Archive for the 'Georgia Repo Homes' Category

Repossessed houses are being sold by banks in Georgia at a faster rate compared to the pace of sales over the past several months.

Billy Mayhew, CEO of Douglas County Bank, said that over the past several months, his bank has been drowning in unsold properties repossessed from home builders. But now, he said the situation has been improving. Slowly, his bank has been cutting down its foreclosure inventory.

While before his bank is able to sell only one foreclosed house for every three additional homes seized from defaulting home builders, now his team has been selling about four repossessed homes for every additional unit foreclosed and seized.

Mayhew believes that the planned November expiration of the federal tax credit pushed the increase in home sales and now he is glad that the tax credit scheme has been extended. Just like other bankers, he is hoping that another positive development in the housing sector would be able to help them sell their foreclosures when the tax credit finally expires.

Record numbers of repossessed houses in Georgia have significantly contributed to the collapse of a lot of banks in the state. Since last year, 28 banks have already failed, putting Georgia the top state in number of failed banks. Many of these banks provided huge loans to house builders and housing developers who defaulted and abandoned their housing projects when the crisis worsened.

Nevertheless, several analysts in Georgia have been contending that the state housing market is on its way to recovery, with the inventory of homes for sale dropping by 37 percent from last year to around 11,000 units, based on data from Metrostudy.

Eugene James, head of the Atlanta division of Metrostudy, affirmed the improvement in sales of foreclosure houses and other types of homes.

Mark Hancock, head of Private Bank, also expressed his optimism about the banking and housing sectors. He said his bank has been selling two foreclosed units for every additional unit being taken back. He added he is glad his bank has already sold off around 80 percent of its foreclosure portfolio, slowly eliminating toxic-asset problems.

Mayhew of Douglas County Bank said he has been selling a lot of homes priced in the $100,000 price range. He added that his bank has been losing because of the discounted prices, but lately, foreclosure prices have improved as his bank has been selling repossessed houses for around 90 percent of mortgage loan values.

A real estate investor with a heart. This is what could be said of Atlanta-based real estate investment firm Pride of Ownership Partners, which has been offering lease-purchase options to families or individuals in Atlanta who do not yet have the money to buy a repossession property.

The lease-purchase scheme is increasingly being offered in foreclosure-clobbered states like Nevada and California, according to Emory University real estate professor Jim Grissett. He said both repossession property buyers and sellers can benefit from the rising popularity of the lease-purchase scheme.

Cecelia Robinson, a 57-year-old writer from an area near Baltimore, is among those benefiting from the lease-purchase program offered by Pride of Ownership Partners. Robinson said she left Maryland after her business failed and her house almost became a repossession property.

Now she is leasing a three-bedroom repossession property purchased and renovated by Pride of Ownership. Robinson can rent the house for three years, during which time she can decide whether to purchase the house. If she opts for a purchase, the firm will credit half of all the rent she has paid during the three-year period to help pay the down payment. The selling price would be based on the appraisal of the house during the time she signed the lease-purchase contract.

Robinson is ecstatic about the house she now considers her dream house and about the affordable terms Pride of Ownership has offered her.

Tim Cabrera and Jeffrey Britz launched Pride of Ownership Partners in July 2008 with only $1.4 million. But now they have a total of 50 units all bought from repossession property inventories across Atlanta. They said they housing market is still fragile, so they cannot simply buy and then quickly sell at a profit.

So they adopted the lease-purchase scheme to help their company break even and at the same time help people that deserved to be helped. So far, they have no problems renting out the homes.

Cabrera and Britz also educate their clients about mortgages, credit rehabilitation and home ownership. All applicants go through a strict screening process to ensure that they work only with smart and responsible renters or buyers.

Cabrera makes sure that renters and prospective buyers know everything about fixed-rate mortgages, upfront payments, monthly payments and other obligations.

Arlanda James is another renter helped by Pride of Ownership. Her family almost became homeless in December when the house they were renting suddenly became a repossession property. Now she is happily renting a four-bedroom house owned by Pride of Ownership.