Hi,

I am first time homebuyer and looking for a home in Alexandria, VA (Kingstowne area). Like other first time buyer I want to get a good bargain in this economy. I saw some properties in Nov - Dec 2008 and felt that they were good but did not put any offer because of less knowlege of the area and market. I wasn't sure if it was a good price. At that time there were lot of foreclosure properties but now I hardly get any alerts from my agent about any new properties and the ones I get are prices lot higher then they were couple of months ago.

I see sites like Foreclosure and RealtyTrac which still shows lot of foreclosure, pre-forclosure or shortsale homes in the area. To get detail I have to buy subscription. So just wanted to check if it's worthed to get subscription of Foreclosure, RealtyTrac or a similar site. I am also wondering why is the agent I am going with is not getting these properties in his listings?

Thanks in advance.

Avoid sites that make you pay for information, some have a reputation for having incorrect or outdated information.

Not sure why your agent is not finding the homes you are. Sit down and discuss this with your agent.

All those sites have OLD data meaning the people in short sales have filed bankruptcy to stop the foreclosure or they did a loan modification to stay in the home.On the foreclosure side usually homes they show as active are already under contract or have been sold.

All banks selling foreclosures list REO with a broker. Within 24 hours they are required by their asset manager to put in the multiple listing service. So your agent has up to the minute new listing inventory.

List price doesn't mean much on bank foreclosures. They make price drops every 30 days and are very open to lower offers. So the question becomes if you like the property or not and make an offer based on that.

Example your price range is 120k to 150k. You don't see anything in your range. Expand your range to 150k to 170 or 175k. It's possible with banks to get 10 to 15 percent off list price which will put you in your target range.

Don't waste your money on those subscriptions.There has been a moratorium (halt) on most foreclosures lately and more loan option workouts available to homeowners with Obama's new government program so that would explain the low foreclosure inventory.

I believe the market has almost bottomed out except for a few area so I would get off the fence if I were you and buy now.

Thanks for your responses. I will stay away from these foreclosure site.

I probably will have to talk to my agent to be more aggressive.

I have one more question though. How much price difference should be there in county's tax appraisal value vs. the current market value? I would think any offer should be closer to county's assess value for a property. There has been recent drop of about the 10 - 20 percent in county's appraised value for zip code 22315 (Kingstowne, VA) but the market values are still lot higher.

In my area, at least, market values are typically much higher than assessed values. That's because it costs a lot of money to re-assess an area, and it's only done perhaps once in 10 years. In that amount of time, values can change considerably. So assessed value is only accurate to calculate one's taxes...it should not be a guide to the market value of a property.

Nuppal market value is what a buyer will pay for a property in today's market.

How do we know what that is? The answer is the most recent SOLDS of similar property you want to purchase. That means the property appraised,and the loan closed,and it sold.

List prices really don't mean much. Also assesments are different by city and county nationwide. Some tax at 40 percent and others full assesed value. It has to do with how local governments generate revenues to balance their budget.


People often make this HUGE mistake. When buying a house or looking at tax assesments that has nothing to do with value. I have people all the time say well my property is assesed higher in taxes each year so it must be worth this value. You should fight to keep your assesments as low as possible every year so you pay low property taxes.

Market value is all about recent solds.

So ask your agent to look up recently closed in the last 30 days if none up to 90 days of foreclosure properties in the same area and age and sq ft of living space. This should give you idea of what the market is doing.

The question then becomes are you unrealistic about the market and hoping for pricing that simply isn't there. If recent foreclosure sales are higher than 4 t0 6 months ago like you were saying then that shows an uptrend for your area. If so you need to buy now before you get priced out of the market.

You really have to have a pulse on the local market county by county and city by city to buy at the right time.

I would say a waste of time/money... I would just hook up with a good Realtor and let them do the work. You will probably end up using an agent anyways, and they will be worth the money.

Realtytrac & Foreclsoure include very vague info, and are just trying to get your money.

+ some home sellers today are beating foreclosure prices because they are ready to sell now. Do not limit yourself to foreclosures!

Some of the major lenders have sites (Fannie Mae, Countrywide, Wells Fargo) with their foreclosures listed on them.

Here is a directory of free REO sites for all the major lenders and government agencies.

[url=http://www.thehardmoneypros.com/REO_bank_owned_property_directory.shtm]Free Foreclosure Listings, Bank Owned Homes Directory[/url]

http://www.thehardmoneypros.com/REO_bank_owned_property_directory.shtm

Realtor are your best bet on foreclosure homes. They will work you through the process. most of the website give you out dated properties. Most of all if you agent can't locate these properties, they are definitely outdated or off the market

In general you should stay away from sites that ask you to pay for information. In addition, you can try Redfin.com to find some good deals or Movoto.com to find great agents

The last data showed up that the number of foreclosures have rose up since the summer. I would subscribe Bidselect.com, you can track HUD properties best there, especially if they were under contract and then come back on the market . You can find them on Realtor.com and MLS as well, but many of the Realtors do not update them. However the rest of the Foreclosures you should find in Realtor.com and MLS. I would not pay for site.

NUppal,
Realtytrac shows properties that are in default as well as foreclosure (Behind 60 days or more). Many of these owners will find a way to get current and it will never foreclose.

Many banks are holding off on foreclosing IMHO it is because they are trying to shore up their balance sheets before foreclosing and having to write down the asset.

There will be many more foreclosures after the first of the year. Many will have a moratorium on foreclosures in December.

In our area in FL 2009 tax assessed value is based on 2008 sales and excludes "distressed" sales such as REO and Short sales which dominate a large part of our market. Thus, the data used to set the assessed value (Which is done every year in our area) is based on info from sales that are up to 24 months old. We have depreciated at 1.5% - 2% per month for the 12-24 months since those transactions occured.

In an appreciating market tax assessed values can be as low as 75% of the current fair market value. In a depreciating market like ours they can be as much as 125% to 150% of the fair market value.

Find out how they set assessed value in the area you are looking in. Then you can use that info as a guide.

Good Luck to you.

thanks for this post everyone I learned a lot