Posts Tagged ‘Foreclosure’
Rentals on the Rise
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Real Estate Economics, Real Estate Trends on October 11th, 2011
Home sales may still be struggling, but the rental industry is booming. Aside from the housing market woes, more and more Americans are downsizing. It’s no surprise that rentals are on the rise.
Gen Y is not as interested in garden-style apartments. So will high rises gain popularity? Or will they be looking for a new product not yet designed?
We know they will expect wi-fi, iPod docking stations and apartments that truly reflect who they are.
The high foreclosure rate is not the only factor in the accelerated transition toward leasing. Today’s housing demand has actually shifted toward smaller dwellings; with Boomers downsizing to urban centers offering more amenities and the Millennials just hitting their single, urban life stage. Generation X is one of the smaller demographic groups right now, translating to a much weaker demand for traditional neighborhoods with single-family homes.
As the economy is now starting to lift, those who took on roommates or moved back with their parents are just starting to emerge into the real world again. Often the majority of these groups start with a lease.
Apartment developers are already responding to the growing demand for rental housing, but with so many construction firms out of business or in slow recovery there may soon be a rental shortage in many metropolitan areas.
Foreclosure Gone Social?
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Real Estate Trends on June 22nd, 2011
I read this interesting article today and had to share my opinion!
The article reads, “With roughly 4 million foreclosures in the pipeline in this country, some legal experts say it’s just a matter of time until lenders win the right to serve foreclosure documents through the giant social network.”
Seriously? I have seen Facebook used to gather relevant information on a prospective employee, client, or collecting a debt… but never as a vehicle to serve legal information.
Reportedly, a couple in Australia was identified on Facebook using names and birthdates and served foreclosure notices. The right was upheld because the couple did not enable privacy protection on their account (reconsidering your own privacy settings now?) and the frequency of posts was used to determine that they indeed, would receive the notification.
That’s a stretch, don’t you agree? We help clients have a consistent presence over social media daily, which includes monitoring and responding to comments; what’s to guarantee anyone would see something this time sensitive and important over social media??
Do you think it’s appropriate to use social networks to find people and deliver legal papers to them via the network?
Email is currently not considered by courts to be a safe or reliable way to deliver legal notices due to spam possibilities and the fact that people don’t always open every email they receive. So why is Facebook different? And how can a judge decide whether or not you will see a legal notice based on how many days you’ve been active posting updates?
If this is the future of Facebook, I think we’re going to see the level of participation decline rapidly.
We’d love to hear your comments below – after you’re back from changing your privacy settings on your Facebook page!
Try Before You Buy – the New Way for Potential Homeowners?
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Real Estate Economics on April 18th, 2011
With banks being so stringent about homeowner loans, consumers are finding more and more that they need a back up plan. Enter the growing popularity of the lease to own option.
Lease to own requests are most common in hard-hit markets where foreclosures have driven down home prices and sellers can’t or don’t want to come down anymore on the asking price. If the house isn’t occupied it’s an opportunity to create some revenue for the seller.
But while sellers seem more likely to consider lease-to-buy arrangements, most won’t advertise it. Agents are reluctant as well, as it delays their commission.
What are the risks?
The renter-buyer could back out of the deal. For that reason, it’s important for home sellers to understand the difference between a lease option–where the renter simply has the option to buy down the road–and a lease purchase agreement, which requires that the renter put down anywhere from .5% to 2% of the sale price in earnest money or pay a monthly rent premium with a share of the rent going toward the purchase price. The sale price and timeline are also spelled out in the contract.
If the renter backs out, the homeowner does get to keep the earnest money, however they may not be able to get the renter to move out in order to put the house back on the market.
If renter-buyers don’t buy the home they’re usually out earnest money, unless they convince a homeowner to do a lease option with no strings attached. An agreement like that usually signifies a seller’s desperation, which would warrant further questioning regardless.
Conversely, what if the homeowner stops paying the mortgage? If the homeowner is foreclosed on, buyers of course have a claim against them, but will be competing with other creditors.
Potential lease-to-own tenants should at minimum ask for proof that the owners are current on their mortgage.
Strict loan requirements and rising rents – do you think least-to-own is the new growing trend? Is it a positive or negative trend in your opinion? Tell us by commenting below or post your thoughts on our Facebook page!
