What do you see in your housing market this weekend? Lower prices? “Sales of single family homes in May were off 21% when compared to last year as the market is still trying to find its legs. The Florida Association of Realtors reports that 992 homes were sold during May with the median priced home being $193,200 down 7%.”
“Longtime Jacksonville realtor, Gene Jones, believes the market is hitting bottom. Builders according to Jones are slashing prices to move inventory. ‘We are getting calls from them every day, you know, they dropped their price again,’ said Jones.”
Condo reversions? “In emerging neighborhoods, more and more developers are changing course, renting apartments that were originally slated for sale. ‘The Bridges’ in East Harlem is a building that just made the switch to rental units.”
“‘Developers are finding more and more that it is probably a better route to convert sales into rentals if they are not having success that they would like to,’ says Leo Munoz of Halstead Property. ‘And maybe put those condos on market a few years down the road when the market has either picked up or stabilized and they can get prices more suitable to what their needs are.’”
Or foreclosures? “Foreclosures dropped 25.6 percent from May to June in New Hampshire, according to RealtyTrac, but New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority is standing by its earlier projection of 3,000 foreclosures statewide for the year.”
“The June figure was still 17.25 percent higher than reported the same month a year ago. ‘The way the trend is working now, we’re definitely going to hit that 3,000 number before the end of the year,’ said Dean Christon, NHHFA’s executive director. ‘When they (homeowners) do get into difficulty paying a mortgage, they have fewer options now than they did a year ago.’”
“Tarrant County has 1,430 homes posted for the August foreclosure auction. So far for the year, the county has had 10,787 homes posted for foreclosure, up 22 percent from the first eight months of 2007.”
“The February number is considered the most foreclosure postings since the real estate crash that started recovering in the early 1990s. The homes will be sold Aug. 5.”
Legal actions? “Arvin Weiss has been found guilty of mortgage fraud and witness tampering, U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said today. A U.S. District Court jury found Weiss, of Englewood, guilty late Wednesday in a complicated mortgage fraud scheme that primarily targeted Hispanics. Many of the people involved were in the U.S. illegally, Eid said, and did not understand the mortgage loan process.”
“‘Commit mortgage fraud and you may land in federal prison,’ Eid said in a statement. ‘Enough is enough.’”
“Weiss arranged for buyers to acquire mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration so they could purchase homes his company owned.”
“Knowing that the buyers he targeted could not afford to buy houses or legitimately qualify for home loans, Weiss allegedly arranged for false information about the buyers’ qualifications and the sources of their down payments to be provided to various mortgage companies and HUD, making it appear that the buyers were qualified to receive FHA-insured loans when they were not.”
“Weiss usually sold his properties for two or three times what Reserve Capital had recently paid for them.”
“For millions of homeowners, the property slump could mean years of hardship. For John Gizzi it could mean years of hard labour.”
“At the time of his sentence for fraud, he was ordered to pay back £2.6 million he earned as a criminal or face an eight-year extension on his prison sentence. To meet the bill, he has been trying to sell his nine-bedroom mansion. But the market crash has cut its value from £1.75 million to just £900,000 - and a buyer is yet to be found.”
“Gizzi’s £100,000 Bentley Continental has already been sold under the order. His next forfeit was due to be the Bronwylfa Hall country estate in St Asaph, Denbighshire, North Wales, where he had lived the life of a playboy millionaire in his criminal heyday.”
“It was originally put on the market for £1.75 million at the time of Gizzi’s sentencing, then reduced to £1.3 million. Now the property is available for £900,000, but estate agents handling the sale say they are looking to accept ‘best and final offers’ by the end of the month.”
“Another estate agent in the area said: ‘He could not be trying to sell at a worse time. The housing market has collapsed. It’s an impressive looking property and a bit nicer than where he is currently living. But just because he’s behind bars doesn’t mean he’s immune from the drop in house prices.’”
