To play the foreclosure game, bidders must hand over certified checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars, often without receiving even the most basic details of an apartment, like its condition or whether it comes with a rent-stabilized tenant. It is at that point that they will start lowering their prices.Įven low prices can't guarantee a big profit. ∺s more properties are taken back by the banks because of foreclosures, banks will be awash with real estate, and they are not in that business, Mr. With more foreclosures, banks may begin to soften their stance. Some of the hottest areas we expect to be hit are southeast Queens and some parts of the Bronx, Staten Island and Brooklyn. ∺ll areas of the state will see an uptick in foreclosures as the moratorium expires, says April Newbauer, an attorney in charge of the civil practice in Queens County for the Legal Aid Society. In Massachusetts, for example, where a similar 90-day freeze was instituted in May, foreclosures jumped 456% from August to September, according to data from RealtyTrac.
1, winds down this month and into January, allowing banks to file backlogged cases. These buyers could soon see their fortunes change as the economy continues its downward spiral and foreclosures begin to surge.Ī 90-day moratorium on foreclosure filings, passed by the state Legislature this summer and launched Sept. If there is some equity, then the owner tries to sell it in pre-foreclosure, before it hits the auction. There is no equity in the deals anymore, he says.
The mortgages are overpriced, and the banks don't want to negotiate, he says of the foreclosure auctions.Īnother veteran buyer, Joe Levy, agrees. ∻ut generally speaking, the banks have not yet lowered the amounts they are willing to accept for the homes.Įxperienced foreclosure hunter Isaac Broyn is so discouraged that he is now buying up traditional real estate instead. They sense an opportunity, and they want to buy properties at bargain-basement prices, says Aaron Shmulewitz, a partner at law firm Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman. So far, banks looking to unload foreclosed real estate have been reluctant to accept much less than the amount they are owed. In addition, many of these homes were sold during the real estate boom when property values were bloated and came with hefty mortgages, sometimes even larger than the market price of the property. Year to date, the number of foreclosures has reached 3,592, still low for a city with nearly 10 million residents.
New York has escaped the worst of the housing meltdown so far, with 258 foreclosures in November, flat compared with the same period last year, according to. It is complicated, but there are opportunities for making a profit, if you are smart, says the Israeli mother of four, who will fix up the apartment and resell it, or keep it for one of her children.Įven so, the growing number of buyers stalking the nearly daily real estate auctions throughout the five boroughs-hoping to profit from the troubles engulfing the market-are finding a complex and confusing world that yields as many headaches as good deals. During a recent auction at Manhattan's main courthouse at 60 Centre St., the Park Avenue doyenne outbid a competitor for a 750-square-foot co-op on East 79th Street, paying just $409,000-far below the $650,000 market value for the apartment. Estee Tobaly, a newcomer to the world of foreclosure auctions, had what one might call beginner's luck.