Is Now a Good Time to Buy a House? 

First off I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I interviewed Diana Perez, a Realtor in the Central Florida area. The reason I wanted to talk to Diana is because she specializes in doing BPOs for banks and lenders and I wanted to know what if anything unique is happening “right now” in her business that could shed some light on the direction of the housing market and what her predictions are for 2012.

Now Diana is more than qualified having worked for the property appraiser’s office for 12 years and she has done over 4000 BPOs since 2007 covering seven counties including Citrus, Hernando and Marion Counties in the central Florida area.

BPO stands for Broker Price Opinion. This means that when banks want to know the value of one of their assets (a property they have a mortgage on, have foreclosed on, or already own) they have a real estate broker who is familiar with the area visit the property, give the occupancy status and do comparable sales to come up with a value for the bank. 

It is Diana’s opinion that foreclosures peaked in 2010 when here office alone was doing 100 plus BPOs a month. Then in 2011 with the “docu sign drama” the amount of BPOs fell off dramatically. The banks had to bring their foreclosures to a near stop while they reassessed their foreclosure process to make sure they are being done in compliance with state laws to avoid another fiasco.

In this last quarter of 2011 Diana has seen a dramatic increase in the number of BPO requests. Not only a tremendous increase in the number of properties but also a closer scrutiny of the values given in the BPO.

Because of this Diana feels that we will see a big flurry of foreclosed properties hitting the market in the first quarter of 2012 as the lenders scramble to get rid of their remaining inventory of bank owned properties.

As to home prices Diana thinks we can see single digit decreases this year, but nothing like we have already experienced. In some areas she has noted prices stabilizing and even slight price increases.

“Overall the mechanics of the real estate market are turning in a positive direction” Said Diana. “The banks should be burning off their foreclosures over the next two years.”

You can reach Diana at dianaperez.realtor@yahoo.com or 352-238-1115