St Louis Home Prices and Sales Market Update VIDEO – September 2015

The St Louis Real Estate market is still doing well! However, some cities, like Valley Park for example, that were strong sellers markets not that long ago have now become more of a buyer’s market and other cities have flipped the other direction. To find out which neighborhoods are buyers markets, which are sellers markets, what home prices are doing and a whole lot more, check out our newly released 5-minute, market video update for September 2015, below. Continue Reading →

St Louis Property Flipping Down Nearly Fifty Percent In Past Year

St Louis property flipping activity rose during the 2nd quarter of this year 6.2 percent from the first quarter, however was down 44.3 percent from a year ago, according to information just released by RealtyTrac. During the 2nd quarter of this year, 3.2 percent of all home sales were “flips”, meaning they were purchased and then resold in an arms-length sale within 12 months. The average gross profit on the flipped property was $39,181 down for $50,870 a year ago. Continue Reading →

Baltimore Tops List Of Metros For Highest Returns From Flipping Homes

Flipping homes accounts for a smaller percentage of home sales today at about 4 percent of total home sales in the U.S., then in the recent past when they accounted for 6 percent of more of the homes being sold (6.8% at the recent peak in 1st quarter 2012), according to a report released today by RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →

House Flipping In St Louis During 1st Quarter Drops By Sixty-Nine Percent From Year Ago

House flipping in St Louis accounted for just 2.4 percent of the home sales in the St Louis metro area during the first quarter of this year, according to data just obtained from RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →

Want to Buy St Louis Foreclosures? Bring Your Cash And Bid High!

If you are like a lot of people and see St Louis foreclosures, or REO’s (real estate owned by banks and other lending institutions as a result of foreclosure) as a good opportunity to buy a residence for yourself or as an investment either for rental or for “flipping”, you best have cash and be prepared to “buck up” if you want to succeed! I say this because cash buyers continue to dominate the REO and foreclosure market with 61% of all REO and Foreclosure sales this year in St Louis being cash sales thus far. As the table below shows, while the number of foreclosure sales has declined this year from last year at the same time, the percentage of them going to cash buyers has not. Continue Reading →

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

Two zip codes in 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%. Continue Reading →

Property Flips In St Louis Down Over 50 Percent From Year Ago

Property “flips” in St Louis slowed during the 3rd quarter of this year to just 234 properties flipped in the St Louis MSA during the quarter making up 2.6% of overall home sales for the quarter, a decline of 20% from the quarter before and a decline of 55% from the third quarter of 2013, according to data just released by RealtyTrac. Property flipping is a term that has been loosely applied to a variety of real estate transactions but, for the purpose of this report, was considered to be when a single family home sold in during the third Continue Reading →

Best College Towns For Renting and Flipping Property

If you are one of the many parents of college-bound kids that is considering investing in a property to provide housing for your college student rather than waste money or dorms or rent, then this newly released info will help. Below is a list of the best college towns for renting property as well as the best college towns for flipping property, as compiled by RealtyTrac. St Louis didn’t make either list, actually nothing in Missouri did, however, many of the colleges and universities listed have plenty of kids attending from this area.

(We work hard on this and sure Continue Reading →

Flipping Property in St Louis County Yields Almost 25 Percent Gross Profit On Average

Flipping property in the St Louis area has paid off for investors over the past year provided they have stayed out of the City of St Louis. “Flipping” or a “Flip” is a term used today to describe when a property is bought and then re-sold within a short time period. In St Louis County, the 3rd quarter of 2013 and the 3rd quarter of 2014, there were 658 properties flipped at an average gross profit of nearly 25 percent (24.56%) , according to a newly released report from RealtyTrac. During the same period there were 203 properties flipped in Continue Reading →

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 Continue Reading →

Where Are The Best Places To Flip Property?

The best places to flip property in the U.S. are, with the exception of Wright County Minnesota, all east of the Mississippi extending from as far north on the east coast as New York to as far south as Florida, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac. For this report, RealtyTrac looked at property that was “flipped” (bought and then resold within the same period…often times done by an investor for profit) during the one-year period from April 2013 through March 2014, and ranked the counties based upon the gross return on investment made in those flips. One thing to keep in mind, this is just a “gross margin” or simply the difference between what the house was bought for and then resold for during the period without taking into account the expenses involved in the acquisition and sale, cost of rehab and improvements that were done or carrying cost. Continue Reading →

Where in St Louis can home buyers find a good deal?

Everyone loves a deal! When it comes to buying a house, over the past few years there have been many “deals” out there as a result of the housing market meltdown. However, now that the worst of it is over, and many markets have already started recovering, the question for many are “where in St Louis can home buyers find a good deal?“. This is not easy to answer and what is a “good deal” for a home buyer looking for a place to call home for the foreseeable future is not necessarily going to be viewed in the same Continue Reading →

Survey Shows Only 18 Percent Think Their Home Is Worth Less Today Than When Bought

Homeowners are feeling more optimistic about their investment in their homes as reflected in a new Rasmussen Reports survey which shows only 18% of homeowners think their homes is worth less today than when they bought it. This is down from 24% in the last survey and is the lowest level since the survey began 3 years ago.

On the flip side, more than half (57%) of homeowners surveyed feel their home is worth more today than when they first bought it.

To find out what your home is worth, you can check out the online resources below, or you Continue Reading →

In What St Louis Neighborhoods Have Home Prices Increased?

The table below shows the top 25 St Louis neighborhoods where the prices of homes listed for sale have increased in the prior 90 days. This could be an indicator of rising home prices in the area or could be an indicator of a lot of investor or speculator activity resulting in homes being purchased and immediately put back out on for sale to “flip” it at a higher price. This is why it is always important to look at more than just one statistic when trying to determine what is going on in a particular market and why it Continue Reading →

House Flipping In St Louis Up 68 Percent From Year Ago

House flipping in St Louis is on the rise according to the 3rd quarter house flipping report just released this morning by RealtyTrac, the foreclosure tracking gurus. What is “house flipping”? Well, back when I entered the real estate business (1979) and began buying and selling homes, a “flip” was referred to as a house we sold and would close the our purchase, as well as our resale, on the same day. Today, “flipping” is applied to a home that is bought and then resold within a short period, for the purposes of the RealtyTrac report, 6 months.

The RealtyTrac Continue Reading →

St Louis Ranked As 4th Best City To Buy Fixer-Upper Bargain Homes

Dennis Norman,Broker-Officer,MORE, REALTORS

St. Louis 4th Best City in the U.S. To Buy Bargain Real Estate

According to a report released today by RealtyTrac, St Louis is 4th on the list of the best cities in the U.S. to still be able to buy fixer-upper bargain homes. In compiling the list, RealtyTrac considered the number of homes each city had that were bank owned homes (REO’s), built before 1960 (indicating the opportunity to increase value by updating and/or improving) and had an estimated value below $100,000.  The complete list of the top 15 cities is below as well Continue Reading →

Where Can You Make The Most Money Flipping Homes?

In What Cities Can You Make The Most Money Flipping Homes?

Unfortunately, St. Louis did not make the list. However, that is actually a good thing as the cities at the top of RealtyTrac’s list of the top 25 cities in the U.S. for flipping homes are all cities that were hammered when the market crashed. This is not to say that the opportunity does not exist in St Louis to flip property for a profit or to make good buys for rental or other long term investment, it’s just the profits here may not be as large as Continue Reading →

Washington DC And 3 California Cities Most Likely To See Housing Bubble

“Nationwide, we’re not in a bubble,” says Glenn Kelman, CEO of online real estate company Redfin, however Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego may be headed that direction, according to Redfin’s data. Redfin is not in St Louis so our city was not on their list but in the coming weeks I plan to do an analysis of the St Louis market in the same manner they did of other markets and will publish what I find at that time. In the meantime, here’s the info from Redfin.

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Number of St Louis Homeowners with Negative Equity on the Decline;  Short sale help for Sellers and Buyers

Here’s some good news to end our week with: In St. Louis the number of homeowners that are underwater on their mortgage (owe more than their home is worth), otherwise known as being in a “negative equity” position, dropped to 90,196 homeowners, or 16.1 percent of all St. Louis homeowners with a mortgage, in the first quarter of this year, down from 101,829 St Louis homeowners, or 18.1 percent during the prior quarter, according to a report just released by Corelogic. Continue Reading →

Home sales and prices decline in September

Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in September were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.91 million units which is a decrease of 3.0 percent from the month before, an increase of 11.3 percent from a year ago and is the second highest rate of home sales since March 2011 when it was 5.09 million. Continue Reading →

FBI Report Shows Mortgage Fraud Continues at Elevated Levels

The FBI released it’s Mortgage Fraud Report for 2010 showing that mortgage fraud continued at elevated levels in 2010 and was consistent with levels seen in 2009. The top states for mortgage fraud activity in 2010 were Florida, California, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Georgia, New Jersey, and Maryland.

Continue Reading →

Survey shows over half American adults think housing recovery is years away

UGH…

According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Trulia and RealtyTrac, 54 percent of American adults believe that recovery in the housing market will not happen until 2014 or later. In a previous survey, six months ago, 42 percent of American adults said they thought the market would turn around by 2012 or had already turned around, but now only 23 percent think this will happen.

Continue Reading →

Mortgage loan delinquency hits 2 year low; foreclose rate ties highest on record

The Mortgage Bankers Association released the results of it’s National Delinquency Survey for the 4th quarter of 2010 and it shows very mixed results. On the positive side of things, overall mortgage loan delinquency in the U.S. has dropped to 8.22 percent which is the lowest rate since 4th quarter 2008 when the rate was 7.88 percent. On the flip side of the coin, the overall foreclosure rate for the quarter was 4.63 percent which ties the highest rate on record which was hit in the 1st quarter of 2010.

Continue Reading →

FHA Extends ‘Anti-Flipping Waiver’

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced the temporary waiver of the “anti-flipping” rule has been extended through December 31, 2011. In my opinion the “anti-flipping” rule was a bad idea to start with and in the current housing market the last thing we need is anything to discourage investors from buying homes so this is a good move by FHA.

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Where is the real estate market headed in 2011?

The real estate market has not been very nice to us over the past 3 years or so and we are all anxious to see the light at the end of the tunnel. With that in mind, and 2011 in front of us, where is the real estate market headed in 2011? Before I take my humble stab at answering this question I need to remind you I am not an economist nor do I have a PhD behind my name, in fact I have nothing behind my name. All I can offer is a whole lot of experience “in Continue Reading →

Making Appraisers the Scapegoat

It seems we always need to find someone to blame for our problems…

When it comes to the meltdown in the housing market that has taken place over the past three years there has been no lack of finger pointing by many inside and outside the industry as to factors that either caused or contributed to the collapse of the housing market. Sub-prime lending, Wall Street, mortgage fraud, the mortgage industry, banks, community reinvestment act, real estate brokers and agents, fannie mae, freddie mac, federal government over-regulation, federal government under-regulation, appraisers, unemployment, the economy in general, “flipping”, sellers, buyers and Continue Reading →

The Five Best Places to Find Foreclosure Bargains

Dennis Norman

When I first entered the real estate business in 1979, at the age of 18 which seems so long ago) foreclosures were a mystery to most people and certainly no one looking for a home to live in looked to buy a foreclosure. Homes that were being foreclosed upon were advertised in legal newspapers that no one other than some speculators, attorneys and bankers subscribed to basically. Here in St. Louis I was one of a couple of handfuls of real estate investors that would do the research then go out and try to buy foreclosures Continue Reading →

Report Shows Fraud in Short-Sales Cost Lenders $310 Million Annually

Dennis Norman

A report just released by CoreLogic estimate the financial impact of short-sale fraud to be $310 million annually. It is estimated there is fraud in one in every 53 short sale transactions resulting in an unnecessary loss to the lender of $41,000 per transaction on average.

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Fannie Mae’s New Rule Punishes Borrowers That ‘Walk-Away’

Dennis Norman

So, you have the money to pay on your ‘underwater’ mortgage, or to afford the reduced payment amount offered to you under the HAMP program, but think, rather than throw good money after bad you’ll just do like so many borrowers are doing and ‘walk-away‘? Well, if you have any plans to buy a house again in, say the next seven years, particularly with a Fannie Mae loan, think again.

Today Fannie Mae announced policy changes to “encourage borrowers to work with their servicers”. These policy changes include, a seven-year “lock-out” period for borrowers that Continue Reading →

Mortgage Fraud Sweep Results in Almost 500 Arrests

Dennis Norman

According to a press release issued by the FBI, nearly 500 people have been arrested in a nationwide mortgage fraud take-down as part of “Operation Stolen Dreams.” This operation was launched on March 1, 2010 and, according to the FBI, has lead to a total of 485 arrests, 330 convictions and the recovery of nearly $11 million. The FBI estimates that losses from a variety of fraud schemes are estimated to exceed $2 billion.

Operation Stolen Dreams is the government’s largest mortgage fraud take-down to date. But FBI Director Robert S. Mueller cautioned that there is Continue Reading →