I made this one-minute “before & after” video for a client (Housing Group Fund) to help show one of their recent first-time home buyer projects in Sacramento. I appraised this property and I have permission to post the information here. This is a block  construction house (cinder block) near the Fruitridge area that was purchased recently as a bank-owned fixer and then rehabbed extensively throughout. One of the features I really like about this remodel is that there is now sheetrock and texture on the interior walls so the house does not have a typical “block” feel to it. If you are reading in RSS, you can view the video directly here.

It’s amazing to see the difference from beginning to end. What do you think? 

What do you get when a builder runs out of money in the current economy, but is only half-way finished with a house? Answer: Probably a foreclosure. This was certainly the case with three 2,222 square foot 4/2.5 properties on the corner of 37th Street and 12th Avenue in the Oak Park Area of Sacramento. 

I am very pleased to see these foreclosures were purchased earlier this year in a bundle deal by the same buyer for $35,000 each, and they are currently being rehabbed. When I think of an area improving, this appears to be a win because improvement happens one house at a time, doesn’t it?

No, this is not a storage container, but a stripped AC unit on a bank-owned multi-unit property in Sacramento. Why do you think REO properties are such easy targets for theft? I gave some thoughts to this a few days back in an audio post. Obviously the properties are vacant, so it makes it easier to give the “five finger discount”, but is there something more sociological to consider here. Is it deemed more “acceptable” to take things that belong to a faceless bank as opposed to an actual person? Your insight and thoughts are welcome in comments below.

Is this still considered a built-in microwave? It’s a marketing feature too, right? Just be careful when taking out your Lean Cuisine or Hot Pockets because they might slide out to splatter you.

There is often a stigma for properties that are listed as “foreclosures”, so it’s no wonder that bank-owned homes tend to sell for less than regular non-distressed transactions. However, consider too that many times REO properties need things like interior paint, carpet, and even new microwaves (and kitchen repairs) like this Sacramento area house. So foreclosures will sell for less than typical arms-length transactions in many cases, but not just because of the REO stigma, but due to obvious condition issues.  

How is the Sacramento real estate market doing? Is it getting better or worse? Are there more bank-owned sales right now than in recent years? There are so many indicators for the health of a real estate market, but let’s take a look at the percentage of bank-owned foreclosure sales (REO) vs. short sales. What do you see? What stands out to you? Any good news here? 

* Data is based on Sacramento MLS for all single family detached properties in Sacramento.

I recently inspected a bank-owned huge fixer of a house in the Oak Park area of Sacramento, and I put together a one-minute video below (or HERE) for you to experience a bit of what I saw. This house sold for less than $20,000.

By the way, I do have the full blessing of my client to use images of this house they purchased. I would never violate my client’s confidentiality by posting pictures or sharing information like this without the absolute blessing of a client. Thank you also to Bill Cobb for the music. Let me know what you think.

Looking at the sales history of a property can be very telling. In fact, you can often get clues into the happenings of the real estate market. Here is an interesting sales history for a Sacramento fourplex I came across in the course of a current appraisal I’m working on. This is not at all atypical because the market for residential-income properties really boomed in Sacramento (and then it fell hard too).

7/25/2000 – $110,000 sale
7/16/2002 – $278,000 sale
8/18/2004 – $435,000 sale
2/10/2005 – $459,000 sale
9/08/2008 – $377,500 sale  (maybe a short sale – did not list in MLS)
5/01/2009 – $104,250 (transfer to bank – foreclosure)
7/13/2009 – $140,000 sale

What do you see? Does anything stand out to you? Let me know if you have any questions about the local real estate market or your neighborhoood. One of the things I enjoy most about my job is that I get to talk with local home owners and real estate agents about important decisions they are making.

Language is important. The way we describe things can evoke certain emotions and reactions, so we must choose our words carefully. This is true in all aspects of life, and definitely true in real estate. I always smile when I see the ways agents attempt to not say “bank-owned” or “REO” or “Foreclosure” in listings. I suppose if potential buyers would be put off by “FORECLOSURE”, then by all means, use a different word or phrase. In place of “bank-owned” I’ve seen “corporate-owned” or “owned by the mortgage company” or “lender-owned” or “liquidation sale”.

If you were in the market to purchase a property, would it matter to you whether something was labeled as “corporate-owned” or “foreclosure”? Is there any stigma in your mind for a home that is selling as bank-owned?

Last Friday the Sacramento Bee came out with a story that Dorthea Puente’s old house at 1426 F Street in Sacramento would be going up for sale. Who is Dorethea Puente, you ask? She is a woman who ran a “boarding house” in the 1980s out of her Sacramento Victorian duplex. Unfortunately though instead of finding respite her tenants were drugged and murdered so their social security checks could be cashed. Eventually seven bodies were found buried in Dorothea’s backyard.

This property sold for $560,000 on 08/31/2005, went into foreclosure last year, and is now listed on the market at $309,800 as of 02/26/2010. The current MLS listing states, “Property has notorious history that must be disclosed.” 

Would you have any problems purchasing a property like this? Or would you consider renting this house? Would it bother you on any level or be no big deal? Creepy? Good investment? If you are a real estate agent, have you had experience selling a property with a stigma due to a murder, violent crime or some other heinous or notorious issue?

Original photos of 1426 F Street (it was a bit cloudy today unfortunately):

What sort of a price difference is there between bank-owned properties (REO), short sales, and arms-length transactions in the market? For an example, let’s take a look at a trend graph of all sales in Rancho Cordova below, where blue dots are REO sales, green dots are Short Sales and red dots are typical arms-length sales (per Sacramento MLS).

Each neighborhood, niche, and location will differ in results, but generally speaking, like the data above seems to show for Rancho Cordova sales over the past 2 years, buyers tend to pay more for houses that are non-distressed transactions (notice how the red dots on the graph above tend to be located toward the top and NOT the bottom). When it comes to REO properties, it looks like the price level is a bit higher overall than short sales, though there are quite a few short sales on the upper-end of the market too. In fact, both Rancho Cordova and Sacramento County saw a 7% increase in short sales last year in comparison to the year before, so clearly there is a greater acceptance for short sales in the marketplace.

One important observation is that most of the sales at the bottom of the market are bank-owned. Why is that? Investors typically gobble up the lowest end of the market with all-cash offers because fixer-type properties at the lowest level will not qualify for conventional or government financing. This means first-time buyers utilizing conventional or FHA financing will usually need to look to a price level above the “all cash” market. In light of this segmentation, imagine scraping off the bottom layer of all-cash foreclosures. What would you find? You’d still see many REO properties, but you’d certainly see a good amount of Short Sales too. 

Overall, in my experience as a Sacramento-area real estate appraiser it seems the market price tier goes: 1) Arms-length sale; 2) REO; 3) Short Sale. This is common sense really, but it’s another thing to prove that by crunching numbers, making trend graphs, and observing data in the marketplace. But there are certainly cases and stories and sub-markets that might show a different order for whatever reason - especially depending on the supply of housing inventory and particulars of a given property. Interestingly enough, sometimes there is little to no difference between non-distressed sales and REO sales. For example, what does it do to pricing differences when 90% of all sales in a market are either bank-owned or short sales? In a case like this, since the market is clearly saturated with distressed sales, it’s probably a safe bet to assume foreclosure-pricing is indeed the market and will set the pace for what buyers expect to pay for properties (see a previous post on Patterson having 96.5% of all sales as distressed). In a case like this, there may be no verifiable difference between REO and non-distressed sales.

Let me know if you have questions or insight. Comments are welcome.

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com Is there a price difference between REO properties, short sales, and arms-length transactions?

The Sacramento Redevelopment and Housing Agency (SHRA) has a great website containing foreclosure information and resources. In their own words:

“SHRA offers a list of resources with links to agencies that can provide counseling and additional helpful information if you are facing default or foreclosure on your mortgage loan.  

If you are facing the loss of your home, attend a community meeting or workshop for education and information about avoiding foreclosure, or call a HUD-certified home ownership or credit counseling agency on our resource list for help. You may also be able to get foreclosure related legal assistance at no cost. If you are having difficulty with your mortgage payments, call your loan servicer’s hotline (pdf) for assistance.”

I hope this helps. Please pass it on to anyone you might know who could use a resource like this.