Selling? Waiting Until the Spring Makes No Sense

Selling? Waiting Until the Spring Makes No Sense

Check out this blog. Interesting.

Selling? Waiting Until the Spring Makes No Sense
by THE KCM CREW on SEPTEMBER 27, 2011 · 4 COMMENTS
in FOR SELLERS, FORECLOSURES

Late last year, banks were warned that they needed to guarantee that the paperwork necessary to start a foreclosure process on a family was both accurate and complete. Since then, the banks have slowed down the foreclosure process while they re-examined their procedures. They are now confident that all the required documentation is in order. We are currently waiting on a settlement between the banks and the state attorneys general which will establish what penalties will be assessed.

Once this settlement is reached, the banks will again move forward on many homes which are currently stalled at some stage in the foreclosure process.

How many homes are we talking about?

There are millions of homes in this category. Calculated Risk quantified the situation:

“There are a large number of seriously delinquent mortgage loans in limbo waiting for this settlement. According to LPS, at the end of August there were about 1.87 million loans seriously delinquent and another 2.15 million loans in the foreclosure process. This is only down slightly from a year ago when 4.4 million loans were seriously delinquent or in-foreclosure. Once the settlement is reached, the pace of foreclosures will pick up sharply.

The pace will “pick up sharply”.

Bottom Line

As more foreclosures come to the market at discounted prices, there will be greater downward pressure on all housing values. Waiting for the spring selling season to put your house on the market may not make sense this year. The increase in demand may be overshadowed by an increased supply of distressed properties.

The Iron Eagle Realty Team's mission is to assist you, our client, in the sale and acquisition of real estate properties in the state of Idaho, specifically the Boise Idaho Real Estate Market. Whether you are buying or selling a home, whether it is a foreclosure, short sale or equity property, we handle our customers and clients with empathy and honest truths so they can make informed decisions as they advance in the process of buying and selling real estate that meet specific needs.

PS: We've Helped More Buyers and Sellers than 99.8% of any Local Realtor

Click Here to Search 24/7 for The Best Real Estate Deals in Boise!
Click Here to Download Our Free "Selling Your Home" Pre-Listing Plan!
Click Here to Pre-Qualify for a Loan Online!

Regards, Michael Hon, REALTOR®
CEO, The Iron Eagle Realty Team
Associate Broker, Silvercreek Realty Group
Certified Short Sale Specialist®
Investment Property Consultant
Direct: 208.919.0458 Office: 208.939.9033 Fax: 208.514.1422
www.IronEagleRE.com Michael.Hon@IronEagleRE.com

Goodbye, curse? We can only hope…

Another interesting opinion from The Idaho Statesman.

Goodbye, curse? We can only hope… - Idaho Statesman
Published: 09/21/11


We’ve been here before — standing at the precipice of Boise’s most famous pit, hoping for a void-filler of some kind and lamenting the setbacks of the past.


With words like this. “The Boise Tower project has been frustrating for all parties.”
We wrote that in an Aug. 18, 2003, editorial. Frustrating? We must have been going through our masters-of-understatement phase. Then again, it would have been hard to imagine that, more than eight years later, the hole at 8th and Main streets would remain unfilled.


On Monday, the next best hope emerged.

Zions Bank announced plans for a $60 million, 15-story building that would include retail, parking, a top-level “Founder’s Room” for receptions and public meetings, and office space for the bank’s Idaho headquarters.


The news came with all the requisite political hoopla. Mayor Dave Bieter exhorted developers to tear down the wall blocking off the pit from the rest of Downtown, and urged them to make the building a reality. (It is, after all, seven weeks until city elections.)


But more importantly, it has been 24 years since the historic Eastman Building was destroyed in a suspicious fire, after it had stood vacant for nearly a decade. So it has been more than 30 years — a generation, believe it or not — that this prime piece of Downtown real estate has gone unused. For as long as many Boiseans can remember, the corner has been stalled in stasis, with rebar and the start of a foundation the lingering legacy of the ill-fated Boise Tower project.


With a losing streak like that, is this a “cursed” site? Or merely a cursed-at site?


The Zions Bank project may not be an economic game-changer. The bank, which has office space just a block from the 8th and Main site, expects to employ 60 to 100 people in its new headquarters. Construction will create an unspecified number of jobs.


The project’s most powerful effect may indeed be psychological. And don’t dismiss that. For far too long, 8th and Main has been left behind as much of Downtown has come back to life. Let’s check this corner off the to-do list — or is it a bucket list? Then, let’s see if it creates some momentum.


For now, there finally appears to be an owner with a vision for this site. For two years, California-based Capps Holdings LLC held the land, acquired at a foreclosure auction, content to wait to flip this pit.


Now, it’s time to fill this pit.


“After all these years, it’s easy to become accustomed to this empty site as is. We can’t stop expecting more.”


We said that in a July 23, 2010, editorial. The sentiment still stands. Let’s just hope we’ve said it for the last time.


“Our View” is the editorial position of the Idaho Statesman. It is an unsigned opinion expressing the consensus of the Statesman’s editorial board. To comment on an editorial or suggest a topic, e-mail editorial@idahostatesman.com.

The Iron Eagle Realty Team's mission is to assist you, our client, in the sale and acquisition of real estate properties in the state of Idaho, specifically the Boise Idaho Real Estate Market. Whether you are buying or selling a home, whether it is a foreclosure, short sale or equity property, we handle our customers and clients with empathy and honest truths so they can make informed decisions as they advance in the process of buying and selling real estate that meet specific needs.

PS: We've Helped More Buyers and Sellers than 99.8% of any Local Realtor

Click Here to Search 24/7 for The Best Real Estate Deals in Boise!
Click Here to Download Our Free "Selling Your Home" Pre-Listing Plan!
Click Here to Pre-Qualify for a Loan Online!

Regards, Michael Hon, REALTOR®
CEO, The Iron Eagle Realty Team
Associate Broker, Silvercreek Realty Group
Certified Short Sale Specialist®
Investment Property Consultant
Direct: 208.919.0458 Office: 208.939.9033 Fax: 208.514.1422
www.IronEagleRE.com Michael.Hon@IronEagleRE.com

Zions Bank announces plans for a 15-story downtown Boise building

Repost from KIVITV Website

Zions Bank announces plans for a 15-story downtown Boise building
By Steve Bertel
CREATED SEP. 19, 2011

Zions Bank and the Gardner Company Monday announced plans for a new development at the corner of Eighth and Main Streets in downtown Boise.


Mayor David Bieter, members of the Boise City Council, Capital City Development Corporation representatives and Ada County Highway District commissioners were present at the announcement.


Popularly known as “The Hole,” the block in the center of downtown Boise has been vacant since a fire demolished the Eastman building 1987. A new 15-story development at Eighth and Main Streets will serve as the headquarters for Zions Bank in Idaho and will be designed for office, retail and restaurant space. With more than a quarter-million square feet of Class A-business space, the building will be LEED-certified, environmentally responsible and sustainable, and constructed with recycled and recyclable materials. The project is valued at $60 million.


The building’s developer will be Idaho- and Utah-based Gardner Company. Construction is slated to begin in Spring 2012, and the building will be completed in 2014.


The corner of Eighth and Main Streets in Boise was first developed in 1864 as the Overland Hotel and the site thrived as an early landmark and gathering place. In 1905, after demolition of the Overland Hotel, the Eastman office building was completed and quickly became the most fashionable business space in town. Nearly 70 years later, the Boise Redevelopment Agency purchased the site with plans for a downtown center. Yet the building remained vacant until it burned to the ground 24 years ago.


“Gardner Company is proud to be a part of the long history at Eighth and Main. In restoring the site’s original luster and giving the bustling corner a modern update, Gardner is eager to welcome Idahoans to this prestigious building,” said Kem Gardner, the Company’s chairman.


“We are thrilled to help revitalize this key block in downtown Boise by moving our headquarters in the state to this beautiful new building,” said Anderson. “For us, this is the start of a new chapter as we expand our services to support small businesses, corporate clients, agriculture, resort communities and consumers throughout Idaho.”


“Zions’ choice to invest in Boise shows that our future will offer new opportunity and renewed prosperity,” Mayor David Bieter said. “Filling this hole with an attractive new building proves that we can solve even our most difficult problems if we maintain our faith in the promise of Boise. With an experienced developer and respected regional bank, I’m confident this project will be successful and will forever redefine this famous site.”


Zions Bank operates 26 full-service branches in Idaho and 105 branches throughout Utah. Founded in 1873, Zions Bank has been serving the communities of the Intermountain West for more than 135 years.


One of the largest developers of commercial real estate in the Intermountain West, The Gardner Company has developed more than 25 million square feet of retail, office, medical and industrial space. For many years, Gardner has had Idaho offices developing in Idaho Falls, Rexburg, Meridian, Eagle, and Nampa.

The Iron Eagle Realty Team's mission is to assist you, our client, in the sale and acquisition of real estate properties in the state of Idaho, specifically the Boise Idaho Real Estate Market. Whether you are buying or selling a home, whether it is a foreclosure, short sale or equity property, we handle our customers and clients with empathy and honest truths so they can make informed decisions as they advance in the process of buying and selling real estate that meet specific needs.

PS: We've Helped More Buyers and Sellers than 99.8% of any Local Realtor

Click Here to Search 24/7 for The Best Real Estate Deals in Boise!
Click Here to Download Our Free "Selling Your Home" Pre-Listing Plan!
Click Here to Pre-Qualify for a Loan Online!

Regards, Michael Hon, REALTOR®
CEO, The Iron Eagle Realty Team
Associate Broker, Silvercreek Realty Group
Certified Short Sale Specialist®
Investment Property Consultant
Direct: 208.919.0458 Office: 208.939.9033 Fax: 208.514.1422
www.IronEagleRE.com Michael.Hon@IronEagleRE.com

Avoid RE Surprises

Here's a great article I found in Realtor Magazine written by Vanessa Goggins about the pros and cons of REO's

Avoid REO Surprises: Prepare buyers for everything that might happen in the process of closing on a bank-owned property.
JUNE 2011 | BY VANESSA E. GOGGANS


Just when I thought I’d seen it all, my law firm recently encountered an REO transaction with an interesting twist. One day before the closing, a person filed a complicated 14-page affidavit of ownership against the home, proclaiming rights to the property under a “sovereign nation” theory that has little support under real estate law here in Georgia.


This person, whose name had never appeared in the chain of title, sought to unilaterally declare himself exempt from the laws of the United States. He had even gone so far as to break in, change the locks, and rent the property to an unsuspecting ­tenant. This claimant, who was eventually arrested, and others like him are targeting foreclosed properties because the properties are often unmonitored and easy to identify. This is an extreme example, but it illustrates an important point: REO closings are prone to unusual surprises.


An REO closing is one in which a lender or bank is reselling property following foreclosure. The property is usually one of many, perhaps even thousands, in a bank’s asset portfolio, and the asset manager’s chief objective is to get the property off the bank’s books as quickly and cheaply as possible without subjecting the bank to lingering liability. These asset managers rely heavily on listing agents and form-contract addenda to manage their heavy caseloads.


Because these are not standard transactions, it’s your job to manage the buyer’s expectations.


First, remind buyers that they’re negotiating with an institution, not a warm-blooded seller. Banks do not have an emotional stake, so they’re unlikely to enter into complicated negotiations or be swayed by a buyer’s hardship.


Second, a bank’s asset manager is usually someone who has no knowledge of the property’s history and is in no position to give assurances about the property’s condition. The bank’s primary goal is to make as few representations as possible and to be completely done with the property once it’s closed. That means no lingering responsibility for repairs, no tax reprorations, and no follow-up calls about where to find the water shut-off valve. Buyers need to be thorough in addressing issues prior to closing, because they lose their right to object to property defects once the ink on the deed is dry.


Third, it’s unwise to assume that title to the REO property will be clean. While it is true that a fore­closure sale will wipe out subordinate liens and the bulk of any problems caused by former owners, it won’t work to extinguish the liens of ad valorem taxes or problems that were missed when the previous owner bought the property. It’s smart for anyone purchasing an REO property to buy a policy of owner’s title insurance at closing.


When listing or selling REO property, consider adding the following items to your checklist:


Make new keys, ASAP. The lock box key is likely to be the only one available to the buyer, but as always, there is no telling how many people have a copy. Advise the buyer to have the property rekeyed after closing and to reprogram the garage door opener and security gate.
Buy a home warranty. Suggest that the buyer purchase a one-year third-party warranty, or negotiate it into the purchase contract, to compensate for the seller’s limited responsibility.
Check the title early on. Request that the closing agent provide a clean title report early enough to give everyone time to react to problems before closing, and urge your buyer to purchase an ­owner’s title insurance policy if it’s not provided.
Above all, encourage patience. Allow time between contract execution and the closing date for the sellers to get documents to the closing agent. Warn ­buyers that they may need to be flexible if the closing date should need to be postponed a day or two, because the seller’s documents might be buried under a mountain of others.


REOs provide a great opportunity for buyers, but the process can be frustrating. Make it go more smoothly by preparing for the pitfalls.

The Iron Eagle Realty Team's mission is to assist you, our client, in the sale and acquisition of real estate properties in the state of Idaho, specifically the Boise Idaho Real Estate Market. Whether you are buying or selling a home, whether it is a foreclosure, short sale or equity property, we handle our customers and clients with empathy and honest truths so they can make informed decisions as they advance in the process of buying and selling real estate that meet specific needs.

PS: We've Helped More Buyers and Sellers than 99.8% of any Local Realtor

Click Here to Search 24/7 for The Best Real Estate Deals in Boise!
Click Here to Download Our Free "Selling Your Home" Pre-Listing Plan!
Click Here to Pre-Qualify for a Loan Online!

Regards, Michael Hon, REALTOR®
CEO, The Iron Eagle Realty Team
Associate Broker, Silvercreek Realty Group
Certified Short Sale Specialist®
Investment Property Consultant
Direct: 208.919.0458 Office: 208.939.9033 Fax: 208.514.1422
www.IronEagleRE.com Michael.Hon@IronEagleRE.com