What caption would you give this photo?
REO
The impact of foreclosure on a neighborhood and a few thoughts on condominiums
I inspected a condominium last week in the Hillcrest Park neighborhood in Vallejo, CA. I wanted to share a graph of sales within the subdivision over the past five years. What do you see?
While in the Hillcrest Park neighborhood, I shot the following video as I was considering the vast decline in property value and the impact foreclosure can have on a neighborhood – even beyond real estate values.
Condominium properties have been hit hard in many niches within the Greater Sacramento Region because the price of single family detached homes has become so much more affordable, and an HOA fee plus a mortgage payment often does not make good economic sense for buyers. Why pay more for a condo when you can get a detached home without an HOA fee, right? That’s often the rationale.
By the way, if you are in the market to purchase a condominium, I would strongly suggest you research the health of the HOA before making a purchase. It would be tragic to purchase a condo only to find out the association is bankrupt.
Are we out of the foreclosure woods yet in CA?
Do you watch Foreclosure Radar’s videos? I like to check them out because it’s interesting to see some of their points in action in the local market trenches I work in each day. Based on the data, it seems like bad news on some levels for California in that Notice of Defaults increased and there were more pre-foreclosures last month too. But at the same time the number of properties that actually went back to the bank during June 2010 went down.
Are we out of the foreclosure woods? What do you think? What are you seeing in the market in the course of business or even in your own neighborhood?
Foreclosure Radar gives the following points (from YouTube): “Foreclosure filings were up in June after two months of decline. Foreclosure cancellations reached a record high of 21,962 in June, up 27.09% from May. The number of properties purchased by 3rd parties dropped by 23.73% since last month, but those properties bought were at the best margins in months. Fewer properties went back to the bank, down 23.73% from the prior month. Time-to-Foreclosure was flat month over month, but up 34.93% from June 2009. Time-to-Resell continued it’s slow ascent, up 5.95% for the banks and up 4.29% for 3rd parties.”
Transformation from an ugly cinder block house to a remodeled Sacramento beauty
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?