By April 30, fewer than 165,000 people had applied to have their foreclosures checked for mistakes — about 4% of the 4.1 million who received letters about the free reviews late last year…

July 31 deadline to request a review…

Mortgages had to be in the foreclosure process in 2009 or 2010, on a primary residence, and serviced by one of the 14 servicers or their affiliates, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank and Wells Fargo.

“That could mean 750,000 borrowers getting about $2,000 each”

(Hat tip to FlippingPhoenixHouses.com)

Approximately 55% of new renters are renting single-family homes, while 45% are renting apartments. The single-family rental business, which is already larger than the institutional quality apartment business, is booming. Unprecedented levels of distressed home sales, at home price/rent ratios that are the lowest in decades, is driving the boom. Eventually, most of these renters will become homeowners. In the meantime, smart investors will take advantage of the temporary disconnect in the market.

NOTE: If you stumble upon this post in the future please keep in mind that even though the chart may be up-to-date that the text here was written in
May 2012.

Phoenix Home Sales

Phoenix home sales (blue line) in April 2012 (7,025 homes sold) was the lowest number of sales for an April since 2008.

Demand is high but supply is low. Therefore, we’re seeing the high demand expressed as rapidly increasing Phoenix home prices (instead of as more homes sold).

Phoenix Housing Inventory

The number of homes listed for sale in metro Phoenix (red line) in May 2012 was 17,117, which was the lowest inventory of single family homes listed for sale in metro Phoenix for any month since September 2005.

Phoenix New Listings

The number of new listings hitting the Phoenix MLS in March was only 9,176. The last time the number of new listings hitting the market in an April was that low was probably in the 1990s.

Phoenix Home Prices

The Phoenix median home price (green line) increased $4,900 in November, $100 in December, $3,500 in January, $1,500 in February, $9,000 in March, and $8,000 in April to $147,000.

Nice Call!

“I think the median Phoenix home price could quickly pop up to $144,000+ again. If not in the second half of this year, then certainly in the first half of 2012.”

- John Wake, Arizona Real Estate Notebook, August 11, 2011

See full post – Phoenix foreclosures as percentage of homes sold continues to decline.

Looking for a Phoenix area Real Estate Agent?

If you’re looking for a Realtor to help you buy a Phoenix area home, fill out this form. If you’re not looking for a home in my area of expertise, I can refer you to a Realtor I trust in your area. Thanks, John.

 
First home on the park to be listed in the MLS since 2009!

People love these homes on this neighborhood park so they don’t come up for sale very often. All new kitchen in 2006 including new cabinets, Silestone quartz countertops, Dacor gas cooktop and dual wall ovens. Home backs to “secret” park with tot lot, tennis courts, basketball court and ball field. Go to BacksToPark.com for the details.

See PRICE, PHOTOS and FLOOR PLAN at BacksToPark.com.

Quick Tour – Video

By far the closest R-3 lot to Biltmore area listed for sale as I write this.

South of Biltmore / Camelback Corridor area with its very high dollar employment. Newer units in this diverse R-3 neighborhood have been selling for $350,000 to $375,000. Also see the amazing numbers from a 2011 Biltmore infill project. Go to BiltmoreSouth.com for the details.

See PRICE, PHOTOS and COMPS at BiltmoreSouth.com.

Quick Tour – Video

For example, if a residential tenant signs a bona fide 2-year lease the day before the Trustee’s Sale, the residential tenant would be entitled to stay in the home for the entire two years, provided that the tenant makes rent payments to the bank or other new owner.

I, however, have heard horror stories of the new owner bullying the tenant out, including physically intimidating a friend of mine (who is also Realtor!).

Those landlords should be punished. Of course the new landlord can alway buy out the tenant but many have simply decided it’s cheaper to bully and intimidate the tenant out.

BUYING AT ARIZONA TRUSTEE’S SALES. This could possibly increase the costs of buying homes at Arizona Trustee’s Sales. Bona fide longer term leases could be more expensive to buy out for the fix and flip investor.

Delinquency leaders

States with highest rates of past-due mortgages at end of March.

    1. Florida, 13.87 percent.

    2. Nevada, 11.16 percent.

    3. New Jersey, 8.31 percent.

    4. Maryland, 7.11 percent.

    5. Arizona, 6.86 percent.

Source: TransUnion

Arizona has been the fastest state to work through it’s foreclosures. Arizona has gone through the real estate pain and is now healing. Many states like Florida have postponed the pain and have a lot of it remaining in front of them.

RELATED:

• Why Arizona real estate will recover more quickly

• Arizona has fewest Months Inventory of Foreclosures (video)

Notice that I wrote the two posts above last fall, many months ahead of the story hitting the popular press.

If you want to be one of the first to know what’s happening in the Arizona residential real estate market, SUBSCRIBE TO THIS WEBSITE by putting your email address in the yellow box in the upper part of the right-hand column of the home page, and click “Subscribe.”

Florida has nearly a third of the total shadow inventory nationwide. Part of this is due to what happened here during the housing recession. Part of it is due to the tie-up of potential foreclosures in the courts. In any case, the size of the inventory means that it will take years to work off.

I estimate that for Arizona the flow of bank-owned, previously foreclosed REOs hitting the market will be back in the normal range in two to three years. For Florida, “it will take years to work off” is accurate but also a huge understatement.

Once considered to be at ground zero of the housing market collapse, Phoenix has orchestrated a dramatic turnaround in recent months and has considerably outpaced other distressed markets such as Las Vegas, Riverside-San Bernardino and Sacramento. Phoenix was one of the hardest hit housing markets during the bust, with home values declining 57% from 2006 through mid-2011. But since the middle of 2011, the housing conditions in Phoenix have markedly improved and prices have begun to rise.

I think they missed the biggest reason for the turnaround in the Phoenix real estate market – prices haven’t fallen in over a year in most places.

Nothing scares the hell out of potential home buyers than the fear of future home price declines. Affordability has been spectacular for years but no one wanted to potentially “catch a falling knife.”

Slowly as we got more and more months under our belt without any price declines, consumer confidence in buying Phoenix homes increased and once we started to see actual home price increases in many Phoenix areas, the remaining fear really started to fade fast.

There’s nothing like increasing home prices to make people want to buy a home. Don’t over-think it. It’s not rocket science.

After the Arizona real estate boom, the only way to get increasing home prices was for home prices to first reset at more economic levels and for prices to remain there long enough that the fear of future falling prices diminished.

NOTE: If you stumble upon this post in the future please keep in mind that even though the chart may be up-to-date that the text here was written in
April 2012.

Phoenix Home Sales

Phoenix home sales (blue line) in March 2012 (7,387 homes sold) was the lowest number of sales in March since 2009 but I think that is because the inventory of Phoenix homes listed for sale is so small, it’s affecting sales.

Phoenix Housing Inventory

The number of homes listed for sale in metro Phoenix (red line) in April 2012 was 17,725, which was the lowest inventory of single family homes listed for sale in metro Phoenix since September 2005.

A huge difference, however, between September 2005 and April 2012 is that in September 2005 the inventory of homes listed for sale in metro Phoenix was skyrocketing upward while today in April 2012 the inventory is continuing to fall quickly.

Phoenix New Listings

The number of new listings hitting the Phoenix MLS in March was only 9,492. The last time the number of new listings was that low in a March may have been in the 1990s.

At current low prices, Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner are not enthusiastic about selling their home so the sharp decline we’ve seen in new bank-owned listings is not being replaced by larger numbers of new Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner listings.

Phoenix Home Prices

The Phoenix median home price (green line) increased $4,900 in November, $100 in December, $3,500 in January, $1,500 in February and $9,000 in March to $139,000.

Most impressively, the recent Phoenix median home price increases happened without the temporary $8,000 tax credit which drove the price increase in 2009 (and led to the price declines in 2010).

Looking for a Phoenix area Real Estate Agent?

If you’re looking for a Realtor to help you buy a Phoenix area home, fill out this form. If you’re not looking for a home in my area of expertise, I can refer you to a Realtor I trust in your area. Thanks, John.