Control your investments with self-directed IRA investing

Jeremy Vlasich  I have a lot of people ask me about what to invest in and how.  Not every time, but often, the self-directed IRA investments can be great options for people that are in the real estate industry.  For this post, I wanted to go over the basic concept and give some actual real-life examples.  Once you read this, if you still need help or have questions, you are more than welcome to reach out.  We are here to serve and help!

What is an IRA and what does a “self-directed” IRA mean?  This is an Individual Retirement Account.  There are two options:

  • Roth IRA – contributions are post-tax and then the growth is tax-free for life
  • Traditional IRA – contributions are pre-tax and then the growth deferred

During the 2020 year, you can contribute $6k a year and add $1k if you are over 50. There are income limits for contributions for the Roth IRA and the tax-deductible traditional.  However, you can always contribute to the traditional but the income limit determines if the IRA is tax-deductible or not.  All traditional IRA’s are tax-deferred.  The Roth IRA is the only tax-free growth IRA.

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Distressed Home Sales In St Louis Down 25% Last Year

As I reported a couple of days ago, home sales (non-distressed) in St Louis were up around 8% in 2020 verses 2019 however, distressed home sales were down 25% in 2020 from the year before.  For several months of 2020, there were moratoriums on foreclosures which would lower the number of distressed sales and are no doubt largely responsible for the decline in sales.  For the sake of this report, “distressed” sales include foreclosures, short sales, and property owned by banks or the government.

During 2020, there were 894 sales of distressed homes, down 25% from 2019 when there were 1,191 sales.  The median price of distressed homes sold during 2020 was $71,788 an increase of nearly 14% from 2019 when the median price was $63,000.  There are currently 54 active listings of distressed homes representing a one-month supply.

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STL Market Report – St Louis 5-County Core Market

(Distressed home sales only- click report for live report)

STL Market Report - St Louis 5-County Core Market- distressed home sales

St Louis Area Vacant Property Rate and Zombie Foreclosure Rate On The Rise

Zombies are on the rise in St Louis! I’m referring, of course, to Zombie foreclosures and not the spooky creatures from scary movies.  A zombie foreclosure is a property that is in “pre-foreclosure” meaning it is in the foreclosure process but has not been yet foreclosed upon and is vacant or abandoned by the current owner.  We saw the levels of zombie foreclosures rise significantly after the housing bubble burst back in 2008 but then fall around 2012 as the market began its recovery.  For the 3rd quarter of 2020, according to ATTOM Data Research, 10.8% of the homes in pre-foreclosure were vacant or otherwise known as “zombies foreclosures”.  This is a fairly significant increase in the zombie rate from the prior quarter when 7.79% of the pre-foreclosures were vacant.  A year ago, during the 3rd quarter of 2010, the zombie foreclosure rate was 7.77%.

St Louis vacant property rate rises during 3rd quarter as well..

As the table below also illustrates, 2.95% of the more than 1,000,000 residential properties in the St Louis MSA were vacant during the 3rd quarter of 2020 which is an increase from 2.88% for the 2nd quarter of 2020 as well as an increase from a year ago when the vacancy rate was 2.86%.

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St Louis Area Vacant Homes and Zombie Foreclosures

St Louis Area Vacant Homes and Zombie Foreclosures

 

Flipped Houses In St Louis Jumps Nearly 14 Percent During First Quarter

There were 542 homes “flipped” in the St Louis metro area during the first quarter of 2020, or 8.5% of the total number of homes sold in the St Louis metro area during the quarter, according to data just released by ATTOM Data Solutions.  This is an increase of 13.8% from the prior quarter and is a decrease of 2% from a year ago.  The median gross profit was 52,900 a 60.8% gross ROI.

Definition of a  “flipped” home…

For the purposes of this report, a flipped home is considered to be any home or condo that was sold during the first quarter of this year in an arms-length sale that had previously had an arms-length sale within the prior 12 months.  Since homeowners don’t tend to buy a home only to turn around and resell it within a year, when this does occur it is typically the result of an investor buying a property, renovating it, then reselling it.

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St Louis House Flipping – 1st Quarter 2020

St Louis House Flipping - 1st Quarter 2020© 2019 – St Louis Real Estate News, all rights reserved

Distressed Home Sales In St Louis MSA Fall Nearly 25 Percent In Past 12 Months

Thanks to a booming economy and strong housing market, distressed home sales in the St Louis Metro Area declined by nearly 25 percent (23.42%) in the 12-month period ended January 31, 2020 from the prior 12-month period. As our exclusive, STL Market Report below shows, there were 1,887 distressed home sales (foreclosures, REO’s and short sales)in the most recent 12-month period compared with 2,464 in the prior 12-month period.  The median home price of the distressed homes sold declined 1.79% during the same period, from a median price of $56,000 in the prior period to $55,000 in the most recent period.

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Distressed Home Sales  St Louis MSA

(Foreclosures-REO’s-Short Sales) – Past 12 Months vs Prior 12 Months

(click on table for current report)

Distressed Home Sales  St Louis MSA 

Bernie’s Plan For Housing Likely To Negatively Impact Investors

Let me begin with this is not a political statement and the purpose of this site is not about politics but about real estate.  Having said that, this morning I came across the plans for the housing market that Bernie Sanders is proposing if he is elected President which I had not seen before.  Upon reviewing his plan (it is on his official site) I realized that while many of the components of it sound good (like “End homelessness and ensure fair housing for all”) many of his promises in this area sound like things that would negatively impact investors and the housing market as a whole.

The following are the Key Points to the Bernie Sanders housing plan from his website (I have included the complete list):

  • End the housing crisis by investing $2.5 trillion to build nearly 10 million permanently affordable housing units.
  • Protect tenants by implementing a national rent control standard, a “just-cause” requirement for evictions, and ensuring the right to counsel in housing disputes.
  • Make rent affordable by making Section 8 vouchers available to all eligible families without a waitlist and strengthening the Fair Housing Act.
  • Combat gentrification, exclusionary zoning, segregation, and speculation.
  • End homelessness and ensure fair housing for all
  • Revitalize public housing by investing $70 billion to repair, decarbonize, and build new public housing.

Under the “When Bernie is president, he will” section are some of the things he plans to do to accomplish the above goals (this list is rather extensive on his site so I have only included a sampling of the items that appear will negatively impact investors and homeowners):

  • Enact a national cap on annual rent increases at no more than 3 percent or 1.5 times the Consumer Price Index (whichever is higher) to help prevent the exploitation of tenants at the hands of private landlords.
  • Allow states and cities to pass even stronger rent control standards.
  • Implement a “just-cause” requirement for evictions, which would allow a landlord to evict a tenant only for specific violations and prevent landlords from evicting tenants for arbitrary or retaliatory reasons.
  • Place a 25 percent House Flipping tax on speculators who sell a non-owner-occupied property, if sold for more than it was purchased within 5 years of purchase.
  • Impose a 2 percent Empty Homes tax on the property value of vacant, owned homes to bring more units into the market and curb the use of housing as speculative investment.

Again, this is not a political piece, but given the strong housing market we have enjoyed over the past several years, which has helped many Americans build equity and recover wealth lost during the housing bubble burst of 2008, I think it’s worth noting proposed plans, by any party or power, that could negatively impact the market. Also, these are just talking points from someone running for office, so whether it’s Bernie Sanders or any other candidate, or even the current President, Donald J. Trump, they can all have ideas but getting them implemented takes cooperation of Congress and that is not always so easy so it doesn’t mean any of their plans ever actually come to fruition.

 

 

Two St Louis Areas were the most profitable zips in the U.S. for flipping property in 4th quarter

Two zip codes in the city of St Louis made RealtyTrac’s list of “Zips with the highest gross returns (from flipping property)” for 4th quarter, 2014.  The 63139 zip code, which includes the Dog Town area of St Louis, came in number 2 on the list with an average gross return on investment of 163.9% and the 63116 zip code, which includes Tower Grove South, Holly Hills, Dutchtown South and Bevo, came in 9th on the list with an average gross return on investment of 127.7%.

To be eligible to be considered for the list, there had to be at least 10 single family homes “flips” completed during the 4th quarter of 2014.  In the 63139 area of St Louis, there were  18 such home flips during the quarter with an average purchase price of $9,000 and an average gross profit of $14,750 from the flip.  In the 63116 zip area, there were 21 flips during the quarter with an average purchase price of $27,721 and an average gross profit of $35,407.   The table below shows the data for all 10 top gross returns from flipping property zips in the U.S.

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St Louis Homeowners with Negative Equity Improves by Over 20 Percent in 4th Quarter of 2014

There were 119,936 St Louis homeowners with negative equity, or in a seriously underwater condition on their mortgage meaning they owe more than the current value of their home, in the St Louis MSA during the 4th quarter of 2014 which is a 21% improvement from the prior quarter when there were 152,025 St Louis homeowners seriously underwater, according to a report just released today by RealtyTrac.

As the table below shows, for the immediate St Louis, MO area, the city and county of St Louis had the highest percentage of underwater homeowners at 22% and St Charles county had the lowest percentage at 6%.

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Program To Help Short Sellers and Foreclosed Owners Buy Again

As a result of the real estate market crash in 2008 and the subsequent downturn in the economy, many homeowners with prior stellar payment records on their mortgages ended up losing their homes in foreclosure or being forced to do a short sale to get out from under it.  Most of these former homeowners then became renters but have the desire to buy a home again once back on their feet.  However, depending upon just how severely their credit was impacted as well as whether they had a foreclosure, short sale or bankruptcy, they may have to wait as long as 7 years to obtain a home loan again.  However, thanks to an FHA program called “Back to Work”,  which, surprisingly,  has received little attention, there is hope for these homeowners including the opportunity to obtain a home loan again without the normal waiting period if their problems were related to a job loss and they meet certain criteria.

The Back to Work program allows borrowers that may be otherwise ineligible for an FHA-insured mortgage due to FHA’s waiting period for bankruptcies, foreclosures, deeds-in-lieu, and short sales, as well as delinquencies and/or indications of derogatory credit, including collections and judgments, to be eligible for an FHA-insured mortgage if the borrower meets certain guidelines, which include:

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St Louis Distressed Home Sales Drop Thirty Percent In November From Year Ago

St Louis Distressed Home Sales ticked up slightly in November 2014 rom October but declined over thirty percent (30.8%) from November 2013, according to data just released by RealtyTrac.   As the table below shows, all the counties in the St Louis core market except one saw an increase in distressed home sales in November from the month before and all saw a decline in November from a year ago.

On a national level, distressed home sales in November 2014 accounted for 12.6% of all home sales, down from 13.7% in October and from 14.8% in November 2013.

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St Louis Foreclosures For Sale

St Louis Short Sales For Sale

St Louis Distressed Home Sales November 2014

Copyright 2014 – St Louis Real Estate News – Data Source: RealtyTrac

 

St Louis New Home Sales Up Over 12 Percent In November From Year Ago

St Louis New Home Sales in November 2014 increased 12.5% from November 2013 and, as would be expected given the time of year, decreased about 8% from the month before.  New home sales in St Louis out performed new home sales in the Midwest Region as a whole as the region saw 4,000 new home sales in November 2014, the same as a year ago, and a decrease of 20% from the month before, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD.

The median price of new homes sold in November 2014 was $235,900, an increase of 15% from the month before when the median price was $205,000, and was up about 1% from November 2013 when the median new home sale price was $237,450.

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St Louis Distressed Home Sales Down Dramatically In Past Year

St Louis Distressed Home Sales continue to have less impact on the St Louis real estate market paving the way for sustainable home appreciation, according to the latest data available from RealtyTrac.  According to the chart below, short sales in St Louis accounted for just 1% of the overall home sales last month, a 10% decrease from the month before and a decrease of almost 68% from a year ago.  Nationally, short sales accounted for 5% of all home sales last month.

St Louis REO’s (bank-owned properties obtained through foreclosure) declined slightly in October from the month before and dropped over 30% from a year ago.

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St Louis Foreclosures For Sale

St Louis Short Sales For Sale
St Louis Distressed Home Sales - St Louis Foreclosures - St Louis Short Sales - October 2014 vs October 2013

Will The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 Be Extended?

UPDATE December 17, 2014 – Congress has passed an extension of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 through December 31, 2014 – It is part of a bill that has been sent to President Obama for his approval.  This falls short of the two year extension the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), among other groups, was pushing for which would have covered next year as well, but is at least some relief for those affected this year.

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 provided relief for homeowners that receive forgiveness on some of their mortgage debt (such as is the case on a short-sale) in the form of removing their obligation to pay income tax on the amount of their debt that was forgiven by their lender.  Originally, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, was to expire at the end of 2012 but was later extended through the end of 2013 and on April 3rd of this year the Senate Finance Committee approved a bill that, if passed, would reinstate a bunch of tax provisions that expired at the end of 2013, including the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 , through December 31, 2015.  Thus far, the bill has not passed and now many are concerned that it may not which will leave all the people that did short sales this year, or had debt relieved in some other manner, possibly owing income tax on the forgiven debt.

The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) have issued a call to action to it’s 1 million plus members asking them to urge their Member of Congress and Senators to act on “The Mortgage Forgiveness Tax Relief Act” before the end of 2014.  Apparently, the stumbling block to getting this extended has been politics…shocker, right?  The Democratic Majority Leader of the Senate, Harry Reid, according to the NAR website, “refused to allow an open amendment process” which then, in turn, the Republicans “exercised their rights to prevent the bill from moving to a vote.”

Should the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 be extended?  

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St Louis Distressed Home Sales Continue To Decline

Distressed home sales in St Louis accounted for 7.97 percent of all home sales during the 3rd quarter, down from 9.84 percent the quarter before and down a whopping 40 percent from a year ago when distressed sales accounted for 13.6 percent of all homes sold in the St Louis MSA, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac.  State-wide for Missouri, distressed home sales made up 7.12 percent of home sales during 3rd quarter, lower than the rate for St Louis however, at the other side of our state, in Kansas City, distressed home sales share of home sales was 9.2% for 3rd quarter, about 15% higher than St Louis.  The table below shows the breakdown of distressed sales by short sales, REO’s and foreclosure auction.

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St Louis Distressed Home Sales 3rd Quarter 2014 - Missouri Distressed Home Sales

HUD Releases Fair Market Rent Amounts for 2015 For Missouri

Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released it’s Fair Market Rent amounts for 2015 which are used for several purposes including computation of section 8 rents in a given area.  The table below shows the fair market rents for 2015 for all Missouri Counties as well as Missouri Metropolitan Areas.

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St Louis Short Sales

St Louis short sales are definitely fewer and farther between than they were a couple of years back however, they are still out there and still often offer a great opportunity to a buyer.  A short sale is where a home is being sold by it’s owner at a price less than the current mortgage on it in the hope that the lender will agree to accept the proceeds from the sale and release the loan since the equity is simply not there to sell the home and pay off the loan.  Of course, there has to be some hardship with it as well and the owners have to prove they are in no position to pay the loan off in full otherwise it would not make sense for the lender to accept less than the full balance of the loan.

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Home Builders Optimism Regarding New Home Market Hits Highest Level In Almost 9 Years

The new home market is improving and home builders indicate they have more confidence in the new home market now than they have had since November 2005, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today.  According to the HMI, home builders confidence is presently at 59, the highest level the index has been at since November 2005.

The HMI is comprised of several components including builder’s opinions of current sale conditions, buyer traffic and future sales.  The response from builders indicate they feel optimistic about current sale conditions and very optimistic about future sales, but not as pleased with current buyer traffic through their displays.

Looking at results of the survey on a regional basis, the Midwest region registered the highest on the index with a 59, followed by the West with a 58, South at 56 and Northeast at 41.

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A Look At The Ferguson Real Estate Market

One month ago yesterday, officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown and suddenly Ferguson, the little city where I grew up and began my career in real estate in 1979, became the focus of national news and headlines for days and weeks ahead.  Unfortunately, the coverage of the shooting has cast Ferguson in a very negative light and no doubt will hurt the progress the city has made over the past several years to revitalize its city and make it an attractive place to live, work and start a business.  This website is about real estate, so while I think this is a tragic event and have prayed for the Michael Brown family, Darren Wilson and his family as well as the community as a whole, and continue to pray that all the facts are revealed so justice will prevail, the focus of this article is the Ferguson real estate market and the impact this has had, and will have, on it.

Ferguson Home Prices Have Been Recovering From The Trough…

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Property Flipping In St Louis Trending Downward

Property flipping, which is basically buying a property and then reselling it immediately, or shortly thereafter, is occurring less frequently now in St Louis than it was, according to a report released today by RealtyTrac.  According to the report, there were 289 houses flipped in the St Louis metro area during the 2nd quarter, down 44% from the first quarter and down 17% from the 2nd quarter of 2013.  During the 2nd quarter of this year, 3.3% of all St Louis home sales were “flip” deals which, for the purpose of this report, were homes that were bought, then resold within a 12 month period.

The average gross profit on the properties flipped during the 2nd quarter of 2014 was $20,122, down significantly from the same period a year ago when the average gross profit was $36,858.  Before you get too excited, I should point out, this is just the gross margin, the difference between the initial price paid and the resale price and does not take into account any repairs, improvements or other expenses related to that property or the transaction.

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St Louis Foreclosures and Short Sales Fall By Over 25 Percent

St Louis Foreclosures, and short sales, in May 2014 accounted for just 8.5% of all home sales in the St Louis core market (city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin), according to data released just this morning from RealtyTrac.  This is a decline of 26.7% from May 2013 when foreclosures and short sales in St Louis accounted for 11.6% of all home sales.

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St Louis Inventory of Homes For Sale Drying Up In Many Areas

The inventory of homes for sale in several St Louis neighborhoods is down to the lowest level we have seen in years.  It would be great if that was the result of skyrocketing home sales however, it’s really a combination of home sales and a lack of sellers.  While there are many different reasons people are not choosing to sell right now, I believe it is a lack of equity that is  holding back many homeowners from selling, particularly in the lower price ranges.  Last month I did an article about the fact that 40 percent of St Louis homeowners in the bottom 1/4 of the market were underwater, and, overall, 44% of St Louis homeowners had too little equity to sell their homes, hence the lack of inventory.

As the table below shows, the top 3 St Louis neighborhoods all have just a 1 month inventory of homes for sale, and the rest of the areas making up the top ten list just have 2 months.  For homeowners in these areas that have thought about selling, and have the equity to do so, now would be the time to hit the market!

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New Home Construction Needs to Increase to Match Job Growth According to REALTORS®

New home construction is not keeping up with demand in most of the U.S. and could even lead to “persistent housing shortages and affordability issues unless housing starts increase to match up with local job creation”, according to a newly released analysis by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR).

Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, discussed in the report the relationship between new jobs and increased demand for housing saying  “Historically, there’s one new home construction for every one-and-a-half new jobs,”.  Yun goes on to say “Our analysis found that a majority of states are constructing too few homes in relation to local job market conditions. This lack of construction has hamstrung supply and slowed home sales.”

Missouri is not one of the states the NAR report cites as having the biggest disparity between job creation and new homes, instead listing Florida, Utah, California, Montana and Indiana as the states where this issue is most prevalent, but I think we are going to see this, on a reduced scale, in St Louis as well.

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Distressed Home Sales in St Louis Metro Area Fall Almost 30 Percent From A Year Ago

Distressed home sales in St Louis accounted for just under eleven percent (10.7%) of all home sales in the St Louis MSA in April 2014, according to data released just this morning from RealtyTrac.  This is a decline of 29.1% from April 2013 when distressed home sales in St Louis were responsible for 15.1% of all home sales.  Distressed home sales include short-sales (when sellers sell for less than they owe with the agreement of their lender), REO’s (bank-owned real estate acquired through foreclosure and now being resold) and foreclosure auction sales (when homes are actually sold at foreclosure).

Since a big chunk of the St Louis MSA lies across the Mississippi river in Illinois, I like to focus on the 5-county area that makes up the bulk of the St Louis real estate market on the Missouri side of the river.  These counties include St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson, Franklin as well as the city of St Louis.  As the table below shows, distressed home sales in April 2014 were down from a year ago in all of the counties.  For the 5 county core as a whole, on median, 10.1% of all home sales in April 2014 were distressed home sales, down 41.4% from a year ago when distressed sales accounted for 14.7% of the goal home sales in the 5-county core St Louis market.

Distressed home sales put a lot of downward pressure on home prices in St Louis, so this continued trend of fewer distressed sales is very much a positive for the St Louis housing market and should help the St Louis market sustain home prices as well as support home price increases when supported by market demand.

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Over 40 Percent Of St Louis Homeowners In Bottom Price Tier Underwater

While the St Louis housing market is improving, unfortunately the homeowners that can afford it the least are the ones that are still the hardest hit with 41.5% of all homeowners with a mortgage on a home in the bottom price tier (the 25% lowest valued homes in St Louis) being underwater on their mortgage, meaning they owe more than their homes are worth.  This is according to the newly released Zillow Negative Equity report which shows that, at the opposite end of the spectrum, in the top tier, only 11% of St Louis homeowners are underwater, or in a negative equity position, on their homes.

For the overall market, 22.9% of St Louis homeowners are underwater on their mortgage as of the first quarter of 2014 and 44% are in a “effective” negative equity position, meaning while they are not technically “underwater” they don’t have enough equity to pay the normal cost of selling their home and are therefore locked into their home unless they have cash to bring to the closing table.  For the nation as a whole, 18.8% of homeowners with a mortgage were in a negative equity position during the 1st quarter of 2014 and 36.9% were in an “effective” negative equity position.

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St Louis Distressed Home Sales Down From a Year Ago

St Louis distressed home sales declined during the first quarter of this year with distressed  home sales (foreclosures, REO’s and short sales)  in the 5-county core St Louis market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) accounting for 15.0% of all home sales,  This is down 18.5% from the first quarter of 2013 when St Louis distressed home sales accounted for 18.4% of all home sales, according to newly released data from RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, all the counties that make up the core of the St Louis real estate market (on the Missouri side of the river) saw short sales and REO’s decrease in the first quarter of 2014 from a year ago with the exception of REO sales in St Charles that increased 5% during the period.  All counties saw an increase in foreclosure auction activity from the first quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014.

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Investment Property Sales Fall in 2013

Real Estate InvestorInvestment property sales in 2013 fell to 1,104,000 properties, down 8.5 percent from 2012 when there were 1,2o7,000 investment properties sold, according to a report just released by the National Association of REALTORS.  The median sale price of investment homes purchased during 2013 was $130,000, a 13% increase from 2012 when the median price was $115,000.

Who is the typical real estate investor?

According to the NAR report, the typical home investor in 2013 was a median age of 42 years, had a median household income of $111,400 and more than half (59%) were in a two income household.

What type of property do investors buy?

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Are Distressed Home Sales Gone From St Louis?

Not long ago distressed home sales (foreclosures, short sales, REO’s, etc) were a dominant force in the St Louis real estate market, accounting for a good portion of St Louis area home sales.  Today,  however, with a few exceptions, they have all but left the St Louis real estate market.  As far as the St Louis housing market is concerned, this is a good thing, for home buyers and investors looking for what are often bargain prices as a result, they may have different thoughts.

As the table below for the five St Louis counties that make up the bulk of our market,  short sales, REO’s (foreclosed homes being sold by banks) and foreclosure sales percentage of St Louis home sales was very slight in January 2014, and down significantly from a year ago.  In fact, there were virtually no short sales or foreclosure auction sales in January and REO’s accounted for just over 5% of all St Louis home sales for the month.  The only year-over-year increase seen in any of these sales was in REO sales in St Charles county that increased from 5.7% of home sales in January 2013 to 8% of home sales in January 2014.

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St Louis Housing Market Bubble to Burst

St Louis Distressed Home Sales - St Louis Realtor

The St Louis housing market bubble of 2006 was followed by the bursting of the bubble shortly thereafter and, even though many of us tried to convince ourselves it would not happen, reality set back in.  The reality was, when it came to home prices, the “greater fool theory” would only work so long until the reality of the underlying fundamentals of what makes up the value of a home would rear it’s ugly head and bring everyone down from their real estate high.

So, now that several years have passed, and many market prognosticators (including yours truly) say the St Louis housing market is in a recovery, I thought I would take a look at which St Louis area county (of the 5 county core market I frequently talk about) is recovering the best from the housing market bubble burst.  As the table below shows, St Louis County has recovered the best, with a median home sales price of $156,000 during the bubble year of 2006 and a median home price of $151,500 in 2013 for a decline of only 2.88%.

 

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St. Louis Distressed Home Sales Fall Sharply

St Louis Distressed Home Sales - St Louis Realtor

St Louis distressed home sales continue to fall, according to a report published by MORE, REALTORS based upon data released by RealtyTrac.  This report supports other market data that indicates the St Louis real estate market is recovering from the devastation brought on it when the real estate market bubble burst back in 2008.

The market crash brought many institutional buyers into the market, buying up homes as prices fell, but the recovery of the St Louis real estate market has slowed this activity as well.  Home sales fueled by institutional investors fell 23.6% in December 2013 from the year before, according to the report.

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St Louis Home Sales Increase In Past Year; Buck National Trend

St Louis homes sales (the 5-county core market*) for the 12 month period ending November 30, 2013 increased 4 percent from the same period a year ago,  in contrast to national home sales which are down 1.2 percent from a year ago.  As the table below shows, St Louis distressed home sales (foreclosures, bank-owned and short sales) have declined by more than a third and are currently responsible for just 5 percent of the overall home sales.

St Louis home prices are increasing too with the median home price for the past year coming in at $149,600, an increase of 10.81 percent from a year ago when the median price was $135,000.  St Louis home prices have increased more than the national rate of of 9.4 percent for the past year.

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