Distressed Inventory Report 8-7-10

By George Thurtle

The numbers gradually keep creeping up, mainly the notices of trustee sale (NTS). On the surface for zipcoded 98007 there appears to be a large drop in the (NTS) but this is due to a condo project in the Crossroads area changing its status so that decrease is not a good indicator of the overall general trend. Basically the same trend is continuing with the rate of increase slowing each week which is a sign the distressed inventory may be peaking. The coming month will probably see if this prediction is correct. The other trend which maybe happening is that the servicers who are process the foreclosures may be on their summer vacactions; will wait to see.

The listed inventory remains short sale and bank inventory remains very stagnant with not much movement. Also the quality of the inventory seems to be declining with most of the newer homes gone, except a couple in East Bellevue. There is more homes suffering maintenance and upkeep issues. A lot of older homes in poor repair. The buyers in this market severly discount these homes because they may not want to do the work and they have to use out of pocket money mainly to get it done and not many buyers have the money after the purchase. That is why you see reasonably priced homes in good condition which have had the kitchen and baths update go very quickly while others just sit. Eventually the prices on these homes will keep coming down until there is some incentice to fix the home up. Thee are not many flippers anymore and they need to get the homes really cheap in order to justify a flip. However the flippers are the ones who mainly update the inventory. Recently FNMA has found the discounts to be so severe thay are actually contracting with local contractors to repair the homes so they are marketable. This the first wise use of tax payer money I have seen.

The spreadsheet is here: Bellevue Foreclosure Report 8-7-10

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