Foreclosures Help Information

Archive for February, 2008

Foreclosed Properties Of Ocala

Ocala Florida, which was established in 1846, is the seat of Marion County, in Florida. It is well known as the horse capital of the world. Although thoroughbred horse breeding and racing is one of the primary sources of revenue in the area, it is not surprising that when the economic downturn began, Ocala, would not escape the crunch the rest of the nation was feeling.

The current economic crisis actually began with the burst of the housing bubble in the United States. Housing values had risen so high so quickly throughout most of the country, that a decline in values was almost predictable. When the crash happened, it was much worse than had been anticipated by anyone.

As unemployment continues to rise nationwide, an industry centered around leisure and entertainment, such as horse breeding and racing, tends to feel the crunch perhaps more than industries that are more related to basic survival. In fact, in this recession, even food related industries are being impacted.

Ocala real estate is a mix of homes and farms. The population there has been growing steadily for the last twenty years. In fact, Ocala Florida is one of the fastest growing areas in the country, and has been for several years.

Ocala has been affected by the failing real estate market in Florida. The median sales price of homes in Ocala is $98,750, a 25.2% drop from 2008 values, and just about 50% of the $173,100 median price of homes across the country. There are more than 800 foreclosed properties on the market.

Ocala horse farms have not been hit quite as hard as homes in more urban areas. Horse farms range in price from around $300,000 for a small acreage parcels to multi-millions of dollars for hundreds of acres and extensive outbuildings. Owning and raising horses is an expensive venture, and the industry has been impacted by the weak economy. Although the number of horse farms for sale has increased, the prices have not really gone down much.

The horse farm industry was hardly involved in the mortgage industry meltdown because mortgage lending rules have always been tighter for agricultural land. Buyers of this type of property have always had to come to the table with substantial down payments. However, because the trade in thoroughbred horses is a luxury type of transaction, the revenue from horse sales this year is expected to drop 25%, and this will very likely impact the number of horse farms for sale in the spring.

In the last few months, with a boost from historically low mortgage rates and the first time home buyer tax credit, the number of real estate sales has been on the rise. There has been a 63% increase this year as compared to this time last year, in existing home sales.

Also, because Ocala is prime real estate, with two major cities nearby, and at the crossroads of some major freeways, real estate investors have been swooping up properties at these much deflated values.

About the Author:

Ocala Florida real Estate
The Ocala/Marion County area of central Florida offers friendly people and rolling acres of horse farms. Available properties include estates, training centers, ranches and major parcels of land. Powered by
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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - The Housing Crisis Affects Horse Farm Values in Ocala

Foreclosures seling in Ocala/Marion County

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California Foreclosure Law Right Of Redemption

Houses and other property can be sold while someone is in bankruptcy, but there are specific rules that must be followed when you do it. You must get court approval before the property is sold. Until a final decree has been issued in a bankruptcy filing, the property will be tied up. The final decree may not have been issued even though the bankruptcy debtor has received a bankruptcy discharge. Permission from the bankruptcy court must be sought even if the secured lender, usually a mortgage company, has filed a motion for relief from the automatic stay. If relief from the automatic stay was granted by the bankruptcy court it means that the creditor can force its rights under the state law, but the property is still controlled by the bankruptcy laws for all other people, including the debtor.

In most cases, a bankruptcy will usually delay any foreclosure process. This is because when a bankruptcy case is filed, a restraining order is entered under 11 USC 362 called the automatic stay, which prevents any further debt collection efforts against debtors or their property. So if someone is facing foreclosure, a bankruptcy will immediately freeze the process. This may be permanent, as in most Chapter 13 cases, or it may be temporary, as in most Chapter 7 cases. The reason most Chapter 7 restraining orders are not permanent is due to the fact most Chapter 7 cases are over within four months time, and or, the lender will file a motion for “relief of the automatic stay” which will remove the restraining order against that lender on the property.

The typical foreclosure is four months. Add to this the 2 to 4 months of being in default before the process is started, and most people generally will not be foreclosed on in under eight months. After foreclosure, the lenders still needs to evict the debtor, which may take another month or it so if you add a bankruptcy to the nine-month foreclosure process, it's not surprising to see debtors in their homes for a year or more from when they last stopped paying. Moreover, since the bankruptcy has erased the personal liability of the debtor, there is no recourse the lender  has against the borrower even if the foreclosure results in less than full payment on the loan. Additionally  since some states have  the one action rule, even post bankruptcy claims arising from staying in the property without paying will not result in any liability to the debtor.

When a person is in bankruptcy, the lender's choice is to non- judicially foreclose and forever give up their claim for money damages against the debtor, or, to judicially foreclose in a court of law and obtain a deficiency judgment against the borrower. Virtually all foreclosures are non-judicial foreclosures since the judicial foreclosure is very time-consuming, and even when the lender prevails, the debtor still has a one-year right of redemption, whereby the borrower can come back within one year, tender the amount due, and get their property back.

So if you are surrendering your house in Chapter 7, you can pretty much expect to stay there for at least six months to a year from your last mortgage payment. This monthly savings truly gives debtors a bankruptcy fresh start.

Read more about how to file chapter 7 bankruptcy yourself. Visit www.diy4law.com for more details.

About the Author:

Hi, i am smith, if you need any kind of help about bankruptcy read my articles or contact me at website.

Source - How Long Is A Foreclosure While In Chapter 7 bankruptcy

A Guide To Home Foreclosures : Home Foreclosure Right of Redemption & Acceleration

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Boulder Foreclosed Homes

Flush with cash from two recently sold fixer uppers, my partners and I buy an expensive fixer home hoping to flip it for big bucks. All we got was a lesson in what not to do and a large tax deduction for 2006. This article explains how we, the investors, got flipped...

In August of 2005, my real estate business partners and I were flush with cash. We had just made $45,000 from having just fixed up and then sold 2 mobile homes in St. George, Utah. The excitement of making so much money so quickly had gone to our heads. We thought we were invincible. We were about to learn the truth.

After the mobile homes had sold my partners and I began looking for another fixer upper that we could flip. I wanted to move up into flipping expensive houses, thinking that we could make more money that way.

I was aware of a foreclosed home for sale in Santa Clara. Santa Clara is a small town, just outside of St. George.

The bank had had the home had been for sale for about two years with no takers. It was a Santa Fe style, luxury home built in 2002. The home was 3000 sq. ft., had amazing views, slate tile throughout, a three car garage, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and tons of upgrades throughout.

The home was unfinished and had never been lived in. It was clear that the builder had run out of money before he could finish the home and sell it. The kitchen was unfinished. The tile was cracked here and there from settling. The closets were totally unfinished. The yard was a jumble of weeds, mud and boulder sized rocks.

At the time that we looked at the home, St. George was coming to the end of an amazing run up in home prices, about a 1% increase in home values every week for months. My partners and I were aware that the market would slow down sometime in the future, but what we didn't know when we bought the home, was that the market slow down had already started.

Well, we made an accepted, full price offer on the Santa Clara home ($395,000). We made a full price offer because there was another buyer that was negotiating with the bank to purchase the home at the same time we were. We felt we could make money on the home and we wanted to make sure that we were the buyers the bank chose to buy the home.

We ended up buying the home for $395,000. We also financed our closing costs, bringing our mortgage loan amount to $400,000.

After the purchase, we invested $15,000 into fixing up the yard, about $4,000 into finishing the closets and another $6,000 in various other fix up / finishing costs.

We put the home back up for sale, almost immediately upon buying it, for $525,000. We truly thought it would sell quickly for this amount when we were done fixing it up. The home was for sale the entire time we were working on it.

After the repairs were done, the home sat on the market for months. The St. George real estate market had ground to a halt during the time we were working on the home. We ended up having to make about $9,000 in mortgage payments while we anxiously waited for the home to sell.

In March of 2006, seven months after the purchase, we were beginning to panicking because we weren't certain we could make anymore mortgage payments. We didn't want to lose the home and our investment, but the mortgage payments were eating us alive by this point.

We were forced to gradually lower our asking price until finally we had our asking price at $430,000. In March we breathed a sigh of relief as the home finally went under contract at this price.

We sold the home in April 2006. Our costs to sell were about $16,000 including the $12,000 commission that was paid to the buyer's agent.

Here's what the final tally on the fixer upper Santa Clara home was:

What we sold the home for…........$430,000

Fix up costs….....................$25,000

Mortgage payments….................$9,000

Commission paid…..................$12,000

Closing Costs….....................$4,000

What we paid for the home….......$400,000

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Total loss….......................($20,000)

We felt very lucky to have been able to sell an expensive home when our local real estate market was so bad. There are a lot of investors that bought at the top of the market who haven't been so lucky; people who are stuck with homes that they can no longer afford. These investors are wondering if their homes will sell before they lose them to the bank.

Strangely enough we are actually looking for another home to fix up. We are going to stick with mobile homes or condos and just rent them out. The lesson that we learned is that the less expensive the fixer upper home is, the less risk there is to the investor.

About the Author:

This content is provided by Don Glasgow and may be used or republished only in its entirety with all links included. To read more investing articles click Here or Here.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Why We Gladly Lost $20,000 Flipping A Utah Fixer Upper House

SOLD - 105 Rey Ct. in Santa Cruz California presented by Ryan Homes, Realtor

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