It seems that in Minnesota (MN), BANK OWNED FORECLOSURE LISTINGS can be bought on the cheap! Traditionally, when a bank owned (REO) foreclosure listing goes to the market, the foreclosure asset manager will list the property with a brokerage, which in turn will put said property on the MLS. Thus, if buyers like to SEARCH THE MLS for Minneapolis/St. Paul/Twin Cities foreclosures, that listing will show up.  The asset managers will work with a real estate broker to market their foreclosure that way for 90-365 days.  If the foreclosure property cannot sell during that time with listing price reductions and/or rehab and updates to the foreclosure, then the bank/asset manager might turn to an auction company to sell their foreclosure.

We have a listing in Eagan, MN that is a Fannie Mae bank owned (REO) foreclosure. This Eagan Foreclosure Town Home was updated with new paint and carpet and listed on the MLS for $99,000. It was then reduced on the MLS to $93900, then to $77900. After 106 days on the market, the bank said  it’s auction time.  Fannie Mae selected Hudson and Marshall http://www.hudsonandmarshall.com to sell this property at thier FORECLOSURE AUCTION in Bloomington, MN @ the Sheridan on 2/5/2011.

We blogged about this Eagan, MN Foreclosure property back in November. Click on this link to see video of interior http://mnforeclosureproperties.com/185/.

Well, today this unit was “sold” for $21,500 ***subject to bank approval*** at the Bloomington, MN foreclosure auction. Who says their isn’t great deals out there! If you are a Minnesota Real Estate Investor, looking for deals the pump out POSTIVE CASH FLOW, it doesn’t get any better than this! This Eagan, MN foreclosure listing would likely generate $900/mo in rent, taxes are about $100/mo, HOA dues about $200/mo and mortgage payments on $21500 over 30 years @ 6% = $129/mo, also adding liability insurance $50/mo, you are sitting on a CASH FLOW Eagan, MN good investment property. RENT $900, less $479 in total expenses = $421 in positive cash flow per month or $5052 cash in your pocket every year! (and that’s not taking into account tax depreciation)! Also, don’t forget about appreciation! How much do you think this unit will be worth in 10 years? $90k? $150?

I know how to help you find these deals!  I have all the systems in place to teach you how to be a grade A landlord and how to mitigate renter headaches. If your looking to make some real $$$ via real estate investing, please contact me today @ 612-924-7140 jdschuster@cbburnet.com

It looks as if Twin Cities (Minneapolis  & St. Paul Saint Paul) Foreclosures (REO) activity is on the rise.  What does this mean for you if you are an investor or home buyer?  A good deal!

Yesterday, there was an article in the Star Tribune by veteran reporter  ( Jim Buchta • 612-673-7376  jbuchta@startribune.com )

http://www.startribune.com/business/107117148.html?page=1&c=y

“With foreclosures still entering the market at near-record pace, inventory levels continue to rise. And even though the number of new listings slowed last month, total inventory is 10.6 percent higher than last year at this time. That, coupled with a decline in sales, has caused the supply of houses on the market to increase from 6.1 months in October 2009 to 8.2 months last month. That means that at the current sales pace and inventory levels, there are enough houses on the market to last 8.2 months if no new inventory were added.”

Twin Cities housing prices are going to continue to decline, it’s simple supply and demand.  Bank owned REO  foreclosures, short sales continue to rule the market.  With an increasing supply of these distressed sales on hand, regular sellers can have a difficult time competing!  Investors have been picking up investment property (Duplexes, Triplex, FourPlex 4-plex) and such a discount, they CASH FLOW with very little money down!  First time buyers can now purchase affordable homes!  (although if they are using FHA financing, which they all are, the home must be in FHA -able condition) – John Schuster, Top REO Broker in the Twin Cities area!

Q3 Minneasota REO Foreclosure stats are out and MN Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) Hennepin County, Ramsey County, Dakota County, Carver County, Washington County, Anoka County and Scott County bank owned properties are on the rise. 

St. Paul’s Pioneer Press stated:

“Foreclosures in Minnesota are on the rise again, climbing more than 23 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, with the metro area driving the upward trend. Statewide, foreclosures in the third quarter hit the second-highest level on record at 7,254. The only quarter with a higher level was the third quarter of 2008, when the state reached 7,349 foreclosures, according to Friday’s report from HousingLink, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that studies housing issues.”

Full article http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_16533752?nclick_check=1

This could spell trouble for the Twin Cities real estate marketplace.  Real estate prices might not start to see an upswing for years to come and Bank Owned REO Foreclosures continue to pull down on home, townhome and condo values!  The upside? If you are a real estate investor looking for Single Family Homes, Duplexes, Triplexes, Fourplexes and other multifamily properties can get a sweet deal!  If you looking for CASH FLOW investment properties, you can actually find them now! If you are a home buyer (and do not need to sell a home to buy a home) there may never be a better time to buy! 

If you are looking for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mae (GSE) bank owned REO foreclosure, they have direct access via:

http://www.homepath.com/state/mn.html

http://www.homesteps.com/hm01_1featuresearch.htm

or if you like to search the MLS for Minneapolis, St. Paul, Twin Cities foreclosures, you can search the broker reciprocity Twin Cities Housing database via: http://mnforeclosureproperties.com/hnav/search-foreclosures/

or if you would like a custom search set up, please contact John Schuster, Coldwell Banker Burnet @ jdschuster@cbburnet.com 612-924-7140 www.johnschustergroup.com www.TwinCitiesListed.com www.TwinCitiesCondoShop.com 3033 Excelsior Blvd #100, Minneapolis, MN 55416

Have you ever wondered how the foreclosure process works in Minnesota?

Information sourced from http://www.realtytrac.com/foreclosure-laws/minnesota-foreclosure-laws.asp

Pre-foreclosure Period

In Minnesota, a court foreclosure begins when a lender notifies the borrower of the default.  The lender then files a court action against the borrower. If the court rules against the borrower, a sale is scheduled. The majority of Minnesota foreclosures are handled out of court through a power-of-sale clause contained in the mortgage. Under most mortgages, a lender must mail a default notice to the borrower before scheduling the sale.With both types of foreclosure proceedings, the borrower can stop the foreclosure any time before the foreclosure sale by paying the default amount, plus fees and allowable costs.

Notice of Sale / Auction

The notice must include the borrower, owner, and lender names; the original loan amount; the mortgage date; recording information; the default amount due; a property description; the time and location of the sale; and the redemption period.  The notice must be published for six weeks, and the occupants of the property must be given the notice in person at least four weeks prior to the sale. The county sheriff or sheriff’s deputy conducts the foreclosure sale between 9:00 a.m. and sundown at a public place, usually the sheriff’s office. Anyone may bid at the sale, and the property is sold to the winning bidder. If not the lender, the winning bidder must be prepared to pay the full amount in cash or cashier’s check. The sheriff may postpone the sale by publishing a notice in the newspaper where the original notice of sale was published. After the sale, the sheriff gives a certificate of sale to the winning bidder. The certificate of sale effectively transfers ownership and possession rights to the winning bidder after the redemption period. In Minnesota, a borrower usually has a six-month redemption period, but some property types and mortgages allow for a 12-month redemption period. During this time, the borrower can redeem the property by paying the total amount of the bid plus interest and any applicable costs.

For more info on Sheriff’s Sales in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis & St. Paul) 7-County metro area please click on the links below:

Hennepin County Foreclosures, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Sales http://www4.co.hennepin.mn.us/webforeclosure/

Dakota County Foreclosures, Dakota County Sheriff’s Sales http://www.co.dakota.mn.us/Departments/Sheriff/Services/ForeclosureSales.htm

Anoka County Foreclosures, Anoka County Sheriff’s Sales http://www.co.anoka.mn.us/v3_sheriff/civil-process-sheriffs-sales.html

Carver County Foreclosures, Carver County Sheriff’s Sales http://www.co.carver.mn.us/county_government/s_civil_process.asp

Washington County Foreclosures, Washington County Sheriff’s Sales http://wcsheriff.info/

Scott County Foreclosures, Scott County Sheriff’s Sales http://www.co.scott.mn.us/PublicSafetyJustice/CountySheriff/civilprocess/Pages/ListsofSheriff’sSales.aspx

Ramsey County Foreclosures, Ramsey County Sheriff’s Sales http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/sheriff/Foreclosuresales.htm

If you are facing foreclosure – TIME IN NOT ON YOUR SIDE! Short-selling your home may be the best option. If you are behind on your mortgage payments and you think your mortgage company/bank might foreclose on your home, contact a Minnesota Short Sale agent / broker ASAP – John Schuster, Coldwell Banker Burnet 612-924-7140 jdschuster@cbburnet.com

The Minnesota foreclosure machine for the most part has not been affected by the recent halt to foreclosures by some of the big mortgage players (Bank of America BAC, PNC
Financial, Chase). This is mostly because Twin Cities foreclosures (actually all Minnesota foreclosures) happen in a redemption state. If the owner has cause, she or he can likely get the sheriff’s sale postponed and after the Minnesota sheriff’s sale has happened, the prior owner has 6 month’s to “redeem” themselves and take back title to their home. MN NPR has an interesting article about this issue.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/10/17/foreclosures/
For more info on Hennepin County Foreclosures, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Sales,Dakota County Foreclosures, Dakota County Sheriff’s Sales, Anoka County Foreclosures, Anoka County Sheriff’s Sales,Carver County Foreclosures, Carver County Sheriff’s Sales,Washington County Foreclosures, Washington County Sheriff’s Sales,Scott County Foreclosures, Scott County Sheriff’s Sales,Ramsey County Foreclosures, Ramsey County Sheriff’s Sales http://mnforeclosureproperties.com/?p=161 

Here is an interesting interview with PBS and HUD Secretary Donovan

All in all, the foreclosure are going to keep coming. I think we will see a little more QC done during some of the legal filings and such, but the banks are going to take back homes where someone is not paying their mortgage. For the most part Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul), Hennepin County / Ramsey County / Dakota County / Washington County / Anoka County / Carver County / Scott County foreclosures (REO) listings will continue to work their way through the legal process and be resold on the open market. Coming into the winter market with an ever increasing inventory has created some fabulous opportunities for investors to pick up some excellent CASH FLOW properties with little money down. I think we have about 2-4 more years of this market. The best deals will be in the next year to 18 months before Minnesota foreclosures start to tapper off. If you have good credit, a little money, time to put into an income property and you want to wealth in a decade from now, talk to a good Minneapolis / St. Paul Twin Cities Minnesota real estate broker. – John Schuster

Looking for steal of a deal on your next home? Do you think buying your next Minneapolis Home, Minneapolis Condo or Minneapolis Town Home at a real estate auction can save you tons of money? Maybe so, especially if that auction is a foreclosure (REO) Auction! Hudson and Marshall just left the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) on their Midwest home selling spree!

Here you can see a listing @ 140 10th Street S, South St. Paul MN that was last actively listed @ $119,900 that “Sold” at the Minnesota foreclosure auction at almost half price! This is what I call “Cheap MN real estate”. Note that most real estate foreclosure auctions have a “reserve” price and if the property does not fetch the reserve price – the seller (i.e. the foreclosing bank) can decide if they want to accept, reject or counter the auction sale price.

Auctions can be a great deal and a major headache! First, you must do ALL of your due diligence (buyer inspection) prior to bidding. You might need to pay an inspector to inspect a home that you do not yet own – and might be outbid at auction! Second, you most likely need to be a Cash buyer of real estate as auction sales cannot be contingent upon financing. And third, most auctions have a “buyer’s premium” added to the sales price which is usually 5%. This means if you are the winning bidder at the auction for $100000, this home will really cost you $105000.

Know what your doing if you buy via auction…and if you don’t find a good Realtor that navigate all the Twin Cities auction pitfalls for you. – John Schuster

My team and I have begun to notice that many first time buyer homes are now selling in multiple offers!  In fact multiple-multiple offers – one bank owned (REO listing) had 11 offers!  If the property is move in ready and is priced way below the other active listings – it sells fast!  Banks have been getting wiser to have their inventory of homes in better condition and have them priced correctly out the door!  Fannie Mae, a lender that The John Schuster Group, with Coldwell Banker Burnet, represents in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area, has stringent requirements for how their properties must look.  The goal is for the foreclosure not to look like a foreclosure!  Our inventory has been drying up in the Twin Cities:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124044612611045827.html

One might think that we are nearing the bottom because the foreclosure inventory is drying up.  One would be wrong to think that!  All of the big banks and mortgage holding companies (including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) have had a moratorium on foreclosures from mid-November, 2008 to April 1, 2009.  They are all so backloged with 5+ months of defaults (on properties that were not foreclosed on during the moratorium), plus new defaults that a tsunami to reo’s are-a-coming!

Expect a high number of sheriff-sales in the next couple of month, then a cure time of 2-6/months for redemption (depending on if the property is abandoned), then about another month of time for cleaning and market evaluations (BPO, Broker Price Opinion and an appraisal) and then it his the market.  I predict we will have a flood of new REO’s mid-fall 2009.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123975395670518941.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

-Year to day (4/26/09) John Schuster and his team have sold over 68 properties in 2009, many of them being “bank owned foreclosures”. Schuster and his team have sold foreclosure homes, town homes and condos this year in Minneapolis, St. Paul, New Hope, Maple Grove, Savage, South St.Paul, North St. Paul, Maplewood, White Bear Lake, Woodbury, Bloomington and Uptown. You can follow John Schuster on Twitter @ Twitter@jdschuster

City of St Paul, MN Code Compliance Report Category 1, category 2, category 3 THINGS BUYERS MUST KNOW

Are you thinking of buying a vacant home or property in St. Paul, Minnesota (MN)? Have you checked to see if this foreclosure / bank owned home is on the City of St. Paul VACANT BUILDING list?  If you haven’t your going to wish you had.  Linked above is a PDF explaining the difference between CATEGORY 1 – CATEGORY 2 – CATEGORY 3 vacant buildings.  Let’s just say category 1 is not so bad,  category 3 may require a bulldozer!  Check out this story from the Star Tribune about this issue http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/39751872.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:UthPacyPE7iUiacyKUnciaec8O7EyUr

The city says – we want our housing supply cleaned up!  With the ever growing supply of vacant buildings on the City of St. Paul’s hands, they decided to to take a troubled situation and take a long vision approach.  The fact is, if a home sits vacant and uncared for for too long it moves up the ladder from vacant – category 1 (no problem, just do an ordinary Truth – In – Housing report) http://www.ci.stpaul.mn.us/index.asp?NID=1085

But, once it goes to category 2 or 3 -  Buyer be very aware!  That simple Ikea flip might turn into a hellish nightmare! Although some neighborhoods are fighting back! Dayton’s Bluff and the Hillcrest area have been holding tours of vacant homes to help get them sold! Check of this story from Fox 9 – KMSP http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/St_Paul_Vacant_House_Tour_Entices_Buyers_with_Strong_Community_Low_Prices

The real deal is that you need a qualified, foreclosure knowledgeable Realtor to help you purchase bank owned / vacant homes in the City of ST. Paul.  John Schuster with Coldwell Banker Burnet is one of the Top Agents in St Paul  and Minneapolis area.  He sold over 100 homes in 2008 and he knows how to work with the banks to get you a fabulous deal.  If you should be thinking of purchasing a foreclosure anywhere in the Twin Cities area contact John Schuster @ jdschuster@cbburnet.com 612-924-7140

FROM MSNBC.COM

“We’ve all heard so much bad economic news, many folks are afraid to buy homes. But those in the real estate industry say, this could actually be a great time to buy. 8 thousand dollars. That’s how much the feds are waving in the faces of first time home buyers. It’s part of an incentive to encourage home buying and stimulate the economy.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29537044/

This tax credit for first time buyers (10% of the homes value up to $8k total credit) is great news for the housing market.  In the Twin Cities / Minneapolis / St. Paul area – there are a ton of first time buyer homes available and now a glut of move-up and upper-bracket homes.  The buyer to purchase these move up homes doesn’t have the equity in their current home anymore AND they can’t get anyone to buy it.  Not any more!  The good first-time-buyer homes are selling!  Selling so fast, ~25% of my homes listed under $150k are selling in multiple offers! Housing is now affordable and this tax credit is icing on the cake!  This will help the mid and upper bracket only a bit…  Many first time sellers cannot compete with bank owned foreclosures and they cannot sell themselves because they are upside-down in their home OR they would walk with such little money, they would have enough down-payment to move up to the 250-400 bracket.  I predict you will see a bottom come to the first time buyer market mid-2009 and mid-to-upper bracket market will return when the economy FULLY recovers which will be 2-5 years out.  2009 is the year to buy real estate.  John Schuster sold over 100 homes in 2008 and he offices out of the Minneapolis Lakes Office of Coldwell Banker Burnet  www.TwinCitiesListed.com612-924-7140.  John Schuster has a full time team of 5 people and loves to work with both buyers and sellers in this market.

http://www.finance-commerce.com/article.cfm/2009/02/28/Foreclosure-relief-on-way-to-21-Minnesota-counties-cities

“Carter was one of many Minnesota politicians – including two mayors and the state housing commissioner – who gathered at the home, on the corner of Sherburne Avenue and Arundel Street, to announce how $38.3 million in federal dollars will be allocated to 21 cities and counties for rehabilitation and redevelopment of foreclosed homes.

The federal dollars, from the Federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, were originally announced in September. At that time, the feds announced nearly $58 million in awards to Minnesota. (Of that $58 million, about $19 million has already been distributed collectively to the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and the counties of Hennepin, Dakota and Anoka.)”… from Finance and Commerce 2/27/09 (see link)

Comment by John Schuster – Government money to help to housing crisis?  St. Paul & Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Dakota County and Anoka County need what ever stimulus spark to rev up their housing markets.  A lot of this is a simple supply and demand function – There is an excessive amount of REO Inventory (foreclosures) in the Twin Cities Minnesota area.  That, combined with a tightening credit market – which further reduces the pool of buyers and depresses the prices at which they can purchase – can lead to a downward spiral in a “free market” economy.  Government is the only thing that can fix this thing now.  If we want to have any resemblance of the America we were born into and have grown to love – drastic action needs to be taken.  This government funds noted in this article may be just be a drop in the bucket, but it is a start to correcting our situation.