CityBurb.com’s Boise, Eagle and Meridian Homes and Real Estate Blog

The Idaho Business Review reported that the national foreclosure rate was down 3% last month. Good news, right? Not really. The national foreclosure rate is still up 53% over last year. Of course, that is the national foreclosure rate, not the local rate.

The Idaho foreclosure rate is down almost 20% from this time last year. Still, like the national rate, that probably doesn’t mean much to you. Let’s get down to some numbers. In Boise (as of 7/14/08), there are 697 properties that are in some stage of foreclosure (pre-foreclosure, auction, bank owned). In Meridian, 466 properties and Eagle has 208.

I imagine you might have a couple of questions about this information: what does this information mean and where did I get these numbers?

The numbers don’t mean much. If you’re selling your home this information may help you understand the market a little better and allow you to see what you are up against. If you’re buying a home, make sure you look into any foreclosure or bank owned properties that match your criteria. They are a lot more work to purchase and require a lot of patience (think DMV on a Monday morning times ten), but they can yield a great result. Besides, the increased work load is my job, and I’m happy to do it. I subscribe to both local and national foreclosure property lists, so if you are interested in these types of properties, let me know.

Photo Credit: escapo via Flickr

Tags: Boise Real Estate, Foreclosure, Industry, Real Estate, Treasure Valley by Alfie
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I absolutely love the radio show “This American Life.” Normally, I wouldn’t be sharing this type of information, but last week’s show had some great information about the “credit crisis.” The show does a great job of explaining this country’s financial situation and how we got to where we are.

So, if you’ve wondered how this all happened and want a better understanding of the financial markets, listen to the show; it’s available as a free podcast.

Listen to the show here.

Photo Credit: noahwesley via Flickr

Tags: Boise Real Estate, Foreclosure, Industry, Real Estate by Alfie
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Subprime, subprime, subprime.

I’ve been trying to avoid the latest addition to the consumers’ vocabulary (subprime) that the media has been spewing constantly, but after reading an article in the Statesman today, I just had to talk about it.

The article is titled “Idaho foreclosures up 21 percent.” This might lead one to believe that we are all doomed and everyone in the valley will soon be homeless, but the article does point out a lot of positive information about Idaho. Although 21% seems like a steep increase, Idaho had very few foreclosures in the past so it only takes a small amount of new foreclosures to increase the percentage to a high number (ie. going from 1 to 2 is doubling or a 100% increase). Also, Idaho and the Boise area in general have a very solid economic base in industries outside of real estate. (Of course, Micron is having its own issues right now.)

So are we doomed? I don’t think so. If you are patient and realistic, you’ll be fine.

Tags: Boise Real Estate, Foreclosure, Treasure Valley by Alfie
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With all of the talk lately about the retraction of many loan programs and the increase of foreclosures, it seems like the right time to list some tips on keeping your home if you’re in danger of losing it. That’s right, not selling it, keeping it. We talk to a lot of people who have found themselves at risk of losing their home to foreclosure and most of them don’t want to move. Who can blame them? Moving is a pain when you want to do it. We offer our services in the cases where they do want to move, but here are some tips, courtesy of David Bach and Yahoo! Finance, for those that need help staying put.

Tags: Boise Real Estate, Foreclosure, Industry by Alfie
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