I was having lunch with one of my Realtor referral partners the other day. He was telling me that over 50% of his sales today involve short sales. We started talking about the folks that are selling these homes.
Can you imagine the huge number of people that now have to rent? Can you imagine the number of potential future home buyers? In most cases, they will need to wait 3 years before they will be able to obtain a new mortgage. There are exceptions to this rule.
We could turn the value of real estate around much quicker if some of these regulation were loosened for folks that have gone through a short sale.
This article talks about fraud involved in short sales:
On the flip side though, homes in the more desirable parts of West Hartford often sell in days. Friends of mine just sold their home in 2 days and then had to pay above asking for another home in town.
FHA guidelines say that for a buyer who is current (the key word) on their existiing loan and who needs to sell short, can provided it is not to take advantage of the market and without any delay. Some examples a similar house in the same town won't fly, a house with an in-law for your aging parents or college age child yes
Agree with you wholeheartedly. It really does depend on the town. Kevin, There are some people in this world that are are just so negative no matter what one does, bad or good. We should be thanking and praising these flippers, not criticizing them.
I don't much care for the self-righteousness of those in a game for financial profit alone who try to set themselves up as heroes and saviors. But you're all free to talk trash about me at your next Realtor(r) networking session.
But what could be wrong with THAT scenario as long as all the RE vampires got their cut?
By "flipping" them, they have turned a house that was a health hazard, a danger to go inside and something that lowers every neighbor's property values into a safe, secure home. They handled the landscaping so neighbors didn't have to deal with foot-high grass and all the animals that come with it. My neighborhood in New London is filled with homes that are owned by absentee-land lords who neglect their properties, which allows for crime and ruins the entire neighborhood. I would love for a "flipper" to come in to these homes, fix them up and make this neighborhood safer and more valuable.
I take exception to your comment that Canton is not a very desirable place to live. Canton has great schools, a low crime rate, fantastic shopping, and excellent recreational opportunities provided courtesy of the Farmington River and rails to trails. If you check out this months edition of Country Living, Canton is featured in one of their stories. Fall is an excellent time to visit. Come see us! you won't be disappointed. P.S. Our housing sales are doing better than the majority of the state!
On my street there was a small extremely run-down tiny little home. It was in real bad shape. We bought it for land value only. I, along with some friends in the field, took the home down to the first floor level, went right back up making it into a very nice 2 story home. I did 90% of the work once it was closed in. After working for about 7 months on this project it was sold to the first person looking at it. Yes, I made a little money, but the neighborhood looks so much better. I would do it again if the right house came along.
Sure "flipper" has a real negative sound to it. But without people or companies willing to buy and renovate homes most would sit far longer, years or possibly decades unoccupied and falling into greater disrepair. A "flipper" must have a certain amount of "profit" in a home to make sure that they are able to return the home to a livable and desirable state and resell it. I don't like a "flipper" who does nothing but puts lipstick on a pig and dumps it to an unsuspecting buyer. No one does and that is wrong. But lots of the homes that borrowers I have worked with recently have been renovated very well. Those flippers have done good in their neighborhoods and deserve to make a profit for their hard work and risk.
My comments and objections apply exclusively to the semi-commercial flippers who have no connection to the property or neighborhood and no consideration for the consequences of a profit-driven flip. There are too many of them and in my experience they do more damage to a neighborhood than leaving a property for a genuinely committed owner.
The comment about flipped houses being over priced obviously comes from someone not in the business who has just listened to the news. Usually flipped houses are under priced. The flipper wants to sell the property, make their profit and move on to the next job keeping their crew at work. They don't want to sit on an over priced home that does not sell. It does not make financial sense. The fact is that flippers are crucial to stabilizing the housing market which means is part of the foundation for stabilizing this economy. Are their bad, unethical, some might even say scum bag flippers? Most certainly. Are they in the Majority? Not in my experience and those that do such practices do not last long. Jim - what is your experience in the real estate business if you don't mind me asking?
Flippers and other investors make investments in the property improving the value of the parcel and its appearance. This in turn improves the values of all the properties in the neighborhood. These people also take a capital risk by having to put up specifically hired down payments, thus reducing the risk of the loan to the lending institution. On the other hand, we can outlaw flippers and investors in real estate. That may sound like a good idea, but let’s take a quick look at what actually would happen. More properties on the market, greater inventory all equals lower prices. This in turn hurt innocents through no fault of their own, must sell their homes because of divorce, estate settlements, job moves, and other life changes. We should be looking for more people to make real estate investments reducing inventories, making improvements and improving housing values. As I said at this point in time we are in the trough. Arguably, it is the time to consider making such purchases. If you have real estate management experience. I do not recommend real estate investment for people who do not have experience in this space.
Flippers don't HAVE reputations - buyers don't look for a chain of properties the seller has processed, which is why so many of them can get away with the fastest, cheapest reno work. They're just investors looking for the biggest profits they can manage in the shortest time. There's no such thing as licensing or control or a need to "go into business" as a flipper; they're just the serial owners of the properties. I'll point out the obvious reason all you RE pros are so hot about flips: they represent two sales in a short time period, the same agent is likely to handle both, and the whole RE pack of wolves only makes money when houses change hands. So of COURSE any sale is a good sale, the more and faster the better. The consequences of poorly renovated houses matter little to you... certainly not as much as to the unsavvy buyer or the neighborhood that suffers from the lingering problems.
The reality is in Connecticut agents are, by law, required to represent the seller, first and foremost, with exceptions. To make a change to that one law might be very beneficial to buyers and the industry. Otherwise, it continues: Caveat emptor.
That said, CT's RE laws overly favor the seller. There are other models that would protect the buyer more by simply shifting the burden of representation assigned to agents and brokers. My objections to flippers, in the end, have less to do with the details of the transactions and so forth than the lack of investment they have in fostering a quality outcome for the buyer or the neighborhood. I dislike financial hit-and-run artists in any field.
We are agreed that the CT RE laws do need to be modified to be more equitable to the buyers.
Any 411 on this?
Do the math on the cost of that eviction. Many landlords do not have the funds to keep up with such terrible tenants. If you really want to see neighborhoods cleaned up, we need to vote out all the liberal politicians. CT's liberal laws need to be changed to reflect accountability and responsibility, to yield justice for all. We can not continue to humor abusive, destructive, freeloading, non-paying tenants. Period.