Payam Raouf
President, Associate Broker
888-777-6664
info@azezrentals.com
It is Ugly out there. The good news is Arizona Gold ( Real Estate ) is selling like hot cake. There is NO INVENTORY FOLKS. Rents are going up in the most desirable areas and down in the outskirts. Prices are up 15% since January. Offshore cash buyers are literally raping the market buying anything and everything under the Arizona sun, Residential, Multi-units and Commercial. Adjusted to inflation, Real Estate has always done really good. Buying at 30% below builders cost is crazy if you ask me. So, whether you are an investor or an end user, take advantage of this market while you can. Opportunities like this happen once in a life time. My staff is standing by to help you. We buy bank owned properties at the open market or trustee sales, lease and manage them under one roof. Currently we have three offices in Glendale, Surprise and Mesa and the fourth one in Scottsdale is in the process of opening. Please click on one of these links below and let us know what we can do to help. Thank you.
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CLICK HERE TO RENT ONE OF OUR PROPERTIES
___________________________________________________________________________
by Catherine Reagor, columnist -
Aug. 3, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Foreclosures continue to drop in metro Phoenix, a trend signaling the housing market is slowly getting in position for a recovery, according to many real-estate analysts.
In July, lenders foreclosed on 3,176 Phoenix-area homes, according to the Information Market. That compares with 3,887 in June. The last time Valley foreclosures, or trustee-sale numbers, were this low was in December, when major lenders, including Bank of America, had foreclosure moratoriums in place to check out accusations of robo-signing.
Pre-foreclosures, or notices of trustee sales, fell to 4,015 in July from 4,262 in June. In the previous July, lenders sent out notices that they were beginning foreclosure proceedings on 7,802 metro-Phoenix homeowners.
The number of pending foreclosures for the area dipped to 23,300 last month, compared with 25,300 in June. A year earlier, there were more than 40,000 pending foreclosures in metro Phoenix. The number is down because of fewer new foreclosures and more trustee sales going through, particularly on the Maricopa County courthouse steps.
What continues to concern some market watchers is Phoenix's "shadow inventory," which includes homes on which borrowers are behind on their payments but that lenders haven't started to foreclose on yet. Also, the shadow inventory includes houses that lenders have foreclosed on but aren't yet listing for resale.
After a lender has taken back a house, it's considered a real-estate-owned property.
According to Information Market, there are 15,850 REOs either for sale or being held by lenders for future sale in metro Phoenix.
The number of REOs in the region has been steadily dropping every month this year.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
As home prices declined over the past year, rental rates rose 9%.
A COUPLE NOTES HERE, HOME PRICES HAVE GONE DOWN AND RENTS UP. THAT MEANS, MORE MONEY IN YOUR POCKET. I READ IN ANOTHER ARTICLE THAT MULTI-FAMILY SALE IN PHOENIX METRO AREA EXCEEDED $240,000,000 IN THE PAST SIX MONTHS. WE KNOW IT FIRST HAND AS WE HAVE BEEN RECEIVING MORE CALLS TO MANAGE THEM. SMART INVESTORS SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED TO BUY MORE. AS MOST ANALYSTS PREDICT, WE HAVE TWO MORE YEARS OF THIS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF AND PRICES WILL GO BACK UP AS SHADOW INVENTORY MELTS AWAY.
AS A RESULT WE HAVE BEEFED UP OUR STAFF TO HELP MORE INVESTORS AND CUT OUR LEASING AND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT RATES ALMOST IN HALF TO PUT EVEN MORE MONEY IN THEIR POCKETS.
CLICK ON THIS LINK TO CONTACT US. WE DO IT ALL. JUST SIT BACK, RELAX AND COLLECT YOUR MONEY.
Stuck in Phoenix, the Epicenter of Housing Crisis
by Barry Wood
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Commentary: It may take years for housing to bloom again in desert
In metropolitan Phoenix, two-thirds of all residential mortgages are underwater. Of these, some 200,000 are 50% larger than the current market value of the properties. Many homeowners have come to doubt whether they'll ever retrieve their lost equity.
In this city of 4 million, the 14th largest in the United States, the median home price is down 53% since the bubble peaked in 2006 to just over $120,000. Only smaller cities such as Las Vegas and Orlando have witnessed equally catastrophic drops.
Paul Hickman, the head of the Arizona Bankers Association, says for Arizona the current recession is worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s. "Then," he told Cronkite News of Arizona State University, "our economy was young and we were just barely a state." Now, he says, Arizona is suffering because it became excessively dependent on a "one-dimensional housing economy."
Phoenix is no stranger to booms and busts. Home prices here fell in the late 1980s after the savings-and-loan debacle brought down several local developers, including the notorious Charles Keating of Keating Five fame. Now 88, Keating lives quietly in Phoenix, having served a 4½-year prison term for fraud after his Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed in 1989.
The scope and severity of the current crisis easily eclipses that of the '80s and '90s. Phoenix's population is now 45% larger and, as new suburbs encroached ever farther into the desert, residents have been squeezed by long commutes and the sharp run up in gas prices. Housing economist and retired ASU professor Jay Butler says of the current downturn, "nobody thought it could get this bad." He foresees no significant recovery for two more years.
Some local realtors dispute that pessimistic assessment. They point to strong existing home sales in June, up 22% according to the National Association of Realtors. It was the second consecutive month of strong sales, with the June figure the strongest recorded since December 2006.
But while sales may be up, prices are not. The NAR report says the median price of a home sold in the Phoenix area in June was down 13% from the same month in 2010. Realtor Robert Holt expects prices to remain weak because distressed properties are accounting for 64% of sales. With Phoenix having an inventory of over 120,000 empty or foreclosed homes, Holt expects "a tidal wave of foreclosures" will soon hit the market. He says with "overall mortgage delinquencies double and foreclosures eight times higher than historical norms, there is not going to be any easy or quick fix to the housing crisis."
Laurie Goodman, the respected mortgage market analyst at Amherst Securities, sees a similar problem nationally. Alarmed at what she believes is a 30-month supply of distressed properties overhanging the market, she told an American Enterprise Institute conference recently, "we're not making enough progress in liquidating bad loans."
Saying that only 30% of troubled loans have been resolved, she predicts that over the next six years as many as one out of every five mortgage holders in the country could lose their homes. With the number of distressed properties coming to market not keeping pace with a mounting inventory of troubled mortgages, and prospective buyers finding it hard to get credit, Goodman says the normal supply/demand function in housing is broken.
The result, she argues, is a likely boom in rental housing as strategic defaulters and evictees gravitate to cheaper rental homes. "Rental rates are rising," she says, "because renting is the only way to absorb the overhang."
In Phoenix, that is already happening. As home prices declined over the past year, rental rates rose 9%. Nearly half of the distressed homes sold over the past year have been turned into rentals. Michael Trailor, the director of the Arizona Housing Department, says "the shift from home ownership to rentals in the Valley will continue as home ownership shrinks more."
Ironically perhaps, the shift to rentals is occurring while home affordability has improved. With home prices way down and mortgage interest rates very low, this is the best time in at least 20 years to buy. In Phoenix prices have slid back to the levels that prevailed in 1998 or 2000.
Adam Stankus, a hotel manager in Tempe, and his schoolteacher wife are in the enviable position of being prospective buyers in a buyers' market. They hope to purchase the home they currently rent in the suburb of Buckeye for under $50,000. Lucky to have savings equal to a 20% down payment, Stankus believes their monthly mortgage payment will be well below their $800 monthly rent.
The unexpectedly severe downturn over the last five years shows that nobody really knows the future direction of the housing market. Gary Shilling, a respected forecaster, is predicting that prices could fall another 20% nationally, on top of the 30% decline that has already occurred. Mark Zandi, meanwhile, of Moody's Analytics believes we're already bumping along the bottom and that prices could begin to recover next year.
Robert Holt, the north Phoenix realtor, argues persuasively that there won't be a price upturn in his market until the ingredients for a recovery are in place. These, he says, include population growth and an increase in jobs. Currently, that isn't happening. The local unemployment rate is stuck at around 8%. While below the national average, only 4,900 jobs were added in the past year. Given all that, ASU Professor Butler says the "housing recovery in Phoenix is likely to improve at only a glacial pace."
Barry Wood is North American economics correspondent for RTHK radio in Hong Kong.
AS A RESULT WE HAVE BEEFED UP OUR STAFF TO HELP MORE INVESTORS AND CUT OUR LEASING AND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT RATES ALMOST IN HALF TO PUT EVEN MORE MONEY IN THEIR POCKETS.
CLICK ON THIS LINK TO CONTACT US. WE DO IT ALL. JUST SIT BACK, RELAX AND COLLECT YOUR MONEY.
Stuck in Phoenix, the Epicenter of Housing Crisis
by Barry Wood
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Commentary: It may take years for housing to bloom again in desert
In metropolitan Phoenix, two-thirds of all residential mortgages are underwater. Of these, some 200,000 are 50% larger than the current market value of the properties. Many homeowners have come to doubt whether they'll ever retrieve their lost equity.
In this city of 4 million, the 14th largest in the United States, the median home price is down 53% since the bubble peaked in 2006 to just over $120,000. Only smaller cities such as Las Vegas and Orlando have witnessed equally catastrophic drops.
Paul Hickman, the head of the Arizona Bankers Association, says for Arizona the current recession is worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s. "Then," he told Cronkite News of Arizona State University, "our economy was young and we were just barely a state." Now, he says, Arizona is suffering because it became excessively dependent on a "one-dimensional housing economy."
Phoenix is no stranger to booms and busts. Home prices here fell in the late 1980s after the savings-and-loan debacle brought down several local developers, including the notorious Charles Keating of Keating Five fame. Now 88, Keating lives quietly in Phoenix, having served a 4½-year prison term for fraud after his Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed in 1989.
The scope and severity of the current crisis easily eclipses that of the '80s and '90s. Phoenix's population is now 45% larger and, as new suburbs encroached ever farther into the desert, residents have been squeezed by long commutes and the sharp run up in gas prices. Housing economist and retired ASU professor Jay Butler says of the current downturn, "nobody thought it could get this bad." He foresees no significant recovery for two more years.
Some local realtors dispute that pessimistic assessment. They point to strong existing home sales in June, up 22% according to the National Association of Realtors. It was the second consecutive month of strong sales, with the June figure the strongest recorded since December 2006.
But while sales may be up, prices are not. The NAR report says the median price of a home sold in the Phoenix area in June was down 13% from the same month in 2010. Realtor Robert Holt expects prices to remain weak because distressed properties are accounting for 64% of sales. With Phoenix having an inventory of over 120,000 empty or foreclosed homes, Holt expects "a tidal wave of foreclosures" will soon hit the market. He says with "overall mortgage delinquencies double and foreclosures eight times higher than historical norms, there is not going to be any easy or quick fix to the housing crisis."
Laurie Goodman, the respected mortgage market analyst at Amherst Securities, sees a similar problem nationally. Alarmed at what she believes is a 30-month supply of distressed properties overhanging the market, she told an American Enterprise Institute conference recently, "we're not making enough progress in liquidating bad loans."
Saying that only 30% of troubled loans have been resolved, she predicts that over the next six years as many as one out of every five mortgage holders in the country could lose their homes. With the number of distressed properties coming to market not keeping pace with a mounting inventory of troubled mortgages, and prospective buyers finding it hard to get credit, Goodman says the normal supply/demand function in housing is broken.
The result, she argues, is a likely boom in rental housing as strategic defaulters and evictees gravitate to cheaper rental homes. "Rental rates are rising," she says, "because renting is the only way to absorb the overhang."
In Phoenix, that is already happening. As home prices declined over the past year, rental rates rose 9%. Nearly half of the distressed homes sold over the past year have been turned into rentals. Michael Trailor, the director of the Arizona Housing Department, says "the shift from home ownership to rentals in the Valley will continue as home ownership shrinks more."
Ironically perhaps, the shift to rentals is occurring while home affordability has improved. With home prices way down and mortgage interest rates very low, this is the best time in at least 20 years to buy. In Phoenix prices have slid back to the levels that prevailed in 1998 or 2000.
Adam Stankus, a hotel manager in Tempe, and his schoolteacher wife are in the enviable position of being prospective buyers in a buyers' market. They hope to purchase the home they currently rent in the suburb of Buckeye for under $50,000. Lucky to have savings equal to a 20% down payment, Stankus believes their monthly mortgage payment will be well below their $800 monthly rent.
The unexpectedly severe downturn over the last five years shows that nobody really knows the future direction of the housing market. Gary Shilling, a respected forecaster, is predicting that prices could fall another 20% nationally, on top of the 30% decline that has already occurred. Mark Zandi, meanwhile, of Moody's Analytics believes we're already bumping along the bottom and that prices could begin to recover next year.
Robert Holt, the north Phoenix realtor, argues persuasively that there won't be a price upturn in his market until the ingredients for a recovery are in place. These, he says, include population growth and an increase in jobs. Currently, that isn't happening. The local unemployment rate is stuck at around 8%. While below the national average, only 4,900 jobs were added in the past year. Given all that, ASU Professor Butler says the "housing recovery in Phoenix is likely to improve at only a glacial pace."
Barry Wood is North American economics correspondent for RTHK radio in Hong Kong.
Friday, June 24, 2011
metro Phoenix's rock-bottom home price
Arizona Property Management and Investments
Three Locations Valley Wide, Surprise, Glendale and Mesa
888-777-6664
by Catherine Reagor -
Jun. 15, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Could $115,000 be metro Phoenix's rock-bottom home price during this crash?
The region's median home price has been hovering around that figure for the past six months. This steady price trend demonstrates the least volatility the Valley has seen in home values in almost a decade.
Data from the Information Market, a real-estate research firm, shows that the median price of all existing-home sales has been $115,000 for every month since December, except February, when it was $116,000.
Now, this median price isn't going to thrill longtime homeowners in the Phoenix area. The record for resale-home prices was set in September 2006, when it hit $267,000. And home prices haven't been this low since 1999. But at least the region's median hasn't dropped any lower so far this year.
Many metro areas in the U.S. experienced a double dip in home prices during March and April of this year. The Phoenix area did not. The region's double dip came late last year, when the median fell from $121,000 in November to $115,000 in December.
The area's previous rock-bottom price during this housing downturn was in April 2009, when the median fell to $119,000 from $122,500 in March. During the second half of 2009 and 2010, prices had been climbing steadily from that April low until December.
Recent key real-estate indicators, including data on foreclosures and listings of homes for sale, have been heading in the right direction. That may signal the housing market could start to recover this year, so home prices may begin slowly to increase again.
- Foreclosures dip: Pre-foreclosures, or notice of trustee sales, are one of the best forward-looking indicators for the housing market.
In May, there were 4,221 pre-foreclosure filings in Maricopa County, Information Market reports. That's basically flat from April's level, the lowest number of pre-foreclosure filings since December 2007.
Last month, there were 4,212 foreclosures, or trustee sales, completed. Phoenix-area foreclosures artificially fell below 3,000 in November due to short-term lender moratoriums that expired in December.
But the best sign for metro Phoenix's housing market is pending foreclosures. The number of residential-foreclosure filings being processed is down to about 27,400. Two years ago, there were 42,000 foreclosures pending.
Three Locations Valley Wide, Surprise, Glendale and Mesa
888-777-6664
by Catherine Reagor -
Jun. 15, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Could $115,000 be metro Phoenix's rock-bottom home price during this crash?
The region's median home price has been hovering around that figure for the past six months. This steady price trend demonstrates the least volatility the Valley has seen in home values in almost a decade.
Data from the Information Market, a real-estate research firm, shows that the median price of all existing-home sales has been $115,000 for every month since December, except February, when it was $116,000.
Now, this median price isn't going to thrill longtime homeowners in the Phoenix area. The record for resale-home prices was set in September 2006, when it hit $267,000. And home prices haven't been this low since 1999. But at least the region's median hasn't dropped any lower so far this year.
Many metro areas in the U.S. experienced a double dip in home prices during March and April of this year. The Phoenix area did not. The region's double dip came late last year, when the median fell from $121,000 in November to $115,000 in December.
The area's previous rock-bottom price during this housing downturn was in April 2009, when the median fell to $119,000 from $122,500 in March. During the second half of 2009 and 2010, prices had been climbing steadily from that April low until December.
Recent key real-estate indicators, including data on foreclosures and listings of homes for sale, have been heading in the right direction. That may signal the housing market could start to recover this year, so home prices may begin slowly to increase again.
- Foreclosures dip: Pre-foreclosures, or notice of trustee sales, are one of the best forward-looking indicators for the housing market.
In May, there were 4,221 pre-foreclosure filings in Maricopa County, Information Market reports. That's basically flat from April's level, the lowest number of pre-foreclosure filings since December 2007.
Last month, there were 4,212 foreclosures, or trustee sales, completed. Phoenix-area foreclosures artificially fell below 3,000 in November due to short-term lender moratoriums that expired in December.
But the best sign for metro Phoenix's housing market is pending foreclosures. The number of residential-foreclosure filings being processed is down to about 27,400. Two years ago, there were 42,000 foreclosures pending.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Renters get relief from foreclosure
Arizona Property Management and Investments
#1 Property Management Co. in Arizona.
3 Locations and 7 districts
Call 888-777-6664 ext 111
Get a Free Property Management Quote
Renters get relief from foreclosure
By Marcie Geffner • Bankrate.com
A new federal law offers renters more protection from eviction if their landlord loses the property through foreclosure. The law has some fuzzy requirements, but should be a boon to renters who otherwise might have been evicted with little or no notice.
"The fundamental purpose of the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act is to ensure that tenants facing eviction from a foreclosed property have adequate time to find alternative housing. To that end, the law establishes a minimum time period that the tenant can remain in a foreclosed property before eviction," a Federal Reserve memorandum states.
The national foreclosure crisis has not been kind to renters, despite their seeming bystander status. Indeed, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, or NLIHC, in Washington, D.C., has estimated that some 40 percent of households that have lost their home due to foreclosure have been renters.
The new law should provide some relief from immediate evictions, according to NLIHC President Sheila Crowley.
"This bill brings long overdue relief for the most blameless victims of the foreclosure crisis -- the families who, after paying their rent each month, are suddenly told they must move out of the homes because their landlords have been foreclosed on," Crowley said in a statement.
Renters will get 90 days' notice
The new law allows tenants who have a lease to remain in their home until the end of the lease period, unless a new owner purchases the home at a foreclosure sale and intends to occupy it as a personal residence. In that case, the renter can be evicted with 90 days' notice even if a longer-term lease is in force.
A rare but potentially important exception occurs if the renter signed the lease before the owner obtained the foreclosed loan. In that case, the lease will still "survive" the foreclosure, according to Janet Portman, an attorney and author of "Every Tenant's Legal Guide," published by Nolo Press in Berkeley, Calif.
Tenants who don't have a lease also are entitled to 90 days' notice prior to eviction under the new law.
Technically, the law applies only to "any foreclosure on a federally related mortgage loan." That requirement shouldn't be a burden for tenants because, as Portman explains, the definition of "federally related" encompasses virtually all loans.
The law became effective May 20 and is scheduled to sunset Dec. 31, 2012.
Only 'bona fide' renters are protected
The law protects only a bona fide lease or tenancy, which is defined as a situation that meets three criteria:
The renter may not be the former owner of the home or the former owner's spouse, child or parent.
The terms of the rental must be at arm's length between the landlord and renter.
The rent cannot be substantially less than the fair-market rent, unless the rent is subject to a government reduction or subsidy.
The arm's-length and fair-market rent requirements "are designed to prevent a sweetheart deal" between a defaulting landlord-owner and a renter whom the landlord wanted to protect from eviction after the foreclosure, Portman says. For example, if a landlord and renter signed a two-year lease at a very favorable rent just prior to a foreclosure, that likely wouldn't meet the bona fide requirement.
Broken lease can lead to lawsuit
Renters who have a lease and are evicted may be able to bring a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the former landlord to recoup the costs of their forced move, according to Portman. "You go to court and say, 'We had a deal, and he didn't deliver,'" Portman says. "The guy may be long gone. But if you get a judgment, that's good for many years and you could probably eventually collect on it."
New law doesn't affect rents, deposits
The new law doesn't pre-empt any state or local laws. Instead, it specifies that it won't affect "the requirements ... of any state or local law that provides longer time periods or other additional protections for tenants."
State laws apply to most landlord-tenant issues that are beyond the scope of federal law. Examples include prepayment of last month's rent and reimbursement of a security deposit. Neither of those issues is mentioned in the new law.
"Many states, including California, protect the tenant at any cost. They say basically that it is up to the buyer and seller, or in this case, the bank and the (former) owner, to figure out how to (handle those sums)," Portman says.
The bottom line is that landlords and renters have new rights and responsibilities in foreclosure situations. While renters may face challenges in their attempts to exercise those rights, knowledge and action can prevail.
#1 Property Management Co. in Arizona.
3 Locations and 7 districts
Call 888-777-6664 ext 111
Get a Free Property Management Quote
Renters get relief from foreclosure
By Marcie Geffner • Bankrate.com
A new federal law offers renters more protection from eviction if their landlord loses the property through foreclosure. The law has some fuzzy requirements, but should be a boon to renters who otherwise might have been evicted with little or no notice.
"The fundamental purpose of the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act is to ensure that tenants facing eviction from a foreclosed property have adequate time to find alternative housing. To that end, the law establishes a minimum time period that the tenant can remain in a foreclosed property before eviction," a Federal Reserve memorandum states.
The national foreclosure crisis has not been kind to renters, despite their seeming bystander status. Indeed, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, or NLIHC, in Washington, D.C., has estimated that some 40 percent of households that have lost their home due to foreclosure have been renters.
The new law should provide some relief from immediate evictions, according to NLIHC President Sheila Crowley.
"This bill brings long overdue relief for the most blameless victims of the foreclosure crisis -- the families who, after paying their rent each month, are suddenly told they must move out of the homes because their landlords have been foreclosed on," Crowley said in a statement.
Renters will get 90 days' notice
The new law allows tenants who have a lease to remain in their home until the end of the lease period, unless a new owner purchases the home at a foreclosure sale and intends to occupy it as a personal residence. In that case, the renter can be evicted with 90 days' notice even if a longer-term lease is in force.
A rare but potentially important exception occurs if the renter signed the lease before the owner obtained the foreclosed loan. In that case, the lease will still "survive" the foreclosure, according to Janet Portman, an attorney and author of "Every Tenant's Legal Guide," published by Nolo Press in Berkeley, Calif.
Tenants who don't have a lease also are entitled to 90 days' notice prior to eviction under the new law.
Technically, the law applies only to "any foreclosure on a federally related mortgage loan." That requirement shouldn't be a burden for tenants because, as Portman explains, the definition of "federally related" encompasses virtually all loans.
The law became effective May 20 and is scheduled to sunset Dec. 31, 2012.
Only 'bona fide' renters are protected
The law protects only a bona fide lease or tenancy, which is defined as a situation that meets three criteria:
The renter may not be the former owner of the home or the former owner's spouse, child or parent.
The terms of the rental must be at arm's length between the landlord and renter.
The rent cannot be substantially less than the fair-market rent, unless the rent is subject to a government reduction or subsidy.
The arm's-length and fair-market rent requirements "are designed to prevent a sweetheart deal" between a defaulting landlord-owner and a renter whom the landlord wanted to protect from eviction after the foreclosure, Portman says. For example, if a landlord and renter signed a two-year lease at a very favorable rent just prior to a foreclosure, that likely wouldn't meet the bona fide requirement.
Broken lease can lead to lawsuit
Renters who have a lease and are evicted may be able to bring a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the former landlord to recoup the costs of their forced move, according to Portman. "You go to court and say, 'We had a deal, and he didn't deliver,'" Portman says. "The guy may be long gone. But if you get a judgment, that's good for many years and you could probably eventually collect on it."
New law doesn't affect rents, deposits
The new law doesn't pre-empt any state or local laws. Instead, it specifies that it won't affect "the requirements ... of any state or local law that provides longer time periods or other additional protections for tenants."
State laws apply to most landlord-tenant issues that are beyond the scope of federal law. Examples include prepayment of last month's rent and reimbursement of a security deposit. Neither of those issues is mentioned in the new law.
"Many states, including California, protect the tenant at any cost. They say basically that it is up to the buyer and seller, or in this case, the bank and the (former) owner, to figure out how to (handle those sums)," Portman says.
The bottom line is that landlords and renters have new rights and responsibilities in foreclosure situations. While renters may face challenges in their attempts to exercise those rights, knowledge and action can prevail.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Phoenix-area rental homes dominate housing market
Arizona Property Management and Investments
Owner/Associate Broker
888-777-6664
www.azezrentals.com
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Phoenix-area rental homes dominate housing market
Foreclosures, recession spur surprise market shift
by Catherine Reagor - May. 18, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic .
Metro Phoenix has long been known for its supply of affordable houses, easy to buy and resell. Now, the rental market is dominating the region's housing sector, something many real-estate experts and agents didn't expect.
Rental homes of all shapes and sizes are in much higher demand across the Valley than they were five years ago. Rents are rising, and rental properties - from foreclosure houses to huge apartment complexes - are drawing investors big and small, local and international.
The housing crash is fueling a lot of the demand from tenants. Many former homeowners, who lost houses to foreclosure or walked away because they owed so much more than their houses were worth, have become new renters - and the most coveted by landlords. Another growing group of renters is made up of younger, more mobile workers who have little interest in buying houses because they have seen others take big losses on homes and don't know how long they might have jobs in metro Phoenix.
Enticing both groups is the growing number of still-affordable high-end rental homes and apartments across the Valley.
Demand for investment properties has set off a buying frenzy for both homes and apartments in the region. With interest rates so low, investors usually get a better rate of return off a rental property than if they put their money somewhere else.
Metro Phoenix foreclosure homes are selling at a record pace, and almost half are being turned into rentals by their new owners.
Apartment complexes in areas with good schools, shopping centers and freeways are sparking bidding wars among investors. During the past few months, sales of apartment complexes have been closing almost daily.
New census data confirms metro Phoenix's status as a growing rental market. The region's homeownership rate has fallen back to 1997 levels, and in some cities, including Phoenix, 30 to 40 percent of all homes occupied are rentals.
"The shift from homeownership to rentals in the Valley will continue as homeownership shrinks more," said Michael Trailor, director of the Arizona Housing Department.
Homes
Nearly half of all foreclosure and short-sale homes purchased in metro Phoenix during the past year are now rentals, according to industry estimates and property records.
The most popular homes for investor landlords have at least three bedrooms and are located in family-oriented neighborhoods.
Caroline Thompson and her family rent a three-bedroom, two-bath home in northeast Phoenix for $950 a month.
"We have an excellent landlord," she said. "For Christmas, he sent us an edible food arrangement. We take excellent care of his house, as if it were our own."
Thompson said that, in the future, she may consider buying a home, but she is three years from finishing her degree in mental-health counseling and will owe the government a lot for student loans. She also doesn't know where she will find a job or how much she will be able to earn.
A family paying $3,000 a month for a mortgage on a four-bedroom house in a nice Peoria neighborhood can move next door and pay $2,000 in rent for the same house, according to Payam Raouf, owner of Glendale-based Arizona Property Management and Investments.
"There are great renters out there now, the cream of the crop for landlords," he said. "People who earn good money are losing homes to foreclosure, and they want to rent houses as nice as they ones they owned."
More than 80 percent of independent landlords say they would rent to someone who had lost a home in foreclosure if the tenant had decent credit, according to a new survey by the National Association of Independent Landlords.
A growing trend is for investors to purchase bargain foreclosure homes and then rent them back to the former owners so they don't have to move. As a result, they end up paying much less a month for rent than their mortgage.
Monthly payments on rental homes are difficult to track overall for the region because of so many individual owners. However, most landlords and real-estate agents say rental rates on houses have been steadily climbing since 2009.
CLICK HERE TO GET AN INSTANT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT QUOTE
Apartments
Metro Phoenix apartment rents are slowly climbing as more units fill up.
The average rent on an apartment in the Valley is $736, according to California-based RealFacts. That's up $12 from a year ago. Only about 8 percent of the region's apartments are empty, down from 10 percent in 2010.
Luke Consuelo rents a one-bedroom apartment in north Scottsdale.
"I don't have a family. I don't want to buy and worry about taking care of a house," he said. "Renting is great. Plus, one of the big benefits of buying is the tax deduction for mortgage interest, and the powers that be in Washington, D.C., are looking at getting rid of that."
Renters such as Consuelo who don't want to buy or can't afford rental houses are enticing investors to purchase more metro-Phoenix apartment complexes.
The amount of money investors spent on Valley apartment complexes during the first three months of this year was up 50 percent from the same period last year, real-estate brokers report.
Commercial-realty brokerage NAI Horizon, which tracks the sales of complexes with 100 units or more, reports that investors spent $293.3 million on large complexes in the first three months of this year. During the first quarter of 2009, only three apartment complexes with more than 100 units sold in metro Phoenix for a total of $60 million.
Karl Abert, an apartment broker with Phoenix's Grubb & Ellis, said investors both big and small are now bidding on apartment complexes in "desirable locations." He said investors from Canada and China are the most active international buyers of Phoenix-area apartments now.
Scottsdale, Tempe, east and downtown Phoenix, and Chandler are some of the region's most popular spots for apartments with investors.
Last month, one Phoenix apartment complex drew 15 offers.
"I think rents will flatten out this summer and then increase in September again," Abert said.
A long-term shift
The fact that many people are losing homes to foreclosure means a longer-term shift toward rentals. Most of those former homeowners won't be able to buy for at least a few years because of the hits on their credit ratings, unless they pay cash. Some former homeowners don't want to buy, even if they could.
"I have no plans on purchasing another house anytime soon," said Debra Ledford, who "walked away" from a home in Maricopa that she owed $304,000 on. It was valued at $120,000. "I'm scared of what might happen again. I lost a great deal of money."
Now, Ledford rents a home in Ahwatukee Foothills for herself and her four children.
Foreclosures stay on a person's credit for five to seven years, meaning she couldn't buy for at least that long. But, after record foreclosures, some lenders may change their requirement to spur more homebuying.
"A lot of people have lost their faith in the economy and their desire to own a home," said Jay Butler, director of realty studies at Arizona State University. "People used to buy because they had careers. Now, more people rent because they have jobs they aren't sure about."
With expectations of slow housing appreciation in metro Phoenix during the next few years, some people don't want to buy and potentially lose money on a house.
"The 'graduate from school, get married and buy a home' model doesn't work for everyone anymore," said Trailor, the Arizona housing official. "For someone who knows they may only be working for a Phoenix company for 12 to 24 months, I don't think buying a home makes sense."
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Phoenix-area rental homes dominate housing market
Foreclosures, recession spur surprise market shift
by Catherine Reagor - May. 18, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic .
Metro Phoenix has long been known for its supply of affordable houses, easy to buy and resell. Now, the rental market is dominating the region's housing sector, something many real-estate experts and agents didn't expect.
Rental homes of all shapes and sizes are in much higher demand across the Valley than they were five years ago. Rents are rising, and rental properties - from foreclosure houses to huge apartment complexes - are drawing investors big and small, local and international.
The housing crash is fueling a lot of the demand from tenants. Many former homeowners, who lost houses to foreclosure or walked away because they owed so much more than their houses were worth, have become new renters - and the most coveted by landlords. Another growing group of renters is made up of younger, more mobile workers who have little interest in buying houses because they have seen others take big losses on homes and don't know how long they might have jobs in metro Phoenix.
Enticing both groups is the growing number of still-affordable high-end rental homes and apartments across the Valley.
Demand for investment properties has set off a buying frenzy for both homes and apartments in the region. With interest rates so low, investors usually get a better rate of return off a rental property than if they put their money somewhere else.
Metro Phoenix foreclosure homes are selling at a record pace, and almost half are being turned into rentals by their new owners.
Apartment complexes in areas with good schools, shopping centers and freeways are sparking bidding wars among investors. During the past few months, sales of apartment complexes have been closing almost daily.
New census data confirms metro Phoenix's status as a growing rental market. The region's homeownership rate has fallen back to 1997 levels, and in some cities, including Phoenix, 30 to 40 percent of all homes occupied are rentals.
"The shift from homeownership to rentals in the Valley will continue as homeownership shrinks more," said Michael Trailor, director of the Arizona Housing Department.
Homes
Nearly half of all foreclosure and short-sale homes purchased in metro Phoenix during the past year are now rentals, according to industry estimates and property records.
The most popular homes for investor landlords have at least three bedrooms and are located in family-oriented neighborhoods.
Caroline Thompson and her family rent a three-bedroom, two-bath home in northeast Phoenix for $950 a month.
"We have an excellent landlord," she said. "For Christmas, he sent us an edible food arrangement. We take excellent care of his house, as if it were our own."
Thompson said that, in the future, she may consider buying a home, but she is three years from finishing her degree in mental-health counseling and will owe the government a lot for student loans. She also doesn't know where she will find a job or how much she will be able to earn.
A family paying $3,000 a month for a mortgage on a four-bedroom house in a nice Peoria neighborhood can move next door and pay $2,000 in rent for the same house, according to Payam Raouf, owner of Glendale-based Arizona Property Management and Investments.
"There are great renters out there now, the cream of the crop for landlords," he said. "People who earn good money are losing homes to foreclosure, and they want to rent houses as nice as they ones they owned."
More than 80 percent of independent landlords say they would rent to someone who had lost a home in foreclosure if the tenant had decent credit, according to a new survey by the National Association of Independent Landlords.
A growing trend is for investors to purchase bargain foreclosure homes and then rent them back to the former owners so they don't have to move. As a result, they end up paying much less a month for rent than their mortgage.
Monthly payments on rental homes are difficult to track overall for the region because of so many individual owners. However, most landlords and real-estate agents say rental rates on houses have been steadily climbing since 2009.
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Apartments
Metro Phoenix apartment rents are slowly climbing as more units fill up.
The average rent on an apartment in the Valley is $736, according to California-based RealFacts. That's up $12 from a year ago. Only about 8 percent of the region's apartments are empty, down from 10 percent in 2010.
Luke Consuelo rents a one-bedroom apartment in north Scottsdale.
"I don't have a family. I don't want to buy and worry about taking care of a house," he said. "Renting is great. Plus, one of the big benefits of buying is the tax deduction for mortgage interest, and the powers that be in Washington, D.C., are looking at getting rid of that."
Renters such as Consuelo who don't want to buy or can't afford rental houses are enticing investors to purchase more metro-Phoenix apartment complexes.
The amount of money investors spent on Valley apartment complexes during the first three months of this year was up 50 percent from the same period last year, real-estate brokers report.
Commercial-realty brokerage NAI Horizon, which tracks the sales of complexes with 100 units or more, reports that investors spent $293.3 million on large complexes in the first three months of this year. During the first quarter of 2009, only three apartment complexes with more than 100 units sold in metro Phoenix for a total of $60 million.
Karl Abert, an apartment broker with Phoenix's Grubb & Ellis, said investors both big and small are now bidding on apartment complexes in "desirable locations." He said investors from Canada and China are the most active international buyers of Phoenix-area apartments now.
Scottsdale, Tempe, east and downtown Phoenix, and Chandler are some of the region's most popular spots for apartments with investors.
Last month, one Phoenix apartment complex drew 15 offers.
"I think rents will flatten out this summer and then increase in September again," Abert said.
A long-term shift
The fact that many people are losing homes to foreclosure means a longer-term shift toward rentals. Most of those former homeowners won't be able to buy for at least a few years because of the hits on their credit ratings, unless they pay cash. Some former homeowners don't want to buy, even if they could.
"I have no plans on purchasing another house anytime soon," said Debra Ledford, who "walked away" from a home in Maricopa that she owed $304,000 on. It was valued at $120,000. "I'm scared of what might happen again. I lost a great deal of money."
Now, Ledford rents a home in Ahwatukee Foothills for herself and her four children.
Foreclosures stay on a person's credit for five to seven years, meaning she couldn't buy for at least that long. But, after record foreclosures, some lenders may change their requirement to spur more homebuying.
"A lot of people have lost their faith in the economy and their desire to own a home," said Jay Butler, director of realty studies at Arizona State University. "People used to buy because they had careers. Now, more people rent because they have jobs they aren't sure about."
With expectations of slow housing appreciation in metro Phoenix during the next few years, some people don't want to buy and potentially lose money on a house.
"The 'graduate from school, get married and buy a home' model doesn't work for everyone anymore," said Trailor, the Arizona housing official. "For someone who knows they may only be working for a Phoenix company for 12 to 24 months, I don't think buying a home makes sense."
CLICK HERE TO GET AN INSTANT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT QUOTE
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
May 2011 Real Estate Market Report.
May 2011 Real Estate Market Report.
Payam Raouf
owenr/Associate Broker
Arizona Property Management and Investments
888-777-6664
Despite all the bad news coming in the past couple of days that real estate is heading for another 8% decline in the next 12 months, we are not seeing it here in most Phoenix Metro Areas. I do agree however, that we are top heavy in North Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and Paradise valley. We should see a considerable decline in prices by the end of this year in these areas.
Numbers speak louder than words!
As for the numbers: there are only 26024 homes showing active on Multiple Listing Services as of today May 10 2011 with 21878 homes under contract. In most areas, we have seen a price increase of at least 10% since December 2010.
Almost 70% of the homes under contract are purchased by investors. As the result, the number of rental homes is increasing. Currently there are 5388 homes for rent. The number of single family homes for rent has increased to 3216 an increase of 30% over the past 30 days and we see a substantial increase in that number in near the future as the homes cuurently under contract close.
Since January, rents in most areas have steadily increased by 5%. However; going forward I see rents stay where they are for the next six to eight months, until the excess rental inventory is absorbed by the number of homeowners losing their homes to foreclosure.
We are still short of 4 bed room homes. The number of 4 bed room homes verses three is a 3 to 1 ratio. Most investors bought 4 bed room homes and we shall also see that ratio balancing itself out going forward.
Our formula of monthly rent being equal or greater than 1% of purchase price still applies in most cases ( ex: purchase price $100000, rent $1000 ) but if you are looking for a higher rate of return on your investment ( ex: purchase price $50,000, rent $800 ), there are other opportunities out there. One must be very careful getting into that market as such older properties could become a burden if not selected and managed properly.
Banks have been releasing more foreclosures into the market in the past 30 days. They are going very fast. Asset managers have been pricing them below the market to create a frenzy and get the price they ultimately want instead of pricing them high to begin with and lowering it eventually which takes longer for them to sell.
We specialize in acquisition of investment properties and property management. Please contact us toll free at 888-777-6664 or info@azezrentals.com for more information.
Payam Raouf
owenr/Associate Broker
Arizona Property Management and Investments
888-777-6664
Despite all the bad news coming in the past couple of days that real estate is heading for another 8% decline in the next 12 months, we are not seeing it here in most Phoenix Metro Areas. I do agree however, that we are top heavy in North Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and Paradise valley. We should see a considerable decline in prices by the end of this year in these areas.
Numbers speak louder than words!
As for the numbers: there are only 26024 homes showing active on Multiple Listing Services as of today May 10 2011 with 21878 homes under contract. In most areas, we have seen a price increase of at least 10% since December 2010.
Almost 70% of the homes under contract are purchased by investors. As the result, the number of rental homes is increasing. Currently there are 5388 homes for rent. The number of single family homes for rent has increased to 3216 an increase of 30% over the past 30 days and we see a substantial increase in that number in near the future as the homes cuurently under contract close.
Since January, rents in most areas have steadily increased by 5%. However; going forward I see rents stay where they are for the next six to eight months, until the excess rental inventory is absorbed by the number of homeowners losing their homes to foreclosure.
We are still short of 4 bed room homes. The number of 4 bed room homes verses three is a 3 to 1 ratio. Most investors bought 4 bed room homes and we shall also see that ratio balancing itself out going forward.
Our formula of monthly rent being equal or greater than 1% of purchase price still applies in most cases ( ex: purchase price $100000, rent $1000 ) but if you are looking for a higher rate of return on your investment ( ex: purchase price $50,000, rent $800 ), there are other opportunities out there. One must be very careful getting into that market as such older properties could become a burden if not selected and managed properly.
Banks have been releasing more foreclosures into the market in the past 30 days. They are going very fast. Asset managers have been pricing them below the market to create a frenzy and get the price they ultimately want instead of pricing them high to begin with and lowering it eventually which takes longer for them to sell.
We specialize in acquisition of investment properties and property management. Please contact us toll free at 888-777-6664 or info@azezrentals.com for more information.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
How is the real estate market in Arizona?
How is the real estate market in Arizona?
Payam Raouf
Owner/Associate Broker
Arizona Property Management and Investments
Offices in: Glendale, Sun City and Mesa
It is getting pretty tough out there to find and get the right property these days. Good inventory is pretty limited and not much is coming on the market either. If you find something you like and it makes sense, go ahead and buy it.
The only issue I have been running across in the past three weeks is that the rents do not support the increase in home prices. They eventually will but for right now, you might have to settle for less than our rent formula. (monthly rent equals or greater than 1% of purchasing price). For example: If the purchase price was $140,000, rent should have been $1400 or more per month. But rents have only gone up by 5% since January - $1250 is more like it - so, your net cash flow will be off by 1%, instead of receving 8%, you are looking at 7%. However; I am expecting it to go back up when we renew their leases next year.
Inflation is running at 10% or more. Adjusted to inflation in 5, 7 or 10 years when you are ready to sell your property, paying a few thousand more now is not going to matter much for the right property.
Here is couple suggestions:
Stay away from old old homes unless they have been well maintained. Skip the price ranges of $140,000 to $165,000. They mostly won't pencil out for a decent cash flow. Look at the demographics and income. Don't buy a $150,000 home where most rents are at $1200 to $1300. It takes longer to rent them if you want more.
Consider putting an offer on a short sale.If you do, make sure they don't have too many loans on it, the less the better. The agent or the short sale negotiator knows what he/she is doing. It is a plus If the present owner is willing to rent back.
Buy at trustee sales only if you have seen the house, talked to the current owner and ran a title report on it. Too many people have got burnt on those. It is a huge plus if the current owners are still living in them and you can talk to them yourself. Better yet, they might want to rent it from you too.
Wait for the right opportunity. Don't buy into the frenzy. There is no hurry. Buy as if YOU want to live in it. If it doesn't feel right, pass. The chances are, you will find a better one. This market might go up and down here and now but it is going to be where it is for a while given $10,000 up or down.
Stay away from 4 plaxes. Too much headache for too little cash flow no matter how much you buy it for. Trust me on that.
If you need any advice on how much rent to rent your house, fill out this "Contact Form" and we will give you an estimate.
If you are not working with a realtor and want me to help you buy an investment property, that is my speciality, fill out this "Contact Form" and let me know when a good time ( Arizona Time) to contact you is.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Investors drove up U.S. home sales last month, plunking down cash to grab cheap homes at risk of foreclosure. But purchases made by first-time homebuyers, who are crucial to a housing recovery, fell.
Sales of previously occupied homes rose in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.1 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That's up 3.7 percent from 4.92 million in February. The pace is far below the 6 million homes a year that economists say represents a healthy market.
Foreclosures or short sales, when the lender agrees to accept less than is owed on the mortgage, rose to 40 percent of all purchases. And deals paid for entirely in cash accounted for 35 percent of all sales. The Realtors group says that's the biggest percentage since they have been tracking all-cash sales.
Many of those purchases are being made by investors, who are targeting cheap properties in areas hit hardest by foreclosures: Phoenix, Las Vegas and Tampa. The trade group's data only accounts for individual investors and does not include homes sold in bulk at auction or on courthouse steps. So many of the foreclosure sales are likely being picked up en masse by private equity firms.
Another sign of the investor activity is that sales of homes priced under $100,000 have risen 10 percent from a year ago. In that same period, sales of mid-priced homes, between $100,000 and $500,000, have fallen more than 14 percent.
Fewer first-time homebuyers, the types of people who set down roots and raise families, are entering the market. Sales among that group fell to 33 percent in March. A more healthy percentage of first-time buyers is 40 percent, according to the trade group.
The median sales price rose in March to $159,600, but it is still down 5.9 percent from a year ago.
Homes at risk of foreclosure usually sell at 20 percent discounts compared to their original listing prices. So when sales of distressed properties rise, prices fall. But Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist with MFR Inc., said that "part of the market-clearing process is that distressed properties must be sold, so the fact that this is occurring is good."
For March, sales rose 8.2 percent in the South, 3.9 percent in the Northeast and 1 percent in the Midwest. Sales fell 0.8 percent in the West.
Sales of single-family homes rose 4 percent to an annual rate of 4.45 million units. Sales of condominiums rose 1.6 percent to a rate of 650,000 units.
Payam Raouf
Owner/Associate Broker
Arizona Property Management and Investments
Offices in: Glendale, Sun City and Mesa
It is getting pretty tough out there to find and get the right property these days. Good inventory is pretty limited and not much is coming on the market either. If you find something you like and it makes sense, go ahead and buy it.
The only issue I have been running across in the past three weeks is that the rents do not support the increase in home prices. They eventually will but for right now, you might have to settle for less than our rent formula. (monthly rent equals or greater than 1% of purchasing price). For example: If the purchase price was $140,000, rent should have been $1400 or more per month. But rents have only gone up by 5% since January - $1250 is more like it - so, your net cash flow will be off by 1%, instead of receving 8%, you are looking at 7%. However; I am expecting it to go back up when we renew their leases next year.
Inflation is running at 10% or more. Adjusted to inflation in 5, 7 or 10 years when you are ready to sell your property, paying a few thousand more now is not going to matter much for the right property.
Here is couple suggestions:
Stay away from old old homes unless they have been well maintained. Skip the price ranges of $140,000 to $165,000. They mostly won't pencil out for a decent cash flow. Look at the demographics and income. Don't buy a $150,000 home where most rents are at $1200 to $1300. It takes longer to rent them if you want more.
Consider putting an offer on a short sale.If you do, make sure they don't have too many loans on it, the less the better. The agent or the short sale negotiator knows what he/she is doing. It is a plus If the present owner is willing to rent back.
Buy at trustee sales only if you have seen the house, talked to the current owner and ran a title report on it. Too many people have got burnt on those. It is a huge plus if the current owners are still living in them and you can talk to them yourself. Better yet, they might want to rent it from you too.
Wait for the right opportunity. Don't buy into the frenzy. There is no hurry. Buy as if YOU want to live in it. If it doesn't feel right, pass. The chances are, you will find a better one. This market might go up and down here and now but it is going to be where it is for a while given $10,000 up or down.
Stay away from 4 plaxes. Too much headache for too little cash flow no matter how much you buy it for. Trust me on that.
If you need any advice on how much rent to rent your house, fill out this "Contact Form" and we will give you an estimate.
If you are not working with a realtor and want me to help you buy an investment property, that is my speciality, fill out this "Contact Form" and let me know when a good time ( Arizona Time) to contact you is.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Investors drove up U.S. home sales last month, plunking down cash to grab cheap homes at risk of foreclosure. But purchases made by first-time homebuyers, who are crucial to a housing recovery, fell.
Sales of previously occupied homes rose in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.1 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That's up 3.7 percent from 4.92 million in February. The pace is far below the 6 million homes a year that economists say represents a healthy market.
Foreclosures or short sales, when the lender agrees to accept less than is owed on the mortgage, rose to 40 percent of all purchases. And deals paid for entirely in cash accounted for 35 percent of all sales. The Realtors group says that's the biggest percentage since they have been tracking all-cash sales.
Many of those purchases are being made by investors, who are targeting cheap properties in areas hit hardest by foreclosures: Phoenix, Las Vegas and Tampa. The trade group's data only accounts for individual investors and does not include homes sold in bulk at auction or on courthouse steps. So many of the foreclosure sales are likely being picked up en masse by private equity firms.
Another sign of the investor activity is that sales of homes priced under $100,000 have risen 10 percent from a year ago. In that same period, sales of mid-priced homes, between $100,000 and $500,000, have fallen more than 14 percent.
Fewer first-time homebuyers, the types of people who set down roots and raise families, are entering the market. Sales among that group fell to 33 percent in March. A more healthy percentage of first-time buyers is 40 percent, according to the trade group.
The median sales price rose in March to $159,600, but it is still down 5.9 percent from a year ago.
Homes at risk of foreclosure usually sell at 20 percent discounts compared to their original listing prices. So when sales of distressed properties rise, prices fall. But Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist with MFR Inc., said that "part of the market-clearing process is that distressed properties must be sold, so the fact that this is occurring is good."
For March, sales rose 8.2 percent in the South, 3.9 percent in the Northeast and 1 percent in the Midwest. Sales fell 0.8 percent in the West.
Sales of single-family homes rose 4 percent to an annual rate of 4.45 million units. Sales of condominiums rose 1.6 percent to a rate of 650,000 units.
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