Brooklyn Foreclosures Back Up Again in the 2nd Quarter
For a while now, the Brooklyn foreclosure statistics have seemed suspiciously low based on the anecdotal evidence we were hearing about activity in some of the lower-income parts of the borough; the first quarter of 2009, at a total of 39 foreclosures, in particular, seemed too low to be true. Well, now the official stats,…
For a while now, the Brooklyn foreclosure statistics have seemed suspiciously low based on the anecdotal evidence we were hearing about activity in some of the lower-income parts of the borough; the first quarter of 2009, at a total of 39 foreclosures, in particular, seemed too low to be true. Well, now the official stats, like the ones just released from PropertyShark.com are starting to catch up. In the second quarter, the number of foreclosures in Brooklyn increased 92 percent to 71. While large in percentage terms, the total number was still the lowest among the outer boroughs (Queens is still far and away the worst off, with 610 foreclosures in Q2) and 12 less than in the fourth quarter of 2008. Overall, these absolute numbers still feel low, but maybe it just takes such a long time for the problems to make it to the point where they are officially recorded as being in foreclosure.
The point is, there are a lot of distressed sellers in the subprime areas of Brooklyn. That doesn’t necessarily mean the properties will show up on the foreclosure stats.
But as to the side points: Short sales resulted from predatory lending with ARMs, job losses, health care costs. Foreclosures were result of fraud.
You CAN buy a foreclosure the ordinary way. And you can pay for the construction costs with an FHA loan. But it will take six months to a year. Terrific if you’re an architect or have always wanted to build your own home, probably not worth the bother otherwise.
Yeah, mopar, foreclosures are overrated and an insider’s game. Better off playing the open market.
***Bid half off peak comps***
Oh and one other curiosity. The foreclosures I have seen and bothered to look up have really weird histories. It looks like fraud. Back to back sales on the same day, in foreclosure three months later.
The people with the high prices and jumbo loans aren’t having problems. Worst case they lose their jobs, then they need to sell. To date, at least, they seem to have been able to.
It’s the poor areas where everyone was offered subprime loans where you see foreclosures. You look up the properties on PropertyShark and they all closed in 2005, 2006, then reset in 2007, 2008.
And actually, what you see mostly is short sales. The only properties that get to the foreclosure stage usually have no plumbing or no roof. And investors are buying those and rehabbing them because they’re really cheap.
“…maybe it just takes such a long time for the problems to make it to the point where they are officially recorded as being in foreclosure.”
How ’bout a pre-foreclosure/lis pendens graph? Pshark aint gettin’ my dough.
***Bid half off peak comps***
The vast majority of Brooklyn appears relatively unscathed, especially in neighborhoods where you would have expected some people to have really stretched themselves, high prices, super jumbos, etc… Looks as though those in the poorer neighborhoods are the ones really suffering, once again.
Why would they take longer to be recorded in Brooklyn vs. Queens???