Team Diva Real Estate has watched the foreclosure situation unfold for the past several years. It is always heartbreaking when a family loses their home and no one steps in to assist. At the same time, Seattle has been very lucky and has seen a very low rate of foreclosures in comparison to other cities. Much of this has to do with the area’s economic environment and the price stability of many of Seattle’s neighborhoods. Our own, non-anecdotal view is that many of Seattle’s foreclosures have primarily been investors walking away from homes they rushed to buy during the height of the market. Many of these investors could not cover their payments through their rental income.

Several of our clients have made really wise investments by purchasing some of these homes at a fantastic price. The recent moratorium on foreclosures by the big banks and mortgage servicers has put into question some of these sales. Luckily we live in a state that has very strict requirements on purchasers having clear Title before closing on their home. For all of Team Diva Real Estate’s clients who bought a foreclosed home we insisted they received the Title insurance that best protects them. Below is a blog post by Dwight Bickel – our Title guru, and all around fascinating character, on his perspective on the recent foreclosure situation.

Real estate brokers and recent purchasers are asking a lot of questions about the recent national news about invalid foreclosure sales.   Perhaps I can help to reduce the stress and uncertainty.   The questions are coming from prior purchasers who are now worried about what they should do in response to the news, and from current purchasers who are reasonably concerned about the risk of purchasing property after foreclosure sales.  Should people buy REO listings?

Read more after the jump to Dwight Bickel blog >>