Foreclosure News

'Greenhabbing' MI Foreclosures

Ryan Burk, a Michigan real estate investor, has taken the idea of rehabbing MI foreclosures to a new level. His company, In The Now Investments LLC, installs energy-efficient products during renovation of the Detroit area homes he purchases. Of the MI foreclosures he has rehabilitated, all are equipped with high-performance insulation in the attic and walls, and they are also outfitted with high-efficiency appliances and insulated windows.

Burk purchases Michigan foreclosures, rehabs and rents the homes then takes advantage of tax credits offered by the US government to receive up to one-third of his investment back. He refer to this new model of buying and selling as “tree-hugging capitalism” or “greenhabbing” for short. He also feels it “has to make sense economically,” while at the same time knows he can “do the right thing.”

One benefit he receives; a tax credit for approximately half the cost when installing high-performance insulation. In addition, he takes advantage of rebates by using low VOC paint and other environmentally friendly products. For example, he Read the rest of this entry »

Evidence of a continued recession and the ongoing fallout of MI foreclosures was manifest in a recent, unexpected turn of events at an apartment complex in Melvindale. Over ten thousand applicants arrived at Coogan Terrace last week, a complex which qualifies for the Housing Choice Voucher Program, also known as Section 8. This 199-unit high-rise is a public housing establishment available to those 62 years or older or who are low income and are handicapped on Social Security disability.

The Housing Commission of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a waiting list of 100 people. Due to a decline in the list, the commission announced it was accepting resident applications. However, the discommodious nature of the turnout was thought to be promulgated by the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, where news of the announcement spread very quickly.

The high rate of unemployment coupled with an increase in MI foreclosures due to the subprime banking collapse is likely to have attributed to the overwhelming number of people who showed up with hopes of qualifying for a spot on the list.

The employees at Coogan Terrace have a very big job to undertake in order to sort through the enormous amount of paperwork set before them. Housing director Theresa Kirk stated it may be summertime to get all of the applications entered into the system and jokingly admitted, “We should be good for the next 20 years.”

Until we see consistent declines in unemployment and MI foreclosures, the scenario which was played out above will unlikely be the first or only event of its kind to have occurred, nor the last for that matter, for some time to come.

Those who are older than I am will attest to the fact that many things in this world are interconnected. Far more than we admit at first. This is easily seen on issues of Faith. If you are a Christian, then most of the time you’ll be convinced that evolution is false, which leads to a completely different interpretation of the data gathered concerning biology, sociology, psychology and other disciplines of science. Similarly, over time we can more easily identify how interconnected things such as government oversight/control (meddling) has on businesses, job creation, family life, and overall prosperity. Further examination shows that government actions also have a trickle-down effect and thus influence things such as the number of FL foreclosures coming down the pipe, small business effects of the recession, and other more acute aspects of life in general.

I’m pretty sure that most lawmakers are older than I am, so it can safely be assumed that they can share in this view of the world and the effects such government influence have had in the past. I guess we could call it Read the rest of this entry »

One of the problems of trying to relate to a wide audience through an online blog is that most of your readers don’t know “the real you” all that. So let me share a bit about myself on a personal note. I’m a pretty basic kinda guy. I may specialize in finding ways to make money investing in CA foreclosures, but I’m not really all that extravagant. In fact, I mostly wear blue jeans to just about every type of event save weddings or funerals. I’ll switch out my shirt depending on the occasion and will sometimes “dress up” by throwing on a basic sport coat, but that’s about it.

I also pretty much keep only two or three pairs of jeans on hand at any given time. (God allowed man to invent the washing machine for a reason I’m told) This being the case I had waiting a good while to get some new jeans from Old Navy during their holiday “Black Friday” sale. After checking out the paper, I discovered that they were also having a Thanksgiving Day sale where you could get an additional $10 off a purchase of $50 or more. As I was planning on getting two pair of jeans and two light sweaters for cool evenings I found that this was something that appealed to me.

At the time, I was certain that I would be able to Read the rest of this entry »

I recently came across a news article that was trying to envision Florida real estate prices actually RISING over the course of the next year. I’m not joking about this.

The piece by James Thorner over at TampaBay.com was summarizing data put out by a data crunching firm which recently published findings that indicated that in spite of the rash of FL foreclosures that are steamrolling housing values across the board, we’ll probably see a 3.88% RISE in values between now and September of 2010. Now in light of the current conditions in relation to job losses, untold amounts of “phantom” foreclosure properties being stockpiled by the banks behind the scenes, and the anticipated double-dip recession pattern on the horizon, I don’t know how First American Corelogic can make such projections. There must not be any type of “common sense” metric in whatever number crunching algorithm they are using.

Supposedly, the Tampa Bay area is suppose to beat the odds as well with values climbing a full Read the rest of this entry »

Pontiac Silverdome Auction

Reflecting the huge losses banks are taking on their inventory of MI foreclosures once resold on the open market, the recent auction of the Silverdome for just 1% of what it cost to build in the early 1970s reveals just how difficult things have become for commercial real estate ventures. However, that sale has been challenged by a rival buyer, and Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Edward Sosnick scheduled a hearing for Monday after issuing an injunction to halt the sale.

Home base to the Detroit Lions football team from 1975 until 2002, which cost $55 million to construct, it sold for just $583,000 to the highest bidder, a Toronto based investment group, Triple Properties, whose plans were to revamp it for men’s and women’s professional soccer teams.

The rival buyer, developer H. Wallace Parker of Silver Stallion Development, was approved to purchase the building over a year ago by the Pontiac City Council for Read the rest of this entry »

Every day we hear more and more stories about people that jump into the wild world of investing in FL foreclosures without any clue as to what they are doing. Then, after the depth of their folly overwhelms them they start to blame everyone else for their woes.

Bottom Line: Investing In Florida Foreclosures Is NOT for the Novice or Faint of Heart!

While the gurus would have you believe that flipping these vacant homes in the midst of the worst housing market our generation will ever know is not all that complicated, but believe me…it is. In fact, the current state of affairs has been so hard on real estate professionals that Realtors are hanging up their licenses left and right because they have to find other jobs to keep the bills paid.

FL foreclosures come in many flavors. The traditional varieties include REO properties, tax foreclosures sales, auctions, online auctions. Just because they have “real estate” as the common thread among them does not mean that they’re all the same. They are actually all very different animals and failure to comprehend this can lead to some very bad, very serious consequences.

Let’s take the example of William Anderson. William is probably Read the rest of this entry »

The year is coming to a close. Many of us would admit that we find ourselves occupied less and less with our State’s economic problems such as the continued pileup of lost jobs or an increasing inventory of vacant FL foreclosures and instead find ourselves preoccupied with planning, preparation, and shopping for the holidays.

I, for one, think that this is a good thing. Too much of anything is not good and the overwhelming enormity of the various economic forces arrayed against us could prove to rob many of the things in life that really matter. Things like family get togethers, dinners, and other relationship based events that form the basis for all the things that are REALLY valuable in life will have a tendency to be lost this year for many. After all, most of the things that we treasure most could never be bought with money, but without it, we can often lose sight of that fact.

It is my hope that things turn around and a path to better days is presently in front of us. Common sense would indicate that such is probably not the case, but I am an optimist…a cautious one.

Whenever I start looking for trends and watching the news to try and identify real patterns of change, I find myself always returning to thoughts of the past and I have to ask… Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll be the fist to admit that it is very possible that my words here will fall on deaf ears. Most people, when looking for a new income source, will latch onto one concept and be reluctant to change their course regardless of what anyone else may show them. If you are interested in buying/fixing/selling FL foreclosures for big paydays, then any advice that anyone gives you outlining how you can make a killing in the stock market is probably not going to change what you intend to do.

Regarless of this fact, I’m going to try and put a little bee in your bonnet and give you some alternative options to real estate investing, and here are a few reasons why… Read the rest of this entry »

I try to keep my mind free of negative thoughts as much as possible. Negativity is not beneficial in almost any form – especially if you are trying to run a successful business investing in FL foreclosures amidst some of the most dire economic times we’ve ever known. That being said, I tend to only allow myself to watch just enough of the news in order to identify any coming trends that might make a major impact on my business in the 6-12 month range.

Truth be told, I’m quite amazed at all the positive economic outlook stories that have been floating around of late. It just seems like everyone wants to spin a story about some figures here and an earnings report there and spew about how all the “experts” are saying that it looks like the recession is behind us and that a slow and shaky recovery is now in sight.

Oh really?

Does anyone but me wonder where they get this idea from? And does anyone realize that the people staking these claims are the same ones that failed to predict the coming economic collapse back in 2005 and 2006? And why do those providing these positive outlook stories always tack some kind of disclaimer on the end of their statement? Could it be that they have no confidence in what they are reporting?

Let’s start talking about facts. Let’s start talking about major trends and start using the term that everyone is trying to avoid…

Double-Dip Recession

I was driving around the other day, inspecting a few FL foreclosures that I’m thinking about putting a bid on and I’m listening to the radio. Surfing through the channels I hear this investment advisor say Read the rest of this entry »