Where Are All The REOs?

[Tony Nguyen]

Hey guys,

Since Sept/Oct last year, the foreclosure activity has really slowed down here in Central FL. The courthouse auctions went from 150 sales per day to around 25. The main stream auctions have released less properties as well. I was just wondering if you guys in other markets are experiencing the same thing or no?

This is kind of a good thing for us personally though, b/c due to this lack of new inventory, we started marketing to equity sellers via direct mail, bandit signs, etc... Gotta keep moving!

Thanks for any input :D

[Robert Mack]

Every area will be different, but a big reason for the slowdown in properties being foreclosed on is because it came to light in about November (i think?) that banks weren't following protocol when foreclosing on homeowners. There has been countless news articles regarding "robo-docs" and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) and in about November a couple of the big banks said they are stopping all foreclosure activity. I believe that they have since started up again, but I have seen very little activity at the courthouse still.

I had a property with a Chase loan which I had under contract at this time and they delayed the closing about 6 months because of this. I believe the banks are going to start the process again in the coming months, at least in NJ. There was a court ruling in late March here where they appointed a retired judge to oversee the foreclosure process. But that is just a guess.

Here is one link to a news story regarding this from Housing Wire.
http://www.housingwire.com/tag/robo-signing