Pre-foreclosure next door- how scared should we be?

[Anonymous]

So the crazy lady next door refused to renew the lease on her rental tenants last year (really lovely family, btw) and raised the rent. No takers. Then she put it on the market to sell (as is) at a ridiculously high price. Again, no takers. We're trying to improve our home without going over the general property values/sold prices in the neighborhood, so I occasionally check realtor sites for homes in our neighborhood. I was poking around on Zillow and saw that the house is now listed as a pre-foreclosure with an auction possible. What does this really mean, and how concerned should we be that it's next door. We're not planning to move in the next year, but this surely isn't going to help our property value.

[Anonymous]

Oh, my. Good luck. I am really starting to worry about the market again; a house similar to mine in my neighborhood recently sold for about $125K above what I paid for mine in 2010; the family has been there four months and has no blinds or curtains up, which just strikes me as intensely weird when you live on a crowded city block. The one time I walked by and they had their door open, I noticed they have no furniture in their either. Like, nothing but a sofa and a flat screen TV in the living room. Now I am concerned that people are being offered and approved for loans they can't really afford again. Yikes.

[Anonymous]

there, not their. Typing too fast.

[Anonymous]

I would only be concerned about who BUYS a foreclosed property. I.e. it will obviously be someone who could not have otherwise afforded the neighborhood. NOT good to have as a neighbor, from what I have seen.

[Anonymous]

what neighborhood

[Anonymous]

OP here- we're in FFC.

[Anonymous]

It really depends. We had that two doors down and even though we were in NWDC in a highly sought after neighborhood it kept popping up on our comps a year later.

Reduced our price by about 25k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, my. Good luck. I am really starting to worry about the market again; a house similar to mine in my neighborhood recently sold for about $125K above what I paid for mine in 2010; the family has been there four months and has no blinds or curtains up, which just strikes me as intensely weird when you live on a crowded city block. The one time I walked by and they had their door open, I noticed they have no furniture in their either. Like, nothing but a sofa and a flat screen TV in the living room. Now I am concerned that people are being offered and approved for loans they can't really afford again. Yikes.

Maybe they moved from an apartment. It does take a while to fully furnish a house. I am year 4 into decorating my home and I am only half way through. Even semi-custom pieces take at least 6-8 weeks.

[Anonymous]

They could be a relo - military etc. We did not get our stuff for a week after a move one time. Had 2 beach chairs, a blow mattress, the crib, tv and a mis-mash of things we moved ourselves. We have friends who did not get their stuff for almost a month one time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, my. Good luck. I am really starting to worry about the market again; a house similar to mine in my neighborhood recently sold for about $125K above what I paid for mine in 2010; the family has been there four months and has no blinds or curtains up, which just strikes me as intensely weird when you live on a crowded city block. The one time I walked by and they had their door open, I noticed they have no furniture in their either. Like, nothing but a sofa and a flat screen TV in the living room. Now I am concerned that people are being offered and approved for loans they can't really afford again. Yikes.

Maybe they moved from an apartment. It does take a while to fully furnish a house. I am year 4 into decorating my home and I am only half way through. Even semi-custom pieces take at least 6-8 weeks.

Doubtful. You're telling me it takes 4 months to find curtains or blinds? Um, no. I can see the furniture bit, I guess, but you're also telling me that an apartment dweller wouldn't even have a coffee table/side table? And yet somehow they can afford a house? I don't buy that either. Maybe you're right, but it seems a stretch to me. I would never live on a crowded city block without anything on my windows at all for 4 months. Not even 4 days. That would be the FIRST thing that went up in my house. But maybe I'm the weird one, who knows?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They could be a relo - military etc. We did not get our stuff for a week after a move one time. Had 2 beach chairs, a blow mattress, the crib, tv and a mis-mash of things we moved ourselves. We have friends who did not get their stuff for almost a month one time.

Four months, though? Four months seems a really big stretch. I know, I should MMOB, but something is off about it and it just bugs me. I drive by that house every day and every day I think "Really? No curtains yet?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the crazy lady next door refused to renew the lease on her rental tenants last year (really lovely family, btw) and raised the rent. No takers. Then she put it on the market to sell (as is) at a ridiculously high price. Again, no takers. We're trying to improve our home without going over the general property values/sold prices in the neighborhood, so I occasionally check realtor sites for homes in our neighborhood. I was poking around on Zillow and saw that the house is now listed as a pre-foreclosure with an auction possible. What does this really mean, and how concerned should we be that it's next door. We're not planning to move in the next year, but this surely isn't going to help our property value.

I don't see what the issue is here if you're not moving in the next year. You're getting rid of an obnoxious neighbor, which is a good thing. The distressed house next door is going to be out of the foreclosure process at least a year before you intend to move, which is a good thing. Maybe instead of a crazy lady next door there will be a young family that hunted for a bargain in your neighborhood. That's a good thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, my. Good luck. I am really starting to worry about the market again; a house similar to mine in my neighborhood recently sold for about $125K above what I paid for mine in 2010; the family has been there four months and has no blinds or curtains up, which just strikes me as intensely weird when you live on a crowded city block. The one time I walked by and they had their door open, I noticed they have no furniture in their either. Like, nothing but a sofa and a flat screen TV in the living room. Now I am concerned that people are being offered and approved for loans they can't really afford again. Yikes.

ok, let's hear my side of the story. we are the family with no blinds. we moved from a small 2bd apt (rental) to our first and forever home, a 3bd house back in 2010. when we came to DC years ago, we came with only suitcases thinking we were staying for a year or two. thus, we rented small place and bought a few Ikea pieces to furnish the place. after 10 years and three moves, our furniture was in such bad shape that we just took it to the damp when we moved into out new house. we moved with mattresses on the floor, a junky sofa, the dinner table and chairs. with two FT jobs and two little kids, there is no much time to make a plan to furnish an entire house, especially if you are decor-challenged like me and get confused by the billions of ideas at apartment therapy or houzz. I want decent stuff that will last a long time, so we want to have a coherent plan before we buy something. and buying furniture for an entire house all at once is expensive. the courtains/blinds are the stuff you usually select after you have a basic furnishing and color scheme, so they should be last and not first. we did the bedrooms first (can't stay with clothes on the floor), and we finished furnishing the dining room last year (although there are no shades at the windows), and we just put shades in the living room, which we may finally do this year, especially since our youngest is turning 4, so we are finally planning to make the room into a living room and not a playroom. with work and kids, our social life has not been very active anyway. our mortgage + RE taxes is about 1/3 of the net income we bring in every month, our credit score is stellare and we are in relatively dafe jobs, so we can definitely afford our home. there are a lot of reasons why people may take a long time to furnish their homes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would only be concerned about who BUYS a foreclosed property. I.e. it will obviously be someone who could not have otherwise afforded the neighborhood. NOT good to have as a neighbor, from what I have seen.

Not necessarily. Could be someone who just knows a good deal when they see it. Not everyone is willing to overpay for a "move-in ready" house.

[Anonymous]

I got a deal on my house - not a foreclosure, but a deal - and I'm thrilled to be in a neighborhood where the median price is over $200K more than I paid. I love my neighborhood, have spent time and money improving the house and I'm outside for hours every weekend making the grounds more attractive. The sellers had kind of let things go over the years. I love my neighbors and have spent time getting to know them. Don't count out folks who buy foreclosures as the kind of people you don't want as your neighbors - really depends on the people. (i understand worrying about comps and resale, though!)