Blog

DALLAS FORECLOSURE POSTINGS RISE

DALLAS (Dallas Morning News) – Almost 6,000 area homes are scheduled for foreclosure auction next month, a 34 percent increase from a year ago, according to Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service.
This brings the number of foreclosure postings for 2009 to nearly 51,000.
However, fewer than half of the homes set for forced sale each month are actually foreclosed on by the lender. In many cases, the borrower and debt holder reach an agreement or the foreclosure is delayed.
The biggest jump in foreclosures was seen in Collin County, where a 61 percent increase in foreclosure postings from 2008 led to 778 homes being scheduled for auction in October.
In Denton County, postings increased 42 percent from a year ago to 710.
Tarrant County experienced a 43 percent increase to 1,975, and Dallas County home foreclosure postings rose 20 percent to 2,477.
Even so, the number of homes actually being foreclosed on this year was down 17 percent during the first six months from the same period in 2008.

Forecast says Dallas will be one of top 10 home markets for 2009

 

02:23 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 9, 2009

 

By STEVE BROWN / The Dallas Morning News
stevebrown@dallasnews.com  

Despite continued sale declines, a new forecasts predicts the Dallas area will be one of the top home markets in the country this year.

Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Wichita Falls are also on the list of what are expected to be the 10 top-performing housing markets, according to a report released Wednesday by analysts at Local Market Monitor.

The study indentified home markets where residential values are expected to remain level, did not see a housing boom and have had modest employment declines.

“Home prices in these areas are generally below the US average and reflect where the recession has so far had a relatively mild impact,” the report says.

Dallas has ranked high in previous studies done by North Carolina-based Local Market Monitor.

“This means that Dallas-Plano-Irving will fare among the best over this next year, a factor that bodes well considering the state of the national housing crisis,” a representative of the research firm said.

Home sales prices in North Texas are down about 2 percent so far this year, according to data collected by local real estate agents. By comparison, U.S. home prices have fallen by more than 15 percent.

Most Texas cities fared well in the report, but other major U.S. home markets got bad marks.

Fresno, Las Vegas, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, San Jose, Tacoma, Tucson, West Palm Beach, Fla., and Stockton, Calif., were rated as cities with the worst home market prospects.

“These markets, which are expected to have the largest declines in home values over the next year, are also among those that previously had the biggest price booms,” the researchers said. “This was attributed in large part to speculative buying, including the repercussions of inflated housing construction on the local job market and investor portfolios.”

Housing sector outlookMarkets with the best expected performance in home price are:

Baton Rouge, LA

Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY

Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX

Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX

Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR

Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA

Pittsburgh, PA

San Antonio, TX

Syracuse, NY

Wichita Falls, TX

The 10 largest markets with the worst expected performance in home price are:

Fresno, CA

Las Vegas-Paradise, NV

Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL

Orlando-Kissimmee, FL

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Stockton, CA

Tacoma, WA

Tucson, AZ

West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach, FL

SOURCE: Local Market Monitor

HR 1728 Update

As many of you know, the US House of Representatives recently introduced a bill (HR 1728) that would restrict seller financing, and put the goverment into our business.

 A quick update – the bill was sent to the Senate Banking committee, and has apparently stalled there.  Chris Dodd, Chairman of the committee, has said that the bill isn’t a top priority, implying that there is more important stuff to be done.  Hopefully this means the bill will die in this session.  There is always a chance, however, that it could come up again.

On the bright side, the National Association of Realtors has joined us in the fight against it.  I guess they realized that seller financing is a powerful tool, especially in a slow market with such an uncertain lending environment.

It’s extremely important that we investors stay on top of all the legislative changes coming down the pike, so I thought I’d post a quick update.

Lets have less goverment and more self control of our business!

Next Page »