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Sales of homes in Oregon’s capital city of Salem have declined in March by 33. 2 percent compared to March 2008, according to data from the Willamette Valley Multiple Listing Service, MDA Data Quick and the National Association of Realtors. Clearly, many prospective homebuyers have stopped their foreclosed home search in the city.

Home prices also declined by 10.8 percent in March, but real estate agents and housing officials can take comfort that foreclosed home auctions search lists in the city did not push down home prices as steeply as in other cities.

Although Oregon’s housing market was hit with increased foreclosed home search lists in the first three months, Salem’s housing market was relatively protected from foreclosure effects because of government activities in the city, as it is Oregon’s capital and Marion County’s administrative seat.

Ray Burstedt, head of the economic development nonprofit SEDCOR, said Salem’s economy is diversified, with activities varying from agriculture to food manufacturing. He added that government employment has been relatively protected from the effects of increased foreclosed home search listings.

Nevertheless, Salem’s housing market has been affected by the deteriorating economy of its neighboring state of California. Don Meyer, head of the Salem Association of Realtors, said that previously many Californians were selling their distressed houses and relocating to Salem because of the city’s good employment situation and affordable but high-quality retirement homes.

But after California was battered by overwhelming foreclosed home search listings, homeowners planning to move to Salem found it hard to sell their homes. This caused an increase in vacant retirement homes in Salem.

Also, many Oregonians who are potential homebuyers are not pursuing their home purchasing plans; they are holding off for further reductions in home prices. High-end homes, especially, have not been selling.

But recently, more affordable homes priced in the range of $200,000 are entering the Salem market and are being snapped up by buyers. This has given Burstedt some hope that home prices have finally bottomed out or nearing bottom levels despite a rise in foreclosure filings statewide.

In RealtyTrac’s foreclosure charts for the first three months of 2009, Oregon is tenth among U.S. states with the biggest foreclosure rates, a big jump from its 21st ranking in 2008. It had a total of 10,547 foreclosure filings, with 1,916 already added to foreclosed home search lists.

Like a monster, the foreclosure crisis reared its ugly head once again in South Florida as it prepares to add the shopping center Parkland Commons on its REO property listings. The Bank of America has filed foreclosure proceedings against Broward County-based shopping center, Parkland Commons and its developers MPG Parkland and Prestige Group President Charles H. Monroe III.

The foreclosure lawsuit filed against Monroe is the third pending case against companies affiliated to him in South Florida. According to Monroe, he is willing and prepared to file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect MPG Parkland and force a workout.

Monroe said that he hopes Bank of America will offer the property to another investor. He pointed out that banks are not willing to work out an agreement that will stop foreclosures.

Since 2008, the almost 90,000 square feet Parkland Commons has leased out only 65 percent of the shopping area to tenants, including Publix, Renaissance Wellness Day Spa and Mercantil Commercebank.

The shopping center is situated at Trails End and North University Drive in a 22.8-acre area that is partly undeveloped.

The foreclosure lawsuit filed by the Bank of America stemmed from MPG Parkland’s mortgage loan which was modified in 2007 at about $31 million. The lawsuit also named as defendant Trisail Funding Corp., a company that provided MPG Parkland a mortgage amounting to $4.3 million in April 2008.

Monroe explained that he stopped paying the interest of his Bank of America loan because he had difficulty leasing the shopping center’s space and the rental payments were not enough to cover the monthly mortgage.

He said that a potential tenant was interested in renting a space at Parkland Commons for a restaurant but the Bank of America refused to fund the improvements needed to prepare the space for occupancy. Thus, Monroe added, he could not start collecting rental fees because no development is taking place at the space that is to be rented.

Aside from Parkland Commons, Monroe is also a defendant in pending lawsuits of foreclosures filed by Wachovia Bank against Coral Landing III and by BankAtlantic against Quantum Village.

Last month, TW Plaza Holdings acquired the delinquent loan on Coral Landings II located in Coral Springs with a deed in lieu of foreclosure.
Prestige Group is also the owner of shopping centers located in North Miami Beach and Jupiter. Monroe said that the North Miami Beach facility is having a problem with its lender but is not yet in danger of being added to REO property listings.

Prudential Prime Properties Wolfson Cutler, a real estate agency based in Medford, Oregon, has recently been approved to sell repo houses for sale owned by the department of Housing and Urban Development.

HUD repo houses for sale are properties acquired by the said government agency due to the homeowner’s failure to meet their obligation on the FHA-insured mortgage. Once the property completes the foreclosure process, it will end up as property of HUD and will be sold so that the government can recover the losses incurred from the mortgage default.

Initially, these HUD repo houses for sale can be bought by owner-occupant buyers only or individuals who would be buying the property as their first home. If the HUD property was not sold during this priority period, it can now be bought by anyone including real estate investors.

Listings of repo houses for sale by the HUD are usually available online. This is possible with the partnership or management contracts entered by the government and various HUD-registered real estate brokerages. These brokers will act as the buyer representative and will be the one to submit any offer for the foreclosure property. Depending on the contract, HUD usually pays for the broker’s commission.

In most cases, new HUD repo houses for sale listings are posted weekly. These repossesses properties are offered at a considerable discount and again, owner-purchaser buyers are prioritized. If no offers are made within 15 days, the HUD property will now be available to the general public.

If you are interested, you should keep in mind that your bid or offer should be submitted to any HUD-approved broker. These brokers have special access to the HUD website and are able to show these HUD repo houses for sale to interested buyers. If your offer is accepted, your broker will also be the one to take care of all the buying details.

Also, you should remember that these repo houses for sale by the HUD are sold as is and you should try to consider the repair costs before making an offer.

The country is being hit by a third ware of foreclosure homes, caused by job losses and lack of overtime work, according to economists working with Moody’s Economy.com. They said the first wave of foreclosure homes was caused by the subprime lending collapse and the drastic fall in home prices while the second wave was caused by the adjustment of mortgage rates and the consequent rise in monthly mortgage payments.

More and more renters and younger first-time homebuyers are doing foreclosed home search for their home purchases. There are also more of them who prefer buying foreclosed homes than older homebuyers or current homeowners, based on a study released by RealtyTrac and Trulia.com.

Some Wall Street institutions have been criticized by many housing analysts and consumer advocates for their role in the subprime lending crisis that led to the national economic downturn and the growth of foreclosed home listings.

Potential homebuyers seeking low-priced foreclose homes for sale flocked to Las Vegas, Nevada where they try to have a part of the over 1 million properties in the city’s foreclosure inventory. In 2008, foreclosed properties in the city reportedly peak over 1 million and the figures are expected to reach 1.2 million in 2009.

Housing starts climbed by 2 percent to a yearly pace of 520,000 in April despite a 32-percent rise in number of houses at risk of becoming forclosure properties, according to a survey of economists by Bloomberg News.
In April, RealtyTrac’s report showed that over 342,000 houses were hit with default notices, auction sale notices and foreclosure [...]

The increase in the number of homebuyers and investors looking for bargains in bank foreclosed home listings and purchasing foreclosed houses have pressured the median home sale price in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to drop by almost 30 percent.

The foreclosed homes list of properties to be auctioned in June 2009 in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas increased by 31 percent on a year-to-year basis. However, foreclosure filings took a slight dip from its record figures last month.