an awful lot of money for the time spent completing a transaction, remember this. First, you probably don't see all the hours of work that go into completing a closing. And second, agents doesn't sell time, they sell houses.

For more information on real estate in the Tampa Bay area, visit my website at www.TheStPeteRealEstateSite.com.

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Get A CLUE Before You Buy A House

Too many people without a CLUE are buying homes today.

CLUE stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE). Essentially, this is a loss history that allows insurance companies to access prior loss information on a property. Sometimes insurance is unavailable because the property has had too many reported claims. Remember, this is a property report, not a report on the owner.

CLUE is actually a clearinghouse of information on claims made on a property. According to buyer's agent Debbie Deeb of Tourtelot Brothers Real Estate in St. Petersburg, smart buyers and their agents should make their contracts contingent upon the seller providing a CLUE report that is acceptable to the buyer; if not acceptable, the buyer should have the option of cancelling the offer and receiving a full refund of any deposit money held in escrow. Only the property owner can obtain a CLUE report according to federal privacy laws. The report can be ordered from the seller's current insurance agent. The CLUE report gives a 5-year history of dates and types of losses and the amount paid for each loss during that time period.

This sounds reasonable to me from a property buyer's viewpoint, although some sellers may not be too crazy about it as a contingency. In this market, however, I think most sellers will go along with it if it means the difference between completing the sale or not. Thanks and a tip-of-the-hat to Debbie Deeb for passing this factoid along.

For more information about real estate in the Tampa Bay area, visit my website at www.TheStPeteRealEstateSite.com.

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