In a market flooded with foreclosures, homebuyers can find steals easily. Or that's what many of them think until they begin searching. Soon, they learn that only savvy buyers get the best deals. Understanding how banks negotiate foreclosure deals is a must if you want to buy low in today's market. Here are five secrets every homebuyer must know when shopping for a foreclosed home. Don't make lowball offers on just-listed properties It's useless to make lowball offers on bank-owned houses that have been on the market for only a few days, says John Thompson, a Realtor at Samson Realty in Chantilly, Va. "When you haven't had opportunity to expose your property to the marketplace long enough, you would be reluctant to take a lowball offer," Thompson says. "Most of the banks are aggressive with their pricing, but they are not going to give the properties away." Asset management companies handle sales for banks. These companies price ...

Homebuyers are back. But they're not finding many for-sale houses to choose from. This dearth of for-sale homes isn't imaginary. In fact, the pool of properties actually has shrunk in housing markets across the nation. Only 2.32 million existing homes were available for sale in the U.S. at the end of September 2012, according to the National Association of Realtors. That figure represented a 5.9-month supply of for-sale homes at the September pace of sales. A year earlier, the supply of for-sale homes would have lasted 8.1 months at the then-current pace of sales. So, what happened to all the houses? Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors in Los Angeles, and Rick Sharga, executive vice president of Carrington Mortgage Holdings, a mortgage company in Aliso Viejo, Calif., offer some answers. Sellers are on the sidelines.  Some homeowners have no reason to move. Others aren't motivated because they would take a loss at c...

Some level of certainty and stability returned to the U.S. housing market in 2012, providing a solid foundation for the market to build on in 2013. But there are still significant risks that threaten this hard-won stability and could trip up some local markets trying to make the tricky transition from stability to strength. U.S. Foreclosures Continue Slow Descent At a national level and in states with relatively efficient foreclosure processes, foreclosure activity will not pose a significant threat to housing market stability. U.S. foreclosure activity will continue its slow descent off the peak of 2.9 million properties with foreclosure filings in 2010 and back toward a more normal level of around 500,000 properties with foreclosure filings a year – although don’t expect to see a completely normal foreclosure year until 2015. Foreclosure Flare-Ups Rising foreclosure activity in certain markets at the beginning and end of the year could threaten the stability in those ma...

Completed foreclosures continued their progressive decline, and foreclosure inventory fell to its lowest level since April 2010,  CoreLogic   reported Thursday. In August 2012, 57,000 homes were lost to foreclosure, down from 58,000 in July and 75,000 a year ago, according to the report. The yearly decrease represents a 24 percent decline. “August marks the fourth month in a row there were fewer completed foreclosures, which is more evidence that the housing industry is finding its footing,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, 3.8 million homes have been lost to foreclosure. Fewer homes with a mortgage were also in the foreclosure process in August, with foreclosure inventory numbering about 1.3 million homes, or 3.2 percent of all homes with a mortgage, down from last year’s 1.4 million homes, CoreLogic reported. Foreclosure inventory remained unchanged on a monthly basis. Anand Nallathambi, presid...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a report Thursday showing that although reverse mortgages are meant to help borrowers in retirement, they are in fact causing problems for many who don’t fully understand them. A reverse mortgage is a type of home loan that lets older homeowners access the equity they have built up on their homes and defer loan payment until they sell the home, move out, or pass away. The original purpose of reverse mortgages was to allow these homeowners to convert home equity into an income stream or line or credit to use in retirement. Borrowers were largely expected to age in place with their loans, living in their current homes until they passed or needed skilled care. Reverse mortgages require no monthly mortgage payments, but borrowers must still pay property taxes and homeowner’s insurance. The report showed that nearly 10 percent of reverse mortgage borrowers are at risk of foreclosure because they failed to pay those costs. “Revers...

The Home Ownership Resource Center is in a new, high-profile location in Fort Myers as it braces for a major reworking of the programs designed to save people from foreclosure. Formerly in four locations scattered around Lee County, the private, nonprofit agency moved two weeks ago into space it leases in the Fifth Third Bank building on Colonial Boulevard just west of Metro Parkway. Executive director Eddie Felton said the consolidation will let him operate more efficiently as the state prepares to roll out revised federal programs that will let more people qualify for help with foreclosure issues. Under the old setup, “My operations budget was killing me,” Felton said. “I feel really blessed” to have the new location. If the U.S. Treasury Department approves the state’s proposed revisions for the federal programs administered by the state, the changes will go into effect mid-June, said Cecka Rose Green, communications director for Florida Housing. Felton said the one he’s m...

In a market flooded with foreclosures, homebuyers can find steals easily. Or that's what many of them think until they begin searching. Soon, they learn that only savvy buyers get the best deals. Understanding how banks negotiate foreclosure deals is a must if you want to buy low in today's market. Here are five secrets every homebuyer must know when shopping for a foreclosed home. It's useless to make lowball offers on bank-owned houses that have been on the market for only a few days, says John Thompson, a Realtor at Samson Realty in Chantilly, Va. "When you haven't had opportunity to expose your property to the marketplace long enough, you would be reluctant to take a lowball offer," Thompson says. "Most of the banks are aggressive with their pricing, but they are not going to give the properties away." Asset management companies handle sales for banks. These companies price the foreclosed homes close to what they think the properties are worth. A...

Homeowners in Florida, along with those in California, will get more than half of the $26 billion settlement the nation's attorneys general reached Thursday with the nation's biggest bank over foreclosures abuses, because the state has so many delinquent loans and underwriter properties. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the top legal officers in nearly every other state announced the deal Thursday, a settlement that will bring in $8.4 billion in Florida. That amount was second only to California. The bulk of that is for loan modifications, including principal reduction, with about $170 million available for cash payments to Florida borrowers who lost their home during the most recent economic turmoil. The banks, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroug and Ally Financial will reduce balances for almost 1 million households and send checks of about $2,000 to about 750,000 Americans who lost their homes to foreclosure improperly, the attorney general said. The settle...