http://www.batonrougerealestateappraisal.com/ - Baton Rouge Business Report: 10 Most Expensive Home Sales Of 2009

The January 12-25, 2010 edition of the Baton Rouge Business Report arrived yesterday with an interesting article on the Top 10 Most Expensive Home Sales of 2009. The summary of the article was posted yesterday on the “Daily Report AM” email and reads as follows below. Click the “here” to read the entire article.

“The Baton Rouge housing market may be doing better than its counterparts in much of the country, but sales in the high-end segment were pretty dismal in 2009. There were half as many homes that sold in the $1 million and up range, compared with 2008. Read about the local market for high-priced houses — and about the area’s biggest business deals of 2009 — in the Business Report cover story here. Send comments to editors@businessreport.com.”

Here are some of the homes mentioned. The photo gallery of all 10 homes located at the bottom of the article.

http://www.appraisersinbatonrouge.com/ - Baton Rouge Real Estate Weekly Video as of 12/29/2009

In this video, Greater Baton Rouge Area Home Appraiser, Bill Cobb, presents a video of the 12/29/2009 Baton Rouge Business Report’s Real Estate Weekly!

http://www.appraisersinbatonrouge.com/ - Baton Rouge Foreclosures and Delinquencies Up In October 2009

Baton Rouge Business Report and First Core Logic are reporting an increase in foreclosures and delinquencies in the Greater Baton Rouge market as of October 2009. The article is located here and here’s a snippet:

“The rate of foreclosures in metro Baton Rouge increased by half a percentage point in October, when compared with the year before. According to First American CoreLogic, which tracks real estate data, the rate of outstanding mortgage loans that were foreclosed upon in October was 1.71%, compared with 1.21% in October 2008. Despite the increase, that’s lower than the national average of 3.02%. The number of homeowners who were behind on their mortgage payments was also up. First Americans says 3.58% of Capital Region mortgages in October 2008 were 90 days or more delinquent, compared with 5.31% this year. That’s also better than the national average, where 7.7% of mortgages are three months or more past due. In October 2008, 4.54% of U.S. mortgages were delinquent.”

Bill Cobb, Appraiser, Commentary:

“This concurs with what I’ve been seeing in this local market since August 2008 where I’ve been seeing more “shadow inventory” than is being reported. Although the problem isn’t that bad as compared to some parts of the U.S., I’ve been wondering when the news would catch up with the reality of the local market.

Another issue that makes it much more difficult for appraisers to truly know the state of foreclosures in a market is here is the new foreclosure market and the way banks dispose of or don’t dispose of REOs. It’s stated here that a recent article (The Landmines Within by Michael Tarabotto http://activerain.com/blogsview/930436/The-Landmines-Within ) stated that as much as 70% of REOs never make it into the MLS – Meaning that it might be impossible to know or state the exact # of competing REOs if they’re not being listed. It’s also very difficult in our local GBRAR MLS to track short sales because both our local MLS doesn’t have a box that states the listing is a short sale and sometimes short sales aren’t reported as short sales on the MLS Sheets.”