Foreclosures can be trying. All ya can do is sit it out and wait. I really don't think the industry has any idea what it's doing from one moment to the next with foreclosures. It's a crap shoot.

We were looking in Florida and there were so many short-sales and foreclosures it made us feel sick. I've never seen anything like this before. Condos, houses, communities all affected.

We live in NY and there is nothing like that going on here. We've spent so many years visiting family in Florida we thought we'd retire there. The situation there is terrible.

New York feels good right now!

Jane

You apparently haven't been looking in your local paper in the legal section, Jane. It's just as bad in NY as in other states, maybe worse since we have high taxes on top of everything else.

"It's just as bad in NY as in other states"

No, it isn't. The rate in NY for august was 0.06%. Florida was 10 times worse at 0.646%.

Here is a link that might be useful: cnn map

This is why foreclosures cost less. Nothing proceeds uniformly because there is no uniform procedure, and no one on the selling side is incentivized to close a contract, as the owners and their agent would be with a standard contract. If I were a buyer in this market I'd be looking for a straight-up sale, since many desperate sellers are listing their properties at prices barely indistinguishable from a f.c. or short sale listing. We did, and when a friend of mine saw the listing in the paper she called to ask if the bank had taken the house already. A sharp buyer is living in our former house and docking his boat on our former slip and he didn't have to hang fire six months waiting for an answer from the bank. Pull your offer and look around for a sure thing: there are amazing deals out there even if you're not made of moneybags.

P.S. Could you really be happy in a house knowing that the owner had tried frantically to hang on to it? I can't imagine it.

"Could you really be happy in a house knowing that the owner had tried frantically to hang on to it? I can't imagine it."

Yup. I could.

But the house is not for us. It's for a single mother raising 2 daughters. AND its a house that she can afford the payments on if we can finish the process.

If everyone had your attitude, neighborhoods will never have a chance of recovering.

ML

I tend to stay in the middle here when it comes to who did what when some of these mortgages were written, but the fact remains that people do lose their jobs and/or become ill and can't make their mortgage payments. What staggers my imagination is the fact that many of these folks don't realize that there are some programs available such as the loan modification which seems to only apply when, well when you're way behind on your mortgage.

Maddielee, read the story in the New York Times today, on the single mother who lost her job and then had to fight to keep her house in Maine. The retired lawyer volunteering for the legal aid society where she sought help started this whole foreclosure shutdown after he discovered that the homeowner's foreclosure had been processed by a GMAC clerk who did 400 f.c.'s a day and in deposition revealed that no higher-ups in the firm ever reviewed the cases, as they were required to by law. He told the NYT reporter that he began volunteering for the Maine non-profit because he used to handle forclosures for a bank and was trying to make amends. I guess he's getting his wish.

Yes, do read the story. The 'victim' borrowed 100% of the home price in 2003. She started defaulting in 2006 and hasn't made a payment since 2008. Neither she nor her husband has held a full time job since 2006 and has been living on welfare and food stamps. Her lender previously modified the loan for her, but she still didn't make payments.

The only thing keeping her in the home is a good lawyer and incompetence by the lender.

Here is a link that might be useful: story

Gosh, you're right, Billl. There's nothing more despicable or worthy of our contempt than someone collecting food stamps for their family when they're out of work.

Oh, wait a sec, yes there is. That would be GMAC accepting 17 billion dollars (that's billion)in federal bailout funds in order to keep the lights on, the executive bonuses rolling in and the foreclosures humming along.

Where do I sign up for THAT welfare program?

Where do I sign up for THAT welfare program?

www.WhiteHouse.gov

shenandoah - Neither she or her husband has held a full time job since 2006. 2006!!! Yes, bilking government programs for 4 years is despicable. Saying someone else was a bigger crook doesn't make her any less of a crook.

Carol, you are right and I apologize for that stupid statment. I was talking about the area of NY where I live. There are some foreclosures but most appear to be large, McMansion type homes. But not alot. We worked with a Realtor in our area and was told there aren't many and most are out of our price range.

Our area is not all of NY and I'm sure areas differ.

BTW, we looked at foreclosures in Florida and many houses are empty and in bad shape. We saw others where the owners were elderly and we were told many retirees lost so much of their savings they couldn't afford to pay the expenses to keep the homes.

Don't forget, many people lost their life-savings, 401's during the market crash and many of those people were dependent on their savings to pay their bills. They could afford their homes 5 yrs ago, not now. They worked all their lives to be able to afford a decent retirement. Not everyone who loses their homes are deadbeats. Many people got hit hard, financially by the market crash.

Jane

Hello, how are you doing? Does it look like you will close on this house on November 15th? Any news?

tracy

Hi Tracee, no - closing won't happen on Nov. 15th. We just signed another 2 week extension.

GMAC is slowly completing sales on homes they have foreclosed on (article link attached). We are hopeful it will happen before the end of the year.

While waiting we have been actively looking for another house, so far the one under contract is still our favorite, so we are willing to wait.

ML

Here is a link that might be useful: GMAC Lifts Freeze on Foreclosures

I wanted to add that one good thing about the delay is that the Interest rate has come down....we are now locked in til the end of December.

ML

update: We MAY finally close on December 28.....posting this probably jinxed the process one more time.

Merry Christmas to all!

ML

Neighborhoods would have "no chance of recovering" withouit foreclosures being bought? Oh please.

What really motivates the self proclaimed do-gooder foreclosure buyers is greed.

Another way of looking at it: Neighborhoods go DOWN because of the new-to-neighborhood foreclosure buyers who
could not have afforded the "normal" price of a home in that neighborhood.

Neighborhoods go DOWN because of the new-to-neighborhood foreclosure buyers who could not have afforded the "normal" price of a home in that neighborhood.

Pardon? How is having someone (who now is required to prove they can pay PITI) buy a home at a discounted/foreclosure/short sale price worse than letting the house sit there, boarded up and waiting for squatters and thieves and the elements while whoever owns it does a half-hearted job at maintaining an asset which will not be worth anytime what was owed on it anytime soon?

There are a lot of villains in this mess, on both sides of the money. But I must not be understanding you correctly if you're saying neighborhoods are better off with empty houses than with houses sold to people who could not afford (or, better, would not pay) the old "inflated" price to live there.

Neighborhoods would have "no chance of recovering" withouit foreclosures being bought? Oh please.
Tom418 Writes:
"What really motivates the self proclaimed do-gooder foreclosure buyers is greed.

Another way of looking at it: Neighborhoods go DOWN because of the new-to-neighborhood foreclosure buyers who
could not have afforded the "normal" price of a home in that neighborhood."

Tim, good or not, these new prices are the "normal" prices now. Given your statement, then sellers were greedy bastards during the run up to the meltdown. The market was what it was, and is what it is.