Archive for the 'Texas Articles' Category

A report which surveyed home prices in Texas for 2009 showed that El Paso foreclosure auctions and foreclosures in several areas of the city of Houston are bringing the prices of residences in the state to low levels.

 
Based on a report released by the University of Houston’s Institute for Regional Forecasting and Crawford Realty Advisors, foreclosure auctions in Texas accounted for more than 20% of houses sold in the state in 2009, particularly in several counties of Houston.
 
The report also revealed that the average price of homes in the area ranges between $85,000 and $90,000. The price range is more than 20% lower than the prices of homes in 2008. The decline in home prices is primarily blamed on the continuous increase in the number of foreclosed properties in the region.
 
The decline in home prices is felt all throughout Texas, but it is more obvious in new or expanding subdivisions in the Beltway area of Houston. It has been reported that almost 70% of residences sold at the Beltway in 2009 were foreclosure auction houses.
 
Majority of El Paso foreclosure auctions and foreclosures in the rest of the state in 2009 happened in counties and cities that have high rates of unemployment and have low-earning households.
 
Crawford Realty Advisors executives have stated that most foreclosure auctions in Texas resulted from negative lending practices. The firm’s officials added that these loans were issued to households or individuals who do not have the capacity to pay for the loans.
 
Real estate observers stated that the federal government’s programs designed to help alleviate the residential property market crisis will have positive effects on Texas, although the effects would be minimal at best.
 
However, most real estate analysts are optimistic that the latter part of 2010 will show a decline in foreclosure auctions in the state as the country’s economy attains a gradual improvement. Analysts also expect subprime mortgages to have worked their way into the system by that time.
 
El Paso foreclosure auctions and foreclosure auction houses for sale in the rest of the state are believed to be the primary reason behind the declining prices of residences in Texas. However, market observers are optimistic that the condition of the housing market will improve in 2010.

Search foreclosure auction in Texas cities:

• Foreclosure auction in Fort Worth
• Foreclosure auction in San Antonio
• Foreclosure auction in Austin
• Foreclosure auction in Dallas

Despite the growth in foreclosed home auction inventories in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a real estate study released this week stated that Fort Worth and Dallas are among U.S. cities where the prices of homes and foreclosed home auction properties are not likely to fall as steeply as in other cities.

According to the study, there is an approximately 4 percent risk of house prices going down further in Dallas in the next two years. Meanwhile, the risk in Fort Worth is higher at nearly 6 percent.

The risks for the two cities are extremely low compared to the nationwide risk level of nearly 66 percent. The study said that in 50 of the nation’s biggest cities, the risk for house prices going down further in the next two years is 65.5 percent.

In 45 large metro areas across the nation, the risk of home prices going down further increased in the first quarter.

The risk level in Dallas in the first quarter increased from the 2.5-percent level in last year’s first quarter while the risk level in Fort Worth increased also from the 2.5-percent level in last year’s first quarter.

Across the nation, the cities with the highest risks of house prices going down further are Riverside, Los Angeles and Miami, with all three cities having nearly 100 percent chance of house prices going down further in the next two years.

The cities with the lowest risk of house prices falling further are Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

Unlike other cities where extremely high prices during the boom caused their housing markets to collapse, soaring unemployment rates caused the housing market in North Texas to decline. The flood of foreclosed home auction properties pushed down home prices to their lowest levels.

In the past two years, home prices and foreclosed home auction prices fell by more than ten percent in the two North Texas cities.

In the first 7 months of this year, foreclosure filings in North Texas continued to grow by 20 percent compared to the same period in 2008. Over 64,000 foreclosure actions have been filed in Dallas in the first 5 months of the year. Many of these eventually went on to foreclosed home auction listings.

According to another Texas real estate study, nearly 5 percent of homeowners with home loans in Dallas were behind in their monthly payments by three months or more.

In the first 6 months of this year, over 9,000 housing units eventually entered foreclosure listings and foreclosed home auction inventories in North Texas.

In the Austin metropolitan area, the number of homes listed for the June 2 foreclosed home auction has risen to its highest level since Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service started monitoring foreclosures in 2000.

Since the start of 2009, nearly 6,500 homes have been posted for foreclosed home auctions in the Austin area, which comprises Hays, Travis, Williamson and Bastrop. In all the four counties, foreclosure postings increased during the first six months of the year.

For the June 2 foreclosed home auction, 138 homes in Hays will be posted, a rise of 68 percent from the 82 homes offered for sale in June 2008. The increase was 11 percent above the number this May and 109 percent above the number in June 2006.

In foreclosed home auctions in the second quarter, Hays County listed 372 homes, an increase of 44 percent from the 259 listed in last year’s second quarter.

Compared to June last year, the increase in postings was highest in Bastrop County, which had an increase of 56 percent. Next is Travis County, with an increase of 55 percent. Williamson County had a 51-percent increase while Hays had an increase of 39 percent.

All the four counties had an increased number of properties listed in foreclosed home auction events in the second quarter, the second straight quarter that the counties surpassed the 2,000 units in the Austin metropolitan area.

According to George Roddy, president of FLS, there was an increase in third-party buyers during the May auctions in the 19 Texas counties tracked by FLS. Investors and other third-party buyers purchased nearly 175 homes, representing over 6 percent of total properties listed in foreclosed home auction events in early May.

Roddy also added that investors got great bargains because they paid only 64 cents for every dollar of the appraised value.

According to Roddy, investors also try to make good purchase deals by trying to buy the foreclosed properties before they are put up in foreclosed home auctions. Typically, they have 21 days to work out a deal between the dates of the foreclosure filing and the foreclosed home auction.

The May 5 foreclosed home auction resulted in the sale of 172 foreclosure properties to third-party homebuyers, a decline of about 5 percent compared to the 184 units sold to third-party buyers in May 2008.