Pasadena Real Estate

What really happens when properties finally hit the auction block?  Well... here's an interesting chart looking at all the foreclosure home auctions in the state of California from December 20098 through 2009.  It shows that most of the properties are bought back by the bank - take a look at the red line. 

However, let's take a closer look at the dark line, the one in the middle that is on the rise.  It shows the number of homes where the auctions have been cancelled.  Reasons for it?  Many distressed home sellers are trying to minimize the impact on their credit score by negotiating a short sale on their property with the bank.  In many instances, if a home seller or a real estate agent negotiating on their behalf, can bring an offer to the bank, the lender will cancel or delay the auction date.

So... if you are a Pasadena neighborhood home owner ready to walk away from your home and leave it for the bank...  Wait... there might be a way to have you walk away with a smaller dent on your credit.  Contact a reputable real estate agent experienced with working short sales.

California Foreclosure Statistics for December 2008 through December 2009:

The orange line shows the number of homes that were purchased by investors or 3rd parties.  As you can see the numbers are significantly lower - less than 1 in 6 homes that are up for auction fall into this category.  Reasons are many - investors need all cash, they accept tremendous risk and inherit any and all title claims to the property.

READ MORE:  What happens to your credit after foreclosure or a short sale?

Pasadena Foreclosure statistics

If you are interested in seeing more data on foreclosure statistics in California, please visit our Foreclosure Search site.  If you are home owner that is having financial difficulties and need to understand your options, please do not hesitate to give us a call.

 

IRINA NETCHAEV & ASSOCIATES

Pasadena Real Estate Agents

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

(626)629-VIEW(8439)

 

http://www.pasadenacarealestatehomes.com/00A64B

There's a lot of talk about the "shadow foreclosure inventory" across the country - homes that are in the pipeline for a foreclosure or have been foreclosed by the bank, but not released or listed on the real estate market and are not part of the existing inventory.

On December 17, 2009, Bloomberg reported:

 

The number of homes that may be in the pipeline for a sale because of foreclosure and delinquency climbed about 55 percent to 1.7 million at the end of September, according to estimates by First American CoreLogic.

 

We are constantly getting calls from home buyers asking about available foreclosures in Pasadena California.  Unfortunately, the volume has been pretty darn low.  Almost nothing to choose from.  If a nice REO home comes up on the market, it is sold (usually with multiple offers) immediately.

Let's take a look at the actual REO (foreclosure) inventory in Pasadena:

Single Family Homes available for sale - 9

Condos available for sale - 4

Townhomes available for sale - 3

 

As you can see the foreclosure count above is pretty miserable compared to the overall inventory of Pasadena homes available for sale:

Single Family Homes available for sale - 203

Condos available for sale - 152

Townhomes available for sale - 50

 

But, are we sitting on a ton of "shadow" foreclosure inventory?  When will these REOs be released?  How will that inventory affect the current Pasadena home prices? 

Let's look at some hard data as of January 10, 2010

Bank Owned Homes in Pasadena:  88 total

Since we know that only 16 REO homes are actually listed for sale, the other 72 are MIA.  That's 82% of foreclosures that are sitting on lender books waiting to hit our real estate market.  That's also approximately 16% of additional inventory to the existing listing inventory.  Here's the break down:

Single Family - 53 homes

Condos and Townhomes - 35

Read More:  See Pasadena Foreclosure List of Properties

Number of Pasadena home owners who received Notices of Default (NODs): 206

To receive a Notice of Default, otherwise known as NOD, a home owner has to be behind on their payments.  They usually would have missed at least 3 payments and the Notice of Default is the beginning of a foreclosure process.  Here's the break down:

Single Family - 143

Condos and Townhomes - 63

Number of Pasadena home owners with Auction Dates already scheduled:  298

Most of these homes will be auctioned off in January or early February unless the home owners are able to either get current on their mortgage, negotiate a short sale with the bank, or get the bank to postpone the auction date. 

Single Family -232

Condos and Townhomes - 66

Read More:  It's all about forgiveness!  Understand the short sale process

It's interesting to note that only a few of these home owners are trying to negotiate a short sale with their lender.  Only 9 condo/townhomes are listed for sale as short sale and 30 single family homes. 

As you can see, we will definitely be seeing quite a few foreclosures on the Pasadena real estate horizon.  When will they hit?  I don't know.  We've seen continuous efforts by the government to help home owners hold on to their homes including lender moratoriums delaying the foreclosure process.  Unfortunately, that is not helping the majority of Pasadena property owners who are in trouble.

If you are a Pasadena home buyer, 2010 will be a year of opportunity.

If you are a home owner who is in trouble and is in jeopardy of losing your home, don't wait for the bank to foreclose.  A short sale is a much better option.  Give us a call for a free consultation and we'll try to help.

To see how your neighborhood is affected by foreclosure, take a look at our FREE foreclosure neighborhood data and analysis tool here.

Additional Reading:  2009 Real Estate Home Sales Recap and 2010 Pasadena Real Estate Forecast

 

IRINA NETCHAEV & ASSOCIATES

Pasadena Real Estate Agents

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

(626)629-VIEW(8439)

 

http://www.pasadenacarealestatehomes.com/00A5A3

I was fortunate to attend the National Association of Realtor's (NAR) convention earlier this month in San Diego.  More than 20,000 US real estate agents and over 1,000 international Realtors were in attendance.  It's always an exciting experience to meet agents from around the nation and world to share and learn new real estate practices.

Because of this trip and our goal to constantly improve our real estate delivery services, my real estate team will be implementing the following processes to streamline our home buyer and home seller experience:

1.  We have partnered with DocuSign, an electronic signature service.  No longer will our clients need to worry about faxing and scanning documents when signatures are required.  This service will allow us to not only provide the latest in technology and ease of signature, but will also allow us to respond quicker to both buyers and sellers.  In real estate, where timing is of the essence and a delay can mean a loss of a home, I am very excited to be able to offer this service to our clients.

2.  GoogleVoice - we have set up a GoogleVoice account that will help our real estate customers find us faster and even dial us from the website.  This service will help promote our home seller's listings, capture all buyer calls and just be much more readily available to consumers.  GoogleVoice will also provide us with an auto transcibe service which will help my real estate team document and track all voicemail messages.

3. Open House and Broker Caravan Tour tracking - We are getting ready to roll out a website that will capture photos of homes for sale in the Pasadena and neighboring cities as they are held open first to the real estate community and then to the public.  This website will provide insight into new homes for sale with photos and commentary that is not in the MLS system.

4.  Buyer Home-Buying On-Line Diaries - This service will also be rolled out shortly.  Every home buyer working with me or one of my real estate agents will get their very own on-line home buying diary.  As we visit homes, we'll take pictures, make notations and that will be immediately updated to a password protected website that is accessed only by you (unless of course, you'd like to give access to your friends and family - that's doable too!)  Sometimes when we visit homes after the first two appointments, it gets a little hard to remember what you liked or disliked about the house.  With this service, the experience of buying a home will be more fun and memorable!

Let me know what you think about our new real estate services and we look forward to helping you with your next purchase or sale of your home, condo or townhome.

Read More:  Do you need a buyer's Agent when shopping for your home?

Real estate Forecast and Economy Update for 2010

IRINA NETCHAEV & ASSOCIATES

Pasadena Real Estate Agents

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

(626)204-3340

 

http://www.pasadenacarealestatehomes.com/00A393

I get multiple phone calls from home buyers and home sellers weekly.  Most folks that call me are very courteous and need guidance and advice with their real estate decisions.  Some, unfortunately, are not as up front and honest and call me to pick my brain so that they can then turn around and advise their real estate agent (who is usually working in real estate part time and in many cases is a friend or relative) on how to approach a situation or understand the local Pasadena real estate market.

Let me be very clear, I do not have a problem helping fellow realtors.  All your realtor has to do is call me directly and ask for help.  I do have a problem when people call me and pretend that they're going to use my services when they know that they will not.  I've heard it all and have seen it all over my years as a real estate broker.  You can call it a 6th sense... whatever it is, I have it.  I know that I shouldn't get irritated, but honestly, I still do.  So here is my list of when NOT to call a real estate agent.

When NOT to call a real estate agent:

1.  Do NOT call a Realtor if you are working with another real estate agent.  Most people work for a salary.  Real estate agents work on commission.  We do not get paid until we find a property, negotiate a home price, oversee all the transactional details, and close escrow.  We will get paid last - after the home seller gets paid, the lender is paid off, title and escrow fees are taken care of, etc.  it's similar to working on a contingency basis - we get paid after the transaction closes - not a moment earlier. 

Our time is limited.  There is one agent to multiple clients.  A smart real estate agent will work with a small number of pre-approved home buyers and a small number of motivated home sellers.  The agent's sole responsibility is to help their clients understand the real estate process, narrow down their choices by having a comprehensive home buying or home selling consultation, address most of their clients' concerns and find resources to address the ones that they can't and help them accomplish their goals successfully with as little hassle as possible.

If your agent is not doing that - find another.  But, do not call me because your agent doesn't have time to answer your questions.  And, please do not call me because your agent is too busy with other clients or their personal life or another job to show you a property.

2.  Do NOT call a real estate agent unless you are ready to engage in a two way conversation.  People call because they want information, but start acting evasive when we ask questions back.  The questions real estate agents ask are usually three-fold: 

• We ask questions to pre-qualify a potential client prior to setting up an appointment to meet with them.  For example, are you currently working with an agent?  Have you talked with a lender?  When do you anticipate buying or selling a home?  And, so on...  It's important to make sure that we are not interfering with another agency relationship and are working with willing and able clients.
• We ask questions for our personal safety.  it is important to get a feel for the person on the other end of the line before heading out to meet with them.
• We ask questions to see if we're the right agent to help the client.  I do not want to waste my time nor the client's time.  I need to clearly understand what the potential home buyer is looking to buy.  Maybe, they are looking to buy a home in an area that I do not specialize in, etc? 

Most real estate agents will not ask questions just to be intrusive and nosy.  They are legitimate questions that we need answers to.  If you do not feel comfortable answering honestly or feel that as one of my callers told me yesterday, that the information is "irrelevant", please don't call me.  If I ask, it's relevant.

3.  Do NOT call a real estate agent if you are not ready to follow their advice.  I am so impressed with many of my readers who call me after doing substantial research on-line and have a pretty clear idea of the steps they need to take to begin their home search.  Some, though, just want to do things their way and only their way.  My responsibility  as a real estate agent is to guide you through the process to make a home buying or home selling experience as smooth and as hassle-free as possible.  There is a strong and compelling reason for everything that I ask my clients to do.  I take the time to explain these reasons and will only work with clients that will take the time to understand the process and follow my guidance.  If you are going to fight me every step of the way, there's no reason for us to work together.

If you fall into any of the above categories, there are plenty of resources on this real estate site that are free and available to anyone with access to the Internet.

Free Home Search:  you can set up a VIP account that allows you to search all MLS (Multiple Listing Service) listings for sale.  These include properties like single family homes, condos, townhomes and income.  There's also access to land and lease listings.  Foreclosures can be easily found here as well.  You can even program free mls system to send you emails anytime a listing that fits your criteria is available.  You can search homes for sale in Pasadena as well as the surrounding areas.  In fact, you can search most property for sale in Southern California.  As of the time of this post, there are over 74,000 properties available for sale on this site.

Free Real Estate Market Analysis:  I have hired Altos Research, one of the premier real estate market tracking companies, to provide my readers with real-time real estate data and statistics for Pasadena, South Pasadena, San Marino, Los Angeles, Alhambra, Altadena and San Gabriel.  You can sign up to receive weekly emails directly from Altos on a  weekly basis.  This subscription is a service that is offered to all my readers and does not cost you a dime.  In fact, it's pretty cool the amount of information that you can get.  I also do my own analysis on a monthly basis for different cities in the area.  You can find it in the real estate market report section of my site.

Home Buyer and Home Seller "how to" articles and posts - including advice on how to stage your home, how to find a loan, what kind of closing costs to expect, how to get your offer accepted and much more. 

Read More:  Pasadena Real Estate Guide

Area information including schools, restaurants, shopping and attractions can be found in individual city guides below:

Alhambra City Guide

Pasadena City Guide

San Gabriel City Guide

San Marino City Guide

Sierra Madre City Guide

South Pasadena City Guide

If you are looking for a real estate advocate to guide you through the process of buying or selling your home in Pasadena and items 1 through 3 above do not apply to you, please DO give me a call to discuss your needs.  I'd love to help!

 

IRINA NETCHAEV & ASSOCIATES

Pasadena Real Estate Agents

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

(626)204-3340

 

http://www.pasadenacarealestatehomes.com/009E8F

Well, I've written about the lack of photos in our Multiple Listing Service and vented about this issue long enough here and on my other real estate blog - PasadenaViews.  Now, I wish I could say that someone has listened at our real estate board, but that's not the case.  Fortunately, the implementation of a new system called CARETS and the data integrity issues associated with that system, facilitated this change. 

As of June 15th, all real estate agents in Pasadena are REQUIRED to have at least one photo uploaded with their home listing.

Also, real estate agents are finally required to mark their properties for sale to correctly identify whether or not a home listing is a short sale or a foreclosure.  I can't tell you how often, I've shown a home to my home buyers only to find out later on that the home is a short sale and not a regular sale.

Oh... and how about the third rule about updating information about a home listing timely.  Home buyers want to know whether or not a home is in escrow or sold or had a price reduction.  It's only common sense!

Here's what the Multiple Listing Service Announcement looks like:

KEY i-TECH RULES CHANGES

Beginning Monday, June 15th, the CARETS Data Integrity Standards will apply to all i-Tech listings. Most of the rules that you have been following will remain the same. Below are three key differences.


1. MANDATORY PICTURE: At least one (1) picture related to the listed property MUST be included within five (5) days of listing entry.

2. SHORT-SALE/REO: You may not include any information regarding a short-sale or REO/bank owned property in the Public Remarks of a listing, including that the listing is Not a Short-Sale or REO. Shortly i-Tech will add mandatory entry fields for both sale types. In the mean time, use the Short Pay and REO fields under TERMS to designate the type of sale. Special information on the sale may be placed in the Agent Remarks section.

3. SUBMISSION DEADLINES: Entry and changes to listings must be made within 48-hours of the event, excluding weekends and holidays.

 

 

Now if it was me, I'd add some additional rules.  Let's see... how about:

• No more BLURRY PHOTOS!
• Let's have a minimum of 6 photos to ensure that Pasadena home buyers will have a better understanding of what a property is all about and not waste their time.
• No photos with old "stamped" dates allowed.

I am sure there are quite a few more things that should be disallowed and actually insisted upon.  Ultimately, it's what separates a great real estate agent that cares about the homes they sell and their clients from mediocre ones.

What do you think?

READ MORE:

Pictures are worth a thousand words!

Photos that will NOT sell your home

What makes a Great Real Estate Agent

 

 

IRINA NETCHAEV & ASSOCIATES

Pasadena Real Estate Agents

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

(626)204-3340

 

 

http://www.pasadenacarealestatehomes.com/009867