Friday 26 August 2011

Indian River County foreclosed properties among the nation's best bargains

By Paul Ivice
Foreclosed properties in Indian River County were among the best bargains in the nation during the second quarter of this year, RealtyTrac said in a report released Thursday.
A total of 268 Indian River County homes in some phase of foreclosure were purchased by third parties during the quarter at an average price of $97,175, or 53 percent below the average sales price of homes not in foreclosure, California-based RealtyTrac said in its second-quarter foreclosure sales report.
Of those sales, 140 were bank-owned repossessions (REOs), for which the average discount was 58 percent. The 128 pre-foreclosure sales, mostly short sales, had an average discount of 47 percent.
The average discount in Indian River County in both the previous quarter and a year ago was about 46 percent.
Among metropolitan statistical areas with at least 100 foreclosure-related sales during the second quarter, only Louisville, Ky., posted a higher foreclosure discount at 54 percent, said RealtyTrac, a leading online marketplace for foreclosure homes.
Adam Preuss, owner of Adam Preuss Appraisal Services Inc. in Sebastian, said, "My dad always told me that you make money in real estate when you buy, not when you sell.
"There's no doubt that now is the time to buy," said Preuss, who also is president of the Indian River County Realtors Association. "Someday, the economy will improve and some will have prospered from investing when the market was low and others will wish they would have."
W.D. "Chic" Acosta, Seacoast National Bank's executive vice president for mortgage banking, said, "Indian River County was clearly the last of the three (Treasure Coast) counties where homeowners capitulated, but you're seeing that process speed up now as part of the economic process we're going through."
Acosta said the average home price in Indian River County is higher, so struggling homeowners did not capitulate as quickly.
"Martin and St. Lucie counties have been bouncing on the bottom, but maybe Indian River County is now finding that bottom," Acosta said. "Now they are finally capitulating, so there are bigger drops."
The discount on foreclosure sales in St. Lucie County averaged 25 percent; in Martin County it was 20 percent. Statewide, the average discount was 33 percent, slightly higher than the national average discount of 32 percent.
The volume of Indian River County foreclosure sales in the second quarter was generally slower, down 9 percent from the first quarter of 2011 and 11 percent (about the national average) from a year ago.
Those sales constituted 30 percent of all home sales, slightly higher than the 26 percent from last year but down from 36 percent last quarter.
In contrast, foreclosure sales in St. Lucie County were 44 percent of all home sales, while in Martin County they were 19 percent. Statewide, they were 35 percent of all home sales, slightly above the 31 percent national average.
"With average prices on distressed real estate trending down and average discounts trending up, this report is clearly good news for well-positioned buyers and investors looking for bargain real estate that will build them wealth in the long term and often cash flow as rental real estate in the short term," RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio said in a news release.
Less evident, is the good news in the report for distressed homeowners looking to sell and lenders with large portfolios of delinquent loans, Saccacio said.
"The jump in pre-foreclosure sales volume coupled with bigger discounts on pre-foreclosures and a shorter average time to sell pre-foreclosures all point to a housing market that is starting to focus on more efficiently clearing distressed inventory through more streamlined short sales — at least in some areas," Saccacio said. "This gives distressed homeowners who do not qualify for loan modification or refinancing — or who are not interested in those options and want to sell — a better chance of completing a short sale to avoid foreclosure."
SECOND-QUARTER FORECLOSURES
2nd quarter sales Percent change Percent change Percent of Average
in foreclosure from Q1 2011 from Q2 2010 all sales discount
Indian River 268 -8.8 -10.7 29.9 53.2
Martin 162 -13.4 -19.4 19.1 19.6
St. Lucie 701 22.1 -33.9 43.6 25.3
Florida 34,558 -5.0 -22.5 35.1 33.4
United States 265,087 6.5 -11.1 31.3 32.1
Source: RealtyTrac Second Quarter 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report.
Buzz This

No comments:

Post a Comment