Prime Real Estate is the perfect choice for banks looking to sell foreclosed homes in the metro Atlanta area. With years of experience in selling REO properties, Bru Krebs and his Prime Real Estate team know the business and how to help banks minimize losses and maximize their resources.

Clients include, Fannie Mae, First Preston, Bank of America, Countrywide, Green River Capital, Gramercy Auctions, REDC and more. The Prime Real Estate team focuses on selling REO properties and helps both banks and investors with these proeprty transactions.

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The Prime Real Estate Team is the perfect partner for selling REO properties in Metro Atlanta. Call our offices at 404-685-3774 or visit our web sitte at www.atlprime.com.

By Julie Haviv

NEW YORK (Reuters) – An unusually robust rise in home prices from April to May could foreshadow a recovery in many U.S. housing markets, according to a report released on Thursday by Radar Logic, a real estate data and analytics company.

Twenty-two out of 25 metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs, displayed month-over-month price increases in May, according to Radar Logic’s RPX Monthly Housing Market Report for May 2009.

The RPX 25-MSA Composite showed a month-over-month increase of 2.1 percent.

“This is in stark contrast to the same period during 2008, when a decrease in the velocity of home price depreciation gave way to the worst loss in housing value in recent history,” the report said.

Prices have fallen 33.5 percent peak-to-trough and 31 percent peak-to-current, according to the RPX 25-MSA Composite.

Radar Logic said the RPX is designed to be a daily indication of the “spot” price for residential real estate, which perhaps provides an early view of trends in the broader economy.

“We have been observing strength in the RPX since April, and it now appears that this improvement in home prices was an early indicator of some strength in the general economy,” the report said.

San Francisco ranked No. 1 in May, in terms of price gains, prices surging 7.3 percent versus April. Minneapolis and Milwaukee ranked second and third, with prices climbing 5.5 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively, in May versus April, the data showed.

“Prices in most of these MSAs increased more than would be expected, given historical seasonal patterns,” the report said. “This contrasts starkly to the month-over-month price changes in May 2008, when the seasonal strength typically observable in spring and summer was largely absent.”

Radar Logic said the larger-than-average increase in home prices from April to May 2009 could indicate that seasonal price fluctuations do not fully account for the strength seen in many areas and that seasonal gains are being augmented by a more general recovery in the housing market.

“Unusually mild price declines in the coming autumn and winter would provide further evidence that some markets have started to recover,” the report said.

BIG CITY BLUES

Atlanta, Las Vegas and New York — in contrast to the price growth displayed by most of the MSAs tracked — declined on a month-over-month basis in May, dropping 0.2 percent, 0.6 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively, the data showed.

Radar Logic said the price declines in New York and Las Vegas were not surprising, due to their economies’ reliance on industries that have been hit hard during the recession.

The company also said the absence of seasonal strength in Atlanta was not unusual, either, as seasonal factors do not have a particularly strong influence on the Atlanta RPX relative to the influence of seasonality on other MSAs.

The RPX 25-MSA Composite has increased 3.7 percent since March 30, when it hit its lowest point since the beginning of the housing crisis. Home prices in the western region of the United States have performed particularly well recently, increasing by 6.9 percent since hitting their low on January 22, the report said.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

By ALAN ZIBEL

The Associated Press

7:31 a.m. Thursday, August 13, 2009

WASHINGTON — The number of U.S. households on the verge of losing their homes rose 7 percent from June to July, as the escalating foreclosure crisis continued to outpace government efforts to limit the damage.

Foreclosure filings were up 32 percent from the same month last year, RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday. More than 360,000 households, or one in every 355 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice, such as a notice of default or trustee’s sale. That’s the highest monthly level since the foreclosure-listing firm began publishing the data more than four years ago.

Banks repossessed more than 87,000 homes in July, up from about 79,000 homes a month earlier.

Nevada had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate for the 31st-straight month, followed by California, Arizona, Florida and Utah. Rounding out the top 10 were Idaho, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado and Oregon. Among cities, Las Vegas had the highest rate, followed by the California cities of Stockton and Modesto.

While there have been numerous recent signs that the ailing U.S. housing market is finally stabilizing after three years of plunging prices, foreclosures remain a big concern. Foreclosures are typically sold at a deep discount, hurting neighbors’ home values.

The mortgage industry has been slow to adapt to the surge in foreclosures. Many lenders have needed government prodding to get up to speed with the Obama administration’s plan to stem foreclosures.

The Treasury Department said last week that banks have extended only 400,000 offers to 2.7 million eligible borrowers who are more than two months behind on their payments. More than 235,000, or 9 percent, those borrowers have enrolledin three-month trials in which their monthly payments are reduced.

“The volume of loans that are in distress simply overwhelms” those efforts, said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s senior vice president for marketing.

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August 13, 2009 07:31 AM EDT

By Michelle E. Shaw

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

9:32 p.m. Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The median sale price of a single-family home in metro Atlanta rose from the first quarter to second quarter of the year but remained well below year-ago levels, the National Association of Realtors says.

The median price was $121,400 in the three months that ended June 30, up 5 percent from $115,600 in the three months ended March 31. The current median price is 23 percent lower than it was this time last year, $158,300, according to figures released Wednesday by the association.

The median is the mid-point for all sales; half of homes sold were priced higher, and half were priced lower. A rise in foreclosures and other distress sales, coupled with a slow market for mid- and upper-price sales, depresses the median.

Though the price is still down year-over-year, quarterly improvement is progress in the right direction, housing analysts say.

“The real key will be year-over-year increases, but the quarterly movement shows things are moderating,” said Steve Palm, president of the Marietta real estate research firm SmartNumbers. “The numbers have been edging up since February, and quarterly progress is good to see.”

Nationally, 129 out of 155 metropolitan statistical areas saw second-quarter declines in median existing single-family home prices, compared to same period the year before. Twenty-six areas had price gains.

Median sale prices are lower than typical home valuations in many parts of the metro area because of market conditions.

“Recently sold homes are concentrated in lower price ranges,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors’ association. “The median price may not be representative of overall values in a given area because many middle priced homes are not on the market.”

Foreclosures and sales for less than the loan value accounted for 36 percent of transactions across the country in the second quarter, according to the association. The national median existing single-family price was $174,100, down 16 percent from the second quarter of 2008, the release said.

Sales volume, declined 4 percent in Georgia in the second quarter from the first, and 5 percent year over year, according to the report. But 39 states had sales increases from the first quarter, and nine had year-over-year improvements, the association said.