HomeBuyerPower® » Ocean City Maryland Properties

Boom-Era Property Speculators to Get Foreclosure Aid

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:54:07 +0000

It must be an election year. Bloomberg is reporting that the the HAMP loan modification program is being extended to investors who bought multiple homes. As reported:

“Landlords can qualify for up to four federally-subsidized loan workouts starting around May, as long as they rent out each house or have plans to fill them, under the revamped Home Affordable Modification Program, also known as HAMP, according to Timothy Massad, the Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial stability. The program pays banks to reduce monthly payments by cutting interest rates, stretching terms, and forgiving principal.

By widening the program, the plan will inevitably offer aid to buy-and-flip investors who pushed prices higher during the boom by taking out mortgages with little or no down payment.”

No doubt this program would benefit many homebuyers that bought investment or second home properties in Ocean City Maryland during the bubble years.

The full article –

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-05/boom-era-property-speculators-to-get-foreclosure-aid-mortgages.html

Maryland SDAT Reports Reduced Property Assessments Mailed to Ocean City MD Resort Property Owners

admin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:01:59 +0000

Ocean City Today on Friday reported that reduced property value assessments will be delivered to many Ocean City Maryland property owners by mail in the coming weeks:

“Ocean City property owners started the new year with good and bad tidings, depending on how they feel about having a lower property assessment.

On the one hand, a lower assessment reflects a possible loss in value, while on the other, it could mean a bit of a tax break. Either way, the new assessments were mailed out around Dec. 28 and nearly all of them are lower than in 2009.

According to Robert Smith, the state assessor for Worcester County, the value of 97 percent of properties being assessed are going down, in part because of the number of unoccupied condos in the resort.”

The full article –

http://www.oceancitytoday.net/news/2012-01-06/Front_Page/Reduced_property_assessments_mailed_to_resort_resi.html

Maryland State Department of Assessment and Taxation (SDAT) for Worcester County Reports 15% Decrease In Property Values

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:32:33 +0000

The Maryland Coast Dispatch had an article Friday reporting another decline in the taxable value of Ocean City Maryland property values:

“According to Robert Smith, director of the State Department of Assessment and Taxation (SDAT) for Worcester County, most residential property owners in Ocean City will see their values decline by an average of 12 to 15 percent since the last reassessment three years ago.”

“The values are continuing downward as expected, but maybe not as much as the last three years,” said Smith this week. “The angle of decline is less steep than it was. We saw residential property values in the county decline by as much as 17 to 20 percent over the last few years, but Ocean City’s average decline this time around is coming in at 12 to 15 percent.”

The full article –

http://mdcoastdispatch.com/articles/2011/12/02/Top-Stories/15-Decrease-In-Property-Values-Reported-In-OC

Major Revamp Of The Home Affordable Refinance Program Announced

admin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:00:20 +0000

This could be very big news, and probably is, and will certainly lead to a major uptick in residential mortgage refinancing. As reported everywhere yesterday:

“Seeking to breathe new life into a sagging economy, President Obama announced Monday he will attempt an executive branch rescue of homeowners trying to refinance underwater mortgages, with a new initiative that lets people with little or no equity get a better interest rateat a reduced cost.

The initiative, the first in a series of announcements expected this week by the president, applies to homeowners with federally guaranteed mortgages who are current on their payments.

The change is not a mass refinancing of everyone in America, but a targeted fix to open up the program to more people who are underwater. “

The full article –

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/24/white-house-to-announce-major-home-lending-revamp/

Investors Outdo Banks Offloading Distressed Properties

admin — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:40:17 +0000

DSNews.com and ForeclosureRadar are reporting what many “on the ground” have observed for some time:

“Third-party investors are much faster at reselling foreclosures than banks…

‘Our statistics clearly show that real estate investors continue to far outperform banks in dealing with distressed properties,’ said Sean O’Toole, CEO and founder of ForeclosureRadar.”

“Outperform”?

As buyer agents we have observed that without a doubt, distressed investor properties are easier to work with, faster, and often better priced than bank properties.

The full article –

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/investors-outdo-banks-offloading-distressed-properties-report-2011-08-11

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The HomeBuyerPower® Advantage

Why not have the unique knowledge, training and expertise of both a highly experienced Maryland real estate attorney AND broker working for you during your next resort property purchase? Joseph A. Warth is a licensed real estate broker and also a Maryland Bar attorney with over 2 decades of experience assisting Ocean City area buyers in the negotiation, purchase and closing process. His specialized services include Foreclosures, Bank-Owned and REO Purchase transactions. Joe founded HomeBuyerPower® to provide personalized EXCLUSIVE BUYER AGENCY services for Ocean City resort properties. This BUYERS ONLY approach ensures that you are served free from the influence and agendas of home sellers, home builders, mortgage lenders, and any other party but YOU. Contact Joe TODAY at 410.524.5000 for more information and for assistance with your home search.

Worcester County Maryland Housing Statistics For Year 2010

admin — Sun, 01 May 2011 22:26:23 +0000

I took a glance yesterday at the Maryland Association of REALTORS® published 2010 Year End stats for Worcester County and noticed a mixed bag.

On the issue of price, the numbers showed a decline, with Worcester County actually in the highe ranges compared to other Maryland jurisdictions showing a 8.7% and 9.1% decline in average and median sales price, respectively.

On the sales volume side, in 2010 Worcester County showed an increase in the number of units sold of 12.4% over 2009, with 1,472 total units sold in 2010.

According to their Web Site, the data is reported by the MRIS and the Coastal Association of REALTORS® (CAR), which would suggest that foreclosure sales’ data would not be included in their data. While this would theoretically increase the number of total sales, it would also tend to reduce both the average and median sales prices if included.

The full data can be found by PDF file at –

http://www.mdrealtor.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=aGcV7fnZEBk%3d&tabid=161&mid=543

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The HomeBuyerPower® Advantage

Ocean City Could Steer More Toward Tourism Or More Population growth… But Can It Do Both?

admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:01:57 +0000

Ocean City Today posted the second in a three part series about growth in Ocean City Maryland and posed the question:

“… Ocean City at a crossroads of whether to choose a niche of either residential or tourism development.”

Some believe that condominiums favor a more tourist-oriented economy and future, and the relative number of condominium units in Ocean City, Maryland are significant indeed:

“According to Ocean City Planning Director Jesse Houston, 82 percent of the residential housing units in the resort are condominiums, 9 percent are single-family homes, 5 percent are mobile homes and 4 percent are townhouses.”

Does that make Ocean City any less desirable for year-round residential living?

Worth a read. The full article –

http://www.oceancitytoday.net/news/2011-04-22/Top_News/LEFT_RIGHT_or_straight_ahead.html

Ocean City Today Reports That “Established Businesses, Service Providers Moved West In The Last 10 Years, Because Of Lower Taxes And Less Expensive Land

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 15:08:09 +0000

Ocean City Today is reporting what many have noticed with concern along Coastal Highway in Ocean City- business have left and are leaving:

“A long Coastal Highway empty shops, malls and signs reading “restaurant for rent” reflect a decline of retailers in Ocean City. At the same time, West Ocean City has become the “land of strip malls,” with small shopping centers popping up along Route 50, Route 611, Sunset Avenue and elsewhere.”

This is an important issue for the future of Ocean City. The article is the first of a three-part series planned by Ocean City Today focusing on growth in Worcester County,Maryland, and is certainly worth a read.

The full article –

http://www.oceancitytoday.net/news/2011-04-08/Business/Moving_for_the_MONEY.html

What If We Are Only 25% Thru All Of The Foreclosures?

admin — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 03:18:22 +0000

Mark Hanson, who in his former life was a highly successful mortgage banker, now an independent real estate and finance sector analyst, does not post publicly very often but when he does it is always worth a read. In his latest post he opines on a number of housing related subjects, including the number of properties in default pending foreclosure:

“When national house prices fall another 10% to 20%, entire states will be consumed by effective negative equity putting even more pressure on real estate supply and demand fundamentals.

In short, there have been 3.5 million foreclosures and short sales to date stemming from legacy loans. There are presently ~7.5 million borrowers delinquent, defaulted, or in Foreclosure at present — grows by 100k to 125k per month — of which 75% to 80% will ultimately be liquidated. If another 7.5 million defaults — and modification redefaults — occur over the next three to five years then a total of 12 million to 15 million Foreclosure, short sale, and deed-in-lieu liquidations will occur, meaning we are now ~25% complete in cleansing the infamous 2003-2007 Bubble-Year’s toxic lending cesspool.”

Did I read that right? According to his analysis we are only approximately 25% thru liquidating all of the the bubble years’ delinquents and defaults. If he is right, and I believe he may be, we have one heck of a long and ugly slog ahead of us.

The full article -

http://mhanson.com/blog

The Daily Reckoning Says: “Why You Should Buy a House”

admin — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 15:55:18 +0000

The Daily Reckoning, historically one of the more bearish pubs, has an interesting recent article analyzing the effects of inflation– which seems to be THE pronounced policy of the Fed– on the decision to buy a house today:

“Chairman Ben Bernanke promises to “promote inflation.” We take him at his word…and so do the commodity markets. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of commodity prices has soared 80% from its lows of early 2009 – touching a fresh two-and-a-half-year high yesterday.

But even if commodity prices weren’t soaring (yet), we would take the Chairman at his word. After all, trusting a central banker to promote inflation is like trusting water to flow downhill.”

They then pose the following question:

“If, therefore, inflation is taking root in American soil once again, how should the forward-looking investor prepare?”

How then?

“Buy a house and then put some gold bricks inside. That’s right, we said, “Buy a house.”

But now that the bubble has burst, and the housing market is devoid of hope, your editor has become slightly more hopeful.

Undoubtedly, the housing market will continue to produce ample pain and suffering in the months ahead…along with ample anxiety in the years ahead. But it is possible, if not likely, that the pain and suffering will yield a highly satisfactory reward.”

Ah, yes. But more “pain and suffering” may lie ahead. So, if you decide that buying a house now is for you, choose carefully which house you purchase. Choose carefully where that house in located. And, if you do decide that buying an Ocean City Maryland home seems like the right move for you, let us help!

The full article –

http://dailyreckoning.com/why-you-should-buy-a-house/

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