rmasse10's Blog: Tampa Foreclosures

Foreclosures, Short Sales, REO's, Bank Owned...we have heard all of these terms and yet very few actually know what is meant by them.  Let me see if I can clear things up, for those of you that already know, just sit back and relax for now.

Bank Owned - A property that is owned by the Bank.  Since banks are not allowed to enter into Real Estate, they must hire a Real Estate professional to market and sell the property for them thru the MLS or whatever means they choose.  Time frame to close this kind of deal is 30-45 days typically, but could go longer due to current economic situations.

REO - Same as Bank owned just with a fancy Acronym attached (Real Estate Owned)

Short Sale - Kind of an interesting term since it is not short at all.  This is a…

Tampa Foreclosures, REO's Bank Owned, and Short Sales have been the buzz and continue to be the buzz in the Tampa Real Estate Market.  It appears the many Bank Owned Properties have disappeared from the market due to their fire sale prices although there are still some that remain.  Seems like the first wave of Foreclosures to Bank Owned has hit and passed with the secondary waves about the hit.  This means that the next wave of properties should be priced to Market and the banks should be in the swing of things, as they seemed somewhat ignorant prior.

Team Masse continues to dominate the market, adding an additional 3 Buyers Agents, and 2 more Administrative Assistants to handle the new load from Agents and Market conditions.

I think the most…

Strange Title, I know...but let me explain a bit.  Tampa Foreclosures, typically bad for sellers (only if you are the home owner and you don't want to leave) but great for those looking for a deal in property.  But wait there is more.  If you are going to purchase a Foreclosure, make sure you know what the heck you are doing.  Many properties that have gone thru the foreclosures process have may have some damage to "stuff" that may or may not be visible (since homeowners may have been forced out and are angry about the situation, you really need to have a thorough home inspection)

Whatever your case is, you really need to understand the market and what a Short Sale is vs a Foreclosure.  Believe me, a Short Sale is NOT Short as the name would indicate but…

My wife and I have grown our business and Tampa Real Estate Team in the past 4 months because of the tremendous demand for well priced property right now in the Sunshine State.  Property is priced where it was priced some 3-4 years ago and homes, second homes, and condos are going extremely fast.  As an example, my wife just sold a 1000sqft waterfront Condo with a dock for $130k.  These are unbelieveable prices and those that understand that are jumping on the bandwagon...quickly.

Now with the First Time home Buyers credit, many first time home buyers that have thought about buying property are now jumping in and the water is pretty warm where they use to believe it was cold.  These individuals can afford a much larger home now for the same money that…

Well, the Tampa Real Estate market is running at full speed as well as the Tampa Foreclosures and Tampa Short Sale market.  But the problem still remains with the banks.  Some banks have gotten very good at short sales, some still can't figure out their butt from their elbow.  I have a listing that is under contract, it is a short sale, the Bank involved start with 'ity' and ends with 'ank' if you know what  I mean, I have had a contract in with them for about 4 weeks, they acknowledge the offer, the acknowledge the paperwork for me to speak on behalf of the borrower, but trying to get a single name of who has this account is where the problem is.  They call my seller twice a week and every time they call, he gets a different name of who is responsible for…

An email I just received from GTAR (Greater Tampa Association of Realtors) shows the following in the Headline:

(1) EXISTING HOME SALES UP A WHOPPING 76% SINCE  JANUARY, 2008
(2) INVENTORY DOWN 5.5% SINCE JANUARY 2008
(3) MONTHS OF INVENTORY DOWN 54% SINCE JANUARY 2008
(4) AVERAGE SALES PRICE DOWN TO $227,565
(5) AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET UP FROM 124 IN MAY TO 152 IN JUNE

This is excellent news for the Tampa Real Estate Market in both home sales and Tampa Foreclosures.  The main reason for the drop in average sales price is due to Banks accepting their loss on either property they own thru the Foreclosure process or losses they have accepted due to the Short Sale Process.  These properties when they close, regardless, set new comparatives for the market…

An ongoing issue in todays market, especially in the Tampa Foreclosures and Tampa Short Sales market... is the waiting.  These deals are not an overnight transaction.  You will need to hurry up, wait, then hurry up again.  Here is what I mean.  The desire for alot of these properties is great so the bidding will be fierce.  Make sure you put your best foot forward and make the best offer that you can because alot of times, you will only have one shot at it.  Then after this frenzy, you will need to take a back seat and wait...at times up to 60-90 days for an answer.  But here is the catch, if and when the bank give you the green light, you need to move things into high gear again and get everything done in quick time.  The bank has made their decision…

I have been negotiating short sales for some time now and would like to give all you out there some advice that seems to work for me.  Our Short Sale Conversion Rate has been greater than 85% and we have done probably around 20-30 right now so not bad considering the statistics I keep hearing are around 10% conversion or less.