Jefferson Park Neighborhood Association is sponsoring a forum called ” The State of Real Estate in Jefferson Park”.

As a participant in the forum, I have prepared a review of the Real Estate Market for both Single Family Homes and Attached Homes which is primarily the condo and townhouse market.

In doing the analysis I decided it would be best to go back to 2008 and then look forward to the current real estate market in 2010. 

 Jefferson Park Single Family and Attached Home Sales Data:

As the data indicates there were very few Short Sales and no Foreclosures in Jefferson Park in 2008.

In 2009 the Real Estate Market began to change and Jefferson Park was not immune to these changes.  

The number of Short Sales doubled from 7 in 2008 to 15 in 2009. The number of Foreclosures also jumped from 0 in 2008 to 20 in 2009.

While both these numbers are low in comparison to the total number of property being sold they do represent a shift in attitude to buyers. Between 27-30% of all sales in 2009 were distressed properties.

Finally in the first 7 months of 2010, the percentage of distressed sales increased to 37% for Single Family homes and 55% for all Attached Family homes.

One of the more postive signs in Jefferson Park is home values. Home values appear to be stabilizing. The average price of a home is $264,321 in 2010 compared to $270,378 in 2009. This is a modest decline of only 2%.

Attached home prices on the other hand are not doing as well. Over the past two years, the average Attached home prices has dropped from a high of $219.428 in 2008 to $152,149. This represents 14-19% drop in price each year from 2008-2010.

Jefferson Park Residential Sales Data from 2008 thru 2010:

The following data comes from the MLS. The author of this report makes no representation to the accuracy of the data provided by the MLS.

 Jefferson Park Real Estate For Sale

Currently there are 130 single family homes and 74 attached homes for sale in Jefferson Park.

The real estate market is a buyers market in Jefferson Park.

The average market time is 217 for Single Family Homes and 282 days for Attached homes.

The average List price of a Single Family home is $313,000 and $180,907 for Attached homes.

The number of Shorts Sales represents 15-19% of all active listings for sale.

Jefferson Park Real Estate For Sale: Active Listings

The following data comes from the MLS. The author of this report makes no representation to the accuracy of the data provided by the MLS.

As the saying goes its not over until the fat lady sings and I can say that now after waiting 13 long months for a short sale listing of mine to close.

While this might not be the longest time in record for a short sale to close it has become one of the best success stories of the year for me and everyone I have been involved with  over the past 13 months.

In order to get to closing we had to over come a lot of obsticles which included 4 liens and 2 personal bankruptcy for the sellers involved in this transaction.

We were able to get all liens satisfied and then had to go to bankruptcy court to get the final approval to close.

I want to thank everyone involved because without them this would not have ever closed. 

 First we had a buyer who really wanted to buy the home.

A Supportive Family who were willing to assist the buyers financially and emotionally throughout the process.

A Lender who was able to get creative with a local bank and get the buyers financing.

A Buyer agent who kept the buyers interest first and had the courage to trust this deal would close.

A Short Sale Negotiator and Real Estate Attorney who worked with the Seller to get all of the liens satisfied. I think I over heard the Real Estate Attorney say that  27  different HUD-1 were reveiwed before getting final approval from the lender. 

The final thanks goes out to the seller for trusting all involved that we could get this Short Sale approved and closed and prevent a Foreclosure on their record.

Thank you all ….

The problem we are faced with today is not that different from the Great Depression with one exception and that is the amount of debt both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own.

Together, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own more than $5 trillion U.S.  mortgages which is almost half of the total  $12 U.S. mortgages.

 The amount of debt Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own is not sustainable for the Federal Government, the U.S. economy, or individual tax payers.

That is why the Financial Regulation Bill did not discuss reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at this time.

 In the near future, we will need to address reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  But how do we do this.

In my opinion, we need to have a healthy secondary mortgage market. One that is assuming limited risk to investors.

We need money to flow from Banks to homeowners, from Investors to Banks back to homeowners again.

I think this can be done without the government involved.

We just need better oversight and confidence in our rating system so investors can purchase mortgage backed securities based on the merit of the mortgage itself not in the bubble of the housing market.

The number of people loosing their homes is staggering and the numbers keep growing everyday.

I say we need to come up with a different plan a different strategy that thinks outside the box.

I say nobody should be homeless when there vacant homes in foreclosure needing families to live in them.

 I think the banks should not only let people move into these foreclosed homes but they should also pay them to live there.

These people need jobs and there are plenty of odd jobs to go around when dealing with foreclosed homes. Pay these people to mow the lawn, take out the garbage, fix up the homes, and preserve the asset for the bank.

Lets solve this problem together.

Inspired by words and music of Pete Seeger.

Where have all the sellers gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the sellers gone

Long time ago.

Where have all the buyers gone?

Investors have picked the good ones everywhere

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Where have all the builders gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the builders gone

Long time ago

Where have all the bankers gone?

Long time passing.

Where have all the bankers gone?

Gone to graveyards everyone

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

Where has all the money gone?

Long time passing

Where has all the money gone?

Long time ago.

Will we ever learn?

Will we ever learn

 It was reported that the financial markets will not recover for another 3 to 7 years.

As I see it Real Estate is the last to recover.  I predict it will take 7 to 10 years before Housing will recover.

Why would anyone want to hold onto real estate for that long and continue to take a loss each year?

The argument of “what is the right and ethical thing to do”  is no longer  a valid argument.

 I say the proper thing for people to do is ask themselves “should I continue to throw good money after bad money” or ” should I just pull out and take the loss now” ?

 These Economic decisions are beginning to out way ethical or moral decisions and this is why I say we are going to see more strategic defaults.

Many people bought second homes, investment properties and these so called investments are now liabilities instead of assets.

Soon people will learn that true wealth is not measured by what one owns rather how one lives and saves.

A home can be a necessity or an  asset when it is paid off in full or it can be a liability and long term debt.

“The Richest Man in Babylon” did not become the wealthest man in his day by spending more than he earned.

 But let me start this story from the beginning not the end.

 It was July of 2009 that I met with the seller. She purchased 3 condos with an Option Arm loan and paid $170,000 for each unit. The last unit sold in the building was $29,000 and this was a 2 bedroom/1 bath foreclosure sale just like my sellers unit.

I had the unit listed for sale at  $50,000 and the “Highest and Best” offer was $35,000 cash offer. The unit was listed for 340 days and was seen by 337,000 people on Realtor.com. This really was my best offer.

Chase Bank was the servicer of the Loan while BOA was the investor. In the end Chase bank would not submit our Cash offer to the Lender because they said it was too late and the file was too old.

Poor Excuse. In the end everyone looses.

• The Bank looses because any offer in the future will be less than what they received today.
• The Seller looses because they end up with a foreclosure on their record.
• The Buyer looses because he does not end up buying something they want.
• The Tenant looses because he has been paying rent and now is being forced to move even though he did nothing wrong.

 I am starting to think both Chase and BOA are doing nothing but C-T-A (Covering their Asses) when it comes to the current real estate market.

We need to change that soon.

In the second quarter of 2010, Foreclosure Sales and Short Sales together represent 24% -39% of all sales in each of the five counties researched.

There are three (3) times as many foreclosures than Short Sales in the second quarter of (April-June)  2010.

The Real Estate Market is still a buyers market.  In each of the five counties surveyed it is taking anywhere from 7 months -12 months to close on a home.

The next few quarters for the real estate market will be challenging for several reasons.

The First Time Home Owners Tax Credit Expired April 30, 2010 and fewer qualified buyers are looking to purchase a home even though Mortgage Interest Rates are at a all time low.

There is speculation of a Double Dip in the Real Estate Market as a result of more Foreclosures come on the market. Right now the “Shadow Inventory” of foreclosures is paying attention to the abosorption rates discussed above.

“What Me Worry?” was the phrase used in Mad Magazine and I think it is appropriate here.

They say bad news comes in threes:

 First, the National Association of Realtors reported existing homes sales dipped 2.2% last month.

 Second, the National Association Of Home Builders shows sales of new homes dropped a record 32.7% in May. This is the lowest level in four decades.

Finally, the Mortgage Bankers Association showed mortgage applications dropped off by 5.9% even when mortgages are at a all time low.

All three indicate the real estate market is struggling after the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit expired April 30, 2010.

Lets hope there is a silver lining somewhere for real estate in the near future.

More than 700 days after putting up for sale the home they owned for three decades, a Glen Ellyn couple says they’d received multiple offers on the home, but couldn’t get any answers from their mortgage company.

Gus and Fran Trantham owed more on their home than its market value, so they were a “short sale,” industry lingo for selling a home for less than is owed.  Bank approval is needed for this type of transaction, as the loss is shouldered or shared by the mortgage holder.

But the two year struggle put the couple on the verge of bankruptcy.

“I never dreamed I would have a house this beautiful,” Fran Trantham said of the custom-built, 4,000 square foot home she and Gus built.

They now rent a condo in Woodridge, not far from the home they say they have been trying to sell for so long, and they blame JPMorganChase for failing to offer them any assistance in their efforts to avoid foreclosure and complete a short sale.

“We had a house we thought was worth the money to carry us through,” Gus Trantham said, questioning why Chase ignored three contract offers the couple received on the home. “They are obviously making so much money… two-and-a-quarter billion in a quarter.  They are not looking down at the bottom of the feeding scale to the houses of Americans.”

The team of professionals working with the Tranthams say they were also at a loss to explain why Chase wouldn’t even answer the potential buyers’ offers.

ReMax agent Joel Adams said he and his clients never got any answers when they submitted the first three contract offers.

“Never one. Nope, not one. They never responded in any formal way. Never,” he said.

The Tranthams’ agents said it’s a lose-lose proposition and a problem that is not unique to Chase: the bank never answers and the prospective buyers almost always walk away.

“If you can imagine being a buyer, thinking you are going to buy a house and waiting four or five months for an answer, you have to go out and buy another house,” said ReMax Suburban Vice President James R. Nelson.

To try to save the deal, their lawyer Joseph Horwitz said he took a more direct route.

“It’s unbelievable, to put it mildly,” Horwitz said.  “We wrote letters begging for an answer and it never came. So the date came and went and those people finally left.”

Meanwhile, the couple said the price of their home, along with the market, kept dropping.

With so many homeowners in the same boat — owing more than their home is worth — the Obama Administration recently offered incentives to get banks to complete more short sales.  But is anyone keeping track on whether the banks are actually doing that?

After repeated requests for information, a spokesperson for the US Department of Treasury, which oversees foreclosure alternative programs, said the agency is tracking the number of short sales completed by banks. But, he said, it is too early for the department to report those numbers.

For its part, Chase also won’t say how many short sales it has completed in recent months, but a spokeswoman said that last year the company was focused on loan modifications and keeping families in their homes.

Spokeswoman Christine Holevas said the company is now turning more attention, and adding more staffing, to short sale transactions.  She said Chase does not keep transcripts of conversation with its customers, but that its internal notes do indicate Chase representatives responded to the early offers on the Trantham home.

She said the notes indicate the offers were too low and that the bank countered.  The Tranthams, their lawyer and their realtor all dispute that. 

Eight days after NBC Chicago’s call to Chase to raise the Tranthams’ questions, their short sale offer was approved.

Gus, 79, Fran, 78, said they had very different plans in mind for their golden years and are hoping for a new beginning.  But say they had to wait for at Chase to say the word.

“It’s just an unbelievable situation. The system isn’t working. This should have been taken care of a year ago,” said Gus Trantham.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/business/Chasing-Chase-96513319.html#ixzz0r5RrfJBW ]]> http://ilrealestatespecialists.com/2010/06/16/channel-5-news-report-on-chase-bank/feed/ 4