With the press trying to spin positive news about the housing market, youâd think investors have missed the bottom and happy days are here again for the sellers.
We donât think either assumption has a whole lot of merit.
If you speak with active real estate agents who are making a living in real estate, theyâll tell you two things:
- First, there are plenty of homes on the market, just not a lot of quality homes that banks are willing to lend on.
- Two, in the hopes of buying and flipping homes, investors are bidding on bank-reo (bank-owned) homes in droves (in some case, 20 offers or more on one property!) and driving the prices to ridiculous levels.
Inman News recently came out with a report stating that âforeclosure inventory remains near an all-time high.â The headline is a little misleading in that the article goes on to talk about the volume of homes in the process of being foreclosed and not the actual volume of foreclosed homes sitting on bankâs books.
As an investor in Maryland, what is more interesting and relevant about the article is the data, in our opinion, shows great opportunities for a long time coming in the foreclosure market. Look at this chart from the Inman article:
Image Courtesy of Inman News
As you can see, the volume of homes in the foreclosure process has not changed in years (bottom line). States that use the Judicial foreclosure process, namely Maryland, have 2 ½ times the amount of homes in the foreclosure process and these homes are delinquent for more than 2 years.
Ask any auction company how many investors are showing up at the foreclosure auctions and youâll get a blank stare.
SO are there opportunities? Â In Maryland and for Investors â absolutely – and for a long time coming at the courthouse steps and there is virtually no competition for the savvy investor. Sign up for MdAuctions.com here.