Bank-Owned Foreclosures Mounting: 600,000 to 700,000 Still Not on the Market
The foreclosure crisis is deepening on several layers, with the worse yet to come if you start digging deeper into the numbers. This may come as a shock to many who think that all of the help coming out of Washington is stemming the tide of home foreclosures.
It’s not. And following is one reason why.
Did you know? 600,000-700,000 Bank-Owned Foreclosures are Still Not Listed
600,000 to 700,000 Bank-Owned Foreclosures Have Yet to Hit the Market
What exactly does this mean? These are homes that are owned by lenders that haven’t been resold or listed with an agent.
According to the April 8, 2009 San Francisco Chronicle article, Banks aren’t reselling many foreclosed homes,
Lenders nationwide are sitting on hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes that they have not resold or listed for sale,… We believe there are in the neighborhood of 600,000 properties nationwide that banks have repossessed but not put on the market …
Rick Sharga, the executive VPat RealtyTrac told Bloomberg that he believes the country’s biggest lenders have yet to list over 700,000 bank-owned homes.
That’s a lot of inventory sitting unaccounted for. For the worst part of this, read on.
Why Are So Many Bank-Owned Foreclosures Not Listed
Market Bloat: Some experts speculate that lenders are hesitant to add more inventory to an already bloated market. Why? Because it will depress home values even further.
Overburdened REO Departments: While the above explanation is feasible, a more likely cause for so many bank-owned foreclosures sitting around is that banks are simply overloaded. After all, they’re not set up to be property managers or real estate sellers. They’re set up to service loans. And, the rapid rise in foreclosures has made them fall way behind in dealing with foreclosed properties.
One thing these numbers make patently clear is that the foreclosure crisis is nowhere near an end. One industry expert says he doesn’t expect to see some relief until 2012. If you’re a foreclosure cleaning business owner, wannabe owner, or foreclosure investor, there’s a lot of opportunity out there right now.
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Copyright © 2009 Yuwanda Black for Foreclosure Business News. Article may not be reproduced or reprinted — in any manner whatsoever — without the express, written consent of the author.