As home foreclosures continue unabated at the rate of more than 9,000 per day with forecasts indicating financial institutions will hold more than 4 million properties by December, entrepreneurs are seeing opportunity while others are losing their shirts.  Christopher Wiley and co-founder Paul Roper last month launched ReoLynx.com, a site vying to be a “quassi-eBay” for institutional bulk buys of foreclosed homes. Investors can pick through the more than 1,000 homes listed on the site, build a portfolio and make a bid.  Portfolio Matrix Partners announces the launch of ReoLynx, a collaboration of best of breed service providers, to support the orderly redistribution of distressed real estate assets via an exchange environment.

A Sea of Opportunity

Additional companies such as VerifiedREOs.com, another online marketplace based in Los Angeles, recently began running 30-second television spots on cable-news shows in the New York market. BulkREO.com, of Bailey, Colo., began operations last year. Those sites, unlike ReoLynx, sell portfolios assembled by the sellers, rather than the buyers.

Not an Easy Fix

So far sales have been less than expected.  The Web clearinghouses does not reveal much about their transactions so their performance is difficult to gauge.  ReoLynx is holding weekly auctions, but hasn’t sold any homes so far. Wiley said the first ”cycle,” which closed Oct. 15, attracted more than 3,000 bids. Last week, for the first time, a handful of bids were accepted on homes with prices ranging between $20,000 and $190,000, the partners said. It could be several weeks before any transactions close.Ken Starks, a principal of Conexis Capital Partners, an investment firm in Gilbert, Ariz., said he has tried to buy homes in bulk, but many of the deals have fallen through. ”We get to the end of a bid and the seller says, ‘Gosh, we didn’t get the bid we wanted so we’re not going to sell,”’ he said.   Vicki Vidal, associate vice president of government affairs for the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington, said banks holding lots of foreclosed properties get calls from investors interested in bulk purchases, but rarely at a price that makes sense. ”Nothing is moving in some places right now,”

Bank Will Need to Adjust

Part of the problem is that banks don’t have the expertise or resources to offload homes they recently have repossessed. ”The banks really haven’t been staffed up or organized to deal with the large amounts of volume they’re seeing,” said Jim Shelton, vice chairman of Carter & Associates, an Atlanta real-estate investment and development company that is looking at bulk purchases in the Atlanta area.

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Why do so many buyers feel that there is not money to lend?  Search around. 
There are loan officers wanting to work and lenders wanting to lend.  You just have
know which loan product is best for you.  You also have to know which loan product
will work the best for your price point of
home you are purchasing.  FHA loans are great, and here is why.

New Loan Limits

Beginning January 1, 2009, FHA will insure single-family home mortgages up to $271,050 in low
cost areas and up to a maximum of $625,500 in high cost areas. The February 2008
Stimulus Package temporarily raised the FHA maximum to $729,750 through December 31,
2008. The new $625,500 limit is a significant increase over the $362,790 limit that was in
effect prior to the Stimulus Package.

Positives That Help Borrowers Include

• No minimum credit score.

• Non-traditional credit is acceptable.

• Low 3% downpayment.

• Non-occupant, co-borrower is permitted.

• Expanded qualifying ratios.

• No prepayment penalties.

• Fully assumable.

• Default assistance.

• Lower premiums.

• Interest rates are negotiated between borrower and lender.
• Works with various city and state programs.
  
  

You should only work with loan officers who are trained and skilled at the originating
and closing on FHA loans.  You will save yourself many headaches by working with
an officer who knows what they are doing. 

For lenders in your area, search the FHA Lender Link

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Three banks including the large California Downey Savings and Loan Association  Downey has 12.8 billion in assets and is the third larget bank to fail this year.  The other two banks being Washington Mutual  and IndyMac.  All three insitutions were large mortgage lenders focused on the California market.  Downey was a major originator of option adjustable-rate mortgages.  Option adjustable-rate mortgages allow borrowers to pay minimum payments on their mortgage each month, very similar to a credit card.  Unfortunately, this sometimes allows borrowers to borrow more than than can afford, leading to higher incidence of default. 

FDIC Chairman Shelia C. Bair has been the creative force behind various loan modifcation programs geared at helping homeowners.  Downey along with PFF Bank and Trust, also a California based thrift with 3.7 billion in assets was sold to U.S Bancorp of Minnesota.  The company agreed to absorb up to $1.6 billion in loan losses. The FDIC will absorb any additional losses. 

U.S. Bancorp also agreed as a condition of the deal to offer loan modifications to Downey and PFF customers under an FDIC formula. Holders of about $1.9 billion in Downey mortgage loans who have fallen behind on their payments would now be eligible for reduced monthly payments to help them avoid foreclosure. The unprecedented move in connection with a bank failure expands the agency’s controversial loan-modification program, which is opposed by other parts of the Bush administration.

The third failed bank, Community Bank of Loganville, Ga., was immediately sold to the Bank of Essex in Tappahannock, Va.  Regulators have closed 22 banks this year, including 12 in the past three months and five in November.

More Layoffs Expected?

We are no where near the bottom and we all should be adjusting our spending habits and conserving our resources for a bumpy ride.  Below are our current expected layoffs:

Company                                    Number of layoffs

Wells Fargo                                        80% wholesale mortgage jobs
Associated Press                             400
JPMorgan Chase                             10%
Sun Microsystems                         6,000
Citigroup                                           53,000
BT Group                                          10,000
Circuit City                                      7,300
Deutsche Post                                 9,500
Nortel Networks                            1,300
Motorola                                          3,000
Ford                                                   2,260
General Motors                             1,900
Fidelity Investment                    1,288
Mattel Inc                                       1,000
Goldman Sachs                             3,200
Merrill Lynch                                10,000
Bank of America                           7,500
Barclays                                           3,000
Wachovia                                        6,950
UBS                                                   2,000
Credit Suisse                                 1,500
Applied Materials                      1,800
Morgan Stanley                          4,000

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Highland Creek is an excellent community to live in, especially for those relocating to the Charlotte area. The community is larger than some U.S. cities with an approximate count of 13,000 residents.  Highland Creek, at almost 2000 acres is a master-planned community.  What is a master-planned community?  A master-planned community is a large community that features a lot of different builders with a wide range of prices.  What is the beauty of living in a master-planned community?  Diverse price points of buyers can experience the beauty of Highland Creek.  The price of homes range from 100K to over 800K.  The community spans to cities, Charlotte and Concord N.C.  The Concord side of Highland Creek is minutes from Concord Mills.

Amenities of Highland Creek

It’s incredible to think about the many amenities of Highland Creek.  They include:

A new elementary school
Basketball Courts
6 Tennis Courts
5 Playgrounds
Swimming Pools
Walking Trails
2 Assisted Living Facilities
An 18 Hole Championship Golf Course with Lake
A Clubhouse with Restaurant and Proshopa

There are some existing foreclosures and short sales available within Highland Creek.  For a listing, please visit this link.  If you are interested in a private viewing of any of these homes, please give us a call at (704) 559-5988 x4.

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