The Don Edam Group | Real Estate Professionals Serving Minneapolis, Edina, St. Paul and Surrounding Suburbs

JPMorgan and Citigroup announced last Friday that they would temporarily halt their foreclosures while they wait for the government to finalize some of its foreclosure relief package.  The foreclosure relief package was a portion of the $700 billion under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and was outlined by Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner as being in the neighborhood of $50 billion.  The detail of the plan expected to be worked out by early March.

Citigroup will hold off on foreclosures effective February 12th and will do so until either March 12th, 2009 or until the government finalizes all the details of its foreclosure relief package (whichever comes first).  JPMorgan will hold off on its foreclosures until March 6th (extending a program they had initiated last year).

The city of Minneapolis and the city of St. Paul will be the first 2 cities to pilot the National First Look Program, which “coordinate the transfer of real estate-owned properties from financial institutions nationwide to local housing organizations, in collaboration with state and local governments”.   Basically allows communities to purchase foreclosed homes from banks participating in the program after the redemption period, but before they come on the market for public sale.  Should be a great way for some cities to attempt to “reclaim” some of the neighborhoods that have been devestated by the current run of foreclosures recently.  City of Minneapolis website has a good ‘press release’ with some more info on The First Look Program.

To do your own search for foreclosed homes in the Twin Cities, click here and check the boxes in the Foreclosure option to see Minnesota homes in foreclosure that are listed on the MLS.

There might be a bit of overacting in this video , but nonetheless,  if you’re interested in the latest Housing Stimulus Bill and where the National Association of Realtors stands, here’s your update…

NAR President-Elect Charles McMillan sits down with NAR Chief Lobbyist Jerry Giovaniello to discuss the importance of the Housing Stimulus legislation currently pending on Capitol Hill.

There are currently at least 29 short sales that are available for sale in the Edina and Southwest Minneapolis markets (found by searching in agent comments for “bank approval” and “short sale”). In the Camden area of Minneapolis, there are at least 70. If I look at Minneapolis proper, the number is over 315…St. Paul proper gives us over 300 as well. So, needless to say, there are a good amount of short sales out there. The question is, what does that mean to you, the buyer? How can you keep your dream home from vanishing before your eyes (like the one above)? Short sales open a whole new can of worms throughout the buying process…but first, a short (no pun intended) explanation of them. (more…)