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        <title>Atlanta Real Estate Blog</title>
        <link>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/foreclosures/</link>
        <description>Atlanta real estate blog. Consumer focused real estate information for Atlanta and information and insight into local and national topics. Areas of interest include; Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Roswell &amp; Alpharetta. North Metro Atlanta.</description>
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            <guid>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/foreclosures-activity-increases-6-in-february-nationally-lets-look-locally-too.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/foreclosures-activity-increases-6-in-february-nationally-lets-look-locally-too.html</link>
            <author>ryan@premieratlantarealestate.com (Ryan C Ward)</author>
            <title>Foreclosure Activity Increases 6% in February Nationally, Let's Look Locally Too</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure activity is up 6% in February of 2010 compared with the same time period in 2009. This represents the smallest increase in activity in 4 years. To me, that doesn't mean we are seeing improvement and there isn't anything to indicate that we are heading towards consistent year of year decreases in foreclosures so in my opinion, this is still more bad news for home values.

Locally, foreclosure sales in February of 2010 were&nbsp;1245 compared with 1430 sales for the same time period in 2009. Interestingly, non-foreclosure sales in 2010 totaled 1598 meaning that foreclosure sales made for about 44% of sales in 2010 while in 2009&nbsp;non-foreclosure sales&nbsp;were 1512 or 48.6% of sales. In 2008, non-foreclosure sales totaled 2182 with an additional 1112 sales that were foreclosures or 33.7%.

So, as a percentage of total sales, foreclosures year over year over year in February were: 2008 --&gt; 33.7%, 2009&nbsp;--&gt;&nbsp;48.6% and 2010 --&gt; 44%. Certainly 2010 looks a little better, but, there are still plenty of sub-prime loans to go bad.

Compounding the sales price problem is the increasing number of sales that are &quot;lender mediated&quot; sales, better known as short sales. Unfortunately collecting this number from either of the multiple listing services in Metro Atlanta is difficult as there&nbsp;has only recently been added official fields marking listings as short sales. On a national level, short sales have actually surpassed foreclosures in sales volume according to this housingwire.com survey. This combination makes it difficult to regular resale sellers as well as new construction.

Myth: Alpharetta and the North Metro are Immune

Don't believe anyone who tells you this. There is no area and no price point that is not being directly and indirectly affected by short sale and foreclosure sales. Whether you are looking at one million plus in Buckhead or any price point in Alpharetta, Milton or the rest of the northern suburbs, your home value is directly impacted. If you bought your home in the last 3 years or so, you are almost certain to be upside down. There are few exceptions.

Most agents aren't willing to be straight about these numbers because they are afraid it will keep you from listing your home or buying another one.

There are Bright Spots, But not Many

Some areas and price points have 6 months or so of inventory - but prices still won't be rising anytime soon. More REO and short sales will ensure that doesn't happen. It does mean that the bleeding has stopped for some and it means something more if you are a buyer in an area that is starting to get closer to being a balanced market; you snooze, you lose!

In Alpharetta and Milton, west of GA 400, there is a 9.5 month supply of homes and that is looking at December and January numbers.&nbsp;With the end of the tax credit, we might expect this to go down even further to to a sales surge. We'll see if that actually happens though.

&nbsp;
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:51:50 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/georgia-ranked-10th-for-foreclosure-filings-in-january.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/georgia-ranked-10th-for-foreclosure-filings-in-january.html</link>
            <author>ryan@premieratlantarealestate.com (Ryan C Ward)</author>
            <title>Georgia Ranked 10th for Foreclosure Filings in January</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
From the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

&quot;The Peach State had 11,274 foreclosure filings -- default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions -- last month. This was down 13.1 percent from December 2009, but was 13.8 percent higher than January 2009. The state ranked 10th for foreclosures&quot;.

The report also says that 1 out of every 357 houses in Georgia got a foreclosure notice in January. This is in line with national numbers that have a decrease from December, but a year over year increase. Nationally, 1 in 409 homes received a foreclosure notice so we are performing worse than the total market. More from ABC:

&ldquo;January foreclosure numbers are exhibiting a pattern very similar to a year ago -- a double-digit percentage jump in December foreclosure activity followed by a 10 percent drop in January,&rdquo; said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac &ldquo;If history repeats itself we will see a surge in the numbers over the next few months as lenders foreclose on delinquent loans where neither the existing loan modification programs or the new short sale and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure alternatives works.&rdquo;

I am still of the belief that banks will moderate the number of foreclosure homes entering the market. Every home they add to supply lowers the value of their REO assets so I believe that they will continue to manage the flow of listings to protect the values. It's in their best interest and it is in our best interest.
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:13:56 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/auctions-and-value-things-arent-what-they-seem.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.premieratlantarealestate.com/blog/auctions-and-value-things-arent-what-they-seem.html</link>
            <author>ryan@premieratlantarealestate.com (Ryan C Ward)</author>
            <title>Auctions and Value - Things Aren't What They Seem</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Sold to the lady in the back for $435,000! What a deal! The screen says the previous value for this home was over $1,000,000. I've found it at last! Now I know exactly where to send every person who calls looking for that great deal. The auction!

If you're in the business and you get leads online, you definitely know the guy. Most others in the business know this guy now too. It's just a product of the current conditions. He acts like he knows more than you about real estate and before the phone call is over, he has made you feel like it's true. We get one almost daily, but the problem is, that guy doesn't have a clue about what he is talking about. If you are that guy, I suggest you re-read this paragraph.

I attended an auction this past Saturday with a friend/client as an exploratory event as a possible place to pick up homes that are in need of small repairs that can be flipped. My job is consultant here. The commission checks are small from auctions, but, it's more important to me that he buys the right houses at the right prices otherwise there is no chance to flip so it's a win/win partnership if I find the right houses. As this was a bit exploratory for both of us, I decided to pick a few houses to really watch closely at auction for a number of reasons. I wanted to know what the real &quot;previous value&quot; was, I wanted to know what they would sell for at auction and I figured the after repair value prior to getting there so I was ready to see how this unfolded.

The Auction

First, I need to say that it was quite a rush. I'd do it again. I think I will actually. The truth though, is considerably different than most people I have spoken with think it is as it relates to values and auctions. Of the homes I watched, none sold for the price I believed they needed to be purchased for anyone other than an owner occupied home. In other words, they sell for fair market value. Some for more than market value, but, that too is to be expected as the auctioneer is awesome! There are other homes - like those that might be in new construction neighborhoods that decimate value fro the entire neighborhood instantly. I watched as 6 houses were sold for between 80K - 90K where the values were in the 150's. Now, the 80K home isn't even a &quot;deal&quot;. That's what the whole neighborhood is worth! Look, if you don't know values going in and you rely on the information on the screen you are going to get burned and speaking of that information on&nbsp;the screen, it's hardly accurate. I don't know where it came from, but, most of these homes have histories that I can look up in 30 seconds to determine and let me tell you what was on screen and what the real &quot;previous values&quot; were did not match. It made these homes look to be much better deals than they really were. I saw a home that I said should sell for no more than 425K sell for 412K, but, the &quot;previous value&quot; was wrong (over 800K, it was never woth that). Later I saw something that they said was over one million dollars sell for a little over 400. It was listed in the 500's in the FMLS and didn't sell. Where is the great deal there? This is what happened over and over and at all different price points. &quot;Previous value&quot; of 115K, starting bids at 500 dollars, listed in the FMLS for $17,000 and selling for $10,000. Do you think that is a good deal? I could go on...

I watched for a few hours and was amazed at how free markets correct themselves so efficiently if allowed to do so. But, it occurred to me also that the deals really aren't that great - at least not on the whole and that makes them no different than regular listings for sale (unless you are the bank because they do liquidate properties). There are good deals and there are not so good deals. The problem with getting a good deal at an auction is as follows:

You have a room full of ready, willing and able buyers offering multiple offers on properties. None of that is what you want when you are in the market for a &quot;deal.&quot;

So, the takeaway goes something like this...most of the homes for sale at auction were already for sale. Some have histories that go back years now so we know a lot about these homes. Most of them sell for what they would sell for in a fair market sale. These are the homes that were listed too high to sell or did not have good enough marketing to illicit an offer that might have been acceptable to the bank. None of these homes made exceptional deals and most importantly....

Nobody bought a home for 40 cents on the dollar!
 ]]> </description>
            <pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:06:21 -0400</pubDate>
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