Report: Phoenix home prices to drop another 23%

Yesterday, we unveiled our Short Sale Lead Generation program for our Fidelity Elite Short Sale Agent Group, and we handed out 18,000 leads throughout the state of Arizona and it is clear, that the Agents and Lenders, that get in front of this problem now, before the next wave of REO comes out, will get a better return for both consumers and banks. Below is some very sobering forecasts on Arizona and what is still to come in terms of the housing decline in values…..Steve de Laveaga, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing with Fidelity National Title

Report: Phoenix home prices to drop another 23%
Reported by: Tim Vetscher

PHOENIX -- Valley homeowners, brace yourselves for more bad news.
A new report indicates home prices will continue to shrink nationwide, with an especially sharp decline here in Phoenix.

"That's real scary," said Tempe resident and homeowner Linda Weinberg. "I hope that's not conceivable. It's pretty scary."

According to Fiserv, a financial information and analysis firm, home prices in Phoenix are expected to lose another 23.4 percent by June of next year.

"Such is the state of the market," said Chandler resident and homeowner Mark Siebel. "Just like anything it can go up or it can go down. It's unfortunate if it would go down another 23 percent."
One bright spot in the report is that Fiserv expects the losses to be less than 5 percent the following year compared to other markets where the declines will continue to be steep into 2011.
Fiserv estimates home values have already collapsed by 54 percent here in the Valley.

"(The report) means I consider going into foreclosure or short sale," said Gilbert resident and homeowner Bruce English. "Or being stuck with a home for 15 years before reaching break even to sell it."

Short Sale... A Dignified Solution to a Homeowner's Financial Crisis

Short sale: mentioned a lot, but not fully understood by many. A short sale is a traditional sale between a Seller, the owner of record, and a Buyer, with a third party contingency requiring approval from the Seller’s lender to sell the property “short” of the debt due to decreasing values and documented hardship by the seller.

A short sale happens when a homeowner NEEDS to sell their home, but cannot because the value has dropped below what they owe. The “needs-to-sell” determines who qualifies for a short sale. In the eyes of the lender, this “need” is a circumstance or series of events that has made it impossible for the homeowner to continue to pay the monthly mortgage payments. Also called hardships, these circumstances could be a reduction in income as a result of a pay cut or loss of commissionable income, a job loss, a divorce, a job transfer or new hire out of the area forcing a move, the death of a family member, prolonged illness, any serious family medical condition causing a forced move, increase in medical bills, sustained medical leave of absence from the work force or disability. In many situations there is a combination of factors that when compounded, the probability of a homeowner losing his/her home increases.

A short sale may be the solution after the homeowner has tried the other options available to ease his/her financial crunch: Seeking advice, from the lender, for a possible refinance, loan modification or forbearance are possible ways to stay in the home while reducing monthly financial obligation. Visit www.makinghomeaffordable.gov to research the viability of these programs for each situation. If those avenues don’t produce successful results, a short sale may be the best alternative.

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By: Gayle Henderson, CDPE Advanced, RE/MAX Excalibur Realty, www.azavoidforeclosurenow.com

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