Info and Tips about Ky Master Commissioner Sales
Jefferson County Master Commissioner Sales for August 3, 2010 and August 17, 2010 have been posted on their site. Also, sale results for Jefferson County Master Commissioner Sales are also posted on BluegrassForeclosure for 2010. Click here.
From LBAR: May real estate statistics in the Bluegrass saw both record highs and record lows as the Federal Tax Credit Program came to an end. Sales saw a sharp rise in May, increasing 25% for the year-to-date over 2009 and 39% over May 2009. Total sales jumped this month, rising from 662 reported sales in May 2009 to 917 in May 2010.
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The influx of first time home buyers led the market to some of its highest numbers in years, but as the tax credit program ends, the market will be left without that group of highly motivated clients. On the heels of these lofty figures came a dramatic but not unexpected decrease. Pending sales in May 2010 declined 41.6% over May 2009, falling from 894 to 522 pending sales reported.
Months of inventory fell 27% to 7.2. This decrease is a positive indicator; a balanced market contains 5-6 months of inventory. Additionally, the percentage of the listing price attained remained stable at 96%. Residential average days on market decreased 7% in May 2010 vs. May 2009, falling from an average of 85 days to 79 days.
Unemployment rates fell in 93 Kentucky counties between May 2009 and May 2010, according to the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training, an agency of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.
Fayette County recorded the lowest jobless rate in the Commonwealth at 7.7 percent. It was followed by Woodford County, 7.8 percent; Oldham County, 8 percent; Calloway County, 8.1 percent; Franklin County, 8.3 percent; Boyd County, 8.5 percent; and Ballard, Madison, McCracken and Robertson counties, 8.6 percent each.
Magoffin County recorded the state’s highest unemployment rate — 19.1 percent. It was followed by Jackson County, 17.4 percent; Menifee County, 17 percent; Metcalfe County, 14.8 percent; Powell County, 14.4 percent; Fulton and Grayson counties, 13.9 percent each; McCreary County, 13.8 percent; Wolfe County, 13.6 percent; and Morgan County, 13.5 percent.
Read more.
While banks across the nation continue to rebound, an Owensboro-based bank, with four Warren County locations, has been ranked among the best in the nation.
Independence Bank was the eighth top-performing bank in its class nationwide, according to recent ratings by the American Bankers Association.
The bank, with 19 locations throughout western Kentucky and 28 employees in Bowling Green, was in the category of community banks with assets between $100 million and $3 billion. Two years ago, Independence Bank’s ranking was around 2,000. It jumped the next year to No. 11 and is up three spots this year.
Scams are everywhere, including mortgages. From Cincinnati.com:
A Louisville-based mortgage firm has been ordered to halt its lending operations after Kentucky authorities found that some loans it originated were never funded.
The Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions on Friday issued a cease and desist order against Home Ownership Possibilities for Everyone (HOPE), LLC, which authorities say was operating without a license.
The order mandates that the firm to immediately stop doing business in Kentucky. It also alleges that HOPE charged illegal upfront fees of $300 to its clients as part of their application process, concealed important facts from borrowers and made misrepresentations.
Additionally, the firm required borrowers to pay an extra 3 percent to 3.5 percent of their loan amount in advance into an escrow account.
Scott County Delinquent Taxes for 2010 are listed here.
Now that federal home buyer tax credits have expired, experts say it’s likely that sales in the remainder of 2010 will be flat at best.
“When you have an artificial deadline to buy, all you’re doing is reaching into the future and cramming those sales into today’s market,” says Peter Chabris, a Realtor with Keller Williams Advisors Realty.
Federal tax credits worth up to $8,000 to first-time buyers and $6,500 to move-up buyers fueled double-digit gains in home sales in April. The number of closings jumped more than 32 percent in Southwest Ohio and 23 percent in Northern Kentucky over April 2009. To qualify for the credits, buyers had to sign a purchase contract by April 30 and must close by June 30.
Among the biggest X-factors challenging the housing market’s recovery remain local employment levels and the unknown number of foreclosures still to come.
In April, the region’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level so far this year – but it still remained at 10.2 percent, compared to 8.9 percent one year ago.
“You can’t have an immediate recovery with (an unemployment rate) like that,” Chabris says.
Read the rest of the article.
From Cincinnati.com:
“Foreclosures shot up 13.5 percent in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky during the first three months of 2010.
A total of 4,302 households fell into foreclosure between January and March – 511 more than the same period in 2009, according to new court data released by Ohio and Kentucky. The region’s foreclosure growth outpaced Ohio’s 8.8 percent increased caseload but lagged Kentucky’s 28.3 percent climb.
More ominously, the region’s latest casualties in the real estate crisis grew at more than twice the more moderate 5.5 percent increase during all of 2009.
Sister Barbara Busch, executive director of regional housing advocates Working in Neighborhoods, said the growing caseload is driven by the economy and possibly new federal rules. She said through the end of 2008 unemployment or underemployment used to be a factor in about a third of counseling cases the agency handled. Since then, reduced income due to fewer hours or losing ones job accounts for nearly 70 percent of its caseload.
“We’re seeing a lot more (cases) due to unemployment,” she said.
The region’s jobless rate was 10.2 percent in April, compared to 9.5 percent nationally.
Ironically, new rules for lenders and mortgage servicers designed to help struggling homeowners, may have prompted financial institutions to file more foreclosures, Busch said. On June 1, many financial institutions will be required to consider eligible delinquent homeowners for federal modification programs first, before they can file a foreclosure. Previously, banks or servicers could pursue both tracks at the same time.”
With unemployment still hovering around the 10% mark, it doesn’t look like the foreclosure trend is going to go away any time soon. However, I heard an interesting commentary the other day that the unemployment rate won’t get better until the housing market stabilizes. So we are looking at a circular problem. High unemployment leads to more foreclosures, more foreclosures cause businesses not to stabilize . . . what’s next.
Companies that buy delinquent property tax bills are charging unnecessary, exorbitant and illegal legal fees to owners who want to reclaim their property — and preying on the elderly and unsophisticated, according to a lawsuit filed in Jefferson Circuit Court.
The suit, filed earlier this month on behalf of an 86-year-old woman and two other plaintiffs, says that charging attorneys’ fees, often within a year after the sales, is both unlawful and unethical.
Under Kentucky law, private companies can buy delinquent bills and charge derelict owners 12 percent a year until they pay the debt. If the owners still don’t pay after one year, the company can start foreclosure proceedings against the property and add interest and attorney fees.
But the law says that no action may be brought to initiate the foreclosure until one year after the property is certified delinquent.
The lawsuit alleges that the Jamos Fund I LP, of Fort Thomas, Ky., is violating that stipulation by tacking on exorbitant legal fees before the year expires, merely for sending notices to taxpayers that their bills have been purchased.
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Buying and selling tax bills is big business; in recent years in Jefferson County alone, the delinquent tax roll has averaged about $14million on about 15,000 delinquent bills. The interest on that amount in the first year is nearly $1.7million.
Read more from Courier Journal. As you can see, delinquent taxes are potentially a great investment and a lot of big out of state companies are coming in to buy them up. If you are looking for a solid investment strategy, check out the local delinquent taxes in your county.
Here is how to go about successfully buying a short sale:
1. Search for short sale properties
2. Select a real estate professional
3. Investigate the mortgage and liens on the property
4. Write a complete offer
5. Negotiate