Foreclosure morass sinks Wahkiakum residents

The foreclosures that hit the county’s real estate market in 2009 continue to depress the local housing market, and local realtors fear more are on the way.

A review of Wahkiakum County Property Sales spreadsheet indicated nine foreclosures countywide in 2008, 14 in 2009 and only one 2010. The sales of foreclosed properties, from banks to individuals climbed proportionately, from two in 2008, seven in 2009 and 21 in 2010.

Wahkiakum County Assessor’s Chief Deputy/Appraiser Denny Bryant has been working his way through home assessments for district R2, which includes Skamokawa and Elochoman Valley and expects to finish field inspections in the next six weeks. Bryant said half of the sales he’s using to set current values are foreclosure sales, which are usually lesser than private party sales.

"I’m also seeing some good values in sales between private sellers," Bryant said Tuesday. “I think the market is starting to stabilize.”

Assessor Bill Coons said his office is working hard to evaluate fairly, acknowledging the gap between the foreclosure and bank sale market and the private market.

“We’ve arrived at the place where half our sales are foreclosures, and then you begin to consider those as you make valuations," he said. "You’re asking yourself, what’s the reality?"

“When there’s only one foreclosure in a year say, then it doesn’t affect sales prices overall. But if someone has a foreclosed property next to yours, and it costs half as much as you paid, why would someone buy yours?” said Kay Cochran.

Cochran said she expects the market to improve this year, “Unless something else happens (to hurt the economy) I don’t think it will be as bad as last year.”

Private sellers have to compete with short sales, in which a seller must arrange for the mortgagor to accept a sale of less than 25 % of the loan, and with bank owned properties which are steeply discounted.

Local realtor Stephanie Prestegard continues to watch the market, looking for the upturn, “I hope I’m seeing it, but then, I don’t think so.”

Bill Wilkins of Windermere Realty in Cathlamet said despite the numbers of foreclosures over the past two years, he expects more to come.

Wilkins bases his view on the requests for Broker Price Opinions (BPO) he is receiving from US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which manages loans for Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. Wilkins says he doesn’t provide the BPO’s, which help mortgagers determine what a property is worth.

“These are the foreclosures coming next,” Wilkins said. “Now we will see the people who held on and held on. They talked the banks into trusting them to get the money, or they paid partial payments. Or they thought they could sell the house, but now they’re folding. The economy hasn’t picked up up fast enough.”

Bryant said the houses that do sell have been on the market for a long time and have had their prices reduced. Coons said, “That’s Wahkiakum County, we hang out the highest price possible to start with.”

Wilkins said, “If you’re a valid seller, you practically have to give your house away to sell it.”

Coons is working to have the county Board of Equalization revalue Puget Island this year to account for downward pressure on property values.

The Mortgage Bankers’ Association (MBA) reported February 17 that 45 states saw increases in the rate of foreclosure starts compared to last year, with the largest increases coming in Washington, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia. The largest decreases were in Florida, Connecticut, and Maryland. Nevada and Arizona top the rankings in terms of foreclosure starts and loans in foreclosure across most loan types. The MBA is a real estate finance industry advocacy group.