A Surge in Foreclosure Filings

Just thought that this was interesting and good news for many of us...

A Surge in Foreclosure Filings
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/realestate/18WCZO.html

AFTER 20 years as a lawyer, David Volman has handled enough divorces to know that many marriages collapse under financial strain. So when his practice, in Shelton, began receiving an unusually large number of divorce cases last summer, Mr. Volman took it as an omen. “Divorces go hand in hand with foreclosures and bankruptcies,” he said.

Real Estate Community

I ran across a site today that I saw in a news article. It's another community site, similar to this, but narrows each user down to state, county, and city and then you can find information and network with those in those specific areas (note to this site's admins, once there are more users). That could be a great enhancement to this site in the future. I think it is geared more towards what would be called real estate "professionals", but should have some useful information for investors as well.

http://activerain.com/action/referrals/kcrealestate
(FYI - I will not get anything besides points on the website if you sign up through this link)

It never seems to stop...

So, if any of you have read my previous blogs, you may remember that after making an offer on a house (for my family to live in), that was being sold as-is, we found out it was in the FEMA flood plain. Well, we eventually got that figured out (refer to previous blog).

Well, three days before the closing, I was looking online for investment properties. I went to the IRS treasury department site for house auctions. I clicked on my state, and my city and there was one property. As I started to scroll down the page, I sarcastically thought "wow, that's interesting..." as I saw the address of the house that I was supposed to be buying. Bid commitments were required by March 17th, but an auction date had not yet been set. Needless to say, I was a bit concerned by this bit of news.

I contacted my realtor, who contacted the seller, who contacted whoever they bought it from, etc. Apparently it had been wholesaled before the seller bought it. The seller thinks that the IRS is wrong and that they don't have redemption rights. Of course the IRS thinks it's theirs. So, as of now, the results are as following:

• Lawyers are having friendly discussions
• We extended our closing 30 days, in hopes that the issue will be resolved.

The IRS is trying to get $20,000 more than we are paying for a minimum bid. Good luck!

Thank God that I came accross this site, somewhat by random.