Foreclosed Houses - Banks Unable To Further Bear Responsibilites Of Foreclosed Houses

Banks Unable To Further Bear Responsibilites Of Foreclosed Houses

April 17th, 2008

The real estate market is sliding down from bad to worse. Unable to continue with the responsibility of paying taxes and maintaining the ever increasing number of foreclosed houses, the banks are letting them go at dirt cheap rates in auctions. It is a sign of desperation in South Florida. In Fort Lauderdale on Saturday 200 houses were put up for auction.

There were many types of units – smart utilitarian one bed roomed condo, five bed roomed spacious houses and many others representing the American dream turned sour into a nightmare of foreclosures. It all boiled down to stamp sized photos in the auction brochures. Each house has a bittersweet story to tell.

A three bed roomed two bathroom unit in Wilton Manors came on top with the highest bid of $161,000. The initial asking price had been $229,000. Another three bed roomed property that had been bought for $460,000 two years back was sold at the auction for $177,500. Another house in Coral Gables that had been bought for $670,000 in 2005 now got a bid for $300,000. A bidding war broke out over a condo in South Beach that has view of the water. It is located on West Avenue.

Most of the houses have been sitting on the shop shelves from 3 months to one year waiting to be sold. The properties had become ‘stale’ according to real estate jargon. Hudson & Marshall is conducting most of the bank auctions. The houses are not all dilapidated and crumbling.

The Saturday auction was reserved. It meant that the banks had the right to accept or reject the highest offers. By the middle of the week the successful bidders would be able to find out if the banks had given the green signal. 20% of the sales were ‘absolute’ – there were no strings attached to these. After the auction was over the potential buyers have to sign and submit 5% brokerage fees plus the bid amount. Within 30 days the full balance has to be paid for the deal to be finalized. On that particular day there were 300 bidders.

Hudson & Marshall has 400 properties to auction across the state. Another auction will be held in Orlando on Sunday. Then it will be back again to Florida for another round of sales. Large foreclosure auctions are also being held in Las Vegas and Detroit.