Perrysburg Blog

There really was one a couple of weeks ago . . . although I did not feel it.

But there has been an ongoing one . . . for the past 3 or 4 or 5 years.

The “mortgage implosion”.  Which is really the “people who have lost their jobs can’t pay their mortgages implosion”.

Excerpting from today’s Toledo Blade:

Metro area 52nd highest in ’10 foreclosure filings

Metro Toledo ranks 52nd highest in foreclosure-related filings in the first half of the year among the nation’s top 200 metro areas, a new study shows. The ranking, the worst among the metro areas in Ohio, is based on the number of filings of default and auction notices and repossessions per households. RealtyTrac Inc., a national real-estate data tracking firm, says in a report released today the Toledo area has one such filing for every 65 houses.

#52.  Of the top 200 foreclosure towns.

Not.  Good.  At.  All.

You can argue about school funding, TARTA leaving, and the constant I-75/475 construction projects all you want to.

But when 1 out of 65 houses in T Town has JUST GONE UNDER THE GAVEL in 2010 . . . . the other problems are not that important.

My advice?  No need for a Foreclosure Czar.  No need for a conference.  No need for a telethon.

People in Toledo need J.O.B.S.

That is the only thing that is going to bring housing back, equity back, and end the misery and physical destruction of real estate in Northwest Ohio.

Buyers like a process.

Their process may be different from mine.

This buyers process in buying a home may be different from that buyer.

But they all like a process.

And one thing that absolutely NO buyer likes is to hear “give us your highest and best offer.”

That means that the house in question is wanted.

By other buyers.

Sometimes lots of other buyers.

Sometimes only one other buyer.

I have 2 or 3 of these “highest and best” offer negotiations going on today.

Here are a few buyer responses and results:

A. One possible response from a buyer is “I want to see the other offers!”

- No.  You can’t.  If I tell you or your agent that there is another offer – there is.  Anything else is fraud and we don’t do that.  We say it is true and it is.

B. Another possible response from a buyer is “I don’t want to bid on that house anymore – pull my offer!”

- Will do.  You can.  But then you won’t be purchasing that house.   And you may facilitate the other buyer getting it at a price much lower than you would have paid.    I try to explain to my buyers that if a multiple offer situation is occurring on a bank owned property that bank does not care about WHO or WHAT they just want to close the sale.  You can pull out but you won’t hurt their feelings or teach them anything.

C. You can do your research.  And bid accordingly.  Then you get the house or investment you want at the price you can afford.   One of the best and sneakiest tactics is real simple – offer, in writing, to bid $1000 HIGHER than any other competing written offer.   Sometimes, again in a bank owned situation, they won’t let you do this.  But other owners will, and it gets you back in control, with an effective “veto” over the final price if you write the counter offer properly.

No one likes unwanted competition.

It disrupts the buying process.

But for the BEST HOUSE at a GREAT PRICE you must be prepared for a “Highest and Best” offer scenario.

Is this one from Forbes . . . about the WORST real estate markets in America right now.

Toledo is on this trajectory:  lost jobs, out of control State government, public school meltdown, and out of control local government.

You can just look north . . . to DTW . . . to see what the potential future holds if some serious changes are not made in Northwest Ohio.

With interest rates rising,  taxes increasing, and a steady grab of diminishing income from private citizens being answered with decreasing city services, things are not on a good path right now.

Toledo does not need this kind of publicity.

This blog is about PERRYSBURG real estate.

And . . . I sometimes have made tongue in cheek comments about Perrysburg gaining at Toledo’s expense . . .

But I do not want to see Toledo drained dry.

I don’t know anyone who does.

It’s the Greater Toledo Metro Area . . . and we are all interdependent economically.

Let’s hope they make some wise decisions up there!

Here are the comments and the list from Forbes:

1. Milwaukee, WI: Some cities’ housing crisis stemmed from rampant overbuilding. Others can blame the decline of the manufacturing industry. Milwaukee has felt both. The worst-selling housing market saw a 47% increase in unsold homes between 2008 and 2009, thanks both to underlying economic problems and overzealous development during the housing bubble.
2. Denver, CO: Denver doesn’t come to mind as a housing-crisis hot spot, but the city that once looked like it would escape the housing bust unscathed now shows signs of strain. More than 42,000 homes are on the market in the metro, 27% more than last year.
3. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles has yet to recover from the blows it took when the housing bubble burst. Home sales fell by 5% in the metro between 2008 and 2009, while they rose, if only modestly, in most other large metros. Home sale prices peaked in late 2006, and it looks like the remnants of overbuilding will continue to clog the housing supply.
4. St. Louis, MO: The city has shed jobs and seen housing prices plummet. Inventory in the metro is up 36%, in part as a result of its 11% unemployment rate. Manufacturing jobs no longer drive the city’s economy, and slow sales are just one symptom of its economic maladies.
5. San Francisco, CA: Unemployment has reached 11% here, and home prices fell by 6% between 2008 and 2009. The area’s poor-home-sale performance shows that California’s housing woes spared no city.
6. New York, NY: New York likely made the list in part because the condominium market, which drives much of Manhattan real estate, wasn’t included in the analysis. Still, not everything’s rosy in the Big Apple: Sale prices were down 13% between 2008 and 2009, and inventory has seen a 13% rise.
7. Cincinnati, OH: Like Cleveland and other Rust Belt cities, Cincinnati suffers from a lack of jobs–the city is 11% unemployed–which has cut sales dramatically and left a glut of unsold houses behind. Inventory in the city rose 48% between 2008 and 2009.
8. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland was suffering before the housing crisis hit, but the bursting of the bubble surely didn’t help. Unemployment is at 10% in the metro, which has hemorrhaged manufacturing jobs. That means families don’t have the means to buy, and homes remain unsold.
9. Atlanta, GA: Inventory was up 6% in 2009 from the previous year. That may not sound like much, but together with flat quarter-over-quarter single-family home sale prices and sluggish sales rates, the overbuilt city shows significant signs of strain.
10. San Diego, CA: Scores of new condominiums were constructed before the market peaked in the first quarter of 2006, driving up prices and spurring overbuilding. Many units were built for speculative buyers, but today the brand-new luxury buildings sit empty.

A new upcoming listing on Indiana . . .

An old REO listing on Indiana . . .

And . . . a sharp split level on secluded, hidden, hard to find Carolin Ct.

I will not sugar coat it. REO is a huge business opportunity and a huge American tragedy.

Hundreds of thousands of REO’s are coming. The main issue is will it be a firehouse or a more manageable stream. I don’t know. No one does.

I can tell you this: the financial institutions, banks, and their owners are planning to monetize and securitize the various and sundry loan deficiencies, liens, contigent obligations, and busted walked away from loans. They are going to come after everyone they can. “TANSTAAFL” means there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. And they mean to collect.

(iconic and meaningless photos courtesy of the Ft. Worth Museum of Modern Art — which was the highlight of my trip)

This REO-focused meeting used to be held at the Loes Anatole in Dallas.

Not a small hotel – a fair sized convention venue.

Today?

It has taken over the Ft. Worth Convention Center – a large place.

This class was in the Omni Hotel across the street from the Convention Center.

Any reasonable appraisal of the state of the US real estate market would take the size of this meeting into account. The national real estate market is now REO-focused.   And expanding.

SRO with keynoter Steve Forbes. He is the total common sense antithesis of all current political leaders. Nothing but bad news.

Just leaving the Gala Awards Breakfast.

Gala?

Suits and ties enforced. Full orchestra. Classical pianist in lobby.

CEO of Safeguard Properties was the main award winner thanks to his efforts to clean up blighted inner city Cleveland.

Gala and REO normally don’t go together. But American capitalism is a strange and powerful force.

Heads up.

Hold on.

Some would say . . . that sales are up.

And that means that . . . the real estate crisis is over.

Let me share some “field notes” with those who are predicting an imminent real estate recovery.

1. I just listed 3 new REO’s today.

2. I just received a heads up from 2 different REO Asset management firms to get ready for 10 or more new assignments.  Today.

3. One of my team members is showing homes to an out of country, non-US buyer.  With cash in his pocket.  Here from overseas to pick up 10 to 20 REO homes in Toledo.  Today.

4. I just completed an appraisal on a Perrysburg REO listing.  Today.

5. My team is also showing houses and selling houses – in Perrysburg – to regular “retail” buyers – and they remain motivated to buy.  But price and value are always in mind.

6. I was just given 3 new REO listings to start processing.  Today.

The upshot – look for more inventory to be on the market.   More pressure on prices.  More lenders moving foreclosed property.  More pressure on homeowners who need to sell.  More appraisers who are being tight with value.

Hold on.

There are 74.8 million dogs and
88.3 million cats in the US. 

Many people who have lost their homes have taken
their animals to shelters, or the less responsible ones let them lose, locked
them up in the backyard when they move away. 

People are to blame, not the
animals.

I know – the economy is in the tank.

I know – people are cutting back and cutting costs.

And some are even walking away from houses.  In the City and in the Township.

But don’t hurt your animals!

Sometimes THEY, the little innocent dogs and cats, get foreclosed too.

Some resources:

Toledo Humane Society.
http://www.toledohumanesociety.com/tahs/

Maumee Valley Save a Pet.
http://www.maumeevalleysaveapet.org/

Paws and Whiskers Cat Shelter
http://pawsandwhiskers.org/

Toledo Animal Shelter
http://toledoanimalshelter.com/

Wood County Animal Shelter
http://www.woodcountyhumanesociety.org/

These shelters are immune from the economy with more than enough space, money, and food.

RIGHT.

They are hurting too – and the pets they help are in more danger than ever.

You can help by adopting a stray (and by spaying and neutering your own pets).

One of RE/MAX Master’s REO/foreclosure listings recently generated this benefit:  a cute, nice, starving cat.  Renamed Hobbs by my daughter Hannah (I think Reo is a better name).  He was alone.  Starving.  And desperate for someone to love.

Shots and neutering were extra.  But we now have a great barn/outside cat.   

Somehow, and most amazingly, he has even won over Mr. Buster, our Maltepoo and the Jon Modene Team Mascot (he even has his own business cards!).   They are now friends.

Maybe some good will come out of the REO crisis . . .