Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Wells Fargo Session

Today I went to a Wells Fargo (WF) Real estate Owned (REO) session in Southfield. There were a few interesting stats that were shared with us.

First, (and no surprise to readers of my blog) is that time on the market has dropped dramatically for WF foreclosure listings. In 2009, the average time on market was 126 days, in 2010 it was 86 days, and so far in 2011 it is 47 days.

WF has only 566 foreclosure homes for sale in Michigan at this time. I thought that was a low number. Part of it may be due to the fact that their loan modifications are up, and over 80% of loan mods are classified as ‘non-HAMP’. HAMP = Home Affordable Modification Program, run by the U.S. Department of Treasury. It is the program that’s been getting bad press for low success rate in helping consumers. Hmm, high number of non-HAMP loan mods and lower foreclosure inventory. Compare that to some other banks’ figures.

Wells Fargo sells its own foreclosures, but acts as a servicer for other investment groups, too. In fact, over 70% of properties they handle are loans from other grouops.

I am impressed by their willingness to do things to make homes more marketable, even when it doesn’t get them more money. They seem to have a genuine interest in getting owner-occupants (not investors) into their properties and in helping to re-stabilize neighborhoods.

Wells Fargo and their Premiere Asset Services division won big last month at HousingWire’s awards for Real Estate management firms and corporate Real Estate departments. It was the second year of the awards.

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