Comments on: Foreclosure Radar

Foreclosure Radar

chunking express — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:37:36 -0800

This is the fastest growth market in real estate, and we can help you capitalize on it. We go far beyond simple foreclosure listings: we track every single foreclosure auction in the state, every day.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:52:40 -0800

California only.

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:53:30 -0800

Similar, but for the whole U.S.

By: caddis

caddis — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:58:29 -0800

The lowest rung on the ladder

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:01:37 -0800

Heh. If only Casy Serin had started now.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:07:54 -0800

And the cycle begins again.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:28:46 -0800

Would these guys be the blow flies that appear on the corpse first?

By: freebird

freebird — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:33:04 -0800

The Agents started showing up outside her house after she was a few days late on an electricity bill. Dressed sportingly casual, with an alarming number of cameras and cellphones, they looked like a Gap ad gone on a safari in suburbia. "What are you doing in my fucking driveway?" she inquired on her way to work. "Just on the sidewalk, ma'am...public sidewalk." as he tipped his hat. She was late to work that morning after telling them off, and when her boss in turn told her off she took a long lunch to cool down. When she returned, they were talking with her coworkers. "What the - " "Just statistics ma'am, nothing personal. It's like insurance. We've noticed you have a higher likelihood of bankruptcy in the next six months than the county average. So it's worth our while to just...keep close." "So you can be first?" "That's right ma'am. It's just statistics." Of course, having them hovering around the office didn't help her get back on track at work. Nor did her morning ritual of trying to lose them in traffic so that she came in later and later, until she crashed her car while craning her neck around to see if they were still behind her in an intersection. When it all fell apart in a huge self-fulfilling prophecy, the worst part was their smug looks - as though they'd known it would come the whole time. Which they insisted of course that they hadn't - just thought it "more likely. Just statistics ma'am." She wondered which part of scaring off her dates with their staring and photographing was statistics, or of their constant interviewing of her bosses and coworkers was "impartial data collection." But she didn't bother to ask. What she did ask was a very technical question about their bankruptcy/ forclosure business, and it's relationship to insurance claims and criminal acts. She hummed their answers to herself quietly that night as she poured gasoline and sterno over everything she owned.

By: bruce

bruce — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:51:46 -0800

don't go hatin on these people, vultures need love too, and they perform an essential function in the market, just as avian vultures perform an essential function in the wild. when somebody signs a mortgage (the roots of this word mean "pledge unto death") they're putting the property on the line as collateral for their promise to pay off the loan. the existence of the foreclosure remedy is good, not bad, because without it, lenders would either not lend at all on real estate, or they would lend at much more expensive unsecured loan terms, and (rough guess) 90% of homebuyers wouldn't be able to afford to buy, and they'd all be renters instead, losing further ground to the landed aristocracy. when the borrower defaults on the loan, foreclosureman picks the corpse clean and returns the property to the market, helping to keep real estate affordable as a consequence of supply and demand. going back to avian vultures again: some of you like hiking in the woods, right? would your hiking experience be enhanced or degraded by the presence of rotting animal corpses all around you as you hiked? have you hugged a vulture today?

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:02:16 -0800

MetaFilter: the roots of this word mean "pledge unto death"

By: mckenney

mckenney — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:04:18 -0800

For any of you who are like me, who own property and yet still, cannot tear yourself away from checking out what every single house in your city costs, that nationwide link is better viewed in a separate tab with Google Maps. That way, you can enter the street and zip code and get a vicarious thrill thinking that a lakeside million-dollar house is totally being foreclosed on. Guilty feelings optional. I personally opt out.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:15:48 -0800

when the borrower defaults on the loan, foreclosureman picks the corpse clean and returns the property to the market, helping to keep real estate affordable as a consequence of supply and demand. going back to avian vultures again: some of you like hiking in the woods, right? would your hiking experience be enhanced or degraded by the presence of rotting animal corpses all around you as you hiked? Except that's exactly what is happening. All the foreclosures are leaving abandoned houses, which you might be amazed to discover aren't just picked clean and dissolved away like a dead corpse in the forest.

By: bugbread

bugbread — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:29:54 -0800

XQUZYPHYR writes "Except that's exactly what is happening. All the foreclosures are leaving abandoned houses, which you might be amazed to discover aren't just picked clean and dissolved away like a dead corpse in the forest." Er...yes, and this site is collecting this info so that other people can buy the houses. Foreclosure is like death. Purchasers of foreclosed houses are like vultures. These sites are maps to corpses for vultures.

By: Mr_Zero

Mr_Zero — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:52:35 -0800

I wish I would have looked at this a year or two ago so I could have some comparison to now. It seems like there are an awful lot of foreclosures in some areas.

By: doctor_negative

doctor_negative — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:58:38 -0800

The 3 day free trial converts to a $50 a month subscription, unless you cancel.

By: Item

Item — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:22:03 -0800

XQUZYPHYR's right - and not only are properties sitting empty, but those kicked out of their houses are being forced to rent. And the places that they're leasing? Forfeited by their previous inhabitants by foreclosure. Ah, the circle of life.

By: Brak

Brak — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:27:38 -0800

Yeah, the national one that Kirth Gerson posted makes you give them billing information (credit card number, bank account number, etc.) to sign up for the free trial. This is, of course, for your convenience: Providing a valid credit card or checking account allows us to qualify you for the free trial and provide the service without future interruption upon expiration of the free period. My experience with these types of companies is that, if they have your billing information, rest assured that they'll use it, and it'll be up to you to (attempt to) get them to stop. Vultures, indeed. Aggressive ones, at that.

By: datacenter refugee

datacenter refugee — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:28:44 -0800

"And the places that they're leasing? Forfeited by their previous inhabitants by foreclosure." If that was the case the housing market would be far better. There is still a rental 'glut' which is why the housing sales market is so depressed. With an excess of rentable units rents are low - So low in fact that the average non-shady mortgage + property taxes are higher than the possible rental income. If the rental market was in such good shape that foreclosed-upon homes immediately became leased, realtors wouldn't be shitting themselves so often these days. On the bright side, it's still a damn good time to be a renter.

By: mckenney

mckenney — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:33:53 -0800

(PS my suggestion does not require registration, but you do not get the specific addresses, thus preserving your credit cards)

By: zoogleplex

zoogleplex — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:36:19 -0800

IMO, anyone who buys a foreclosed place for more than 50% of what the repossessor would like to get for it is making a poor business decision. Anyone who actually pays what the repossessor would like to get for it is going to wind up being the next foreclosure statistic, most likely. Housing market's got a long way to fall yet, IMO.

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:39:47 -0800

The last time I looked at that site I posted, they gave you an aerial view of each property. It wasn't too hard to figure out where the houses were, if you knew the neighborhood. Now they give you a "Sample Member View" of some generic house, so you've got to give them your identity-theft package to make the site useful. Sorry - I didn't know they'd stopped giving out the candy and were now charging for it.

By: jfuller

jfuller — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:39:57 -0800

> On the bright side, it's still a damn good time to be a renter. Or a vulture.

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:41:18 -0800

Hey, I can see my house from here! Oh, wait...

By: Brak

Brak — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:45:02 -0800

Oops, I should have mentioned that too. The national one does let you browse a basic set of features on their site without signing up for anything.

By: evilangela

evilangela — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:52:08 -0800

Are those sites useful to the prospective first-time home buyer? Considering that there seems to be no sign that the bubble in Seattle is ending anytime soon, I'd like to see if there's a way to buy something that's actually affordable...

By: inigo2

inigo2 — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:19:20 -0800

So low in fact that the average non-shady mortgage + property taxes are higher than the possible rental income. Almost as if part of the issue is that people were buying up too many houses to be used as "rental properties".

By: hodyoaten

hodyoaten — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:21:50 -0800

On the bright side, it's still a damn good time to be a renter. I wouldn't say that... in a medium-sized city here in Texas (and I'm not talking about Aus/Hou/Dal/SA), the rentals in marginally-decent upkept neighborhoods start at $900-1000. At that price, one might as well just buy.

By: pax digita

pax digita — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:47:40 -0800

Housing market's got a long way to fall yet, IMO. It's interesting (if not terribly useful) to speculate on what sort of upward pressure this puts on rental markets in the short to near-long term. Anecdotally, I've noticed somewhat of an increase in new tenants at my apartment complex who are moving in and putting a ton of stuff in storage in the detached row of garages opposite my apartment. It's hard to put a finger on it, but I've sensed a lot of low-grade bitter wistfulness at their moving in, as if they're not happy at the prospect, and it's made me wonder if they're in the process of moving in as a consequence of foreclosure. I have a credit card I don't care a fig about canceling, and I wonder whether it'd be worth it to see if specific houses in a couple of neighborhoods in my old and new home towns are getting foreclosed.

By: humanfont

humanfont — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 12:11:54 -0800

This might be the best time to be in a low interest fixed rate mortgage. The fed is pumping money into the system, which may cause 70s style inflation. If inflation is running at 18% /year, but your loan in only 6% then arn't you clearing a pretty good return at your lender's expense.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:06:04 -0800

Considering that there seems to be no sign that the bubble in Seattle is ending anytime soon, I'd like to see if there's a way to buy something that's actually affordable... Wait.

By: Heywood Mogroot

Heywood Mogroot — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:42:09 -0800

The fed is pumping money into the system that was accomplished 2002-2006 when total outstanding debt $5-7 trillion. what they're doing now is temporary liqudity operations (overnight loans essentially) to try to keep the market turning over.

By: Heywood Mogroot

Heywood Mogroot — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:42:29 -0800

(debt rose $5-7T)

By: supercrayon

supercrayon — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:57:04 -0800

Ugh, FUCK, I worked as an admin for an agent who did this exact same thing. We were provided a list of people who had defaulted, and I mailed out letters advising that the agent could be of assistance to them. He loved that part because whenever he was confronted he would piously insist that he was "trying to help people", but of course he almost never got any responses from those letters (who *would* respond? I can't even imagine how weird that must be, you're having financial difficulties and someone is mailing you out of the blue to say they know all about it? Ew.). But he didn't care about that part - he just wanted the owners to be foreclosed upon so that he could swoop in, buy the property for next to nothing, then sell it on the market for like twice what he had bought it for. So basically making a living off of other people's misfortunes, especially because the statistic in my county at the time was that half of people went into foreclosure due to an unforeseen medical expense. Talk about being fucked by the universe: "You have colon cancer and need chemo, also we're taking your house! Have a nice day!" And meanwhile his kids were in private schools, and he and his wife drove BMWs and lived in a big fancy house. My worst experiences working for him was when he had purchased a condo that had been foreclosed. He allowed the person who had owned it to collect her things (a poor elderly lady who lived alone) and I had to stay with her while she did it to make sure she didn't steal anything or vandalize the property. You know, steal from or vandalize the property that had been hers until the previous week. Also, she had to pay me. By the hour. And I kid you not, it was like three weeks before Christmas. I got a lunch break while she was driving the first load of her stuff to wherever she was staying, and I walked to my parents house which was around the corner, and told them what I had been doing with my afternoon - needless to say, the look of total disgust they leveled at me made me realize just how bad what I was doing was. I've never been so ashamed in my life. I gave the lady the money back, and when the agent fired me a couple weeks afterwards I was so relieved not to have to work for him anymore that I was actually grinning all through my firing. The only reason I stuck it out as long as I did was because I was a student and needed the money (being "a student and needing the money" of course being classified as a kind of mental illness when it comes to employment choices.)