The Princeton Packet reports from New Jersey. “Mercer County’s more affluent communities, including Princeton and West Windsor, have experienced an increase in foreclosure notices during the past year, according to an analysis by The Packet. Both towns have seen a tripling of initial notifications of foreclosure proceedings, year over year. In Lawrence Township, such notices have nearly doubled.”
“While the actual numbers are still small compared to those recorded in Trenton, Hamilton and elsewhere, the trend suggests that Mercer County’s wealthier enclaves are not immune from the long term effects of the housing crisis and slowing economy.”
“‘I’m not surprised,’ said U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, whose 12th Congressional District includes Princeton and West Windsor. ‘People just a few years ago who were well off are feeling nervous,’ in some of his district’s wealthy towns, Mr. Holt said.”
The Capitol from Maryland. “The year-to-date average median sale price for homes in the 21401 ZIP code of Annapolis stood at $393,635. That’s a 5.9-percent drop from a year ago. Housing prices in Anne Arundel have remained relatively stable even as home sales have dropped by 20 to 30 percent in most county neighborhoods.”
“‘You’re seeing a demand pullback but not a rapid decrease in prices,’ said Dr. Daraius Irani, director of applied economics for the Regional Economic Studies Institute at Towson University. ‘Homes are keeping their value, we’re just selling a lot fewer of them.’”
“Dr. Irani said there are some homeowners ‘who are still clinging to the memory’ of what their neighbor sold a home for during the peak of the market. Others are holding prices because they don’t necessarily have to move and are saying, ‘I can stay and wait another three years to sell the house,’ he said.”
“The estate at Horse Shoe Point at 1 Norwood Road that originally was listed for $12.5 million is expected to sell for under $7 million, said Charlie Buckley, a Realtor who calls himself ‘Mr. Waterfront.’”
“‘This is sort of the upper bracket people doing some bargain shopping,’ he said.”
“Dennis Deitch said he hoped to sell his five-bedroom Colonial home in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Annapolis ‘a month ago’ so he and his wife and two children could move to another area such as Arnold or Davidsonville. But Mr. Deitch said he has had to adjust his expectations on price and how long it will take to sell.”
“‘Part of it is not only the uncertainty but the constant barrage you hear about how bad the economy is,’ he said.”
“Mr. Deitch said his home, which is within walking distance of downtown shops and restaurants, is listed for $869,000. However, he’s planning to lower the price to $849,000 next month, he said.”
“Mr. Deitch said he senses hesitancy among potential buyers. ‘There are people who come to our house, they really like our house, but they are not ready to buy,’ he said.”
The Washington Post. “Foreclosures in Virginia nearly tripled last month compared with July 2007, with Northern Virginia accounting for more than half of the foreclosures. The number of Loudoun County homes in some stage of foreclosure rose from 378 to 581, up 54 percent, according to RealtyTrac. Loudoun’s foreclosure rate was the second highest in Virginia.”
“Prince William County continued to have the highest rate, with one of every 103 houses in a state of foreclosure. Virginia had 5,745 foreclosure filings last month and the 10th-highest rate in the country last month.”
“The median sales price of a home in Prince William last month was $214,000, compared with $354,450 in July 2007, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems. Nearly 550 more homes were sold last month than in the previous July.”
“The median home sales price in Loudoun decreased 20 percent in July from the same month a year ago, from $440,000 to $350,000. The median price in Fairfax was down about 17 percent, with little effect on the number of homes being sold.”
“Experts said the housing market will not fully recover until foreclosures are absorbed.”
“The report from the Virginia Association of Realtors pointed to ‘dramatic’ differences between Northern Virginia and other parts of the state, which have not experienced such steep drops in home prices. The association said it expects regional sales activity ‘to widen in the next quarter before the overall housing market edges back toward equilibrium.’”
The Times West Virginian. “As subprime foreclosures create problems for the country’s housing market, more homeowners are experiencing losses because of liar loan default, The Associated Press reported.”
“Liar - or no doc - loans were one of the risky products with no documentation introduced in the early part of this decade, said Walter Molony, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors. ‘Frankly, they’re the kinds of loans that were not suited for many people and should have never come onto the market,’ he said.”
“Molony said it was mostly mortgage lenders and brokers, rather than banks, who introduced these products into the market and sold them. These lenders then collected quick fees and resold the mortgages into the secondary market.”
“‘It took a long time for the problem to become apparent,’ he said. ‘They’re terrible mortgages.’”
“He said most of these liar loans went away quickly last year along with other risky products. This period of very loose lending with no criteria or oversight then transitioned to overly restricted lending today.”
“‘Borrowers with good credit are unable to buy homes that they can afford,’ Molony said. ‘They need to loosen up the lending criteria.’”
“Molony said the country should start to see the rate of foreclosures trend downward and return to normal levels next year.”
“‘When you look at our inventory and sales data, we have unprecedented levels of distress sales - either foreclosure or a short sale in which the home is being sold for less than the outstanding mortgage value,’ he said. ‘A lot of people have been hurt by that.’”
The Rocky Mount Telegram from North Carolina. “Increasing numbers of Rocky Mount residents are falling behind on their mortgage payments and losing their homes to foreclosure. ‘Until a few months ago, their economy (in Rocky Mount) was holding up, but unemployment has increased quite a bit recently, so those job losses could translate into increased foreclosures next year,’ stated Sam Khater, a senior economist with First American CoreLogic.”
“In states like California, Florida and Nevada, where double-digit increases in home prices were the norm only a few years ago, values have tumbled so fast that thousands of mortgage holders could not sell their homes for what they owed.”
“Many have walked away from those properties, said John A. Barker, who is CEO of Providence Bank in Rocky Mount. ‘Those people opted to let the bank take the home and put their cash into their credit cards, which has been a source of income to get through this (economic downturn),’ Barker said.”
“‘In Michigan, they had a lot of car workers laid off. When they were laid off, they couldn’t make the mortgage payment,’ Barker said. ‘And in those communities, each time a home is lost to foreclosure, prices on the same block started to tumble. It was like a domino effect.’”
“Rocky Mount Mayor David Combs, the broker for Century 21 The Combs Co., said sales are being held back in Rocky Mount because of the increased difficulty in obtaining home loans.”
“‘The number of home sales are down partly because of the (lack of the) availability of credit, but not because there is not a demand (to buy homes) in the market,’ Combs said.”
