Although I work out of my real estate office in Montrose, CO, I also live in Ridgway, Ouray County.   I get the occasional listing or buyer looking in this area, which alway pleases me, since I love living here so much.   Today, as I work from my beautiful home with the spectacular view of the Cimarron Mountains, I thought I’d take a look at the residential active and sold listings for Ouray County on our MLS.   For sold listings, I limited it to sales within the last 6 months.   I excluded trailers or mobile homes that do not include the real estate.  Otherwise, these listings will include stick-built,  manufactured, modular homes and condos and townhomes. 

I found 262 such listings, of which 28 sold in the last 6 months.    That represents less than 11% of the inventory.  Of the active listings, prices range from $99,000 to $7,995,000.  Average asking price is $603,916, and median asking price, $408,000.   Average days on the market is 332 (and counting).

Of the sold listings, the prices ranged from $99,000 to $770,000.  The average sale price was $306,579, and median sale price, $260,000.   Average days on market was 225.

Out of the 262 listings, 17 are bank-owned (foreclosures), which represents less than 7% of the total market.  Of these 17 listings, 10 sold within the last 6 months, ranging in sale prices from $148,000 to $328,000.  Those 10 sales out of the total of 28 sales means that almost 36% of the sales were foreclsoures. 

Of the 7 active foreclosure listings, 3 are under contract ranging in asking price from $144,900 to $292,500.  The 4 remaining active listings not under contract range in price from $155,000 to $450,000.  The latter started out with an original price of $750,000!

Obviously, what is moving in Ouray County are the real bargains (i.e., bank-owned) or more affordable homes for Ouray County, i.e., close to $300,000 and under.  While it truly is a great time to buy in Ouray County, in fact, there is not a whole lot of bargain or affordable inventory.  Such inventory that exists goes quickly.  So, if you’re thinking of buying in Ouray County, you will need to keep a close eye on the market and move quickly.  Snooze, you will loose!

Happy May Day!

Ninah Hunter
Keller Williams Colorado West Realty
(970) 318-0064
www.NinahHunter.com
Ninah@NinahHunter.com

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We hear a lot about “foreclosures” and buyers and investors looking for “foreclosures” and real estate agents advertising  “foreclosures.”  In fact, what most of these people are referring to are REO (real estate owned ) properties, that is, real estate owned by the bank.  These are properties that have actually gone through the legal foreclosure process, been offered for sale at a public auction, and when no one exceeds the bank’s minimum bid, it goes to the highest bidder, i.e., the bank.

Once the bank gets the property back, it then lists it with a local real estate broker, usually after getting 2-3 BPO’s (broker price opinions) and possibly a formal appraisal.  This means that when the property is initially listed, it is listed at a price the owner/seller/bank believes is market value.  If it doesn’t sell right away, the bank will generally lower the price, and keep lowering the price in regular intervals, typically after 30 days.  This is, of course, just a general rule, and not all banks readily lower their price or do so within any given period of time.

That is one benefit of foreclosures (i.e., REO’s, bank-owned properties).  If you’re patient, and not emotionally tied to a particular property, you can keep an eye on it and wait till the price hits your “sweet point.”  The flip side, of course, is that someone else my swoop in and buy it first.  The pitfalls and problems of buying a foreclosure are the subject of another post.  But in today’s economic climate, foreclosures do spell “bargain” for a lot of people.

If you’re searching for foreclosures on the internet, a good indication that a property is an REO (if the listing doesn’t flat out tell you) is that it will indicate that it is sold “as is, where is” and that the seller makes no warranties, etc.  This doesn’t mean you are totally at risk.  If you go under contract on a foreclosure, you still generally have all the rights of any buyer to do your due diligence with respect to inspections, title review, review and approval of covenants and HOA governing documentation, and getting your financing if the contract is conditional on that.

In a recent presentation by the Montrose County Public Trustee, Rosemary Murphy, last month, she revealed that at that time,  there were already about 120 pending foreclosures.  She said she was expecting about a total of 400 to be filed by year’s end.  This compares with about a total of 160 filed in 2009.  For more information on the pre-foreclosure process and public auctions, visit the Montrose County Treasureer/Public Trustee Site.  There you can also get a list of properties currently in foreclosure and of the pending pre-foreclosure sales and outcome of such sales.  I just checked, and there are 26 pages of pending foreclosures.

As Public Trustee Murphy told us, the vast majority of these properties will not sell to a private buyer at the public auction.   Consequently, we can expect many, if not most, of these to become bank-owned/REO properties, aka “foreclosures,” that will soon come on the market as an MLS listing with a local real estate broker.  I just checked the local Internet for REO/bank-owned residential properties in Montrose County.  Click here for a list of these 62 listings.

Foreclosures are a sad and continuing fall-out of the economic disaster we have been experiencing the last 3 years.  But foreclosures also represent a golden opportunity for those who can take advantage of them, whether as a first-time homebuyer or an investor.  To find out if buying a foreclosure is right for you, consult your local foreclosure real estate expert.

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Almost everyone is looking for and expecting to get a great bargain these days. There’s no question it’s a buyer’s market, but when it comes to foreclosures, don’t expect the banks to give it away, any more than a private seller would. REO’s (i.e., foreclosed, bank-owned) properties do offer some of the best bargains around, but if you’re expecting banks to accept your lowball offer, you need to keep in mind a few things.

First, banks have already taken a substantial hit by the time they become the owner of the property they have foreclosed on. They’re not in a very charitable mood to lose any more than they have to. Second, before the property is listed with a real estate agent, the bank has obtained at least 2 or 3 BPO’s (Broker Price Opinions) and an appraisal. Consequently, the lender seller sets the asking price at current market value, if not slightly below. Depending on the property and the price point, these properties generally move fairly quickly. Homebuyers and investors who know the market will recognize these as good value and move quickly. If a buyer makes an unreasonably low offer, many banks won’t even respond or they’ll flat out reject the offer with no counteroffer.

You have to keep in mind, too, that banks are not really concerned about a buyer’s timeframe, even the one set out in the proposed contract. They move at their own speed. So, if they don’t accept your offer or respond by your acceptance deadline because it’s not a reasonable offer, it’s no skin off their nose. They may wait for another offer or two to come in. If there are multiple offers, they may ask all buyers to submit another offer and take their best shot.

This doesn’t mean you can’t make a killer deal on a foreclosure, however. Unlike the private seller, banks or their asset managers handling the sale, have no emotion wrapped up in the property or a pressing reason to sell, other than to get these assets off their books. Therefore, if the property doesn’t move within the first 30 days or so, many lenders will periodically reduce the price until they hit that “sweet spot” that will get it sold.

For these reasons, if you are basically an investor with time and patience, you should pay attention to days on the market and try to time any offer for 3-4 weeks after the property is first listed or the last price reduction. On the other hand, if you really fall in love with the REO home that is perfect for you and your family, then don’t wait or lowball. Make your best offer as close to the asking price as possible, if not slightly over, and hope another offer is not on the way. It will still be a good bargain as well as home sweet home.

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