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Saturday, January 30, 2010Help With Foreclosure Confusion - Minnesota
Late this week Minnesota Public Radio ran a story about how national research firm RealtyTrac's foreclosure information in the Twin Cities was being disputed by Minnesota housing experts. In the story, foreclosure numbers published by RealtyTrac in the Twin Cities for 2009 were double the amount of actual foreclosures.
In an attempt to determine if the story has any validity, today we're examining a very specific segment of the market: Hennepin county. Hennepin is the most populous county in Minnesota with an estimated 1 out of every 5 Minnesotans residing inside the county.
According to RealtyTrac, during 2009 in Hennepin County there were 9,778 foreclosures. Cross-referencing the figure above with HousingLink, a nonprofit Minneapolis-based organization that claimed RealtyTrac's numbers were too high, led to incomplete information which led to more digging.
HousingLink only has foreclosure numbers for Hennepin county up to the third quarter. The foreclosure figure for Hennepin county in quarters one and two was 2,722. In quarter three the number of foreclosures was 1,447. The combined number of foreclosures for quarters one through three was 4,169.
Looking for another figure, we searched the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office for the number of foreclosures in 2009. The total number of foreclosures according to the Sheriff's office was 4,852. The total number of foreclosures for Hennepin county is likely to be slightly higher than the Sheriff's offices' figures simply because they were only reporting on foreclosures up 'til December 4, 2009.
Of the three figures examined, HousingLink and the Sheriff's office seem the most reliable.
There are a lot of different housing figures constantly being generated and it's not always easy it determine which numbers are correct. If you've got questions, the first person you should talk to is a Realtor you trust. Not sure whom you can talk to? Consider attending a free mn first time homebuyer class where you can have your questions answered by a professional that's working in the field. These classes are great opportunities to meet a number of different real estate agents to begin building a professional relationship.
If you are a first-time investor and have considered purchasing a foreclosed property to start generating income, your head may be spinning because of all the numbers and figures in this post! Fear not! If you're looking to purchase a foreclosure as a minnesota investment property, you're going to need an experienced Realtor that knows all of the intricacies of foreclosed properties.
If you're looking to buy, remember you've only got until April until the homebuyer credit runs out!
