I saw this map over on Active Rain posted by Gabriel Silverstein
I can’t find the original source for more info. Maine is such a Blue State! Doesn’t seem to have ANY foreclosures. California looks pretty darned sad, as does Florida. Does anyone know if the Nevada Red area is primarily in and around Vegas?
If anyone can find the original source of this map with more info, I’d appreciate it. I find it to be incredibly interesting.
We’re not as blue as we are politically 🙂
Sometimes we are the tale on the dog. Will the BLUE great lakes flood northward? Our lending practises should save our butts but I’m keeping my PFD close at hand.
I saw this over there, too, and wondered where it came from – Seattle looks pretty pink in there…
hmmm
I found a link to the site. Torto Wheaton Research – CB Ellis – Commerical
http://www.twr.com/default.aspx?_title=PublicHome
Looks like a member’s only site so I can’t get more detail regarding the map.
Ardell – The red areas in Southern Nevada are around Las Vegas. Clark County would be Las Vegas and Laughlin, while Nye would include Nellis AFB and the Nuclear Test Range. I do find the red area for what looks like Douglas County in W Central Nevada odd, unless it is vacation homes.
Thanks BMan.
Looks like the foreclosures from Vegas go into CA from there and down to San Diego as the brightest red patterm
Ardell,
This might be the original.
http://www.foreclosurepulse.com/archive/2008/01/24/4847.aspx
Thanks Ryan. The site looks like a teaser. hard to believe someone on 1st Street in Kirkland is in foreclosure over a $99,000 balance on their mortgage, or so the site says.
The other question is what data does it use. Foreclosure.com or one of them had an issue with double counting properties in certain areas.
Ardell,
A $99,000 balance could be a second mortgage in default behind a big first mortgage. Whoever is high bidder at that auction would take title subject to the first mortgage being paid off.
Ardell- Maine, especially northern Maine is mostly owned by large timber companies. It is safe to say they won’t have many foreclosures in those areas.
The demand for lumber is way down. Mills are being closed locally. (Although maybe the trees in Maine are not the type where the wood is used for construction–I haven’t been to Maine since I was 12).
Jillayne,
That piece of info makes me want to subscribe to the site, walk around the corner, and help the person make it to a better answer to their problem. I’ll see how hard it is to get that actual address, and how much it will cost before they give you more than teaser info.
I searched google image with “foreclosure rate county”. Didn’t come up with that exact map, but I did see several with that same coloration, on different “scales” (one nationwide with colors state by state, two focusing in on specific metro areas with colors neighborhood by neighborhood). All of them reference back to RealtyTrac. I went to that site itself and couldn’t find map info, just a lot of come-ons for buying foreclosures. But, my guess is that the map above is sourced from RealtyTrac, and the TRW data is overlaid on top of it.
How does anyone find out what home is in forclosure? I always thought realtors get forclosure list like the MLS, so buyers can buy a property at a deal but still higher than what the bank will pay, thus benifiting both parties. But from the discuession here, that’s not the case…
Are all realty sites getting house listings from the same source? I seems to find more houses when I search on Trulia than on JohnLScott website.
Carrie,
There is nothing in the normal course of operating as an agent, using the mls system, that makes us privy to late payments and pre-foreclosures or foreclosures. There are agents and groups of agents and companies unlicensed to sell real estate, who specialize in short sales and foreclosures. They pay for other systems, I’ve heard the cost can be as much as an extra $7,000 a month, to monitor to the degree you suggest. They do a volume business in short sales and foreclosures to compensate for the extra work and cost and staffing involved.
Not every licensed agent seeks out foreclosure sales or clients who want to buy them. I for one am not one of those agents who seeks them out. I have been closely watching how these specialty agents and non-agents deal with these situations recently. I don’t like everything that I see, and I clearly could not and would not specialize in this area. But recently when the best house for my client was a short sale, we proceeded and closed escrow.
When someone calls me looking for short sales or foreclosures, I refer them to someone else. I do not find them to be the only or best or even better values, most of the time.
Behind every foreclosure and short sale, there’s a sad story. Sometimes that sad story gets transferred to the buyer. It is not an area to approach lightly and the buyers and sellers must do their own and separate due diligence regarding what is best for them, when in these situations.
Much like flipping and investing, there are fewer success stories than sad stories.
Hi Ardell,
In regards to comment 12, you could get that information from the trustee. Their name will be part of the public record. We have two trustee companies that do the bulk of the business in this area:
Regional Trustee Services
and
Northwest Trustee Services
Just google their names.
“How does anyone find out what home is in forclosure?”
Hi Carrie,
As Ardell mentioned, some agents specialize in this area. For everyone else, we go to a title insurance company and order a “foreclosure” report. I honestly do not know if title companies are charging for these. They use to be free.
They run a computer database search on the area, say, city of _______ and then they cross reference that search with a public records document called a Notice of Trustees Sale.
This report will not be current. The reason why is that there’s lag time between the county records filing and the time it takes for the title company’s database to get updated, to the time that information is available for a report. Maybe a month or so late/off. So you’d be seeing foreclosure filings for December/Jan if you ordered the report today.
To find a title company, google:
title insurance company ___your___ county.
http://www.realtytrac.com seems to be a good resource. I’m pretty sure that title companies (at least locally) do not have the resources to provide foreclosure reports anymore…especially not without a charge.
Here’s a search I just ran in Bellevue: http://www.realtytrac.com/MapSearch/MapSearch/MapSearch.aspx?txtCity=bellevue&txtCity=WA
Jillayne,
I just hired a team who specializes in foreclosures and short sales. They have been doing huge volume in this area for quite some time. The ink isn’t dry on the paperwork yet, but I’ve seen the elaborate computer system they use that tracks the late payments way before it hits foreclosure stage.
I expect their methods and systems are somewhat proprietary given their success in this area.
You can also just look at the King County Recorders website for Notices of Trustee Sale.
http://146.129.54.93:8193/legalacceptance.asp?
Most counties have similar systems–just Google it.
When that’s recorded the sale is roughly 3 months out in most instances. If you look at the substitution of trustee documents, you can get four months notice, but most of those are paying off the mortgage, so you have to know which is which.
Keep in mind probably 90%+ of the people who get these notices are not planning on selling.
Kary,
The short sale specialists try to catch these situations on the first late payment. By notice of Trustee sale, time is running out to prevent the foreclosure. Many don’t have the cash required to buy foreclosures, and can benefit more from the short sale process…buyers that is.
I’d think it would be harder to get a bank to do a short sale early on. But whatever. I have no interest in doing short sales, so if they want to find them early, that’s fine by me. I’m just glad someone actually wants to do short sales.
Thanks for alll the info. Good knowledge to have for this area. I am looking at foreclosures also. Are Government auction sites recommended?
TC realize foreclosures are risky. Unless they’re listed prior to the foreclosure, and you go in, you’ll have no idea what you’re getting into. Also, there can be title issues.
Thanks everyone for the clarification and warning, I didn’t realize how complicated forclosures are! Washington state looks pretty pink in that map, coupled with WaMu’s “soft” grade on King county, is our market really that bad right now?
I don’t think that map is accurate. All the reports I’ve seen is that our foreclosures are not that bad (and were over-reported as I mentioned). For me it’s the low sales volume of listings that’s the concern, but parts of King County are very weak (mainly the extreme south end–Auburn, Federal Way, etc.).