High Dollar Houses In Birmingham Shivers From Foreclosures

July 17th, 2008 · No Comments

The cold clammy touch of foreclosures has spared none. High dollar houses in Birmingham are shivering from the clammy touch of foreclosures. After having devastated modest neighbourhood now the foreclosures are penetrating into localities where the houses are valued $500,000 upwards. These are all signs of a deep-rooted malaise in the economy that is sparing none – not even the rich and famous.

When the foreclosure crisis first began to make noises, the filings came from areas like Center Point, some parts of Roebuck as well as East Lake, according to RealtyTrac. This points to many unsophisticated buyers who took risky loans. But the background is different in the Inverness neighbourhood in the county of Shelby. Here there are five foreclosed house with the price tag swinging from $500,000 to $1.1 million. The Birmingham Multiple Listing Service list included nearly 1,500 foreclosure postings. Twenty-five of these were rated above $50,000. Three units are asking for more than $1 million. Many of the high dollar houses have been sitting on the shop shelves for months trying to squeeze in with new foreclosed homes coming in. The foreclosure virus is spread out across regions like Mountain Brook, Greystone, Liberty Park and also Mount Laurel. Hollywood and Edgewood too are catching the cold. Pelham and Columbiana also have some fancy priced units. The highest price being asked on the MLS list is $1.125 for a property with eight bedrooms, 7 ½ baths, swimming pool and waterfall.

Experts opine that in many cases the owners of luxury houses have become victims of their own successes. They easily got home loans and now the balloon has burst. The rise in the floating interest rates (ARM) caught many professionals on the wrong foot. With the general economy slumping jobs vanished, prices increased and problems worsened. Among the worst victims of the foreclosure crisis are doctors, legal personnel, engineers and those engaged in similar streams. Jobs are being lost due to frequent mergers, shut downs or taking on more loans whether housing or otherwise than they could afford.

Many buyers opted for heritage houses in regions like Mountain Brook and then demolished them to build something bigger and more expensive. Suddenly they have been hit below the belt with no equity left to wiggle out of the mess.

Gas increases may not make a dent in the pockets of the upper class but when the mortgage on the house doubles they too get the shivers.