The number of zombie foreclosures is surging in every state in the US according to the latest data. What does it mean for real estate investors?

Almost 8,000 zombie foreclosures are in process in the third quarter of 2020 according to ATTOM Data. Almost a quarter million properties were in the foreclosure process as of August.

These numbers may still seem small compared to 2008. Yet, there may be a lot more happening below the surface.

New Zombie Foreclosures

Zombie foreclosures are homes which have been abandoned by owners and borrowers. They’ve walked away, but the bank hasn’t foreclosed and relisted them yet. They are kind of in limbo. The owner gave up and left it vacant, but the bank isn’t selling it yet. This can lead to a lot of cosmetic issues from overgrown landscaping to vandalism. They can have a negative impact on the community and neighborhood, and cost cities and counties money to maintain.

What’s Coming Next

Unless the national economy pulls off a great turnaround in the next few months it is likely this metric will increase.

It is estimated that around 30% of US households aren’t able to make their monthly housing payments. While many are acting like it is business and shopping as usual, rumors are that there are a large number of auto loan repos happening, and credit card issuers like Capital One are reportedly slashing credit lines.

If things do play out like 2008, expect a huge number of foreclosures, even if governments and lenders carefully throttle how fast they hit the market.

There is a good chance that new businesses which are booming in the new normal and the next election will put the economy on a great trajectory. Though that may be a little too late for owners trying to make ends meet in the meantime, between loss of income in 2020 and new help coming in.

What It Means For Investors

The market may now seem hot and competitive in some places and for certain residential property types. Home sales and even prices just seem to keep marching up. This is the perfect market for real estate wholesalers to acquire distressed properties and sell fast for great margins.

Even if foreclosures do kick into high gear, it is good to remember that those who made it through the last crisis, and actually saw their incomes and wealth soar, were those who invested through it, wholesaling properties.

Don’t miss out on this once in a decade opportunity to rocket your finances for the better!

 

It’s a weird season for real estate right now. Yet, while some are trying to figure if it is a cup half full or half empty scenario, others are already gearing up to celebrate the end of another awesome year in real estate.

Scary statistics

Everything suggests we should be on the brink of the real growth phase in real estate. The recover went well, and the job creation and revenues that brought ought to be kicking in and resurrecting the US housing market for real, any minute. Yet the fed didn’t raise rates in September as feared. One new index says house prices are falling in NY and DC. Add in the roller coaster ride of the stock market in recent weeks, and some might think Halloween has come early this year.

Why savvy investors aren’t spooked

Experienced investors that have been around for a couple of years are more than familiar with quirky stats, and this traditionally soft time of year for home sales prices. They see money is cheap, it’s inexpensive to buy real estate, and recognize the great window to buy low and flip higher between now and the end of year rush.

Trick or treating among zombie foreclosures

Adding to the current deals on the table are many more zombie foreclosures, and distressed properties coming through the pipeline. Savvy property wholesalers with good connections are spoiled for choice. It’s like a big bowl of real estate candy. All they have to do is knock on doors, make the calls, send the emails, keep blogging, and being social, and if it wasn’t for transactional funding they’d have way more deals than they can handle. This is time to be laying down a barrage of contracts and offers to fatten up inventory.

Cashing in

ln just a few more weeks we’ll be in peak party and spending season. Starting at Halloween it is all about the sales, events, and festivities, people feeling good, needing to buy gifts, and to invest. And that all means great sales opportunities for real estate marketers.

For those that have been around a couple of years all of that seasonal real estate marketing collateral should already be getting polished, and be being loaded into systems to be delivered on autopilot. Then the biggest challenge right now is probably what costume to wear this year? Or whether to buy the new Range Rover Autobiography or another of the new range $200k plus cars coming out right now.

If you are new to wholesaling real estate it’s time to get on that, and get ahead of the curve.

 

Authored by Best Transaction Funding BestTransactionFunding.com is the leading source of transactional funding and hard money loans for real estate wholesalers in the US, where 100% financing, and saying “Yes” is what we love doing all day long.