REO Expo Recap

By Melisssa Shapiro, AVP Director of Sales Fidelity Phoenix

The mood was optimistic last week at the big REO conference in Dallas, REO EXPO. Experts believed that we are nearing the bottom of the housing crisis, with a long way to recover, but starting to move the needle north.

Banks and outsourcers alike believed inventory was going to increase by end of third quarter and into the fourth quarter, steadily all the way up to the holidays. Releasing toxic assets, getting them on the market and liquidating them is the only way to begin our recovery. There has been such a stop and go across the nation with releasing assets and then pulling back. Much of this has been due to the moratoriums put into place caused by the national loan modification push, the robo signings and the MERS issues. Banks want to be sure that they are crossing all t’s and dotting all i’s. The banks that are consumer backed with banking and depository relationships are especially sensitive to their image and “doing the right thing”. What everybody does realize is that our problem is not getting any better. The message between the banks is that they are committed to moving these assets any way they can, either with short sale, deed in lieu or foreclosure. There were more panelist at the REO EXPO speaking of an aggressive push toward short sale than ever before. Each of the big banks, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Chase have all placed time and resources into call centers and education on how to successfully close short sales. In many cases, a home sold as a short sale is a better price than a foreclosure and the realtor is paid higher commissions.

The problem still remains that homeowners are still not paying their mortgages and housing prices are still upside down. In Arizona 1 out of every 4 loans is seriously in default (more than 60 days late). There are still over 40 thousand properties with no running water, no electricity and not claimed by the bank. Inventory on MLS in Maricopa county is just under 22 thousand, an all time low. The positive side to this is that due to the elementary theory of supply and demand, prices are going up with multiple offers on most listings.

With the big push of releasing inventory, aggressive stands on closing short sales and home prices at an all time low, a push toward recovery is sure to be near in our future.