“The way for a person to develop a style is (a) to know exactly what he wants to say, and (b) to be sure he is saying exactly that. The reader, we must remember, does not start by knowing what we mean. If our words are ambiguous, our meaning will escape him. I sometimes think that writing is like driving sheep down a road. If there is any gate open to the left or the right the reader will most certainly go into it.” C.S Lewis, on writing. 1963

Although this question does not come up a lot, I do see it from time to time: Do those purchasing residential property in Oregon have a 5-business day right of revocation when the seller falls into an exemption (e.g. new construction, court appointed receivers, REO banks, etc.)? Continue reading “Oregon Seller’s Property Disclosure Conundrum”

Purple HouseOK, the numbers are in for calendar year 2013.  In 3Q 2012, for the first time in five years, housing prices actually began to improve, month over month. The trend continued for much of 2013, although slowed during 4Q, which we might expect, given the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays [Memo to PC Police: Sorry for using such anachronistic and sappy terms, but I insist on preserving some semblance of our country’s Judeo-Christian heritage. So sue me!] Sorry, I got sidetracked, where was I? Continue reading “The 2013-2014 Portland-Metro Residential Marketplace – How Are We Doing?”

People_LineIf anyone says foreclosures are tapering down, ask them for proof.  If they give you “proof” ask them what they’ve been smoking. ~ PCQ

Third Quarter 2013 Statistics.  Here is the link to the Q-Law third quarter foreclosure charts based upon numbers provided weekly from First American Title Company. For comparison, attached here are the first quarter charts and here are the second quarter charts. Continue reading “Third Quarter Foreclosure Stats For The Portland-Metro Area: What Are They Telling Us?”

Crystal BallOK, we’ve made it through the first half of 2013. We now have six months’ of foreclosure statistics. I posted the first quarter stats for the year here.  Now, armed with the second quarter, I’m prepared to prognosticate – for what it’s worth.  [Actually, Q3 and Q4 will be the most interesting, as we move forward into a post-Niday foreclosure world, and SB 558, the mandatory resolution law, goes into effect.  I predicted here, that the Niday and Brandrup decisions would have little impact on the Big Bank judicial foreclosures; the stats going into the end of 2013 will give us a peek of things to come.] Here is the link to the 2Q stats.  What follows is a “back of the napkin” analysis – i.e. scribbled notes and scrambled thoughts.  I could be all wrong. Time will tell. Continue reading “Q2 Portland-Metro Foreclosure Stats – What Are They Telling Us?”

iStock_000010654155SmallEver been curious which areas are hardest hit by foreclosures in the Portland-Metro counties?  Wondering how many judicial vs. non-judicial foreclosures are filed? Are the foreclosure mills going to be hiring or firing personnel over the coming months?

Well, thanks to the raw data ably compiled in First American Title Company of Oregon’s Foreclosure Report, and a skilled Notre Dame law grad, Danica Skeoch, who did the wonderful graphics, the information for the first quarter of 2013 is depicted on the following ten pages here.  I have some thoughts on what they mean, and hope to post them soon. Enjoy!  ~PCQ

teacherIntroduction. The term “multiple offers” refers to situations in which sellers receive two or more offers to purchase their property.  The reason for multiple offers during the boom years of 2005 – 2007 was because prices were rising rapidly, and buyers wanted their offers accepted quickly in order to lock in the price.  Consider this:  With average prices appreciating, say 18% per year [which was not unheard of], this meant that at 1.5% a month, by the time a buyer closed in 45-60 days, he or she had already realized a sizeable amount of paper equity.  On the other side of the coin, sellers who had already committed to sell were often lured by higher offers that came in while their sale was pending with another buyer.  It is for this reason that there were so many specific performance suits and/or arbitrations filed during this time; sellers didn’t want to close with their buyer, because after they went under contract they found they could get a better price, and looked for reasons to terminate the first transaction. Continue reading “QUERIN LAW: Dealing with Multiple Offers in 2013”

Mortgage PressureBy now, most Realtors® have heard the rumblings about defective bank foreclosures in Oregon and elsewhere.  What you may not have heard is that these flawed foreclosures can result in potential title problems down the road.

Here’s the “Reader’s Digest” version of the issue:  Several recent federal court cases in Continue reading “Realtors® – Use Caution When Representing Buyers of Bank REOs”

Introduction.  Now that the market is s-l-o-w-l-y returning to a semblance of normalcy, perhaps it’s time to go back and revisit some real estate basics.  For the last several years, with the market dominated by short sales and bank-owned REO sales, many practices that were considered ‘SOP’, fell by the wayside.  For example, even though the statewide OREF Sale Agreement form was chock full of seller representations, when an offer was made to a bank in an REO sale, the bank would ‘counter’ with an addendum that effectively scrubbed all the seller reps out of the document.  Buyers were on their own when it came to protection.  Similarly, although most contingencies retained some semblance of meaning in short sales, the condition of the property was presented on almost a take-it-or-leave-it basis in short sales, since most banks declined to spring for most repairs unless they were of such a magnitude as to require the concession.[1] Continue reading “Representations and Contingencies in Oregon’s Statewide Sale Agreement Form”

“To be forewarned is to be forearmed.”

The term “deficiency” arises in the context of a borrower’s default to their lender.  It refers to the difference between what the lender/servicer recovers, e.g. through short sale, deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure (“DIL”), or foreclosure, and the total debt owing.  Let’s go through each one, and see how and when the issue is likely to arise:

1.     Short Sales. This is a sale of the distressed property where the net sale proceeds [after deducting costs of sale, such as real estate commissions, escrow, title insurance and recording fees] are insufficient to pay the total indebtedness due, i.e. principal, interest, late fees, and lender advances, such as property taxes and insurance. The difference between the amount recovered and the amount due is the “deficiency.” Continue reading “Borrower Exposure to Deficiency Risk”

Following a rough and tumble year in the banking industry, Belial Bank’s feckless fearless leader, B.L. Zebub, believes it is high time to bring some levity and loyalty to the lowly troops who have been tirelessly foreclosing all the Beleaguered Borrowers they may have missed the first and second time around.  Mostly, however, B.L. is concerned about the reputational damage his bank has suffered this year.  Once known as the largest bank in America as measured by hubris, it is at risk of losing this mantle of distinction.  On the Chinese calendar, 2012 has been Belial Bank’s Year of the Rat.

B.L. is hoping against hope to instill a sense of pride among the rank and file; he knows that his company’s  promise to the feds to install a “single point of contact” [or “SPOC”] for every borrower seeking help, has become a sham.  Problem is, after a couple of weeks on the job, the SPOCs either quit, get fired, or leave to take more respectable jobs in the collection and repo industries. And then there was the public relations nightmare Belial Bank suffered after it was disclosed to the press that the top brass were giving prizes to supervisors who could run up the highest number of SPOCs for a single borrower in the shortest amount of time.  Last week’s big winner, Art O. DeLay, won a hundred crisp dollar bills and the afternoon off to visit The Devil’s Den Gentlemen’s Club, conveniently located just down the street from Belial’s headquarters.  [Cover charge waived.] Continue reading “Belial Bank’s 2012 Holiday Planning Meeting”