New York City’s REO Program – A Year On

Over a year ago the City of New York started a new program to facilitate home ownership for low- and medium-income families in some of New York’s hardest hit neighborhoods, thus preventing the further decline of those neighborhoods severely impacted by foreclosures. Under the REO Program, the City will use a third-party non-profit organization – Restored Homes HDFC – to acquire and rehabilitate REO properties and re-sell them at affordable prices.

Currently over 41 properties are available for sale under the program, most of them located in battered neighborhoods in Staten Island and Brooklyn.  Restored Homes together with its affiliate organization  Restoring Urban Neighborhoods LLC  has spent $7,049,271 acquiring 37 of these properties (purchase price was not available on four properties) and is looking to sell them for at least $11,310,000 according to their website (price can vary on income eligibility).  Asking prices range from $150,000 for a single-family home in Staten Island to $425,000 for a three-family home in Brooklyn on Ridgewood Avenue.

Renovated REO Property in Brooklyn | Before and After

A study made on 21 properties currently listed for sale shows asking prices 26.6% off what foreclosed owners paid for them between 2004 and 2007. The biggest price difference, $305,000, is for a two-family dwelling in Queens. The property, located on 168-13 118th Road, was purchased in June 2006 for $680,000, was repossessed in January 2009, and is now offered for sale for $375,000.

According to the Restored Homes website, it managed to successfully restore and re-sell 22 properties.  The latest property to be sold, according to our records, was a single-family home in Bedford-Stuyvesant. It sold in May 2010  for $416,600.

The month of May has been busy from an acquisition perspective as five new REO properties have been purchased through the program, all of them in Queens. None are available yet for purchase through the program. For a  list of properties associated with the non-profits organization that manages the program search our ownership records for Restoring Urban Neighborhoods and Restored Homes.

Newly Acquired REO Properties in Queens