Saturday January 5, 2013
Just Listed brings you the latest news and information from the Twin Cities-area commercial and residential real estate market and beyond from veteran reporters Jim Buchta and Janet Moore.
Posts about Foreclosures
Lori Line: Dec.12 foreclosure auction didn't happen
Posted by: Jim Buchta Updated: December 18, 2012 - 4:12 PM
The foreclosure auction on Twin Cities-based pianist, Lori Line's Lake Minnetonka house didn't happen as scheduled on December 12 at the Hennepin County Sheriff's office. Line, who has been on the road performing on her annual holiday tour, posted a "personal note" on her website saying that the sale was cancelled, and that she was grateful for the outpouring of love and support from her fans.
Line's nearly 10,000 square-foot house is still listed for nearly $4 million; Tim Line said that the recession has been tough for the performer and that family is downsizing because their two kids are grown and no longer at home.
Late last month, the custom builder that built Line's home and several other upper-bracket suburban houses, Keith Waters, filed for Chapter 7 protection. That filing listed between 100 and 199 creditors, assets of of $0 to $50,000 and liabilities of $1 to $10 million.
Foreclosure activity easing slightly in Minnesota; repossessions increase
Posted by: Jim Buchta Updated: December 13, 2012 - 11:15 AM
Foreclosure activity in Minnesota and most states across the U.S. fell slightly last month, a sign that an improvements in the economy and a stabilizing housing market are starting to ease stresses on homeowners. Across the country, foreclosure filings, including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, fell three percent from October and 19 percent from last year. That was the 26th consecutive month of annual declines.
At the same, bank reposessions increased in Minnesota and across the country as lenders worked through their back-log of properties that have already been through the process.
In Minnesota, early-stage foreclosure activity was down only slightly compared with last year, falling almost 2 percent. Compared with October, however, those early notices rose more than 20 percent. RealtyTrac’s vice president, Daren Blomquist, told JustListed that what’s happening in Minnesota isn’t alarming, nor was it unique. Several states showed a double-digit increase compared with last year, a phenomenon that’s largely a reflection of differences in the way foreclosures are processed and volatility in the data.
What’s more important to note, he said, is that the foreclosure rate in Minnesota is lower than the national average. Nationwide, one in every 728 housing units received a notice compared with one in 918 housing units in Minnesota. And, he said, foreclosure discounts in Minnesota are much smaller than the national average, signaling strong demand and a sense of confidence that doesn't exist in all states.
You can see the full report here, and stay tuned for a complete story in the Friday paper.
Meet the man behind new Minnetonka REIT
Posted by: Jim Buchta Updated: December 10, 2012 - 10:59 AM
Last week a colleague and I wrote a story about Silver Bay Realty, a new Minnetonka-based real estate investment trust formed by Two Harbors Investment, also headquartered in Minnetonka. Silver Bay was established to acquire and lease thousands of distressed single-family houses throughout the country. Because the company is in its quiet period prior to IPO aimed at raising nearly $300 million, executives were unavailable for an interview. This weekend the New York Times published an interesting story about Silver Bay and other national groups, including the Blackstone Group, that are putting big dollars into acquisition of huge blocks of distressed real estate. The story also explores the background of David N. Miller, Silver Bay's CEO and a former Treasury Department executive who helped lead the department's Troubled Assets Relief Program. Stay tuned for more about Silver Bay's IPO...
Major banks halt evictions and foreclosure sales for the holidays
Posted by: Jim Buchta Updated: December 6, 2012 - 5:13 PM
U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo are among several national banks that will implement a holiday moratorium on foreclosure sales, according to American Banker. For U.S. Bank the moratorium will last from December 17 through January 2, and Wells Fargo will start halt such proceedings two days later. Wells and U.S. Bank will suspend evictions and foreclosure sales on loans owned by the banks nationwide. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac took similar actions.
Fewer Minnesotans losing their homes to foreclosure
Posted by: Jim Buchta Updated: November 15, 2012 - 8:02 AM
Fewer Minnesotans are having trouble making the mortgage payment, but overall default rates remain high. The latest data on the subject shows that during October one in every 1,119 Minnesota housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month compared with one in 706 housing units nationwide.
For Minnesota, which had the 20th highest foreclosure rate in the nation, that's a 31 percent decrease from October 2011, but a 34 percent increase from the previous month.
Housing advocates say that while the foreclosure rate is still at troubling levels, a strengthening housing market, a slowly improving economy and widespread efforts to help homeowners avoid foreclosure are all helping suppress foreclosure rates -- at least compared with last year.
RealtyTrac's vice president, Daren Blomquist, said that activity levels vary wildly from state to state depending on seasonal factors and state laws regarding processing of those foreclosues. “We continued to see vastly different foreclosure trends across the country in October, depending primarily on how each state’s foreclosing infrastructure was able to handle the high volume of delinquent loans during the worst of the foreclosure crisis in 2010,” he said.
The three states with the bigges annual increases in foreclosure activity were also impacted Hurricane Sandy. That included New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.
Here's a link to the full report.
Pianist Lorie Line's house headed towards foreclosure
Posted by: Jim Buchta Updated: November 13, 2012 - 6:22 PM
Lorie Line with one of her pianos during a tour of the house several years ago.
Even as the housing market improves and mortgage delinquency rates fall, foreclosure proceedings are underway on the sprawling Lake Minnetonka house of pianist Lorie Line and her husband, Tim. Documents filed with Hennepin County say the couple owe more than $2 million on the glitzy 9,100 square-foot Lake Minnetonka house, which was mortgaged for $2 million in 2005.
The news comes on the eve of preparations for Line’s annual holiday tour and that she was unavailable, but Tim Line said that the economy has taken its toll on the family finances, and that the couple plans to use proceeds from the holiday tour to satisfy the outstanding mortgage. "I'm not going to lie," said Tim. "We’re like a lot of small businesses and there aren't a lot of extra entertainment dollars out there...our business has changed dramatically in the last four years."
Citing the need to downsize because they’re empty-nesters, the couple recently put the house on the market for $4 million, which has an assessed value of just under $2.9 million. Property taxes alone are nearly $37,000. (Check out a recent story about the house).
The property is scheduled for sheriff’s auction later this year, but Tim is confident they'll be able to satisfy their debts by the time that happens. “We’re restructuring our business and our lifestyle within this new economy.”
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