Clenciu: Owners who are not pressed leave only a 5% negotiation margin
ARAI president says those under financial pressure cut even 20% of price to get cash
Follows a wave of real estate executions, resulting in selling homes at 50% discounts
The housing loans contracted in 2008 hang heavy on the shoulders of the Romanians, so that over 100,000 natural persons are in foreclosure proceedings because they have not paid their bank instalments and their number is likely to increase. This situation brings a new blow to house sellers, because very cheap houses will appear in the market, sold by banks, even at half their original price, Cristian Clenciu, President of the Romanian National Association of Realtors (ARAI), told the Curierul Naţional.
"As I have heard, the banks will enforce the guarantee of over 100,000 people, mainly personal need loans, very few mortgage loans. And then some people who manage to sell their apartment prefer to sell their home. Thus, they will get a lower price but will solve their problems. Ultimately, the bank will sell the apartment at half its market value," said Cristian Clenciu.
Negotiation margin up to 20%
Cristian Clenciu explained that, at the moment, there are two types of transactions in the market: the normal ones and those made under the pressure to sell. Because we have two different situations, we also have different negotiation margins. "If we talk about a forced transaction, where the owner needs cash urgently, or has problems with the loan and is under the pressure to sell, the negotiation margin can go up to 20%, while in a normal transaction where the owner is not forced to sell, the negotiation margins are much lower, somewhere around 5%. Since 2009 until now I have met many cases where people are forced to sell, even more than in the past. Their number is noticeable a
