Swamplot Archives by Category: Foreclosures

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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 | 1 Comment | Read more about Condos for Sale, Crime, Foreclosures, Neighborhoods: Pine Village North, Public Health
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Monday, May 18, 2009

Foreclosure Homebuying Excitement!

May 18, 2009 – 4:08 pm
   

The tally from all those rounds of speed-buying at the George R. Brown REDC foreclosure auction yesterday: 106 properties, totaling $7.7 million dollars — plus a few giddy new homeowners: “It happened so quickly that Shamika Hayes wasn’t quite sure how it happened. ‘I wasn’t paying attention and kept raising my hand,’ Hayes told us. But in an auction where houses were selling in 90 seconds or less, the family of four bought their very first home sight unseen. Understandably they were a little nervous about that last fact.” [abc13]

4:08 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Foreclosures, Homebuying, Quicklink
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Thursday, April 9, 2009

League City Condo Trap: Bad Conversion at the Fairways

April 9, 2009 – 1:40 pm

Just how did a group of Israeli investors get stuck with 114 condo units in this quaint converted apartment complex in League City? And why are they now suing the project’s developer and property manager?

The Galveston County Daily News’s Laura Elder explains:

The investors never intended to live in the units but instead were seeking to generate income by renting them to others, according to the lawsuit. Through agreements, the units owned by the investors were put in a rental pool managed by the defendants, according to the lawsuit.

But while Westcorp Management Group, of which Roni Amid is vice chairman, had been collecting rent from tenants, it failed to pay proceeds to the mortgage company or the investors for some units, according to the lawsuit.

Without rental income, some of the investors are unable to pay their mortgages, leading lenders to begin foreclosure proceedings on at least 30 units in the complex, said Danny Sheena, a Houston attorney representing investors.

The suit also claims the defendants used the investors’ units at the Fairways at South Shore as collateral for a $23 million loan from Deutsche Bank obtained behind their backs last August. Which means, the suit claims, the investors can’t sell their units.

And that Israeli connection? Looks like it’s all in the family:

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1:40 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Condos, Foreclosures, Fraud, Hazards, Neighborhoods: League City, Real Estate Investing
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Monday, April 6, 2009

Crumbling from the Outside In: The Poop on 2008 Houston Home Sales

April 6, 2009 – 1:17 pm

The Houston Chronicle’s annual neighborhood-sales-data extravaganza came out this weekend. Since it covers the 2008 calendar year, the survey is timed just right to document the continuing drop in sales and prices of far-flung lower-priced homes — but maybe a bit early to catch the extended Wile E. Coyote-style midair hang a fair number of closer-in half-a-million-plus homes on the market are currently experiencing.

A few highlights:

Sales activity dropped in all counties for non-foreclosure transactions. All counties showed a rise in sales of foreclosed homes.

And those foreclosures are also clearly missing the bullseye: In 2008 there were only 362 foreclosures inside the Loop and 2,556 between the Loop and Beltway 8 — but a whopping 9,342 outside the Beltway. In total, foreclosures were only up about 11 percent over the previous year. But the number of non-foreclosure sales dropped by almost 22 percent. So in 2008 foreclosures accounted for just under 22 percent of all sales.

Where did the prices fall last year?

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1:17 pm | 5 Comments | Read more about Foreclosures, Houston Data, Online Resources, Price Trends
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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Your Chance To Be in the Foreclosure Spotlight

March 10, 2009 – 5:59 pm
   

KHOU-TV reporter Dave Fehling is trying to find people who might have interesting perspectives on how foreclosures are affecting various local neighborhoods — for a Channel 11 teevee news story he’s putting together. Can any Swamplot readers bail him out? Or maybe just point him in the right direction? Send Fehling an email (link at the bottom) with your sobering story. But really, if you’ve got something truly juicy to tell, we’ll want to hear about it too! [Swamplot inbox]

5:59 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Economic Conditions, Foreclosures, Quicklink
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Monday, February 2, 2009

JCPenney at West Oaks Mall: To the Bank

February 2, 2009 – 12:17 pm

Buyers didn’t show up for the latest sale at the old JCPenney building next to West Oaks Mall. So Wachovia Bank will foreclose on the property soon, the CoStar Group reports.

The bankruptcy trustee for the collapsed financial empire of Edward H. Okun had listed the vacant building, which Okun’s 1031 Tax Group had bought for $4 million. But no buyers were willing to pay even the amount of the financing, which was $3 million.

The Houston JCPenney building and a mall in Salina, Kansas — also now facing foreclosure — are Okun’s last remaining properties.

12:17 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about 1031 Exchanges, Commercial Real Estate, Financing, Foreclosures, Neighborhoods: Alief
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Friday, January 9, 2009

Mosaic Avoids Foreclosure, Files for Bankruptcy

January 9, 2009 – 4:59 pm

The developer of the Mosaic highrise overlooking Hermann Park — a limited partnership between Phillips Development & Realty and publicity-shy Florida Capital Real Estate Group — declared bankruptcy earlier this week to avoid foreclosure on a $71 million loan from Chicago lender Corus Bankshares. Florida Capital, originally the equity partner, will be taking over as the general partner.

The bankruptcy covers just the first Mosaic tower. The second tower, rebranded the Montage, has not yet defaulted on its separate $71 million Corus loan.

So how have sales been going at the Mosaic? It depends, the Houston Business Journal’s Jennifer Dawson learns, who you ask:

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4:59 pm | 9 Comments | Read more about Apartments, Condos, Condos for Sale, Financing, Foreclosures, Highrises, Neighborhoods: Hermann Park, New Construction: Residential
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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Phillips Development at the Mosaic: Short-Term Rentals, Short-Term Stay?

December 30, 2008 – 5:15 pm

Need a place to crash somewhere in Houston for a short visit — say, a week — but don’t want to stay in a hotel?

Phillips Development & Realty, developers of the Mosaic and freshly rebranded Montage towers across Almeda from Hermann Park, is handling rentals of Mosaic condos owned by investors — as well as rentals of the many units the developer has been unable to unload. Now a source passes on a new rumor to Swamplot: Some of those available rentals may be extremely short-term.

Not a bad idea for a property that’s close to the Med Center! With that rumor, though, come a couple more:

Phillips’s Corporate Leasing Director will be taking over management of the Mosaic’s homeowners association from the company that had been running it since the building opened last year. But Phillips’s new tenure at the HOA may be a short-term one too. Why?

Because Florida Capital Real Estate Partners, the Mosaic’s lender, might just be foreclosing on Phillips’s property soon — both the Mosaic and an apartment complex in Tampa called the Casa Bella. Swamplot’s source also suggests that Camelot Realty Group — the company that’s clearly been very busy handling the Mosaic’s many condo sales — may already have had discussions with Florida Capital about taking over onsite rental duties from Phillips once the foreclosure takes place.

Photo of Mosaic and Montage: Swamplot inbox

5:15 pm | 11 Comments | Read more about Apartments, Condos, Foreclosures, Highrises, Leasing, Neighborhoods: Hermann Park
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Coming Foreclosure Flood

December 10, 2008 – 9:19 am
   

“Harris County foreclosures totaled 11,837 in 2008, up 0.6 percent from 11,766 during the prior year, according to The Woodlands-based Foreclosure Information & Listing Service. The figures represent foreclosed homes up for sale on the first Tuesday of each month at the courthouse. The next auction won’t be until January. . . . Foreclosures had made double-digit percentage gains in the prior two years. But they began to moderate toward the end of 2008 because the now government-controlled mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac halted foreclosure sales between Nov. 26 and Jan. 9. Also, earlier in the year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development put a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures in areas affected by Hurricane Ike. Additionally, lenders typically hold off on foreclosures during the Christmas season, adding to the slowdown, said Michael Weaster, an agent who specializes in selling foreclosed properties for banks. ‘Nobody wants to look like ogres during the holidays,’ Weaster said. ‘So what we’ve got in the pipelines is significant.’” [Houston Chronicle]

9:19 am | 1 Comment | Read more about Forecasts, Foreclosures, Quicklink
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Friday, November 7, 2008

La Casita Apartment Takeover: How Does This Happen?

November 7, 2008 – 9:49 am

Late last night city officials were able to get an emergency court order allowing a trustee to take over the La Casita Apartments at 313 Sunnyside near Northline. And MGC Mortgage, the company left holding onto the foreclosed property, has “transferred oversight” of the 600-unit complex behind Gallery Furniture to a new management company. The agreements, along with other interventions by the city, mean the more than 1,000 residents of the all-bills-paid apartments will not be evicted, have their water or electricity shut off, or lose credit for the monthly rent they just paid:

Residents of the La Casita Apartments already felt neglected by managers who let buildings run down, even before Hurricane Ike broke windows and tore patches off roofs. But instead of starting on repairs to make the apartments livable after the storm, management skipped town, keeping the rent money and leaving the bills unpaid.

The apparent owner of La Casita is an Indiana company named Briarwood Houston LP. The complex failed a Houston Housing Authority inspection last month. Police officials are investigating the management company’s handling of the payments.

9:49 am | 1 Comment | Read more about Apartments, Foreclosures, Fraud, Hazards, Neighborhoods: Northline
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Thursday, November 6, 2008

Foreclosure Hits Northline Renters

November 6, 2008 – 1:46 pm
   

Residents of the La Casita Apartments are worried that they may be kicked out of their homes or have their water turned off. The all-bills-paid complex is being foreclosed on. Representatives from the city are planning a meeting this evening at Northline Elementary to discuss the situation with the more than 150 1,000 people who live in the complex, which sits behind Gallery Furniture just east of the North Freeway. Officers carrying assault rifles arrived at La Casita yesterday after apartment manager Ed Thomas called the police. After a notice was posted on the property informing the renters that they would be forced to move out immediately, upset residents had blocked Thomas’s car, complaining that he wasn’t giving them acceptable answers about their situation. [abc13]

1:46 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Foreclosures, Hazards, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Northline, Quicklink
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Thursday, October 9, 2008

Delinquent Debt: West Oaks Mall Sale!

October 9, 2008 – 2:36 pm
   

Here’s another chance to clean up some of the wreckage left by mysterious investor Edward Okun: “West Oaks Mall in Houston . . . has $81.3 million in delinquent debt attached to it in the form of commercial mortgage-backed securities. Joseph Luzinski, the federally appointed bankruptcy trustee for West Oaks Mall, said he hopes to sell the mall by year’s end, though store closures continue to hamper its value. [The mall] . . . is about 80% occupied, having lost a J.C. Penney, Linens ‘n Things and Whitehall Jewelers. The mall recently cut a deal to keep its Steve & Barry’s LLC store open amid that retailer’s bankruptcy. The special servicer for the mall’s debt, LNR Partners Inc., attempted to foreclose in September 2007, but Mr. Okun forestalled the move by putting the mall into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection the next month. A federal grand jury indicted Mr. Okun on fraud charges last March after his 1031 Tax Group LLP, a company that helped facilitate tax-free real-estate deals for small investors, collapsed into bankruptcy and didn’t return $132 million of investors’ money.” [Wall St. Journal; previously]

2:36 pm | 4 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Financing, Foreclosures, Fraud, Malls, Neighborhoods: Alief, Openings and Closings, Quicklink
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