Selling? Waiting Until the Spring Makes No Sense
Late last year, banks were warned that they needed to guarantee that the paperwork necessary to start a foreclosure process on a family was both accurate and complete. Since then, the banks have slowed down the foreclosure process while they re-examined their procedures. They are now confident that all the required documentation is in order. We are currently waiting on a settlement between the banks and the state attorneys general which will establish what penalties will be assessed.
Once this settlement is reached, the banks will again move forward on many homes which are currently stalled at some stage in the foreclosure process.
How many homes are we talking about?
There are millions of homes in this category. Calculated Risk quantified the situation:
“There are a large number of seriously delinquent mortgage loans in limbo waiting for this settlement. According to LPS, at the end of August there were about 1.87 million loans seriously delinquent and another 2.15 million loans in the foreclosure process. This is only down slightly from a year ago when 4.4 million loans were seriously delinquent or in-foreclosure. Once the settlement is reached, the pace of foreclosures will pick up sharply.
The pace will “pick up sharply”.
Bottom Line
As more foreclosures come to the market at discounted prices, there will be greater downward pressure on all housing values. Waiting for the spring selling season to put your house on the market may not make sense this year. The increase in demand may be overshadowed by an increased supply of distressed properties.
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In my local area, low inventory numbers make it a great time to sell and not wait till spring of 2012. If the banks release a whole bunch of inventory is will exasperate the downward movement of the markets which then sellers will receive even less for the their home.
Hello- I’m Gloria Perez and I just joined the Our World Team today and can truly say …I appreciate the article referencing “Selling? Waiting Until the Spring Makes No Senses”. I’m seeing a listing client this evening that would like to take their homes off the market and wait until next Spring to re list. My thoughts are mirrored in this article. Never…at least in my life time, is it a better time to keep your house on the market “right now” INSTEAD of re listing next Spring. Why wait until the inventory and supply goes up …to get back in the market. The simple law of supply and demand…states this is suicidal for an owner and seller. Thanks
Waiting for the other shoe to fall! Even if the rates remain low, I’m not sure it will help in keeping values up.
Totally makes sense! Sharing this to our clients!!!
Very important for any potential home seller to read. Can’t afford to wait!