Swamplot Archives by Category: Foreclosures

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Surprise! Wilshire Village Facing Foreclosure

October 29, 2009 – 1:34 pm

The Wilshire Village soap opera continues: A source sends Swamplot two trustee’s sale notices for the now-demolished 7.68-acre apartment complex at the corner of W. Alabama and Dunlavy.

How deep into it is the owner? There’s a first lien of $10,742,000 to Amegy Bank, now “wholly due and payable”! That lien dates from January 31, 2006 — the same date, according to HCAD, that the owner, a limited partnership named Alabama & Dunlavy Ltd., took over the property.

The second notice documents problems with Alabama & Dunlavy Ltd.’s separate mezzanine financing with Wedge Real Estate, in the amount of $3 million. That separate promissory note appears to date from May 30th of 2008. Both trustee’s sale notices are dated earlier this month.

Our source comments:

It is rather interesting that Wedge Holdings is the mezz lender, with Wedge being Mayor Bill White’s former company. I feel certain that Matt [Dilick] will avert foreclosure by filing bankruptcy, if he has not already done so.

Oh but if if if foreclosure somehow isn’t averted, where and when might eager Swamplotters be able to snap up this fine scraped property?

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1:34 pm | 19 Comments | Read more about Demolitions, Development Strategies, Financing, Foreclosures, Neighborhoods: Lancaster Place
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Friday, October 23, 2009

Only the Towers Remain Standing: Mosaic and Friends Break the Bank

October 23, 2009 – 12:22 pm

With its most recent achievements, the Mosaic earns its place in Houston’s spec-development record books: Last month the 29-story condo tower near Hermann Park — wedged between Almeda and 288 — scored the loan-default trifecta, having notched a bankruptcy, mass foreclosures, and an attendant bank failure to its credit all within a single calendar year.

Chicago’s Corus Bankshares, which held a $71 million loan for the Mosaic, foreclosed on all 271 unsold units (out of 394 total in the building) in September, just days before the bank itself was seized by the FDIC. A few weeks later, the federal agency sold 40 percent of the bank’s real estate loans to a team of private-equity firms calling itself Northwest Investments and led by Starwood Capital Group — for 60 cents on the dollar.

Any further fun at the Mosaic will be courtesy of the FDIC, reports Nancy Sarnoff:

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12:22 pm | 40 Comments | Read more about Apartments, Bankruptcies, Condos, Financing, Foreclosures, Highrises, Neighborhoods: Hermann Park, New Construction: Residential
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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Houston Real Estate Postseason Wrapup: Foreclosures Still Hanging Around

October 20, 2009 – 5:32 pm

HAR is out with its September home-sales figures, giving Swamplot’s spreadsheet-side correspondent a chance to eulogize the spring-summer selling season:

Home prices and volumes are flying south for the winter. With this volume downturn for the year, we have most likely seen the highs and sales volumes will now complete their third year of contraction. Prices were down 2-3% in the month, depending on whether you follow the median price or the average price. Pending sales are well below sales for the month, suggesting a further seasonal contraction in October.

This month featured an upturn in foreclosure sales as a percentage of the total. Foreclosure sales were 18.6% up from 16.7% the prior month. Luckily, foreclosure sales are still way down from the 32% peak in January.

But aren’t all those foreclosures going away soon?

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5:32 pm | 6 Comments | Read more about Buying and Selling, Forecasts, Foreclosures, Home Prices, Houston Data, Price Trends
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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

What You Can Get with Bad Credit: West Main Foreclosure Second Chance

October 14, 2009 – 11:31 pm

A reader accustomed to shaking his head when he drives along Greenbriar just north of Richmond informs us that the recently built “big, expensive monstrosity” for sale on that corner is now advertising its bank pedigree:

This long-on-the-market house/thingy now has large for-sale-by-bank sign slapped all over the very nice fence. This has all sort of ridiculous written over it: four car garages, pool, etc.

If a 7,976-sq.-ft. villa with 4-car garage for less than a million in that location sounds cheap, it’s because the building is actually 2 separate “townhomes” — each roughly half that size — with a “common element.” The $959K price tag is for the foreclosed unit at 2201 W. Main.

After a year-long run on MLS, that front unit is now listed as “pending continue to show.” Which in light of the ready-to-loan listing copy maybe isn’t so surprising:

FORECLOSURE!!BANK WILL FINANCE FOR 4.5% WITH 10% DOWN(BAD CREDIT OK)

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11:31 pm | 10 Comments | Read more about Foreclosures, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Upper Kirby, Townhomes
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Thursday, October 8, 2009

Trolling the Town for Trump Chumps

October 8, 2009 – 2:59 pm
   

“The seminar, one of seven held in the Houston area this week, attracted people hoping to find a gold lining in the economic downturn. Banking on the Trump name to draw crowds, the classes promoted a method of house-flipping some Houston financial advisors call a high-risk sleight of hand, difficult to pull off without a measure of deception. Trump didn’t make an appearance: the class was taught by his ‘No. 1 instructor,’ Stephen Goff, who says he has flipped 200 properties with great success. ‘People ask me, “Steve, if you’re making so much in real estate, why do you travel the country teaching people?”’ said Goff, wearing a charcoal suit and a button-down shirt the color of money. ‘If it was in your heart to help people, and Donald Trump asked you, what would you do? I got on the first plane.’ Goff led the seminar in the call-and-response style customary to revival meetings. . . . [Retired real estate agent Jayne] Pace said Goff reminded her of Houston’s ‘prosperity preacher,’ Joel Osteen, but without the same megawatt smile.” [Houston Chronicle]

2:59 pm | 9 Comments | Read more about Foreclosures, Hazards, Quicklink, Real Estate Investing
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Monday, September 14, 2009

Comment of the Day: A Boost for the Bolivar Buyout?

September 14, 2009 – 4:34 pm
   

“A large part of Bolivar is going to be turned into a nature preserve. FEMA is buying out many of the properties. . . . I suppose that buyout was made easier by the rate of foreclosures. . . .” [Raj, commenting on Where the Action Was: Houston Summer Foreclosure Map]

4:34 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Comments, Disaster Aftermath, Flooding, Foreclosures, Neighborhoods: Bolivar Peninsula, Quicklink
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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Where the Action Was: Houston Summer Foreclosure Map

September 10, 2009 – 1:55 pm

Just in from real-estate data firm First American CoreLogic: This handy map of the greater Houston area, showing foreclosure rates by Zip Code. And yes, compared to this time last year, the numbers are still up:

. . . the rate of foreclosures among outstanding mortgage loans is 1.20 percent for the month of July, an increase of 0.30 percentage points compared to July of 2008 when the rate was 0.80 percent. . . . Foreclosure activity in Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown is lower than the national foreclosure rate which was 2.80 for July 2009, representing a 1.60 percentage point difference.

Also in Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, the mortgage delinquency rate has increased. According to First American CoreLogic preview data for July 2009, 4.80 percent of mortgage loans were 90 days or more delinquent compared to 3.30 percent for the same period last year, representing an increase of 1.60 percentage points.

Map: First American CoreLogic

1:55 pm | 11 Comments | Read more about Foreclosures, Houston Data
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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Plenty of Room in the Pool: What’s Available at Greenbriar Park North

September 9, 2009 – 4:24 pm

Globe St.’s Amy Wolff Sorter says the buyer of the foreclosed Greenbriar Park North apartments near Greenspoint has “a strong track record” of rehabbing complexes. That should help:

Wade Schmitz with Hendricks & Partners’ Houston office tells GlobeSt.com that CNC Investments was the former owner and like many owners during the mid-2000s, had bought too much with too much debt that couldn’t be refinanced. Schmitz, who marketed the asset for Bank of America adds that the 1980s complex at 818 Richcrest Dr. attracted a great deal of interest. . . .

“There were down units that needed to be brought back online,” Schmitz says. “The property had been neglected, and needed someone to take care of it.”

How neglected? Of 400 units in the complex, only around 60 are occupied.

Don’t want to miss out on all the foreclosed-apartment-complex rehab fun? Be patient, more is coming:

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4:24 pm | 4 Comments | Read more about Apartments, Buying and Selling, Foreclosures, Neighborhoods: Greenspoint, Renovations
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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Pearland Mansion Mystery — Unrevealed!

August 19, 2009 – 5:02 pm
   

Having been indoctrinated into the bizarre cult of the 64,000-sq.-ft. unfinished residence-like warehouse she calls the Pearland Mystery Mansion, Katharine Shilcutt appears dedicated to keeping its secret: “What became of the house after Dr. Watkins abandoned it and went on to build the halfling mansion next door isn’t a matter of public record, suffice to say it’s a bizarre story of its own that deserves to be told one day. What will happen to the houses is anyone’s guess. The bank that owns both houses has had a feasibility study performed to determine whether or not they would be appropriate for group homes or assisted living facilities. Having been inside, it seems like the most fitting application for at least the larger of the two, if not both. It’s difficult to imagine why someone in their right mind would build what is — essentially — the world’s largest shotgun shack (or, more to the point, what architect conceived of this monstrosity as a residence). But it’s not at all difficult to picture these two buildings on this serene piece of land housing elderly or assisted care patients one day.” [Hair Balls; the house next door, featured on the Neighborhood Guessing Game]

5:02 pm | 1 Comment | Read more about Attractions, Brazoria County, Foreclosures, Neighborhoods: Manvel, Neighborhoods: SouthFork, Pearland, Quicklink
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Flushing Foreclosures Through the System: What’s Lurking in the Line?

August 19, 2009 – 12:39 pm

HAR’s real estate sales report for July is out! And Swamplot’s housing-market reader-analyst uses the data to piece together a better picture of Houston’s still-somewhat-mysterious foreclosure scene:

The press releases in 2009 have included a running commentary on the % of foreclosure sales in the month. This month’s release featured an interesting nugget — foreclosure sales from the prior year’s month! It is new information, and a few future monthly releases of it will allow us to fill in the data gap in the graph [above].

The foreclosure graph can be looked at in two ways. The glass half full crowd can cite the fact that a wave of foreclosures has been passed through the system — like a painful kidney stone — and it hasn’t led to piles and piles of unsold homes on top of each other in a negative feedback loop. Inventory is down to 6.5 months, backing this view.

And what if you aren’t sure there’s enough water in that glass to, uh . . . pass those stones?

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12:39 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Buying and Selling, Forecasts, Foreclosures, Home Prices, Houston Data, Price Trends
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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Okun Gets 100 Years; How Many for the West Oaks Mall?

August 11, 2009 – 11:54 am

High-stakes real estate swindler Edward H. Okun was sentenced last week in a Virginia courtroom to 100 years in prison for absconding with about $126 million in funds entrusted to his qualified intermediary company by 1031 exchange investors. Meanwhile, back on the corner of Westheimer and Highway 6, one of his former properties went up for sale.

Okun’s Investment Properties of America bought the West Oaks Mall for $110 million in 2005. The sellers of the bankrupt property might expect to get $20 million for the million-sq.-ft. mall today, reports Globe St.’s Amy Wolff Sorter:

The mall’s anchors include Dillard’s and Macy’s, which own their own space, and Sears, which is on a lease. [Holliday Fenoglio Fowler's Robert] Williamson says the Sears lease is up in 2010, but negotiations are underway to keep the retailer in place.

When Okun bought the mall from Somera Capital and CoastWood Capital a little less than four years ago, the asset was 95% leased, and sported $10 million worth of exterior and interior improvements. IPA had even larger plans for even more renovations on the 33-acre site, Williamson says.

Less than a year later, the owner was able to secure $86 million of permanent financing for the mall. Yet by late 2007, IPA had filed for bankruptcy protection to stave off foreclosure. Okun’s troubles and a failing economy dropped the mall’s occupancy to a little less than 70%.

How’s the mall looking these days?

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11:54 am | 4 Comments | Read more about 1031 Exchanges, Buildings for Sale, Commercial Real Estate, Foreclosures, Fraud, Leasing, Malls, Neighborhoods: Alief, Retail
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Friday, August 7, 2009

Houston’s Commercial Foreclosure Boom

August 7, 2009 – 9:44 am
   

The far greater numbers of residential foreclosures — currently spiking now that moratoriums have been lifted — may be sucking up the attention. But there’s plenty of excitement in Houston commercial foreclosures too, the Foreclosure Information & Listing Service reports: “The number of commercial properties posted for foreclosure in Harris County in the past three months is up 84 percent over the same time last year. Records show 335 commercial properties were posted for foreclosure in Harris County in May, June and July compared to 182 during the same months in 2008. Just over 20 percent of the commercial properties posted for foreclosure from May through July 2009 actually passed through the foreclosure process by going back to the lender or getting purchased at public foreclosure auction by a third-party buyer. During the same time period last year, only 15 percent of the properties were foreclosed. Ralph Murdock, president of Foreclosure Information, says most postings don’t result in foreclosures, but a significant increase in the number of postings shows that more property owners are having problems.” [Houston Business Journal]

9:44 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Foreclosures, Houston Data, Quicklink
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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Houston Real Estate in June: Top of the Summer to You!

July 22, 2009 – 10:38 am

“The increase in local unemployment reported this week is sickening,” reports Swamplot’s local financial correspondent. But don’t the latest HAR numbers show Houston home prices at some sort of record high?

Historically, the peak for home prices comes in July or August every year. The increase in the median and average over the past several months has been due to two factors. First, seasonality –summer prices are always the highest. Second, a change in the “product mix” of Houston homes –the % of foreclosed homes has fallen every month for several months straight . . . So the change in the product mix means that the value of any given house probably has not risen, only a change in the product moving through the system is reflected in the numbers.

Is it okay to get excited about the foreclosures, then?

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10:38 am | 11 Comments | Read more about Buying and Selling, Forecasts, Foreclosures, Home Prices, Houston Data, Price Trends
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Now Haunting Theaters: Late-Payment Horror

June 16, 2009 – 6:36 pm

On second thought, foreclosure is hell. That freaky-eyed lady asking for another extension on her mortgage payment? C’mon, go ahead and give it to her. You won’t feel bad about it. Plus those little in-house exorcisms have a weird way of chewing through the value of the underlying collateral.

6:36 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Foreclosures, Hazards, Movies
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Thursday, June 11, 2009

Pine Village North Open House Welcome

June 11, 2009 – 10:32 am

What happens when an investor who owns 200 out of 500 units in a north Houston condo complex defaults on his loan, leaving many of his properties vacant? Reporter Allison Triarsi visits Pine Village North, just south of Hamill Rd., west of the Eastex Fwy.:

“It’s just an open house for gang members to come. Anybody can come,” said homeowner Ann Loyd.

Walk inside any one of the open units and you could find anything from gang graffiti and dead roaches, to the bones of animals.

“I don’t know if what I’m standing in [is] some kind of mice droppings or rat droppings,” said Loyd, while escorting 11 News through a vacant unit.

In addition to debris, there were pink pills on a counter, and clothing and blankets on the floor where people have either left them behind or kept them there in case they needed a free place to sleep.

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10:32 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Condos for Sale, Crime, Foreclosures, Neighborhoods: Pine Village North, Public Health
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