HOUSINGNEWS REPORT
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an associate broker with EXIT Realty Search in the Bronx. “I feel it is because the financial institutions do not move fast enough on foreclosures and short sales, letting the properties stay in distress much longer. The longer the property is in distress, the less marketable it is for first time homebuyers utilizing mortgage products.” Predators More Aggressive That leaves the local distressed market largely to cash buyers who are willing to purchase in cash at the foreclosure auction or directly from the distressed homeowner — in some cases taking advantage of that owner while making a hefty profit, according to Malavolta, a buyer’s agent with the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA). “The predators are getting more and more aggressive,” said Malavolta, describing the predators as those who target homeowners in default and offer them in the ballpark of $10,000 to $20,000 to sign over the deed, enough to “go to Florida. … They give them cash and they have them sign the deed over. A shady lawyer is involved as well. Now they have access to the house … the bank doesn’t even know. “The cash buyer purchases (the property) and barely cleans it and puts it back on the market at a tremendous markup,” Malavolta continued. “Because inventory is so low you have fewer people buying, but at higher prices.”
Nassau County, New York, in Long Island posted the biggest total among counties nationwide with 8,632 bubble-era loans in foreclosure, representing 74 percent of all loans actively in foreclosure. Five other counties in the New York metro area were in the top 20 for biggest backlogs of bad bubble-era loans: Kings (Brooklyn) at No. 3; Suffolk (Long Island) at No. 6; Westchester at No. 10; Richmond (Staten Island) at No. 17; and Bronx, where Malavolta works,
at No. 18 with 3,492 bubble-era loans in foreclosure, representing 65 percent of all loans actively in foreclosure. Malavolta believes the lengthy foreclosure timeline in New York results in more highly distressed foreclosure properties that become more difficult to sell when they do finally hit the market for sale. “There is less and less inventory coming on the market that is purchasable for mortgage products,” said Malavolta,
No one’s evicting the person who is squatting in their own house. … The longer the property is in distress, the less marketable it is for first time homebuyers utilizing mortgage products.”
Luana Malavolta | Associate broker, EXIT Realty Search, Bronx, New York
The Thousand-Day Foreclosure Club Avg Days to Complete Foreclosure in Q4 2016
1,403
Utah
1,383
New Jersey
1,283
New York
1,220
Hawaii
1,186
Florida
1,033
Indiana
1,024
Illinois
1,010
Pennsylvania
ATTOM Data Solutions • P2
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