How can this happen?  I was reviewing the distress sales in Plymouth today and one of them in particular caught my attention.

The home was built and purchased in mid-2007 for $960,000.  However, it is now either owned or is a short sale with Countrywide.  The current asking price is under $620,000 for a home with nearly 3200 finished square feet on the main two levels.
I am familiar with this small development in Plymouth.  There are 7-8 newly constructed homes in the cul-de-sac and it’s in the Wayzata School District.  This home is being offered at a massive discount provided there aren’t significant things wrong with it.

I just ran my MLS Distress search for Plymouth this morning and there were 65 properties for sale that came up in my search.   It has been running between 60-66 actives over the past several weeks.  (Note: I also ran the foreclosure search on Edina Realty and only came up with 20 homes.  If you’re relying on the big search sites instead of  getting information culled from the MLS from an agent who knows how to pull the information, you are missing out on 2/3rds of the distress sales).
The breakdown in single family vs. townhome vs. condos is as follows:

34 single family homes

26 townhomes

5 condos

Of the 34 single family homes for sale that meet my distress criteria, 11 of those are short sales.

Clearly there are opportunity with short sales, but if you are not familiar with them, you’re going to want to work with someone who does have experience with them.

As is always the case, if you want the list I’m referring to in this post, please call or e-mail me and I will send it to you.