Bay Area Sweet Digs

May 12, 2008

Berkeley Foreclosures: Tread Carefully Before Pouncing

foreclosed home sign Berkeley Foreclosures: Tread Carefully Before Pouncing

The housing downturn is not proving as painful for Berkeley as for some of its neighbors, if the number of bank-listed foreclosures can be taken as an indicator. Redfin currently lists just 5 bank-owned homes in the city compared to around 150 in Oakland and 30 in San Leandro.

There are many more out there, of course, as specialist sites such as Realty Store, Foreclosure Connections and Foreclosure Warehouse testify.

Because buying a foreclosed home is a different process from buying from an owner via the traditional route, it’s worth doing even more homework than usual before you put a bid in on a house. Read up on the state law on foreclosure purchases here for starters.

The golden rules about buying property apply even more stringently when looking at a bank-owned one: research the market thoroughly; avoid auctions because you’ll likely be buying sight unseen; research home values because a bank-owned price isn’t necessarily a bargain; get pre-approved for a mortgage because some lenders won’t lend on a distressed property; and order an inspection on the home — given that the owner was running out of money it is a fair guess home maintenance wasn’t top priority for them.

Useful tips on buying foreclosed homes can be found here and here.

Berkeley Foreclosures: Tread Carefully Before Pouncing

[Photo credit: images.publicradio.org]

Posted by tracey.taylor on May 12, 2008 2:20 PM | del.icio.us | Digg

  • The point I was trying to make is that when it comes to listing accuracy MLSs are as good as it gets. Consumer malignment comes from poor self-regulation on matters like days-on-market/relisting, bad photos and incomplete listings. Of course, not all MLSs are alike…

    http://losangeles.redfin.com/b...

    Shopping on ebay or craigslist can be frustrating because user generated content isn't always so reliable but it's better than the alternate; not having these places to go to. Our users always ask for more inventory rather than less even if it means that last 10% of all homes available on the market is noisier in terms of accuracy.
  • Toady
    In the end, Bahn, I appreciate that Redfin is providing me with data. Philip is right, the EBRD would be the most ideal source, but he pays for that. I get my data from you guys for free.

    So, thanks. You guys do a great job.
  • Philip Kaake
    Maligned??? They are the source that agents use, and as you say are the most accurate. We pay a fee just as anyone would to belong to a professional organization. The problem I find with these "other" sources is they are simply not accurate. I have viewed properties listed on yahoo real estate as active listings that had already been sold. Similar with other real estate websites, Trulia comes to mind. Adding more sources will give you more information however I am skeptical it will be more accurate.
  • Hi Toady:

    As much as MLSs are maligned they are a much more accurate and up-to-date source than the third parties the FSBOs and foreclosures come from. The inventory of these listings will become more accurate over time as we add new sources.

    -Bahn
  • Toady
    Sorry, Tracey. I didn't mean to sound snarky. I'm sure it is very difficult to maintain an up-to-date, accurate, and comprehensive list. At least Redfin is way better than Trulia, which is basically useless.

    Since I'm not a realtor, I have to cross-reference four or five different publicly available sources, and even then, I know I'm only getting, at best, a chunk of the whole picture.

    So Philip, I know of

    1324 Santa Fe
    1255 Ashby
    2728 Wallace
    1731 6th
    1605 Carleton
    2928 Otis
    2234 Russell

    Which are the other two?
  • Tracey: I don't know where Redfin is getting it's information but it is not accurate. I find many of these sites have dubious acuracy. Sometimes they list pre-foreclosrue or NOD as foreclosures. Regardless unless they are connected to the MLS they are usually wrong. When a property is entered into our MLS I can search to see if it is an REO or bank owned.
    Berkeley has 9 REO's Oakland has 470 and San Leandro has 73 this took me 2 minutes. As with anything in this business if you want to get accurate up to the minute information on an area get a good agent. Want a little more real world info on buying REO's I put up some info on my blog.
    http://www.kaakeproperties.com...
  • Susan Brady
    If you are working with a realtor, they can check on the price as soon as it is recorded in the MLS system (usually by the listing agent). I have found that there can be a lag time for an agent to do the input of a sale price, although some are very prompt.
  • Leigh: the county records of all sales prices of homes sold in the Bay Area are published in the Chronicle on Sundays (and available online at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.... They're supplied by CalResource. But you have to wait several weeks for the prices to show up.

    Anyone out there know of a quicker way of finding out?
  • Leigh
    I've a question -- do you guys know the best way to find what recently sold homes went for? Thanks!
  • Today: Okaly Dokaly. Eagle-eyed Toady strikes right again. Thank you for providing a more up-to-date picture of Berkeley foreclosures.

    In Redfin's defense, they have only recently started listing foreclosures and they would be the first to admit there's still lots of work to be done -- see CEO Glenn Kellman's post at http://blog.redfin.com/blog/20....

    I think the extent of that work will be clear when they see your comment! Thank you.
  • Toady
    Hi Tracey:

    Again, I have to knock the accuracy of Redfin's listings. 1603 Russell and 2340 8th are both in contract, though 8th has been pending for something like a month, so maybe it's fallen out and is BOM. But it first listed back in March.

    1330 Harmon closed on April 18 for $440K.

    2600 Grant closed on April 18 for $690K.

    1307 Carrison closed on April 30 for $320K.

    The bank-owned properties that I'm aware of in Berkeley are 1324 Santa Fe, 1255 Ashby, 2728 Wallace, 1731 6th, and 1605 Carleton, though 2436 Stuart goes up for auction on Thursday.
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