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Stockton, California may have the dubious distinction of being the nation’s foreclosure capital. 3 out of every 4 homes in the city are in or headed to foreclosure according to Reuters. Realtors are actively discouraging people from trying to sell their homes as the number of foreclosures make it impossible for homeowners to get a price remotely close to their asking prices.
Realtors don’t want to spend the money and time required to try to sell homes in the city. Can’t blame them really, with homes previously in the $500,000’s now going in the low $200’s and better at bank sales, homeowners simply can’t sell without big discounts in that market.
MSNBC has more on the story:
“I don’t know an agent today who would take your listing unless you’re a hard-luck case. There is just too much competition,” Pannabecker said. Properties that at the peak of the market two years ago were selling at $500,000, or appraised at $500,000, are now selling for $200,000, he said.
And because foreclosures dot all areas of Stockton, buyers have their pick of properties, said John Knight, a professor of finance and real estate at Stockton’s University of the Pacific Eberhardt School of Business. “Honestly, there isn’t a huge amount of difference between a foreclosed home and a regular home than the prices,” Knight said.
Worse for people trying to sell their homes, lenders in possession of houses and condominiums may keep their fire-sale in full swing for months to come to attract investors to a market near the top of U.S. surveys of areas hit by foreclosures.
“It’s a tough market to be a normal seller,” said Stockton real estate agent Michael Blower of Blower Realtors. “I’ll really ask them, ‘Do you need to sell?’ Because your competition are banks who want to clean it off their books.”
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