The other day Countrywide Financial posted over 195,000 properties for sale on their REO/Foreclosure website. It was a complete shocker to many of us - as we didn't know what to make of this.Thanks to Peter Villes from the L.A. Times who contacted Countrywide's PR and received the following email response:
"There was a technical glitch. I'm trying to get you the accurate number but it probably won't happen until tomorrow."
A reader from the L.A. Times Blog asked:
‘MattJ wrote, " I'm sure it is a technical glitch, too, but the real question is what is that list of 190,000 houses a list of? Some speculation at Calculated Risk include that it is a list of homes in the foreclosure process but not yet REOs, or that it is a list of all REO houses that Countrywide services. Whatever it is, it sure would be nice to learn what that larger list contains and how it ended up in their list of Countrywide REOs."’
The question from MattJ's post was forwarded by email to Countrywide by Peter and the response from Countrywide was as follows:
"There was an omission in the logic that didn't filter out any properties so it was including all historical REO properties in the database. This has been rectified and new logic has been added."
From Peter Villes:
"To answer gman's question ("Is it possible that Countrywide has 196,000 of these and they've just been holding back?"), we think that is highly unlikely, and we take Countrywide at its word on this one: a technical glitch."
I believe this explains a lot, and we should take Countrywide at its word on this one as well.
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21 comments:
The LA Times bought their story. It's pretty easy to go onto the REDC website and look at upcoming auctions. Compare that to land records and you'll see Countrywide is full of sh**. There are countless examples all over the country of homes REO by Countrywide coming to auction in the next month or two that WERE on the "mistake list" but not on other lists. It looks like they are filtering homes that have multiple mortgages.
They're hiding numerous foreclosures from the public.
I don't think they are hiding foreclosures. I know two people in different financial institutions that process REO. They both said it was coming in much faster than they could process it to go out (this was in Feb 07) (determining condition of property, what to fix, get it repaired, listed etc). This is even more complicated when you have institutions/funds that actually hold the loan files go bankrupt. Then it is a simple case of just who the heck really owns this loan file? Just my two cents.
I'm amazed Countrywide didn't exclaim "what the hell are you doing plotting all of our foreclosures on a graph? That's against our terms of use, cut it out pronto!"
I really appreciate your service, but it wouldn't surprise me if from this day foreward, Countrywide starts messing with the data on its website just so it can make the numbers look better. You know, do something like say "up to 300 properties in CA. Click through for more..." instead of showing you the real number.
I believe this explains a lot, and we should take Countrywide at its word on this one as well.
What is this guy smoking.."take Countrywide at its WORD"
Would that be the word of Angilo Mozilo......Citizen of the year..
We have 2 Countrywide (listed)REO'S in our neighborhood in Orange County, CA... Guess what we also have 6 more properties that will be owned by Countrywide with in the next 4-6 months...This is out of 62 homes.
How about those numbers!!!.
Countrywide has owned my home since they foreclosed in March of 2007. The only list it ever appeared on was the glitch list. It's gone again now and is going to auction in a few weeks. The only place it can be seen is on the REDC list. The court documents are all online showing who foreclosed. They're fudging numbers.
Come on people. We know that they take the property off the list when its going to auction. Why would they leave it on the list if you can't even buy it yet? Remember this list is not a record of whats on their books, its what they are advertising to sell.
"Remember this list is not a record of whats on their books, its what they are advertising to sell"
Exactly. That is why I always put "xxx homes offered for sale on cfc website".
The chart is a snapshot of that, and that alone.
You people are morons! Clearly you don't understand how databases work. The 196,000 is a list of all REO's sold by countrywide (perhaps ever). Period. If you really think theyre holding 196,000 back, you're smoking something.
Remember this list is not a record of whats on their books, its what they are advertising to sell.
I assume you mean the 13K list, not the 195K list.
So if they're not advertising to sell, they're not up for auction, and they are on the books, what do you call that?
My home was being sold for Countrywide by a national realtor since January 2007. The home was foreclosed on and Countrywide had the deed in their hands 9/2006. The property was never listed on that site. It's still for sale now and all offers must get approved by Countrywide as I know people that have put in offers.
It's still not on the REO site, and never has been. It is 100% REO by every legal and technical definition.
It's much worse than the 13k number listed.
I had found a particular property that I found interesting, listed on this page before the glitch. Assessor indicates that the deed is held by Countrywide for Goldman Sachs. It is no longer listed on the Countrywide site, but is still listed on the MLS and assessor's site as unsold. Could be a lazy realtor (sometimes the REO sharks are sloppy).
I can't quite reconcile why it would appear on the list before the glitch and not after, if the reason why it is not on the list is that it is just serviced, and not owned, by CW. In that case, it should not have been on the pre-glitch list. Perhaps it has sold, and the data is not updated on MLS and assessor. The assessor usually updates within a couple of weeks of close, so it will be a mystery until then.
I'm thinking that the REO inventory really is that big, if you count the loans that they service.
Many appear to been purchased with 80/20 products within the last few years....and show other banks were the original lenders. Some show they are owned by FMNA and FreddieMac.
You are all missing what's really happening. It's a game of musical chairs right now. Example: Wells owns a mortgage serviced by Countrywide. The loan goes into foreclosure, neither Wells nor Countyrwide lists the loan as REO publicly. When they eventually get caught the excuse they will all use is (Wells) "It was serviced by Countrywide so we believed they were reporting it" and Countrywide will say "It was owned by Wells so we figured they'd report it." In a nutshell it will be 12-18 months - at which time we are emerging from the current crisis that the truth is actually revealed. To indicate how bad it is now will only panic the markets.
I took a look at the ACTIVE listings in the glitch list. Most were inactive. The active listings are a combination of serviced loans and loans out of foreclosure about to be sold or auctioned. There are over 2k homes on that list "about to be auctioned" that are REO Countrywide. They technically are not for sale as they are under agreement to be auctioned.
They duped the LA Times reporter pretty well.
I'm a real estate investor from Florida...I think the numbers are correct!! Susan
www.wealthpeaceandmore.com
I just did some research on some of the properties on the huge list (196,000) that are not on the actual list. According to our county records, some of these homes were recently purchased and Countrywide is the lender. These do not appear to be foreclosures at all. For instance, one property had just closed two months ago. There are no "notice of trustee's sales" filed, etc. Apparently is a glitch . . .
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Questions: On a shortsale home, I had putted in an offer, the bank we deal with was through countrywide, how long would that process take. My agent states 4-6months. Why is it that long to process an approval for a shortsale home? I thought the main thing was to find buyers on these shortsale homes. It doesn't make sense, no wonder the first offer never go through. Look how many months we have to wait. How can I work with the bank to speed up this approval?
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