“Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out.”
– Edwin Markham
By KATHLEEN DOLER, FOR INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY Posted 03/06/2014 04:38 PM ET
Even though overall foreclosure numbers continue to decrease across the U.S. year over year, auctions have picked up in many states recently as investors grab remaining bargains.
The increases come amid questions about the path ahead. Some industry watchers see foreclosures and auctions winding down early next year. Others note many markets are already at pre-bust levels or expect foreclosures will still be getting mopped up in certain markets well into 2015 and beyond.
Some investors and flippers intend to go hard this year and then adapt their business strategies after 2015. For others, a foreclosure slowdown means little, because their time-proven tactics predate the property bust.
Savvy players are also specializing in certain types of properties aimed at specific buyers or renters — a strategy that helps them compete with big institutional investors that have been scooping up foreclosures.
Arlington, Va., flipper Lance Young says he buys houses “other people think are teardowns.”
He’s not afraid to gut a house and fix it, even spending six months on some flips. If it’s “truly deplorable,” he’s in.
“When you walk into a house and you smell urine, you’re really smelling money,” he says. Some homes “look really bad, but when you look closer, and you look at the bones, you realize the house can be fixed.”
Young flips rowhouses, condos, townhouses and single-family homes. But he operates exclusively in Washington, D.C.’s Beltway, selling to government movers and shakers, or the residents of “Imperial Rome,” as he calls the capital.
Price Gains Boost Foreclosures
Scheduled foreclosure auctions nationwide dropped 8% in January from a year earlier but rose in 27 states, including Oregon (up 326%), Connecticut (up 223%), Maryland (up 113%), New York (up 73%), and Nevada (up 73%), according to RealtyTrac.
It added that foreclosure auctions in New York were at the highest monthly level since October 2010 and scheduled foreclosure auctions in Nevada were at the highest level since February 2012.
What’s driving foreclosures and auctions? Price increases.
“When prices are falling, banks are much more willing to entertain short sales . . . as a way to cut losses,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.
But with home prices now rising in many areas, he said, even if it takes six months to foreclose on a home “it’s going to be worth more (later) than it is today.”
Some investors have noticed the uptick. Alex Sifakis, president of JWB Real Estate Capital in Jacksonville, Fla., says he’s seeing an increase in properties coming to auction, but he hasn’t been buying at auctions recently due to heavy competition from institutions, which have driven up prices. Instead, he’s been finding potential sellers through mailings, billboards, and directly approaching distressed owners. Still, if more properties become available he’s willing to reconsider sourcing properties at auction.
Opportunities In Confusion
Other investors enjoy sleuthing out auction gems — and beating the competition. Very few people know how to play the auction game,” says Doug Clark, a Salt Lake City flipper and host of ABC’s “Big Money” TV show. “What I’m good at is sifting through them … researching all the background details on a house.”
There can be opportunity in confusion, as when a description on a trust deed might be wrong, he says. And that might be an advantage, because it might limit competition for a good property. “People might think the house is worse than it is.”
Although he’s based in Salt Lake City, Clark’s market goes well beyond the local area. He’s selling some of his flips and rehabbed rentals to investors in Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and England.
“The world has figured out that the U.S. is on sale,” he says, adding that U.S. properties are “safer real estate investments” than properties in many other countries.
But shifts are coming. Institutional investors just recently slowed purchases, says RealtyTrac. And the foreclosure flood? “With the trajectory we’re on now, we see the overall foreclosure activity numbers at pre-housing crisis levels by the first quarter of 2015,” Blomquist predicts.
However, he expects some markets will trail the national trend.
Beyond Foreclosures
Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services (PNC), believes foreclosures will decline nationally over 2014 and return to their historical averages in 2015.
“Rising house prices will also help reduce foreclosures, with fewer homeowners underwater on their mortgages,” he predicts, adding that job and income gains will improve the situation too.
“And the extremely high-quality loans that mortgage lenders have been writing in recent years will have very low foreclosure rates.”
Are the salad days over for flippers, as foreclosures wind down? Not according to Young, who’s been flipping since 1987.
Location and purchase price are keys to any flip, he says, regardless of how you buy it. “I always tell people: Don’t get set on just foreclosures.”
Read More At Investor’s Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/business-inside-real-estate/030614-692352-investors-boost-foreclosures-in-some-markets.htm#ixzz2vxLKQlag
Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook
A little about me and my expertise – video
COMMERCIAL – INVESTMENT BROKER – LANDSPECIALIST- ARIZONA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPs3kpKR4nY
I go to great heights to sell or purchase your land
http://walter-unger.com/?p=10118
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Phoenix,_Arizona_history
3
Facts of Arizona – year 1848 to 2013
http://walter-unger.com/?p=9507
4.
Feel free to contact Walter regarding any of these stories, the current market, distressed commercial real estate opportunities and needs, your property or your Investment Needs for Comercial Investment Properties in Phoenix.
View my listings and my profile at:
http://www.loopnet.com/profile/14101172900/Walter-Unger-CCIM/Listings/
Please go to my web-site and get all the newsflashes and updates in Commercial Investment Real Estate in Phoenix and Commercial Investment Properties in Phoenix daily
Follow me on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ungerccim
Follow me on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Walterunger
Follow Me on Linkedin:
https://www.google.com/search?q=linkedin+pub+walter+unger+ccim+782+920&channel=linkdoctor
Follow Me on Google+
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/114560883588623379451/
Walter Unger CCIM, CCSS, CCLS
I am a successful Commercial Investment Real Estate Broker in Arizona now for 20 years and I worked with banks and their commercial REO properties for 3 years. I am also a commercial landspecialist in Phoenix and a Landspecialist in Arizona.
WHETHER YOU LEASE OR OWN
NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOU TO EXPAND, UPGRADE OR INVEST.
we are at on the a rise of the cycle in Commercial Real Estate. so there is only one way and it’s called we are going up and now is the time for you to expand, upgrade or invest in Commercial Properties in Phoenix. The prices on deals I may get you will not be around forever.
WAITING TO SELL YOUR LAND ? TIMES CHANGE / IT’S TIME
We barely could give land away the last few years, but times are changing. Even in those meager years, I sold more land across the state than most other brokers. Before the real estate crash I was a land specialist in Arizona with millions of dollars of transactions, but then I had to change and also sell other commercial investment properties, which was fun, but I am a Commercial Landspecialist in Arizonal, a Commercial Land Specialist in Phoenix and love to sell land, one acre to thousands of acres.
If you have any questions about Commercial Investment Properties in Phoenix or Commercial Investment Properties in Arizona, I will gladly sit down with you and share my expertise and my professional opinion in Commercial Properties in Phoenix or Commercial Properties in Arizona with you.Obviously I am also in this to make money, but it could be a win-win situation for all of us.
Please reply by e-mail walterunger@ccim.net or call me on my cell 520-975-5207 or Office:480-948-5554
PLEASE NOTE, I CHANGED BROKERAGES BUT CELL PHONE AND E-MAIL STAY THE SAME.
Thank You
Walter
Walter Unger CCIM
Associate Broker, West USA Commercial Real Estate Advisers
7077 E. Marilyn Road, Bldg 4, Suite 130
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
Cell: 520-975-5207
Office : 480-948-5554
Fax: (480-658-1172
View my listings and my profile at:
http://www.loopnet.com/Profile/14101172900/Walter-Unger-CCIM/
a little about me and my expertise – video
commercial-investment real estate adviser-land specialist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPs3kpKR4nY
Delivering the New Standard of Excellence in Commercial Real Estate
- Commercial Real Estate Scottsdale
- Commercial Real Estate Phoenix
- Commercial Real Estate Arizona
- Commercial Investment Properties Phoenix
- Commercial Investment Properties Scottsdale
- Commercial Investment Properties Arizona
- Land Specialist Arizona
- Arizona Land Specialist
- Land Specialist Phoenix
- Phoenix Land Specialist
- Land For Sale Phoenix
- Land for sale Arizona
- Commercial Properties For Sale Phoenix
- Commercial Real Estate Sales Phoenix
- Commercial Properties Phoenix
- Commercial Properties Arizona
- Commercial Land Specialist Phoenix
- Commercial Land Phoenix
- Multifamily land Phoenix
- Retail Land Phoenix
- Industrial Land Phoenix
- Land Commercial Phoenix
- Land Retail Phoenix
- Land Industrial Phoenix
- Land Multifamily Phoenix
- Industrial Land for sale Phoenix
- Land Industrial
- P
- Investment Real Estate
Disclaimer of Liability
The information in this blog-newsletter is for general guidance only, and does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services, investment advice, or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional tax, accounting, legal, or other competent advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional adviser who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation. Tax articles in this e-newsletter are not intended to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding accuracy-related penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer. The information is provided “as is,” with no assurance or guarantee of completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of the information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose.