Comments on: Where Have All the Foreclosures Gone?

By: The Hidden Foreclosure Market | Redfin Los Angeles Sweet Digs

The Hidden Foreclosure Market | Redfin Los Angeles Sweet Digs — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:17:04 +0000

[...] in May, I blogged about the significant number of homes in the Redfin database that were clearly bank-owned, yet had [...]

By: Are We Headed for a Depression? This Guy Thinks So | Redfin Los Angeles Sweet Digs

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:10:21 +0000

[...] few weeks back, I wrote about how banks are holding on to foreclosed properties instead of putting them onto the MLS. They’re hoping the market will rebound in time for [...]

By: A Housing Recovery Starting in 2012? | Redfin Los Angeles Sweet Digs

A Housing Recovery Starting in 2012? | Redfin Los Angeles Sweet Digs — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:28:53 +0000

[...] Recent Redfin posts: Three Countrywide Foreclosures Where Have All the Foreclosures Gone? [...]

By: Amit

Amit — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:49:45 +0000

I think this phenomenon is a combination of the banks being completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of foreclosures and their desire to minimize their loss. Loans that defaulted close to the price that the bank can sell it for today might be put on the market immediately. Whereas homes that had a purchase price way out of whack from what today’s price might be kept on the books until the market improves. Its anyone’s guess. Perhaps someone who works in the industry and knows folks working in the loss mitigation dept of some of these banks would know better. I personally cannot see banks maintaining a large volume of assets on their books and managing them for an extended period of time, its just not in their DNA and I suspect they would probably prefer the one-time write down instead.

By: Cindy Allen

Cindy Allen — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:56:33 +0000

Interesting, Tim. The lenders are hoarding these listings. Once they get too overwhelmed, we might see an avalanche of listings flooding the market. They can’t hold onto them too long, unless, as the article I quoted says, they decided to start property-management divisions to keep up with maintenance and repairs.

By: Cindy Allen

Cindy Allen — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:54:42 +0000

Hey, E: Thanks for commenting. I would tell anyone looking for bank-owned homes that aren’t on the MLS to go to redfin.com and do a search centered on the area you’re interested in. In the search field, unclick everything except Past Sales and search for six months. Then scroll through for properties with weird, uneven sales prices, like the ones I mentioned. Then go to Propertyshark.com and find out who the lender/owner is.

By: Cindy Allen

Cindy Allen — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:52:23 +0000

Jan, if it’s not on the MLS, your best bet is to contact lenders directly for their lists of foreclosures. The point of my post was to say that lenders are holding on to their foreclosures and are not releasing them to the public.

By: Tim Hebb

Tim Hebb — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:37:14 +0000

One famous example: Jose Canseco only recently publicly acknowledged that his Encino home was foreclosed on, but the foreclosure was recorded in February and the lender, WaMu, still doesn’t have it on the market. A WaMu rep told me the bank has been overwhelmed by the number of problem loans on their books and don’t have enough trained personnel to address them.

By: E

Thu, 08 May 2008 21:42:39 +0000

There are plenty of REO’s in nice areas that aren’t listed on the MLS. Larchmont Village, Los Feliz, Hancock Park and other trendy neighborhoods all have their “hidden stock”.

There are also plenty of REO’s that appear on Redfin in all of the nicer areas that don’t show up as a “red house” on Redfin but rather a “Green House” yet the listing description says “Bank Owned/REO” and is usually listed by some rinky-dink real estate outfit.

The foreclosures that are actually listed are the shoddier houses of the bunch. If they would release some of their good stock maybe more people would buy as the sellers certainly don’t seem to be facing the fact that they need to lower their prices.

I expect that in the trendier neighborhoods where people really stretched to “get in”, we will see masses of foreclosures over the next couple years.

Who is going to support bailing out all the “Hollywood Types” who overextended themselves to get their house in the hills?

By: jan

jan — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:40:15 +0000

I hear foreclosures and reo everywhere.

Where can i find foreclosure or reo listings online along with the contact details of the owner(bank etc)

REalty trac doesnt help much .only gives the home specs (number of beds, baths etc)but no details like the mls listing

Please help