real estate

Detroit home sale prices continue to improve

Steve Carmody — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:38:40 +0000

Detroit’s real estate market posted some of the strongest price gains in the nation in 2012.

The just released S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index charts home sale prices in the nation’s twenty largest cities.

Detroit home sale prices rose more than 13 percent last year, the third highest percentage increase in the survey.

Craig Lazzara is the head of Index Investment Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices. He compiled the report. Lazzara says, despite the rise in prices, homes in Detroit are still selling for about what they did in 1997.

Michigan man accused of defrauding Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

Sarah Cwiek — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:11:47 +0000

A Wayne county man is facing criminal charges for allegedly defrauding federal real estate giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Samer Salami, a real estate agent and broker for Fannie and Freddie,
is accused of obtaining properties they owned through Trademark
Assets--a shell company he secretly controlled--for an artificially
low price.

Salami would then turn around and sell the property to an actual,
higher bidder—pocketing the difference between the two sales, plus a
double commission.

Overall, it’s alleged Salami bilked the mortgage giants out of about
$488,000, through 22 such illegal housing sales in Wayne county.

Stateside: Andrew Herscher's "Unreal Estate Guide to Detroit"

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 20:56:20 +0000

In “The Unreal Estate Guide to Detroit,” Andrew Herscher re-imagines unused city spaces as areas of possibility.

The city’s surfeit of abandoned buildings is, for some, an image of blight.

But according to Herscher, a variety of individuals are using Detroit as a site of experimental craft and commerce.

"Unreal Estate" is the term Herscher gives to urban space that has lost economic value to the point where it can support other types of development.

When land is used by homes it becomes real-estate; but when these properties fail, the buildings they occupy become available to be appropriated in other ways.

More Michigan mortgage lenders turning to 'short sales' to avoid home foreclosures

Steve Carmody — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 06:01:01 +0000

A surge in so-called ‘short sales’ is helping reduce the number of Michigan home falling into foreclosure.

Home sale prices plunging in Michigan

Steve Carmody — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:01:01 +0000

Home sellers in Michigan saw prices drop significantly in the last three months. And one analyst predicts it’s a trend that shows few signs of easing.

Clear Capitol reports Michigan home sale prices between October to January dropped by 5.3 percent compared to a year ago. And the overall trend is even worse.

Alex Villacorta is the director of Research and Analytics at Clear Capitol. He says home sale prices in Detroit were down nearly 12 percent. Villacorta blames the fact that half the homes sold in the Detroit during the last three months had been foreclosed. He says banks sold the repossessed home at discounted prices.

“With more than one in two homes selling as a distressed sale, it really puts significant downward pressure on home prices," says Villacorta.

Villacorta advises people not to put their homes on the real estate market right now if they don’t have to. But if you're in the market to buy a home, Villacorta has different advice.

“For a buyer, (this is) certainty a fantastic time to buy," says Villacorta, "(With) prices at levels not seen in decades…..with mortgage rates at record low levels it’s a great time to get in.” Villacorta says other markets around the country hit hard by the foreclosure crisis are showing signs of recovery. But not Detroit.

Quicken Loans founder buys historic Detroit site

The Associated Press — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:29:13 +0000

DETROIT (AP) - Quicken Loans founder and chairman Dan Gilbert says his venture capital firm is buying downtown Detroit's historic Federal Reserve Building.

Gilbert said Monday that he hasn't landed a tenant for the 176,000 square-foot building but believes it's ideal for one occupant. The original building was constructed in 1927 and an eight-story annex was added in 1951.

The purchase price wasn't disclosed for the building, which has been vacant since 2004.

In the past year, Gilbert's Rock Ventures LLC has bought nine buildings, three parking structures and one lot with an aim to create an entrepreneurially focused, technology district.

The Cleveland Cavaliers owner made the announcement from the M@dison Building, a five-story structure Rock Ventures bought and spent $12 million renovating. Other holdings include the Chase Tower and First National Building.

Michigan's home prices are stabilizing

Steve Carmody — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 06:01:01 +0000

A new report says home prices in Michigan, and the rest of the country, are stabilizing.

During the recession, home prices swung wildly. First plunging down, then bobbing up as government incentives spurred buying.

Report: Home sale prices rise in Michigan (but is a fall coming this winter?)

Steve Carmody — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:01:01 +0000

Michigan home sale prices increased significantly during the past three months. But according to a new report, prices are predicted to take another tumble.

Michigan home sale prices are down dramatically from their pre-recession highs. However, a new report from Clear Capitol says Michigan home buyers have been paying more in recent months.

“Michigan overall is actually up even more so than the Midwest region. We have them up 8.5 percent on a quarter over quarter basis. But still down six percent from where prices were a year ago," says Alex Villacorta with Clear Capitol.

But Villacorta says home sale prices nationally appear to have plateaued and he expects they will decline about 3 percent this winter and even more in Michigan, which he says is more volatile than the national housing market.

Villacorta says Detroit’s housing market continues to struggle and remains one of the lowest performing home sales markets in the country. He blames this on the fact that one in every three homes on the market has been repossessed by banks that are now trying to sell them at far below market prices.

Big jump in home foreclosure filings in Michigan last month

Steve Carmody — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 09:01:01 +0000

August saw a big leap in the number of new home foreclosure filings in Michigan.

2011 was expected to be a record year for home foreclosures in Michigan, but it didn’t happen. Foreclosure filings slowed at the beginning of the year, as banks scrambled to fix paperwork problems and respond to new government regulations. But it appears now the tide is turning.

New home foreclosure filings jumped 36 percent from July to August in Michigan.

Ten best places to live cheaply

Kyle Norris — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 17:32:51 +0000

Forbes has just released a list of the ten best places to live cheaply, and mid-western cities made several appearances on the list.

Sandusky, Ohio took first place while Monroe, Michigan placed second. Bay City, Michigan placed fifth and Springfield, Ohio was eighth. Forbes looked at housing prices, the cost of living, crime rates, unemployment rates and school quality.

Home foreclosure filings down (and that's a problem?)

Steve Carmody — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 05:01:01 +0000

The number of home foreclosures tumbled in Michigan during the first half of the year. One analyst says that’s bad news.

Realty Trac reports that home foreclosure filings dropped by about 20 percent during the first six months of 2011. One in 74 homes in Michigan received a foreclosure notice between January and June.

Rick Sharga is with Realty Trac. He says continuing questions about problems with foreclosure paperwork has slowed down the number of properties being repossessed by banks. Federal and state regulators are expected to announce a deal soon clearing major lenders from intentional wrongdoing involving faulty paperwork that mistakenly evicted people current on their mortgages.

Sharga says the delay in foreclosure filings has slowed the recovery in Michigan’s real estate market.

“What over 60% of buyers are looking for right now are bank owned properties or foreclosure properties. So it might be a little of a ‘Catch-22’ here…where we need a higher inventory of these distressed properties to get the buyers off the sidelines.”

Sharga says it may take until 2015 to clear the huge backlog of homes in the foreclosure process which will continue to be a drag on the home sale market.

Detroit home prices plummeted in first half of 2011

Steve Carmody — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 05:01:01 +0000

Detroit home prices posted sharp declines during the first 6 months of 2011, according to a new report. And the decline is expected to continue during the next 6 months. Clear Capital reports Detroit’s home sale prices were down 19.8% during the first half of the year compared to the first six months of 2010.

Counties sue Fannie, Freddie over real estate taxes

Sarah Hulett — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:17:28 +0000

Oakland and Ingham counties are suing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over millions of dollars in disputed tax revenues.

Michigan has something called the real estate transfer tax, and it’s paid by the seller when a property changes hands.

Fannie and Freddie have been unloading many of the homes that revert to them in foreclosure sales.

Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner says the companies are trying to have it both ways – getting the benefits of private companies, and the protections of government entities.

Foreclosed homes weighing down Michigan real estate market

Steve Carmody — Thu, 26 May 2011 05:01:01 +0000

Foreclosed homes continued to drag down Michigan home sale prices in the first quarter of the year. Realty Trac reports nearly 32% of homes sold in Michigan in the first three months of 2011 were repossessed homes.

The average price for a foreclosed home was just a little more than $70 thousand. The price is about a third less than similar homes on the market.

Michigan's foreclosure process slows down

Steve Carmody — Thu, 12 May 2011 05:01:01 +0000

Michigan mortgage lenders are taking longer to foreclose on delinquent homeowners. In 2007, the entire foreclosure process in Michigan took on average 78 days to complete. This year, the average foreclosure is taking 235 days to complete. The reason is a mixture of the economy and paperwork.

According to Realty Trac, this is not just a Michigan issue: