Irvine Real Estate Blogger

When you, the buyer, purchase a condo in a multi-unit/hi-rise building, you may not be aware of the unintended consequences that can arise due to your neighbor(s) defaulting on their mortgage(s) and/or condo/association fees.

Depending upon how many homeowners in your condominium building are in default–those of whom have stopped paying their mortgages and association dues–will directly impact the condominiums reserves and the funds necessary to operate and maintain the integrity of the building. As a result, the HOA (Homeowner’s Association) may have to vote to increase the association dues/and or propose a special assessment for each and every homeowner in the building to cover the short fall resulting from your neighbors’ defaulting on their loans and/or dues. This problem can be compounded depending upon how many of the condos in the building are in default. (more…)

Photo Courtesy of NBC.com
The buzz in home purchases/sales revolves around distressed properties these days–namely, REO’s or bank-owned homes. If there is one story that peaks a buyer’s interest, it is the REO home market. The reason is simple enough: the buyer believes that REO’s equal great deal or steal. But are bank-owned homes the real deal? Let’s take a closer look:

If you happen to be a first-time homebuyer or a novice in terms of the homebuying process, an REO (Real Estate Owned) home or bank foreclosure requires seeking the assistance of a knowledgable real estate professional. At first blush, the pricing may look enticingly attractive.

In her article entitled “Foreclosure Sales And Pretend Pricing,” Kris Berg of The San Diego Home Blog writes that the “pretend pricing method or (PPM) is an entirely different and oft-mysterious approach to the whole conundrum of determining what the market value really is for a home. Once a lender has foreclosed on a home, the PPM comes into play.”

Foreclosures are often priced 20-30% below a “regular sale”–that is a home that actually has equity in it and is not over encumbered or “under water”, so to speak. That said are REO homes real deals or not? Most home foreclosures are priced way under the market just to create hype. Welcome to the wild west side of the home pricing market. These properties will garner multiple offers with the final sales price often thousands of dollars above the original asking price. Not only does this breed disappointment, disillusionment and frustration among buyers who are looking to own and occupy the property, but these homes typically will sell to the highest bidder who also has a large cash down payment. (more…)

Since many buyers looking for real estate these days seem interested in bank foreclosures/REOs/real estate owned properties, I thought I would make it a little bit easier for the folks out there to find these properties.

Below is a current list of foreclosures in the city of Irvine and surrounding cities in south Orange County.

If you would like a updated list of bank owned properties that are not included on this list, please contact me, and I will send it along to you.

Photo courtesy of The Truth About Mortgage
With the financial markets in turmoil, and with the luster lost in the real estate market, one wonders where the savvy buyer/investor is placing his/her dollars. If you remove gold bullion, and/or stashing your money under the mattress from the safe haven equation, I would say that the REO (real estate or bank-owned) market is currently vying for the home buyer’s/investor’s cash.

I’ve been tracking the REO market here in Irvine for my buyers and sellers. Buyers want to know that if they decide to purchase a home now that their investment is protected from a further market decline. They feel that if they focus on foreclosed properties, then they have, to some extent, a built-in cushion just in case the real estate market experiences further declines. Whether or not this perception proves to be true is still debatable. However, this is the buyer’s/investor’s view of the current state of the real estate market. (more…)