patrick.net

The OP headline needs a big correction. The linked article says that one in five in foreclosure are zombies, total 141k. The USA has more than 100 million housing units. The 2010 Census reported 14% vacancy; I don't know the current number, but the article doesn't say either.

Call it Crazy says

Dan, Dan, Dan... You haven't been listening to the "experts" here at Patnet.. There are NO shadow houses, they have all been cleared out...

I repeat, there are NO shadow houses and all foreclosures have cleared the pipeline...

These "experts" here are right, aren't they??

The "experts" here by and large don't dispute the shadow homes existence - only how they will be disposed of (en masse destroying prices vs. drip drip drip doing jack shit to prices).

As such, when people use the existence of the shadow homes as a reason not to buy - for example - Patrick's point #7:

7. Because there is still a massive backlog of latent foreclosures. Millions of owners stopped paying their mortgages, and the banks are still not forclosing on all of them, letting the owner live in the house for free. If a bank forecloses and takes possession of a house, that means the bank is responsible for property taxes and maintenance. Banks don't like those costs. If a bank then sells the foreclosure at current prices, the bank has to admit a loss on the loan. Banks like that cost even less. So there is a tsunami of foreclosures on the way that the banks are ignoring, for now. To prevent a justified foreclosure is also to prevent a deserving family from buying that house at a low price. Right now, those foreclosures will wash over the landscape, decimating prices, and benefitting millions of families which will be able to buy a house without a suicidal level of debt, and maybe without any debt at all!

/housing/crash1.html

While this belief (and reason to wait) was legitimate in 2009, to continue to sit here in 2014 and rely on the Tsunami of shadow homes being puked up en masse as a reason not to buy is fundamentally stupid.

Call it Crazy says

First, what's YOUR description of a shadow house? That definition seems to vary here.

A home that is somewhere in the foreclosure process that has yet to be re-sold.

Call it Crazy says

Where was that said in this thread?

Nowhere in this thread - but I am assuming it is implied to "matter" in terms of prices. Otherwise, whats the point? Why bring up an issue (vacant-shadow homes) which have existed in some capacity for decades on end?

As the end of the day, either these will matter as they are puked up as Patrick claims - or they wont matter as they continue to be drip drip dripped back into a market of stagnant or slowly rising prices.

CDon says

Call it Crazy says

First, what's YOUR description of a shadow house? That definition seems to vary here.

A home that is somewhere in the foreclosure process that has yet to be re-sold.

We had lots of these homes in 2011 - the result.....prices shot up.
If it didn't crash the market then, how will a few of these crash the market today?

Strategist says

CDon says

Call it Crazy says

First, what's YOUR description of a shadow house? That definition seems to vary here.

A home that is somewhere in the foreclosure process that has yet to be re-sold.

We had lots of these homes in 2011 - the result.....prices shot up.

If it didn't crash the market then, how will a few of these crash the market today?

Fed bought them all, preventing a hard landing. Modern Scenario: fed pulls out. Reality: fed cannot pull out.