Tag Archives: Washington

Owners Missing Money at Foreclosure Auctions

foreclosuresign

Because there’s strong demand for affordable residences in markets that are seeing home prices surge, some homes sold at foreclosure auctions are netting more than what the lender is owed. Once debts, liens, and fees are paid off, the home owner who’d fallen behind in their mortgage payments is entitled to the remainder. But here’s the kicker: Many home owners don’t realize their rights, which means much of the money is going uncollected.

For example, Denver County, Colo., officials say they have nearly $1.5 million in uncollected surpluses from the sale of about 50 foreclosed homes.

“In the past, people who lost their homes to auctions were typically underwater. [Now] prices have risen so that real estate investors, especially at auctions, are sometimes willing to pay more than what the [homeowner] lost it for,” says Brandon Turner, author of “The Book on Rental Property Investing.” 

Portland, Ore., Denver, Seattle, and Miami are all places where home prices are rising fast, and struggling homeowners may find more windfall profits in foreclosure auctions.

“Denver is one of the hottest real estate markets in the nation right now,” says Mica Ward, spokeswoman for the public trustee of Denver County. “So when a home does have to sell at a foreclosure auction, we’re consistently seeing that the home is selling for more than what is owed.” She estimates that about 80 percent of foreclosure auctions in Denver County result in surpluses over the original debt. She returned up to $169,000 to one foreclosed homeowner this year following an auction.

Source: Realtor.com

 

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Large Number of Foreclosed Homes Are Abandoned by Owner

 

Photo credit: Tom Moon ; http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2011/02/04/worst-foreclosed-home-vandalism-ever/
Photo credit: Tom Moon ; http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2011/02/04/worst-foreclosed-home-vandalism-ever/

 

Here’s a recent article on people going into foreclosures and moving out of their homes.  Not said in this article, is how often the homeowner demolished the home that they lived in.  I’ve seen some horrible examples, wire being stripped, electrical breakers taken out, and in one case that I saw, they had cut all the wires and controls off of a well pump.  An inspector told me of one home owner pouring concrete down toilets. Another took all the appliances out of the home, which seems to be quite common. Anyhow, here’s the article:

“Is anyone home? Apparently not in a large share of foreclosed homes. Twenty percent of foreclosures nationwide are abandoned by their owners and left vacant, according to RealtyTrac.

It’s important to move vacant foreclosures quickly so that they don’t negatively impact surrounding real estate values, says Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac. Bank of America, GMAC, Chase, Wells Fargo and Citi hold the highest number of vacant foreclosures.

Twenty-nine percent of the vacant foreclosed homes are priced below $50,000; 25 percent are between $50,000 to $100,000; and 12 percent are in the $1 million-plus range, according to RealtyTrac.

The states with some of the highest percentages of vacant foreclosures are:

  • Indiana: 32%
  • Oregon: 28%
  • Nevada: 28%
  • Washington: 27%
  • Georgia: 27%

Still, “even if all these homes flooded the market simultaneously, they would likely not cause the once-feared double dip in prices given supply constraints from non-distressed sellers and stronger demand,” Blomquist says.”

Source: “RealtyTrac: 20% of Foreclosures Remain Vacant After Owner Departs,” HousingWire (June 20, 2013)

A very good article and more pictures of what some people do when they leave their home due to foreclosure click here
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Large Number of Foreclose Homes Are Vacant

 

Photo credit: http://www.eeew.net/
Photo credit: http://www.eeew.net/

Is anyone home? Apparently not in a large share of foreclosed homes. Twenty percent of foreclosures nationwide are abandoned by their owners and left vacant, according to RealtyTrac.

It’s important to move vacant foreclosures quickly so that they don’t negatively impact surrounding real estate values, says Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac. Bank of America, GMAC, Chase, Wells Fargo and Citi hold the highest number of vacant foreclosures.

Twenty-nine percent of the vacant foreclosed homes are priced below $50,000; 25 percent are between $50,000 to $100,000; and 12 percent are in the $1 million-plus range, according to RealtyTrac.

The states with some of the highest percentages of vacant foreclosures are:

  • Indiana: 32%
  • Oregon: 28%
  • Nevada: 28%
  • Washington: 27%
  • Georgia: 27%

Still, “even if all these homes flooded the market simultaneously, they would likely not cause the once-feared double dip in prices given supply constraints from non-distressed sellers and stronger demand,” Blomquist says.

Source: “RealtyTrac: 20% of Foreclosures Remain Vacant After Owner Departs,” HousingWire (June 20, 2013)

 

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Let me sell or help you buy your new home or land

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
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The Town of Washington (originally called Indiana Camp) Nevada County, CA

Photo courtesy of Washington Hotel   www.washingtonhotel.net
Photo courtesy of Washington Hotel www.washingtonhotel.net

By Judy J. Pinegar

This little town in Nevada County is located on the banks of the South Fork of the Yuba River. It is located off Highway 20 between Nevada City and Interstate 80. Washington boasts a population on about 200, but that fluctuates seasonally and the town has a lot of tourist traffic in the summer.

Washington was founded in 1849, as were most of the cities in Nevada County; it was all about the Gold Rush!! These particular miners were from Indiana, so the settlement was first named Indiana Camp, but renamed to Washington in 1850. The area produced a large amount of placer gold, after that hard rock and hydraulic mines were established and were also very productive. Many people of Chinese descent worked in the area at these times.

The hotel in the town of Washington started with Hessel B. Buisman who was born in Holland in 1827, he landed in San Francisco in 1850. He originally kept a hotel in the town of Jefferson located near Washington from 1852 to 1857. He then came to Washington building a two story hotel which could accommodate up to 30 guests.

After the Buisman owners passed away, their daughter and her husband Eldridge Worthley kept the hotel for years. The hotel was called “The Worthley” or “Washington Hotel” and sat on the same site as the current hotel today. The hotel stable was across the street.

At 11 PM, August 16th, 1867 The Big Fire broke out in a nearby cabin. It jumped from house to house and destroyed almost every business downtown Washington including the Hotel. The hotel was rebuilt.

On April 21st, 1896 another fire started in the kitchen of the Washington Hotel. This fire destroyed the hotel and several buildings nearby. This time, Worthley had taken out fire insurance previous to the fire. The hotel was rebuilt as fast as the weather would allow. The picture shows the new and improved Washington Hotel after being rebuilt in 1896.

Photo courtesy of Washington Hotel www.washingtonhotel.net
Photo courtesy of Washington Hotel www.washingtonhotel.net

The Washington Mining District was always served by operators of small stage lines. This photo shows the company stage of Prescott and Grissel. A daily trip used to leave The National Hotel in Nevada City at 7 AM and arrive in Washington around noon. This was used to rest between trips or take shelter from the weather. Now the drive only takes 25 minutes in your car.

Picture from the Red Ledge Mine in Washington. The gold/quartz veins occur in the sedimentary rocks close to the contact with serpentine. Mariposite is often in association with the serpentine, and in close proximity to the gold. Photo courtesy of http://www.mindat.org/loc-3515.html

The town of Washington currently consists of the Washington Hotel/bar, a restaurant, a grocery store, a one room schoolhouse that has educated students continuously for over 100 years, and two trailer park campgrounds

There are two trailer parks, Gene’s Pine Aire Campground and the River Rest Resort have been in business since the 1960’s with various owners. Campsites are often to capacity, so reservations are advised.

Picture courtesy of River Rest Resort (see above)
Picture courtesy of River Rest Resort (see above)

 


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Alexandria, Virginia, & The Ben Lomand Manor House

Civil War Federal Troops Brass Band May 2011 - Photo John O'Dell cell phone camera
Civil War Federal Troops Brass Band May 2011 - Photo John O'Dell cell phone camera

After a late sleep and a relaxing morning, Pat drove us to Alexandria, very close to Washington, but on the Virginia side of the Potomac River. It was a very quaint, very touristy town (reminded us of Nevada City), filed this day with Anniversary Celebrations of the Civil War, 150 years ago.

The town was heavily involved at the time, both confederate and union soldiers had occupied the area. There were many people re-enacting roles from that time, civilians of all types, physicians and nurses, soldiers in both the grey and the blue, provost marshals (sort of like military and civilian police combined).

Photo John J. O'Dell Samsung CL65 camera
Federal Soldiers - Photo John J. O'Dell Samsung CL65 camera

There was a military brass band, and we had just missed the appearance of “Robert E. Lee,” (Lincoln was noticeably missing from the celebration; I guess it is a town with a lot of confederate sympathizers!) One of the fascinating facts we learned was that for every soldier in the Civil War killed in battle, two more were killed by infections. Even bringing the soldiers together in units caused sickness, as people raised in more isolated areas of the country had not had smallpox, or some of the other killer diseases of the day. Another problem was that the soldiers contaminated the drinking water with fecal waste from their animals and themselves, so dysentery killed many people.

Confederate soldiers - Photo John J. O'Dell Samsung CL65 camera
Confederate soldiers - Photo John J. O'Dell Samsung CL65 camera

We also visited a wonderful “frozen in time” apothecary shop with original exterior and interior, the glassware was original too, and some of the jars had the real dregs of the medicines that were in them originally! Apparently the family that was operating it during the Civil War retained the store and it was continuously in operation for 150 years. At the end of that time they locked the door and walked away, so it was discovered later in mint condition.

A wonderful seafood dinner concluded our day, and afterwards a stroll to the waterfront where we witnessed a fascinating magician’s presentation, holding us enthralled for a good 15 minutes and leaving us totally mystified at the end.

On Sunday we got an even later start, and this time drove to Manassas, to see the newly opened Ben Lomand Manor House. Originally a plantation owner’s house, it was rented to a Scottish family, raising sheep, when the war began. The family was allowed to stay (in only one room of the house) after it became a hospital and ended up selling its sheep and produce to the confederates.

Here again, the worse enemy was infection. One man was shot, but the bullet only pushed his coat button and some of his clothing inside his chest. The surgeons (he had two as he was a higher ranking officer) removed the button and cleaned the wound. But days later gangrene started in inside his chest, and within a few more days he was dead. The man portraying the surgeon, showed us a real surgeon’s box from 1861, the limited number of tools they had to operate with were amazing. We even saw an original tourniquet, a metal tube used for tracheotomies, and a saw that cut a round hole in the skull to relieve pressure on the brain from head wounds.

When one of the first battles of the Civil War was nearby, the Confederate forces took over the house for use as a field hospital. The dining room was converted to a surgery operating room, and all other rooms became recovery rooms for soldiers. Assuming the soldiers lived through the surgery, the recovery beds were a couple of blankets on top of a layer of straw on the floor of the house. If they survived this “recovery” they were sent elsewhere to a general hospital for rehabilitation, as more wounded poured into the field hospital.

There were also some slave cabins, and other original outbuildings on the plantation, and a beautiful heritage rose garden with some very old varieties of roses and other plants of the day. An interesting note is that as the confederates left the area, the union took over the house as a military headquarters. Because the young union soldiers considered the family “traitors” for selling to and helping the confederates, they apparently wrote graffiti all over most of the walls in the house, some of which are still visible today.

Jon Stewart’s impassioned speech at ‘Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear’

The enemy, Jon Stewart told the masses gathered on the Mall in Washington Saturday for his “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear,” is not people of faith, or activists, or those who want to have passionate argument, or those on the right, or those on the left.

The enemy, he argued, is not Americans at all. It is instead the false image of Americans being pushed by the cable news-driven media – what he called “the country’s 24-hour politico pundit perpetual panic conflictinator – that he said is broken and making the country’s problems worse.

“If we amplify everything, we hear nothing,” Stewart said, accusing media outlets of fear mongering and spotlighting extremists instead of reasonable Americans. He later added that the press is America’s immune system – and “if it overreacts to everything, we actually get sicker.”

Stewart’s comments came toward the end of the three-hour rally that attracted about 215,000 to the Mall according to an estimate commissioned by CBS News, with a message of standing up for reasonable dialogue.