NY Houses 4 Sale

Foreclosure turning into a flip. What you Say?

Sometimes I have to chuckle.  Its not that I am laughing at someone or behind their back, its more like I am laughing at the situation.  Do you know what I mean? 

In June, I posted about a house that was in foreclosure and was heading right to auction.  More Ironically, I knew the original owners but I did not list the property.  They wanted way too much money and I am not in the habit of taking over priced homes.  I did show the home once or twice but no takers were willing to come up to their asking price.  The home was on the market for MORE than a year and never sold.  There were not alot of price reductions and I assume there were not alot of offers.

The home foreclosed. 

The "investor" now has the home back on the market.  Here is the part I find funny, the home is listed for $120,000 more than the LAST offered price prior to foreclosure. 

Foreclosed for $573,000

Last offering: $630,000

Asking Price Now: $750,000

Do NOT look into the light...

Athol would appreciate this one...

YIKES...

Just in case you missed this...

  Q: Mr. President, I want to get your thoughts about the volatility in the financial markets, but specifically, a series of questions. Do you think that housing prices will continue to fall? Do you think that the inability of people to borrow money the way they used to is going to spillover into economy generally? And what are you prepared to do about it? And, specifically, are you considering some kind of government bailout for people who might lose their homes?

THE PRESIDENT: David, I'm wise enough to remind you that I'm not an economist, and that I would ask you direct predictions and forecasts about economic matters to those who make a living making forecasts and predictions. I suspect you'll find on the one hand, on the other hand, in how they predict. (Laughter.)

To read the entire transcript:

Sometimes you just have to laugh....

Athol does it.

MLS Trash does it.

Now.. I have to do it.

Everyday I look at homes that come on the market and the agents (some good and some - well, I plead the fifth), take pictures and enter all the information required into the MLS.  But I, like Athol and other bloggers sometimes we just don't get it. 

WHY, enter horrible, ugly, unjustly pictures into the MLS for the consumer to see?  Agents - you are aware that not only agents are looking at your listing, but serious home buyers are too (or atleast you HOPE that they are). 

So without any further ado -

Crappy Pictures (Hey, let me know if any of these are your home).

Agents:  If ya land a FSBO you should maybe ask the homeowner to remove the "FOR SALE BY OWNER" sign before you snap the picture.

Good Idea - no? 

If the house would have stood still - this would have been a great shot (all 4 that the agent entered into the MLS).

This agent put two pictures on MLS.  One heading East and the other - well, heading West.  No House, just street shots.  But now you know as a buyer that there are trees, cars and blacktop.  Whew!

Ok, Seriously - THIS is the picture the agent picked to sell this owners home?

Are you baffled?   

New Yorkers ABCNews.com wants YOU..

This just in.  ABCNews.com wants any person trying to sell their home - for like forever to contact them, because they are going to talk about how bad the market is right now and not that it has anything to do with the PRICE of the home - its purely market or <gasp> your agent. 

"Having trouble selling your home? If you live in the New York metropolitan area and have spent months trying to sell your home, we want to hear from you!"  ABCNews.com

Sounds like fun, right?

House Lottery.

Southeast Queens residents, are you looking for a home? 

The NYC department of housing has taken a number of homes, refurbished them and have set up a lottery for citizens to enter. 

Eligibility

The homes will be sold to applicants who meet the programs’ eligibility requirements, which include:

§         Applicant’s (and co-applicant’s) ability to meet certain financial requirements, including sufficient

  combined income to qualify for mortgage financing, sufficient funds to cover down payment and

  closing costs, good credit history and other qualifying criteria. 

§         The original name(s) on the application cannot be substituted with other name(s); the application     must remain in the original form submitted.

§         The applicant (and co-applicant) must occupy the home as their primary place of residence for at least six (6) years after the purchase.

§         There may be an asset cap.

§         Household size may be considered when matching a buyer with a home.

Ineligibility

§         Applicants who currently own, or have in the last five (5) years owned, a residence developed under

      a Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) program or project are ineligible.

Income Limits*

§         To qualify for the 22 listed homes, applicants cannot have an annual income greater than $92,170*

§         Income limits may not apply to military personnel and municipal employee preference categories.

*Prices and income limits are subject to change.

Lottery Process

Applicants for these homes will be randomly selected through a lottery process supervised by HPD. If your application is selected we will notify you in writing and schedule an interview. Please be prepared to document your income and the other information you provided on your application. A list of required documentation will be sent to you when an interview is scheduled.

Some of the homes that have been foreclosed/refurbished and available via lottery are:

• 132-03 135th Ave.,
• 114-40 158th St.,
• 108-05 160th St.,
• 111-19 168th St.,
• 105-27 171st Pl.,
• 144-44, 177th St.,
• 132-03 178th St.
• 122-38 Springfield Blvd.

Fact: More one family homes foreclose than a multi-family home.

Let me clarify that the term "multi-family" consists of two or more units.   

True or False: More one family homes foreclose than a multi-family homes? 

Could be true. Micheal Sexton from  Trumpblog posted an article today that stated more one family homes foreclose than multi-unit homes.   An investor friend said to Micheal “Virtually all the foreclosed properties out there are single-family homes or condos,” he said. “If you can find me more than a handful of foreclosed multi-unit properties, I’ll eat my shirt. It’s because people almost always make money in multi-units, so they don't go into foreclosure.”

Interesting - No?

Well, I checked on PropertySharks.com and what I found was that there are some foreclosures of multi-units but they are 10:1 to single family homes and the ones that I did find were in less desirable areas which shows me that rent collected is less, therefore less rent roll means less revenue.

I can totally see it the way Micheal interprets it.  But another way could be that most investors have alot more to lose.  Look at it this way - to invest you need to have some cash at hand and if it is a commercial building than the minimum required down payment would be 30% - allowing finance of 70%.  But also, if an investor is buying property to only create cash flow - they have made the numbers make sense.

Recent sales worth noting!

This colonial home which is located in Malba, NY is one of the most recent sales for the Malba 11357 area.  The original asking price on this home was $1.500,000 and was on the market for less than ten days.  The actual sales price was $1.400,000.

The home sits on an oversized lot - 75x115 and I can predict that the this home will be knocked down and rebuilt.  What do you think?

Picture Courtesy of CarolloRealEstate

Open houses brings an offer - but just not a home run!

Here is a summary of how my weekend went.

While I was doing an open house on Sunday a woman walk into the home, alone.  She walked through the house fast and quite abruptly.  When she left, I don't even think I got an acknowledgment - it was kind of like I pissed her off because I took her out of her car dragged her into the home and made her look at the home.   When she showed up again with 7 people in tow, I have to say, I was quite surprised.  I thought they were either here to beat me for dragging her into the home and forcing her to look or they were here to check it out and maybe make an offer. 

Well I was right - (thankfully on the offer). 

What was odd was how they presented the offer to me.  I almost felt like I was working a drive through McDonald's window.  They barked their offer, added some fries, tossed in an apple pie... - no not really - they just made it seem so .. I don't know - umm, matter of fact.  There was no emotion, no happiness, no excitement - nothing.  I actually was not sure if they even liked the home, that's how stone like they were. 

Anyhow, I was thrilled to get an offer.  It was something and it was a starting point and I know the seller is at a stand still with his plans until he sells this home, to be honest, I know he is willing to work any buyer who makes a solid offer.  But, they did not cut it.  You see - it was not just about the money, the reply no went much deeper. 

There were CONTINGENCY'S - and ALOT of them.

Sellers have been spoiled a few years (months) ago most offers did not have any strings attached, homes sold without a hitch.  Now? Not so much.  I have always viewed a contingency as almost as a skin problem - they tend to just spread.  If one contingency gets through another will pop up and another and so forth and so on.  So nixing contingency's early is something that I tend to do. 

The contingency's that these "buyers" were: 

• Mortgage - (OK, that is normal).
• Upgrading to Viking appliances. (No joke, $20,000 right off the bat).
• Closing Mid September. (Not too bad, could be workable)
• 10 year warranty on home (Its a new construction home, but 10 years?   Riiighht).
• They need to sell their home first (they can go into contract soon, but with only $7,000).  - To me this is a red flag!  The buyers are looking at a 1.2 Million dollar home, but only have $7,000 to put down, am I painting good enough picture for you?
• Closing Credit - Here is where I think they lost me, the seller and their minds.  They would come to almost full price on the home - IF the seller agreed to "GIFT' them back $75,000. 

.....Picking myself off the floor. 

Is that even legal? 

So - welcome back world of contingencies!  I so did not miss you!

Here is ONE of the most expensive homes.

The Fellas at Sellsius posted about the ten most expensive homes in the NorthEast.  How interesting, I would have never thought that I would have found one of the most expensive listings on the MLS.  Well I did.  Here is more info about ONE OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE homes!

The home has been listed since September 2006.  The home features a spa, barbershop, cold plunge, fall out shelter (we all need one of those), game room, video library, and a crows nest (? huh?).  <- On the listing, it says that .. I swear!

Anyhow, this mansion has 11 bedrooms, eight bathrooms, four half bathrooms.  This waterfront 42.7 acres also has a protected cove with dock, two helipads and a beautiful extensive garden.   

This Llyods Neck compound has taxes of $183,825 and Village Taxes $27,980.18.