Entries Tagged 'Top 10 Real Estate Lists' ↓

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The carnage is running rampant in California these days in the housing market as in some communities there seems to be a home on every street that is in some stage of foreclosure. For example, Stockton is leading the list and one out of every 30 homes is in some stage of foreclosure.

The one thing I am noticing is that some markets are in free fall. I do feel sorry for those who bought honestly in these markets.

Top 10 Worst Metro Areas For Foreclosures, 1st Quarter, 2008

The top 10 metro areas in the United States for foreclosures include the usual suspects led by 6 California markets, Las Vegas, Detroit, Phoenix, and Fort Lauderdale. There were 2 real surprises for me in the RealtyTrac report, first that Detroit has dropped down to number 6 after being the leader in foreclosures for so long. And the other one was San Diego moving up to the 9^th position. San Diego has gone through a boom and a bust, there is no doubt of that, but overall with it’s amazing climate and location I thought it would be a bit more resistant to the travails of the marketplace.

Top 10 Metro Areas For Foreclosures - 1st Quarter, 2008

1. Stockton, California
2. Riverside, San Bernardino, California
3. Las Vegas, Paradise, Nevada
4. Bakersfield, California
5. Sacramento, California
6. Detroit, Livonia, Dearborn, Michigan
7. Phoenix, Mesa, Arizona
8. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
9. San Diego, California
10. Oakland, California

The states with the lowest foreclosure rate are an interesting group. RealtyTrac tells us they range from upper Northeast states such as Vermont and Maine to vacation destination Hawaii, Midwest outposts North and South Dakota to to Southern states such as Mississippi and Alabama.

What they do share in common was that they were not the destination of the speculators in the marketplace during the run up of the early part of the century. It does make me think that the majority of the foreclosures are not a result of national economic issues but more so that some markets got too hot and now they are coming back with some getting hurt.

That is not a national crisis, but instead a market that is coming to grips with it’s over indulgence. And the actions of Washington during an election year will make a much larger mess than would have occurred naturally.

Top 10 States With Lowest Foreclosure Rate For March, 2008

1. Vermont 1 in 154,799 homes
2. North Dakota 1 in 38,275
3. South Dakota 1 in 22,051 homes
4. West Virginia 1 in 12,209 homes
5. Mississippi 1 in 6,604 homes
6. Hawaii 1 in 4,167 homes
7. Maine 1 in 3,526 homes
8. Louisiana 1 in 2,923 homes
9. Alabama 1 in 3,251 homes
10. Wyoming 1 in 2,917 homes

If you are interested in making money off of the foreclosures that are occuring and that programs like these are probably only going to make worse, get a free trial and see all of the foreclosures in your area.

Nevada, California, Florida, and Arizona take the top spots for foreclosures in the month of March, 2008 according to RealtyTrac. The speculative markets in these states are still unwinding as housing prices continue to recede.

Nevada is the hardest hit with one out of every 139 homes in foreclosure, nearly 4 times the national average. For comparison sake, Vermont which has the least amount of foreclosures has one home in 154,779 in foreclosure.

Top Ten States For Foreclosures - March, 2008

1. Nevada               1 in 139 homes
2. California            1 in 204 homes
3. Florida                 1 in 282 homes
4. Arizona                1 in 283 homes
5. Colorado             1 in 339 homes
6. Georgia                1 in 351 homes
7. Ohio                     1 in 448 homes
8. Michigan             1 in 475 homes
9. Massachusetts  1 in 486 homes
10. Maryland             1 in 538 homes

via RealtyTrac

If you are interested in making money off of the foreclosures that are occuring and that programs like these are probably only going to make worse, get a free trial and see all of the foreclosures in your area.

Hate traffic? If so these are the cities you probably want to avoid. Washington D.C. leads the list as huge levels of government hiring have choked the infrastructure and created perpetual bottlenecks on most of the highways. Coming in second is Atlanta, Georgia. When I moved here in 1991 everything was 20 minutes away. The newly built and refurbished interstate system was humming and traffic problems were fairly rare. But since adding over a million new residents in the past decade traffic is one of the worst problems the region faces.

Here are all 10 of the worst cities for traffic as put together by Forbes Magazine.

Top 10 Cities With The Worst Traffic:

1. Washington D.C.
2. Atlanta, GA
3. Los Angeles, CA
4. San Francisco, CA
5. Houston, TX
6. New York, NY
7. Riverside – San Bernardino, CA
8. Chicago, IL
9. Dallas, TX
10. Boston, MA.

With all of the dire news on the real estate front, many areas are still growing hand over fist. Much of it is organic population growth but relocation also plays a big part.

Dallas Fort Worth led the way in growth between July 1^st, 2006 and July 1^st, 2007. The city grew by over 162 thousand residents with Atlanta close behind at over 150 thousand new folks. Out of the top 10 areas for growth, 8 are in the south. Who is going to tell me that air conditioning isn’t one of the most impactful housing accomplishments in the history of housing.

This report provides even more fuel to the fire that much of the housing crisis that has been created is a combination of over building and speculators in these markets. Once inventory is under control, normal markets will follow shortly thereafter.

Top 10 Metropolitan Areas With Biggest Population Gain

1. Dallas Fort Worth Arlington – Texas     162,250
2. Atlanta Sandy Springs Marietta – Georgia     151,063
3. Phoenix Mesa Scottsdale – Arizona     132,513
4. Houston Sugar Land Baytown – Texas     120,544
5. Riverside San Bernardino Ontario – California    86,660
6. Charlotte Gastonia Concord – North Carolina     66,724
7. Chicago Naperville Joliet – Illinois     66,231
8. Austin Round Rock – Texas     65,880
9. Las Vegas Paradise – Nevada     59,165
10. San Antonio – Texas    53,925

via CNN

One of 2007’s top stories was the huge increase in foreclosures across the United States. The final numbers have been released by RealtyTrac and they are tough but expected. The worst states hit were markets where speculators walked away from properties or the effects of a miserable Midwestern economy.

Nevada led the way with one out every 33 homes in foreclosure with Florida coming in second with 1 out of 50 homes.  

Rank    State           Total   % of Homes
1       Nevada          34,417  3.376
2       Florida         165,291 2.002
3       Michigan        87,210  1.947
4       California      249,513 1.921
5       Colorado        39,403  1.919
6       Ohio            89,979  1.797
7       Georgia         59,057  1.566
8       Arizona         38,568  1.516
9       Illinois        64,310  1.25
10      Indiana         27,980  1.027

Click here to for a Free Foreclosure search in your area if you are still interested in getting into the foreclosure game to find properties near your home.

I found these numbers at the USA Today and put them into a top 10 list of states with the lowest percentage of outstanding loans that are adjustable rates. After all the media hype about subprime fallout it seems that the numbers really do not tell the story outside of California and Florida.

What really was interesting was looking at the numbers after playing around with them in excel. There are 25 states with less than 1 percent of their outstanding mortgages in the Adjustable Rate category. Only 14 states have more than 2 percent of ARMs outstanding.

While not diminishing the issue, from the media reports you would never guess that the numbers would be as low as they are. But we all know the media never hypes things to sell papers, right?

Top 10 States With Lowest Adjustable Rate Mortgages Percentage

I found these numbers at the USA Today and put them into a top 10 list of states with the highest percentage of outstanding loans that are adjustable rates. After all the media hype about subprime fallout it seems that the numbers really do not tell the story outside of California and Florida.

And my guess is that many of those who played the adjustable rate game were speculators or those who wanted to upgrade their lifestyle on the hope of a surging market.

Top 10 States With Highest Adjustable Rate Mortgages Percentage

One of the biggest concerns when I talk to real estate agents is, “What are the chances that my site will be found? After seeing the most recent survey on top real estate sites on the internet, I would say very good. Very, very good.

The big boys that we who follow the real estate market closely do not have the penetration in the market that we would assume.

When the top 10 sites comprise only 5.34 percent of the real estate searches, that is a huge win for the long tail. It also means that branding by the big boys is important but not overwhelming. Instead, focusing on the local seaches in your area has a great chance of being an effective strategy for the long term.

So if you are a real estate agent wondering if you can be a winner in local search, my answer is a resounding yes. Not a bad thing to think about heading into a new year.

The Top 10 Internet Searches For Real Estate Sites 

1. REALTOR.com 1.56%
2. Remax 0.91%
3. Real Estate 0.47%
4. Apartments 0.40%
5. Homes for Sale 0.37%
6. Century 21 0.35%
7. Zillow.com 0.34%
8. Zillow 0.33%
9. Realtor 0.31%
10. For sale by owner 0.30%

via Press Release