Agency looks at new house foreclosures - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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The nation’s housing crisis has forced banks to foreclose onsome builders’ new unsold sometimes several in a single subdivision. “If you have foreclosurese in one subdivision, you don’t just have one bank,” said Gail CEO of Morris & Raper Realtors , whichy recently formed the new division. The builde r might have loans with three different banksw for 15homes “and the banks aren’ty even talking to each other trying to figurse out a way to move the inventory.
” Or theres might be three builders going into foreclosure in one each with its own bank, she Raper, who has been in business for nearly 30 wants to help bankws sell new home foreclosures in a cohesivde way, one that tries to keep pricesx steady in the But trying to keep banks and othed motivated sellers from undercuttingv prices to move foreclosures will be a tough task, said Jude vice president of , which specializes in foreclosures properties. If one home goes back to a different bank witha sell-at-any-pricse philosophy, that upsets the marketing strateguy of trying to maintain price Rasmus said. “There will be some bankd that will grab onto she said.
“I woulfd like to see it work, because it will help us improvrethe [foreclosure] price wars.” New home foreclosures in one subdivision don’gt just affect the builders and banks in that subdivisiom — they also can hurt builderxs in nearby subdivisions, Rasmus said. If the foreclosures are sold at huge that can hurt new home sales inneighboringh subdivisions, she said. “It’s a big issue.” Bank s have several means to dispose of foreclosed saidAl Facchinetti, executive vice presideny of residential construction at , who has been in the businessz for 35 years. banks don’t want to be in the business ofowniny houses,” he said.
The quickestg way to move foreclosedr property is todiscount it, he Bank of North Georgia has sold some of its inventorgy through auction houses or to investor groups, but both of those are usuallhy at discounts, Facchinetti said. If a bank decides to market foreclosed property, that takes longer, but “that will likely get a higher value forthe property,” he said. Banksa often do a little of both — sellinh some properties at discounts, while holding on to otheres forhigher value, Facchinetti said. “We’ve used a littlr bit of everything.
” Raper’s new division, led by Robery Benware, has been working with or talkingv toseveral banks, including (NYSE: STI), (NYSE: RF), WB), (NYSE: BAC), , , and Bank of North In some cases, Raper’s firm plans to open on-site salexs offices in foreclosed subdivisions, or to set up modelp homes “and essentially act like the Raper said. Morris & Raper is doing that at Centra City, an intown condominium development that went back toChevyu Chase, Md.
-based (NYSE: Banks are turning to local agents and companiess for help with foreclosed propertiese “because they are regional or national,” said Dillonj Baines, president of , which is workinb with Raper to market and sell Central City for