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Commercial Foreclosures Are Poised to Strike

Posted on May 29th, 2009 in Foreclosures | No Comments »

Commercial Foreclosures

Commercial foreclosures are clouding the skies and poised to strike at any moment. Banks and developers already cowed down with losses and huge vacancy rates are beginning to panic.

The banks in southern Nevada are getting ready for another blow having just absorbed the attack from residential foreclosures. Since January 2009 an increasing number of developers have run into default and threatened with foreclosure according to analysis.

Real Capital Analytics ranked Las Vegas after New York and a step before Los Angeles in the number of commercial properties facing trouble. The value of wobbling commercial property loans have shot up from $4.7 billion during the early months of 2008 to $6.4 billion said Jessica Ruderman of Real Capital Analytics.

Slowly the nation is waking up to the gravity of the approaching storm. 26% of the commercial market is in the foreclosure zone – either defaulting or already facing foreclosure notice. The properties include industrial complexes, offices, retail outlets, hotel and eateries, casinos, condos as well as apartments. From the tendencies it seems that the commercial foreclosure outbreak is going to break the record of the real estate crisis during the early 90’s. At that time it had been fuelled by savings and loan crisis and it were these factors that brought about recession.

According to Wall Street Journal the banks could take a beating of $250 billion in losses from commercial real estate and because of this 700 banks could collapse. It would worsen the credit freeze situation and government would be under pressure to start another set of bail out operations.

Kevin Higgins of Voit Commercial said, “I think we are just getting our feet wet from a commercial standpoint. We are not even at our ankles yet. I think the general public for sure has no idea. People on Wall Street aren’t even talking about it publicly. This isn’t just the local banks’ money. This is big money, Wall Street money that lent on this stuff.”

In Las Vegas already workers have been laid off, space downsized and some have pulled down shutters. Thus commercial vacancy has gone up with no takers. In desperation landlords are offering incentives with reduced rents. But that is not helping much to meet mortgage repayment targets. The result is foreclosures.

Restrepo Consulting predicted that there will be “a wave of commercial foreclosures in Southern Nevada, probably the peak occurring in 2010 and probably heavily concentrated in the office market, followed y the unanchored retail market.

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Foreclosures Are Forcing States to Make Budget Cuts

Posted on January 30th, 2009 in Foreclosures | No Comments »

Foreclosures in combination with the general slump in the economy are forcing states to make budget cuts to make up for yawning gaps between income and expenditure. Without cutting down on expenditure the gap cannot be closed. The government runs on the revenue that is collected. But due to foreclosures sale and purchase of property and land is grinding to a halt resulting in drastic fall in revenue collection.

Senator Steve Panagiotakos predicts that within the next two years there will be another loss of 125,000 jobs in Massachusetts. The fall in the real estate market triggered off the recession – the worst sine the Great Depression. The worst affected by foreclosures were those who had taken sub-prime mortgages with teaser rates. When the rates went up millions defaulted and fell into foreclosure. Nearly 11.7 million citizens are now underwater – their houses are worth less than the loan amount. Banks and financial bodies could not face up to the foreclosure onslaught and big names like Lehman Brothers collapsed. In September it reported a loss of $4 billion creating a record.

The result is that banks are not lending freely. Consumers are not spending causing business to grin to a halt.

In the last few years Massachusetts had come to rely too much on capital gains. Capital gains are taxes levied on profits from the sale of assets (stocks as well as bonds). Massachusetts was ranked third in 2006 for the relative importance of capital gains in its budget plans. In 2000 fiscal year the capital gains collected had reached an all time high record of $1.16 billion. But with the real estate market having undergone a sea change, fall is imminent. Panagiotkos said, “There is no doubt that capital gains will fall and fall dramatically.”

Meanwhile there is no hint of the recession being over. The economy continues to be depressed fueled by more unemployment and increasing number of foreclosures. In general recession continues for about ten months. Panagiotakos bemoaned, “We are already over the average. We’re thirteen months into this, and counting.”

Many ideas are coming forth so as to make municipalities less dependent on property tax collection. There are plans to impose taxes on hotels, local meals etc. Governor Patrick is planning a measure that will close a gap in telecommunication tax collections. Another controversial area is plans to reduce the negotiating power of unions in matters relating to municipal health insurance. Despite strong opposition from unions, the legislators feel that it will save millions for towns and cities.

Massachusetts Bank Foreclosures by Top Counties

Federal Funds To Mop Up Foreclosures

Posted on November 25th, 2008 in Foreclosures | No Comments »

Federal funds are on its way to mop up foreclosures. Southwest Ohio government had been assured last summer that it would be get over $25 million of federal help to help the regions that had been hardest hit by foreclosures. On 17th November 2008 it was announced which localities would be getting the most in Hamilton County and Cincinnati. In Hamilton County 15 communities would be getting the most from $7.97 million sanctioned for it, depending on the number of foreclosures in each. Colerain Township will benefit the most with $585,000. Here 844 houses had been foreclosed upon since 2004. There are 62,205 residents in the township. Except for Cincinnati this region has the highest proportion of foreclosures.

Springfield Township with a population of 39,755 will be getting $510,000 to address the problem of 610 foreclosed units.

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Foreclosure Situation Comparatively Better Along Alabama Coast

Posted on September 10th, 2008 in Foreclosures | No Comments »

Along the Alabama coast the foreclosure situation is better than what is happening in other parts of the country. About six months ago foreclosures in condominiums had reached its peak. New assessments are being sent out to help in the payment for insurance and that might change the picture.

Attorney Daniel Craven of Gulf Shores says that the financial situation right now is not critical and collective efforts have kept down the number of delinquencies. Craven is the representative of more than 100 condo and housing associations in this region. Nearly 24 million housing units come under the supervision of 300,800 house owner’s associations in the USA. New associations that have come up might be facing shortfalls because they have not had time to store up reserves. But the older associations may also be negatively impacted if they had failed to maintain the reserves.

According to Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau there are over 12,169 condos ready to be leased. All have formed associations and these are managed by rental agencies of the locality. With foreclosure raging thousands have been evicted. As such foreclosures have led to a high demand for rented accommodation. The average condo rent is $200 per month and might go up to a maximum of $1,500. The amount is related to the age and the size of the unit.

Linda Moore of Kaiser Realty says that they have had “very few foreclosures”. The ones that did suffer were before the market began to stumble. Her firm manages many condo associations. The owners that did have trouble had their units spread out in diverse complexes.

After the devastation of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 many associations assessed owners. This was required for making repairs that were not covered by insurance. In some instances the associations were under-insured. According to Craven the insurance rates had gone down to 60 cents per $1. Approximately this was the rate before the hurricane struck.

Associations are now more alert about disallowing delinquencies to roll into foreclosures. The owners are helped not to lag far behind in their dues and every possible help is given including updating of the liens allowing them time to put their finances in order.

With the exit of many from condos due to the foreclosure crisis those who remain behind have to pay the extra amount to cover common costs. Thus it is to the common interest of all to see that nobody is allowed to fall into foreclosure.

Alabama Bank Foreclosures by Top Counties

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Upscale Retirement Communities in Sumner Facing Foreclosure

Posted on September 1st, 2008 in Foreclosures | 2 Comments »

KBC of Belgium (New York branch) has filed foreclosure proceedings against upscale retirement communities in Sumner. The bank asked Judge Thomas Teodosio to allow the non-profit owner of the unit (Sumner on Ridgewood) to act as court receiver and see to the marketing and sale of the estate. The matter will be taken up Summit County Common Pleas Court.

Sumner has fallen behind by nearly $1.5 million including mortgage dues and other charges. Sumner is also defaulting in about $4 million property taxes and penalties connected with interest. The outstanding debt on the mortgage is approximately $34 million. The trustee board of Sumner readily agreed to the appointing of Jeffery T. Heintz partner of Brouse Mcdowell (law firm) as independent receiver. Heintz together with Sumner trustee chairperson Wane Rice met the residents occupying the communities to assure them that there would be no let down of services on their part due to this foreclosure hassle. Heintz reiterated, “The goal of everyone is to have this facility, in its current form, exist in perpetuity on solid financial footing.” 85-year-old David Wilson, the treasurer of association of residents, echoed these sentiments. Wilson’s wife said that they were not unduly worried or concerned – they will just “wait and see.”

When the campus on Ridgewood Road opened in 2003 the Wilsons were among the first occupants. Hitherto Sumner had operated a nursing home on Merriman Road. This was later expanded to become this new retirement community in Copley Township. It stands on 64 acres and has 180 residents. There are 22 villas (ranch style), 79 independent apartments, 40 assisted living quarters and 48 nursing home beds with skilled personnel in attendance. There are also centres for fitness and meditation, in-house television station, pools, auditorium, library, computer point, beauty salon, shop as well as deli.

Foreclosure sneaked in when from late 2007 Sumner failed in making necessary payments. Negotiations continued through 2008. Two prospective buyers had come forward but ultimately it did not materialize. Sumner has been very open about the foreclosure related matter and kept the occupants informed about the developments. Douglas Mansfield, attorney for KBC bank opined that the best thing would be to sell the retirement community to a buyer who would be able to maintain its high standards. A broker would have to be located to market and sell the prestigious unit. The County entertains the first lien on the estate.

New York Bank Foreclosures by Top Counties

Foreclosures Spiking in Central Ohio

Posted on August 8th, 2008 in Foreclosures | No Comments »

In central Ohio foreclosures spiked by 40% during the second quarter. Of the 50 metropolitan zones Columbus came to rank first during the second quarter according to RealtyTrac based in Irvine, California. It compiles data on real estate. Central Ohio was placed 31st on the foreclosure list with 6,825 foreclosure postings in this quarter. It calculated to a proportion of one house out of every 122 houses being in foreclosure. In Ohio 37,689 houses entered the foreclosure net during this quarter with a rate of one out ever o134 houses being foreclosed upon.

By foreclosure ReatlyTrac refers to all the three stages of the judicial process of foreclosure from default and auction notices to bank repossessions. Bank repossessions took up 30% of all the foreclosure operations across the country during this quarter. It is an increase of 24% from the first quarter, said James Saccacio, the CEO of RealtyTrac.

But Columbus has something to be thankful about – its position is far better than Stockton that heads the metro list with one foreclosure for each 15 houses. The worst hit markets were in the west and southeast. Second on the list was Riverside-San Bernardino in California State with a foreclosure rate of one house out of every 32 houses being in the red. Close on the heels follows Las Vegas with one out of every 25 houses being on the foreclosure list.

Among the metro areas those with the least number of foreclosures were Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton with one out of 317 being foreclosure listed. In Honolulu there was one foreclosure for every 250 houses.

According to RealtyTrac among the cities in Ohio, Toledo ranked 21st in the country with one foreclosure for every 92 units. Akron, Cleveland and Dayton ranked 22nd, 26th and 29th respectively. Their respective foreclosure rates were one out of 93 houses in Akron, one out of 108 houses in Cleveland and one out of 115 houses in Dayton. Cincinnati ranked 41st with one out of 161 houses being foreclosed upon.

Among the states Nevada topped the ranks with one foreclosure out of every 43 units. California came second with one for every 65 houses being foreclosed upon. Arizona came third with a foreclosure rate of one out of every 70 houses.

The most stable markets were witnessed in Vermont with a foreclosure rate of one foreclosure for every 8,366 houses. North Dakota came second with one foreclosure for every 6.035 units.

Distressed Americans Reaching Out To Websites On Foreclosures

Posted on August 6th, 2008 in Foreclosures | No Comments »

Distressed Americans are trying to reach out to websites that offer news and views on foreclosures and offer suggestions to combat the same. An increase of 53% in the viewer ship searching for the word foreclosures had been noticed since the past year, reported RealtyTrac, an online real estate database company of the country.

Mark Britton, of Avvo.com, expressed no surprise at the development. His website allowed viewers to rate lawyers and attorneys. He found that searches for eminent lawyers dealing with foreclosures had increased eight times during the last six months, and a foreclosure attorney handled 10 to 15 cases on a single day. Both the companies claim that the recent splurge in demand for their websites was due to the foreclosures crisis that had the nation in its grip and was intensifying. The Wall Street’s giant bears were horrified at the latest report on house foreclosures during the second quarter of the year. The sub-prime debacle had hurtled more and more borrowers to search for sites that might navigate them out of their present situation.

Attorneys engaged in counseling on foreclosures mortgages also were highly in demand, according to study on searches.SCOR launched a search marketing tool to track searches in the country last year. The com.Score research firm reported that in June, 2008 alone 1.82 billion people searched for the term foreclosures, projecting an increase of 117% in one year.

It also said that 14.5% searched for the term distressed properties and visited the website Foreclosure.com which helped people sell off distressed properties at a discount and was in business for the past ten years. This phenomenon is taken to be the natural outcome of the nationwide foreclosures sales that has been soaring since the past two years and in the states of Nevada and California in particular. According to com.Score, RealtyTrac, which provides online database information on foreclosed properties of the entire nation and Trulia.com another search engine on real estate, are experiencing heavy traffic related to foreclosures, especially in the second quarter of the year.

Subsequent to the search on foreclosures, the distressed borrowers visited the US government’s website on housing and development HUD and another website Hud.com to pick up relevant tips that might help them to avoid foreclosures and bankruptcy. The sites also provided information regarding government assistance to sub-prime borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgage and whether they qualify for it or any other special loans offered by the government that they might be eligible for.

Quick Action Stops Foreclosure In Baltimore

Posted on July 30th, 2008 in Foreclosures | No Comments »

This story has a happy ending when quick action stopped a foreclosure in Baltimore. Wilbert and Patricia Savage lived in a neat house. But when two mortgage payments were missed, 75 years old Wilbert began to despair. Suddenly he remembered a housing counselor named Roy Miller who worked with a non-profit body. Roy had helped other neighbours who had been in similar foreclosure related trouble.

The couple went to meet Roy who took the initiative in calling on their lender. Jointly they were able to work out a viable repayment plan. It was something the Savages would never have been able to do on their own.

Foreclosure numbers are increasing all across the country but Belair-Edison has suddenly emerged as an island of refuge. It is a model that can be emulated elsewhere says the local housing officials. During the last ten years Belair-Edicon took on the character of a lower and middle-income region situated on the borders of East Baltimore. It has suffered from high foreclosure numbers. Within ten years starting from 1993 one in three families or individuals have lost their houses to foreclosures. But those were the peak years. Since then the numbers have fallen by over a third. Thomas E.Perez, secretary of labour, licensing and regulation in Maryland, said that the credit goes mainly the Miller group – Belair-Edison Neighbourhood Initiative. The firm took the help of public records and grass roots marketing to reach out to the high-risk borrowers before they fell too deep into the foreclosure well. The general tendency is that people feel ashamed and try to hide behind a shell of silence and inaction. But this delay spells disaster, commented Perez.

The Savage couple had bought their house in 1988 for $55,000 with a loan that carried a low interest from Veterans Administration. By 2006 they found repair and other bills had piled up. Offers came for refinancing. From an advertisement announced over the radio they discovered that for a loan of $117,000 they would have to pay $800 per month. At that time the offer seemed reasonable. But last autumn the payments adjusted and spiked to $1,181 causing them to fall behind in monthly payments.

Miller is now helping the elderly couple to refinance through the city to a low cost loan. For the first time the couple found some advice about budgeting and has begun to cut down on non-essentials like lottery tickets, eating out and extra shopping.

Facade of Bipartisan Bonhomie Cracks over Debt Relief

Posted on July 30th, 2008 in Foreclosures | No Comments »

Only a month ago Bush and the Democrat leaders had cheered each other over their handshake to tackle the foreclosure problem cooperatively. But on Thursday the façade of bipartisan bonhomie cracked over foreclosure relief. The bone of contention was the economic stimulus plan.

The Republicans in the Senate toed the line of Bush and blocked a bill brought by the Democrats that would allow more funds for foreclosure counseling and permit bankruptcy judges to reduce the terms of the mortgage for those about to be evicted because of foreclosure.

The Democrats proposed plans to bail out thousands of foreclosed victims together with their lenders by allowing the government to purchase and restructure house loans amounting to billions of dollars. The Bush administration flatly rejecting it asked the Congress to extend without limits tax cuts – the scheme that would expire on 2010.

The two parties crossed ideological swords when data showed that the health of the economy was worse than what it was before. The debate raged over whether the government should attempt to stabilize house prices, stop foreclosures and even go to the length of bailing out troubled lenders.

The chairperson of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke said to the Banking Committee that he did not think that either recession or stagflation was in the offing. He repeated what he had said earlier – growth would be very slow this year. Investors were in shivers when he added that he expected many small banks to fail. The Dow Jones responded by declining 112 point in its industrial average.

The Democrats want to go ahead with its plan of beefing up the real estate market with federal funds, allowing more bargaining powers to the foreclosure victims when they talk with the lenders and allowing the government to purchase troubled house loans.

It is an open secret that 20% of the sub-prime mortgages were made to those with low credit scores, low income and prone to default. Even those with good credit history are falling into the foreclosure danger zone by defaulting. If the Democrats had their way then the bill would fund $4 billion for state and local plans to fix up abandoned house, $10 billion for the states to raise money by floating tax-free revenue bonds for the purpose of raising low cost mortgage money and provide another $200 million for counseling to help borrowers overcome foreclosures.

Foreclosures Spike In Bell County

Posted on July 27th, 2008 in Foreclosures | No Comments »

Bell County foreclosures continue to spike at a galloping pace. Foreclosure Listing Service Inc. gives the information that the foreclosure postings for August 2008 have gone up by 53% from the August of 2007.

Bonnie Brown the vice president and foreclosure analyst of FLS commented that foreclosure postings have surged forward again in Bell County making a record with its second highest monthly numbers. This is the 10th running month that the foreclosure numbers in the county have crossed 100. She further clarified that 90% of the foreclosed properties totaling to $17 million comprises of single-family houses, condos and town houses. Currently, since the last one-year lenders have filed foreclosures against property worth $111 million in the county. The median price of the properties being foreclosed upon in this year and month stands at $108,000.

Bell County foreclosures noted for August shows the second largest numbers in the nine counties comprising of Central Texas. Austin showed a bigger increase of 62%. The loans of Veterans Administrations make up for 45% of the residential houses that are being foreclosed upon this year. This is the single largest kind of loan that has defaulted in Bell County. For 2008 the VA foreclosures have shot up by 71% from what it was in 2007.

Deborah Huddleston specializes in VA loans in Killeen. She is hearing and noting a lot of foreclosure activity in recent months. She opines that VA loans are slipping into foreclosure for multiple reasons. The deployment of services to the Middle East wars causes stress to the families. Secondly the VA loans do not require any down payment. This does not tie down the borrower and any day he or she can walk away. Huddleston explains “If they have problems when they go overseas, it’s easy to let them go.” The third reason is that there is a large supply of new houses in the region and this makes the sale of the existing house difficult. So foreclosures follow. One cannot make a profit by buying a house in Killeen and trying to sell it within two or three years. Selling and refinancing becomes impossible. There are many who are coming to Deborah for this but the situation does not permit. Foreclosures become inevitable.

The picture is grim in Bell County. Compared to 2007 foreclosures are shooting up by 33%. This is the largest jump in the nine counties that make up the Central Texas area.

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