Boomer’s Blog

As home sales and prices drop across much of the United States, many sellers are resorting to fire-sale pricing and bargain hunters are seizing the hot real estate investment opportunities.

The national median home price dropped to $195,900 in February, down from $213,500 for the same period in 2007, acording to RealtyTrac. In the meantime, cities in three of the five states with the nation’s highest total foreclosure rates top CNNMoney.com’s rankings of the best places to invest in housing.

Georgia’s Atlanta Area

• Georgia’s total of 11,047 foreclosures fuels the nation’s fourth-highest overall foreclosure rate, says RealtyTrac. One in every 351 Georgia households received a foreclosure filing in March — ranking its foreclosure rate No. 6 in the nation.
• According to CNNMoney.com, rampant home building in the Atlanta area has stalled, which should start to reduce the area’s large supply of vacant housing and propel prices upward.

Ohio’s Cincinnati and Cleveland Areas

• RealtyTrac’s most recent report says that Ohio’s total of 11,273 foreclosures give the state the third highest foreclosure rate in the U.S.
• One in every 448 Ohio households received a foreclosure filing in March — earning a seventh place spot in total foreclosures rankings by state.

CNNMoney.com ranks these cities as the third and fourth best places to buy houses in today’s market, forecasting that:

• Cincinnatti’s manufacturing-heavy economy should rise as the dollar falls: Commercial construction and high-end developments are on the rise.
• Cleveland’s foreclosure boom seems to be slowing, thanks to programs to help troubled borrowers. Prices have stabilized and appear poised to rise.

Michigan’s Detroit Area

• In February, RealtyTrac reported that Detroit had nearly 5 percent of the city’s households were entering some stage of foreclosure, at a rate 4.8 times the national average.
• With an average price-to-rent (P/R) ratio of 15, a buyer theoretically annually gains almost 7 percent of the purchase, CNNMoney.com reports. The average P/R ratio for Detroit’s 30 biggest markets: 23.

Texas’ Houston Area

• Texas’ foreclosure filings were reported on 10,700 properties in March, marking a 13 percent decrease from the previous month and a 16 percent drop from foreclosures reported for the same period in 2007, RealtyTrac reports. In February, a decline in the state’s foreclosures dropped Texas to the fifth place spot for total foreclosures among the states.
• In Houston, soaring oil prices will support and help to stabilize real estate prices. In Q4 2007, prices here were up 1.4 percent — the fastest of all the metro areas CNNMoney.com analyzed.

As Foreclosures Rise, Investors Pull Back: Defaults on home mortgages touched another historic high late last year as foreclosures on adjustable-rate mortgages surged, an industry group reported on Thursday.

5 Ways Real Estate is Better Than Domain Names: 1. Easy financing. 2. Title insurance.3. No “Support” middlemen. 4. Your tenants are your tenants. 5. No one is going to twist the law and steal your house.

Real estate experts say time is ripe to snap up land: While builders need to sell inventory even if it means going without a profit, they should consider buying land for the future when experts predict a shortage of available lots.

U.S. foreclosures soar as borrowers ‘give up’: U.S. mortgage foreclosures rose to an all-time high at the end of 2007 as borrowers with adjustable-rate loans walked away from properties before their payments increase.

Ahead of the Bell: Mortgage Lenders: The financial industry needs $1 trillion in permanent capital to help stabilize and improve the pricing of mortgage assets, but is unlikely to receive it.

A Different Approach to Revitalizing the Housing Market: While U.S. Federal Reserve rate cuts and the economic stimulus package are helpful, they aren´t enough to bring the economy back from the brink of recession. Some mortgage lenders´ decision to temporarily suspend the foreclosure process through “Project Lifeline” is encouraging but more drastic steps need to be taken to help a housing market that is obviously in trouble.

Crisis deepens in U.S. mortgage market: After surging in popularity during the U.S. housing boom, the risky subprime loans now are contributing to a record number of home foreclosures across the country, as many borrowers find themselves unable to pay the exorbitantly high interest rates that are starting to kick in after a few years of paying super-low “teaser” rates.

Investing: Balancing Risk And Opportunity: Prices are down. Inventory is up. And demand for new construction is withering on the vine. The days of flipping houses for a 30 percent markup, it seems, are gone for good. Yet, while some maintain that acquiring property now presents too great a risk, there are those who insist the current market correction spells opportunity for bargain hunters who are willing to wager on the long-term health of real estate.