Foreclosures Help Information

Cleaning Out Foreclosed Homes

Question: Does it seem like Foreclosed Homes are not in the forefront promoted by the Real Estate Industry?

The county I live in has over 6,000 foreclosed homes, yet they seem to try to fetch within 10% of homes for sales by owners (non-distress) and new home communities. Most foreclosed homes I've seen were torn up, ignored, out of date, and simply set aside and not promoted by agents who showed us properties.

Answer: Foreclosures get a really bad reputation due to the fact that they are foreclosures. Not all of them are torn up and a lot of them are, in fact, listed with an agent. I'm an agent in TN and I have been working with a buyer looking at foreclosures. We found a great one, which was listed with another agent and was on the MLS (BTW, we found it on RealtyTrac) and we closed on it last Friday. I don't try to push one property over another because it's not about me. I'm not going to be living there, my client is, and it's my job to advise and negotiate, not to see how much I can pad my pockets. However, there are a lot of foreclosures out there where the previous owners did a number on the home before vacating it, or the home was vandalized by people who saw the house was vacant. But there really are a lot of nice foreclosures out there and if you have a good RE agent negotiating on your behalf, you could come out way ahead of the bank. I actually got the bank to pay my buyers closing costs on top of getting a repair allowance and new appliances. Talk to a reputable RE agent. A good agent ALWAYS puts their clients best interests above their own everyday of the week.

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Foreclosed Homes In Michigan For Sale

Question: Michigan tax tribunal?

I was wondering for the state of Michigan I was told by the city I live in that the state tells them they do not have to recognize foreclosed home sales for the tax assessment. I was wondering if this is true or if their blowing smoke up my rear. I had looked up and down on the internet and I cannot find anything. Thanks in Advance

Answer: They are telling you the truth. Assessed values are at least loosely linked to Fair Market Value. FMV is determined using "arms length" transaction histories. Using figures from a distressed sale can artificially affect true FMV either upwards or downwards. This is a standard practice in real estate appraisals, whether it's for determining values for tax purposes or in delivering an appraisal on a property for commercial purposes such as qualifying for a mortgage loan or establishing an asking price for a property offered for sale.

When a distressed sale takes place it is not a good indicator of what the FMV of the property is. For instance, a home is purchased for $150,000 and is foreclosed upon 2 years later, with a balance outstanding on the mortgage of $140,000. However the value of the home has actually dropped to $120,000 due to the collapse in the real estate market. The foreclosure shows statistically as a "sale" for the $140,000 of the mortgage balance but is NOT an accurate barometer of values in the area. This would skew property values upward artificially.

A foreclosure could skew the numbers the other way as well, say if a property is worth $150,000 with a $100,000 mortgage balance and a $125,000 value. The sale would show as $100,000 and if it was used in establishing FMV for other property values in the area it would tend to bring them down artificially.

If you are attempting to challenge a tax valuation for property tax purposes, your comps must only include sales histories in the area that meet the "arms length" concept, i.e what a willing seller would accept from a willing buyer absent any outside economic influence.

Homes For Sale - Warner Robins Homes for Sale in Georgia

Foreclosed Motels

Question: I am living in a motel. What can I cook that is easy and few ingredients in an electric roasting oven?

Since March 08, my husband lost his job that he planned to retire from due to age discrimination, but we can't prove it. He's 51. Our house was foreclosed on. We then moved to accept a job in another state. Got into a rent to own home by using our savings. The job we moved for fell through. Then we were evicted. Our car died and in the middle of it all, my Mom died very unexpectedly. Yeah, I'm not kidding. I ought to write a book. It sounds like a bad soap opera but every word of it it is true. So my question: We are living in a motel at this point and all I have is a Rival Electric Roaster Oven to work with and a cooler for food. What are some easy things I can cook in the roaster pan that don't require many ingredients? I am not familiar with using this electric roaster pan either so any help would be wonderful!

Answer: I'm so sorry that you and your husband are going through all this! Do you have access to the internet? If not in your motel, you should be able to get free access at the local library (you just need a library card). Check out http://www.rivalproducts.com/recipes.aspx
They have a few recipes on their site for your roaster
Pot Roast:
2 to 3-lb. beef chuck roast
2 teaspoons salt
20 baby carrots
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 cup beef broth1 onion, quartered

Directions:
Place roast in bottom of COOKING PAN. Place vegetables around sides of roast. Add salt, pepper and broth. Cover; cook at 250°F 3 to 4 hours or until tender.

or Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken:
3 1/2 to 4-lb. chicken
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, softened

Directions:
Rinse chicken in cold water. Combine remaining ingredients and rub over skin and between skin and meat of chicken. Place ROASTING RACK in COOKING PAN. Place chicken on ROASTING RACK and cover. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour and 15 to 30 minutes or until chicken is done.

Best of luck!!

Victims of Financial Crisis Move Into Low-Cost Motels