Bank Owned, REO, Foreclosure; they all mean the same thing. The last person who owned it couldn’t keep up on the payments and it reverted back to the bank in a Trustee Sale. Now it’s up to the bank/lender to sell it to someone new and there’s a lot of competition out there these days since Lender Owned Active Listings have grown 68% in Just 5 Months!
There were 8,544 lender owned homes offered for sale as active listings on ARMLS as of September 30. As of April 30, 2010 there were only 5,090. This is a 68% growth in just 5 months. In recent weeks we have seen prices start to fall almost as steeply as we did during 2008 as a result of our market getting a huge supply in such a short period of time.
COUPLED WITH INSANELY LOW INTEREST RATES- YOU CAN BUY A HOME for just $200,000 for as little as $7000 down (FHA) & @ barely over $1000 a month (principal and interest). At the peak of the market, it would have cost you nearly as much as 3 times for the same home (if not more) !!!
For the buyer out there today; there are deals to be had- especially if they don’t mind rolling up their sleeves and doing a little rehab work. A year ago today there were barely half the amount of REO (Bank Owned, Foreclosures) homes on the marketplace- just look at the top row of the chart above to see those stats. Gone are the bidding wars for these homes, which do make the Short Sales less appealing.
Typically the Short Sales that are occupied are in better shape than their vacant Bank Owned counterparts, but waiting for the unknown can hurt their appeal in comparison of getting an answer on average within a week on a Bank Owned Home.
DO YOU NEED HELP NAVIGATING IN THIS MARKET??? CONTACT US AT 480-243-4242 OR START SHOPPING NOW HERE.
We are also happy to send you a custom list of homes that fit what you are looking for, just ask us!