Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI - HUD, REO & Investment Specialist

How To Find New HUD Homes Listings

Since the new asset managers took over at the beginning of October, there was quite some confusion on how to find new HUD homes listings in Columbus.

In the old days - before 10/13/10 - there was one website to go to, where you could easily search for HUD homes all over Ohio.

Now, the search is more complicated, because 3 asset management firms are responsible for marketing HUD homes in Ohio and HUD created a new website to show all of their listings. In addition, HUD homes are now listed on a daily basis. This means we can't publish a HUD homes map on Friday to show you exactly which new homes are available for the next 10 days.

The new website to find HUD homes for sale all over the country is the HUDHomeStore.com. It offers a completely new interface which may be simpler, but it certainly is not as powerful as the old website.

On the main page you can either click on the map or pick a state from the pull down menu on the left of the Search Properties box. I also recommend you enter a county and select which Status you are looking for, e.g. new listings. After you click "search" you get a list of HUD homes with pictures and addresses.

Click on the image or case number to display details on a specific house. There you can see more pictures, an appraisal (sometimes), HUD required addenda and the LPD (lead paint disclosure.)

As I write this post, there were only 7 HUD homes in Franklin County classified as new listings.

I expect that this will change very quickly, as the new asset managers scramble to get properties listed.

Another way to find HUD homes is on your local MLS. All HUD homes have to be listed on the MLS per HUD guidelines.

However, you may encounter some problems with the MLS listings:

1. A house may not be clearly labeled as a HUD home. At least not in the description available to the general public. A real estate agent can search for agent remarks (which are not visible to the public) and find HUD homes that way.
2. In the past, the HUD listings on the MLS were not up-to-date. Although HUD requires that listing brokers change the listing status of HUD properties within 24 hours, this may not happen, and you won't get the most current information.

What's your best bet for finding HUD homes in Columbus?

Read this blog and our emails, or call me directly at (614) 975-9650.

As I am following HUD listings on a daily basis, I know where the properties are. I will keep you up to date on new HUD listings in my emails.

I can also set up a custom search for you and email you whenever new HUD home that meets your criteria, hits the market.

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650 www.ColumbusOhioHUDHomes.com

Incredible Discounts Possible On 110 HUD Homes

A few days ago NHMS announced that you can still submit offers on the remaining HUD homes for sale in their inventory. That's exactly 110 Columbus HUD homes they are desperately trying to sell.

Any offer you submit between October 13, 2010 and October 27, 2010 will be looked at simultaneously on 10/28/10. This gives you 2 weeks to come up with your best offer for any of the HUD homes for sale. They will not tell you until the end of the month (October) whether your offer has been accepted or not. There's no guarantee that they will take your bid and you won't have a second chance.

If you work with me, I can give you access to our extensive data base of bid results. This means that we can come up with an offer that will be most likely accepted. Of course, we can't predict what other buyers will do and if there will be competition.

As in previous weeks, I created a "Bargain Hunter Spreadsheet" of the 110 remaining HUD homes for you to download - click here to get it right now. No opt-in required!

Up to 40% Below Market Value Accepted

This may sound incredible, but the numbers don't lie.

Below are the bidding results of 5 HUD homes we featured a little while ago. They went in contract just a few weeks ago - one of them for the fifth time. All of these are nice suburban homes, most of them less than 10 years old.

Every single one of these Columbus HUD houses was sold for less than its list price. Some of them went through price reductions and numerous relists. So the purchase price relative to the HUD appraised value is even more significant. It indicates how much the property was purchased below its As-Is Market Value.

3717 Lake Mead Dr, Grove City, OH
4BR 2.5BA 2,288 sqft As-Is Value: $180,000
Offer accepted on 09/17/10 for $135,000 - 25% below market

8925 Firstgate Dr, Reynoldsburg, OH (fell out of contract 4 times)
4BR 2.5BA 2,034 sqft As-Is Value: $125,000
Offer accepted on 09/15/10 for $115,515 - 8% below market

4037 Summerstone Dr, Columbus, OH
3BR 2.5BA 1,592 sqft As-Is Value: $150,000
Offer accepted on 09/29/10 for $98,600 - 34% below market

1356 Cardwell Sq S, Columbus, OH
3BR 2BA 1,584 sqft As-Is Value: $85,000
Offer accepted on 09/13/10 for $51,709 - 40% below market

419 Pruden Dr, Pickerington, OH
4BR 2.5BA 2,660 sqft As-Is value: $150,000
Offer accepted on 09/21/10 for $135,105 - 10% below market

New HUD Listings Are Trickling In

It appears that the first "New" HUD house was just listed in Central Ohio. Yes, just one new HUD listing so far.

It is located in Lancaster on 2636 Spring Cove Ave and available for $140,000. I currently have another HUD home in contract in this very nice subdivision. Look for my preview of this home later this week!

Do you want to take a look at it? Just give me a call at (614) 975-9650.

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650 www.ColumbusOhioHUDHomes.com

Where Can You Buy HUD Homes For $8 per Sqft?

There are still 111 Columbus HUD homes available for sale.

But you better hurry up! It will all come to an end next Wednesday (10/13/2010). And, so far, we did not see any new HUD listings in Ohio.

I just finished a report detailing the HUD bidding results for the past 6 months. One of the numbers I researched was the price per square foot. I compiled a list of all Zip codes in Central Ohio and calculated the average dollar value per square foot that HUD houses sold for in that area.

Here's a chart that shows the results - listed from most expensive to least.

The most expensive $/sqft HUD homes are in the 43240 Zip code - that's in Delaware County near Lewis Center - closely followed by New Albany. HUD homes in these two areas sold for around $88 per sqft.

And where are the least expensive homes?

In the 43203 Zip code (that's the King Lincoln district along Mt. Vernon Avenue and Long Street). In that area HUD homes sold for only $8 per sqft.

Another Source of Foreclosed Homes for Sale - Central Ohio Freddie Mac Homes

If you are like most home buyers, you are probably looking for a "deal".

The best deals in today's market are foreclosure homes. I am talking about Columbus OH homes for sale that are owned by a lender or the Federal Government.

Although many homes are listed as short sales and the owners may be facing foreclosure, I do not recommend you go after these homes. Contracts on short sales are very unpredictable and take forever to close. Believe me when I say this. I personally completed more than 200 short sale transaction, but right now I stay away from them.

So, what are your alternatives to short sales?

Bank owned homes (REOs) are abundant in this market. But not all REOs are equal. In an earlier post I talked about Fannie Mae homes . I also dealt with many HUD homes over the past few years.

Today I want to show you another source of REOs you may want to consider.

Note: I can represent you as a buyer's agent on any of these homes. Do not just call the listing agent! Having me as your trusted buyer's representative I will make your life much easier and the purchase go smoothly.

A good source for bank-owned homes for sale is Freddie Mac. Just like Fannie Mae they have been buying tons of mortgages from regular banks in the secondary market. Due to the rise in defaults and foreclosures they ended up with many of these properties.

Freddie Mac lists their homes for sale on a website called HomeSteps.com. They do not offer any special financing for owner occupants. However, under their SmartBuy purchase program you can get a 2 year home warranty as well as an appliance discount of 30%.

What will you find, if you search for Freddie Mac homes?

Currently, they have 755 listings in Ohio (that's less than HUD homes) starting as low as $2,500 for a 3 bedroom home in Middletown, OH. Their most expensive home is listed for $400,000 in Avon Lake, OH.

Here are 3 Central Ohio Freddie Mac Homes you may want to check out:

4832 TAYPORT AVE, GROVE CITY, OH
4BR 2.5BA Asking: $262,900

729 COVERED BRIDGE DR, DELAWARE, OH
4BR 3.0BA Asking: $224,900

5289 RIFLE DR, CANAL WINCHESTER, OH
3BR 2.0BA Asking: $132,500

You can find these homes on the HomeSteps website, however, there's no description and there are hardly any photos. If you click on the street addresses above you will get the map locations of these Columbus OH homes for sale.

To see the inside of any of these homes, give me a call at (614) 975-9650 and I will schedule a showing.

Thanks for reading the OhioPrettyHomes.com Blog!
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI
Columbus Real Estate Agent helping First Time Buyers.
(614) 975-9650 www.OhioPrettyHomes.com

Four Reasons Why You Should Buy A Home From Fannie Mae

During the past couple of years I have focused almost exclusively on selling HUD Homes. You may be a reader of my HUD homes blog where I preview new HUD listings and publish maps of Columbus HUD homes every Friday.

A few weeks ago my brokerage, Solutions for Real Estate, received a HUD listing contract. This means that we will continue to focus on selling HUD homes in the foreseeable future.

Earlier this week, I attended the largest conference of the default servicing industry. Everyone was there, banks, asset managers, property preservation companies and, of course, real estate agents that list foreclosed homes for the banks.

This opened my eyes to other sources of high quality bank-owned properties (REOs). Let's take a closer look at one of these sources - Fannie Mae.

As you may know, Fannie Mae buys mortgages from banks. They are a government sponsored enterprise (GSE) whose mission is buy loans and home mortgages from banks, which in turn frees up the banks' assets, so they have money to lend to home buyers.

This worked very well over the past few decades. Fannie Mae accumulated a huge portfolio of mortgages. When the real estate boom came to an end in 2007, Fannie Mae had to foreclose on many of these loans and ended up with the properties.

They have a large inventory of REOs, which the sell through local real estate agents. To find a Fannie Mae home you can go to HomePath.com, their home selling website, and search for properties all over the country. This website is really easy to use. You can click on a map to display all listing in the county of your choice.

There are currently 283 Fannie Mae homes listed in Franklin County - that's about twice the number of HUD homes.

What are the benefits of buying a Fannie Mae home?

1. Their homes are usually in good condition. Unlike HUD, Fannie Mae hires contractors to rehab some of the homes to get them ready for owner occupants.
2. Fannie Mae offers low down payment financing without the extra cost of mortgage insurance, which may beat FHA loans.
3. They give you up to 3.5% of the purchase price for closing costs (available till the end of 2010).
4. There are more homes available for sale, so you have a better selection in most Columbus neighborhoods.

Click here to see a sample of 5 nice Fannie Mae homes.

These are good quality homes mostly in suburban school districts. If you want to check out more homes, go to Homepath.com, and call me at (614) 975-9650. I can help you get the best deal and make a smart home buying decision on any home for sale in Columbus.

Thanks for reading the OhioPrettyHomes.com Blog!
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI
Columbus Real Estate Agent helping First Time Buyers.
(614) 975-9650 www.OhioPrettyHomes.com