South Bay Homes and Real Estate

Washington Mutual (now a part of JP Morgan Chase) REO deals are on hold while the FDIC and Title Companies work things out. My Hawthorne listing (mls #S08106073), that’s 4347 W. 138th Street in Hawthorne, CA was cruising to close. The lender called yesterday to confirm the planned closing only to learn of the new “problem” with WaMu REO’s.

Escrow passed along a message that was provided by Chicago Title Co., explaining that the FDIC and WaMu have to establish a process for transferring title – so that the Title Companies can insure the title. Seems like the kind of thing they do everyday, no?

Seems wrong to hold-up liquidation of bank-owned assets on deals which dozens of employees and vendors have already spent months and thousands of dollars evaluating…while the value marched steadily southward!

This one has declined over 40% in value from the last sale 38 months ago. So, if my client drops out to buy another property this one is likely to continue its southward march for another few months. It had been on the market for over 250 days when we went into escrow.

WaMu/FDIC say they do not know how long it will take them to work out the title issues. In the meantime, we keep shopping!

Mike ‘Rocky’ Rockwood is part of the father/son Real Estate team, The Rockwood Group. Torrance home buyers and home sellers can reach The Rocky Rockwood Group at 310-809-0203 or Ryanrockwood@kw.com.