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Dennis Norman This past Thursday Congress passed H.R. 4851 and President Obama signed it into law the same day extending the National Flood Insurance Program, which had expired on March 28th, through May 31, 2010. The National Association of REALTORS, which lobbied hard for this extension, now says they are working with Congress to get the National Flood Insurance Program reauthorized before it expires again on May 31st. The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a their report on New Residential Construction for March 2010 showing an increase in building permits and a decrease in new home starts from February. The report shows the following: Building permits issued for single-family residences in March were at an annual rate of 543,000 which is 5.6 percent above the revised February rate of 514,000 and an increase of 50.8 percent from a year ago when the rate was 360,000. Housing starts for single-family residences in March were at an annual rate of 531,000 Continue Reading → Dennis Norman As readers know, I have been somewhat critical of the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) which is part of the Obama administrations’ Making Home Affordable Program for a few reasons, one is I believe it is just a temporary “band-aid” and not a cure for the problem and two, it does not appear the program is going to help near as many people as the Obama administration initially said it would. Yesterday a report was issued that shows there is progress being made and, through the end of March, a total of 230,000 homeowners Continue Reading → Dennis Norman The month of March brought us some pretty great weather and also helped bring some home buyers out into the market. The homebuyer tax credits that are set to expire at the end of April probably played a role as well. As you can see from the chart below, March brought sales to the metro area, but as the average prices of homes sold show, it is definitely the lower end, or first-time homebuyer, market that is seeing the bulk of the activity. In most of the counties the average price of the homes sold in March Continue Reading → Dennis Norman A report published by Lender Processing Services (LPS) analyzing homeowner’s performance on their mortgages as of February 2010 has some data that is encouraging but that data is overshadowed by data that shows the problems int he U.S. housing market are far from over. Let’s start with the good news… Delinquencies on home mortgages declined in February by 1.45 percent from January and the percentage of loans that were 90 days late or more in February were at the lowest rate in 17 months. The decline in home loans that were 90+ days delinquent from December Continue Reading → Dennis Norman I thought I would end the week by giving everyone something to dwell on and contemplate over the weekend. Actually, I set out this morning to do a post about the National Association of REALTORS(R) (NAR) Housing Affordability Index for February which was recently published. As I was reviewing the data in the report I started giving “affordability” a lot of thought, went down a few rabbit trails, did a few hours of research and ended up with an analysis of home affordability. The NAR Report: Since this was the initial topic I thought I should Continue Reading → Dennis Norman At the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on March 16th it was suggested that “economic activity expanded at a moderate pace in early 2010″. Unfortunately, when it came to the housing market, the news was not as good and it was noted that “housing activity remained flat and the nonresidential construction section weakened further.” The staff went on to say that activity in the housing sector appears to “have flattened out in recent months” and that “sales of both new and existing homes have turned down, while starts of single-family homes were about unchanged despite the substantial Continue Reading → Dennis Norman Today the National Association of REALTORS released it’s February Pending Home Sales Index showing a increase of 8.2 percent (seasonally adjusted) in the index for the U.S. from January and a 17.3 percent increase from last year. The Midwsest region had the best results with February home sales increasing 21.8 percent from January. Here in St. Louis, home sales in February increased at an even greater rate. The City of St. Louis had the largest 1-month increase at 62.6 percent, followed by Jefferson County with an increase in pending sales of 34.1 percent, St. Charles County Continue Reading → Dennis Norman The Treasury Department Plans to Spend $50 Billion on HAMP…Is it Going to “help keep “3 to 4 million Americans in their homes” as Promised Though? Last week Herbert M. Allison, Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as to “Is the Home Affordable Modification Program Preserving Homeownership?”. Early in his testimony Allison states that, at the time the HAMP program was announced, President Obama said the program would “enable as many as 3 to 4 million homeowners to modify Continue Reading → Dennis Norman Annual Rates of Decline In Home Prices Improving This morning the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for January was released showing that home prices in their 10 city and 20 city composite indexes decreased from December, the 10-city index was down 0.2 percent and the 20-city index down 0.4 percent. The 10-city January index was exactly even with January 2009, and the 20-city January index was down 0.7 percent from a year ago. The indexes include the major metropolition areas in the U.S. (details for metros included are in chart that follows). All 20 metro areas and Continue Reading → Dennis Norman Last week HUD announced changes to FHA home loan programs to provide refinancing options to homeowners who owe more than their home is worth. Under FHA’s new plan, existing underwater homeowners can refinance their existing non-FHA loan into a FHA loan as long as they are current on their loan and their current lender reduces their total mortgage debt by at least 10 percent of the loan amount. The total mortgage amount for the borrower after refinancing cannot be greater than 115 percent of the current value of the home, bring the loan amount for Continue Reading → Dennis Norman Back in early December I did a post about a new program that was announced in November, the Home Affordable Foreclosures Alternative (HAFA) Program which is scheduled to go into effect April 5, 2010. There was recently supplemental documentation published as well as FAQ’s about the program and I have to admit, it seems to me the government is getting it right with this program. THE HAFA PROGRAM: The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program provides financial incentives to loan servicers as well as borrowers who do a short-sale or a deed-in-lieu to avoid foreclosure on Continue Reading → Dennis Norman The U.S. Department of Commerce released a report showing the sale of New Homes in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 308,000, a 2.2 percent decrease from the revised January rate of 315,000 and is 13.0 percent below a year ago. The inventory of new homes (seasonally adjsuted) at the end of February is 9.2 months a slight increase from January’s inventory of 9.1 months. My Mantra As has been my long-running mantra, I don’t like “seasonally adjusted” numbers and “rate” of sales. Why, for one I can’t figure out how in the Continue Reading → Dennis Norman According to the latest report from the National Association of REALTORS(R), existing home sales in the US in February decreased 0.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 5.02 million units in February from a revised level of 5.50 million units in January, however this does represent an increase of 7.0 percent from a year ago when the rate was 4.69 million units (seasonally adjusted). February’s Numbers Show Real Estate is “Local” Reinforcing the fact that “all real estate is local” the February Existing Home Sales report paints quite a different picture of the housing market depending Continue Reading → Dennis Norman UPDATE: March 26, 2010: Pres Obama signed HR 35909 into law on March 23, 2010. Yesterday the House and Senate approved the final version of HR 4872 and it now goes to the President for his signature (this is the bill that “taxes” real estate to pay for health care as I explained below) – end of update Unless you live in a cave you have probably heard by now that yesterday Congress passed HR 3590, the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”, or to put it more short and to the point, Pres. Obama’s Continue Reading → Dennis Norman The Federal Reserve announced it will stop purchasing mortgage-backed securities by the end of March. In November, 2008, the Federal Reserve announced, in an effort to help the housing market, it would purchase mortgage-backed securities. Then, in March, 2009, the Fed increased the total amount of money they would invest in such securities to $1.25 trillion and estimated that they would complete those purchases by the end of first quarter 2010. The Fed’s action I think certainly added some liquidity and confidence to the ailing housing market and now, that the time has come Continue Reading → Dennis Norman Increased prices on distressed home sales in St Louis are the reason for St Louis’s home price gains. A report released by First American CoreLogic shows St. Louis metro area home prices, including distressed sales, increased 0.60 percent in January 2010 compared to January, 2009. December 2009’s home price index for St. Louis was up 1.54 percent from the year before. Excluding distressed sales, the January 2010 home price index was actually down 0.55 percent from a year ago, compared with December 2009’s home price index which was up 0.59 percent from the Continue Reading → Dennis Norman According to the Economics and Mortgage Market Analysis report just published by Fannie Mae, the weather was the culprit for the slow-down in home sales at the beginning of this year however, we did not get the boost they were anticipating from the extension of the tax credits. “Unfortunately, despite the high hopes associated with the extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit, housing activity appears to have faced a setback that went beyond the impact of adverse weather conditions. ” On a somewhat positive note, the analysts state they view the housing setback “to be a Continue Reading → The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a their report on New Residential Construction for February 2010 showing a decrease in new home construction activity from February, but siginificant increases from a year ago.. The report shows the following: Building permits issued for single-family residences in February were at an annual rate of 503,000 which is 0.2 percent below the revised January rate of 504,000 and an increase of 32.0 percent from a year ago when the rate was 381,000. Dragging down the overall permit numbers for housing are multi-family dwellings with Continue Reading → The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have published a report about common real estate scams and rental scams they are finding and how to avoid them. Like most scams there are warning signs and red flags that can help you avoid falling victim; knowing what to look for is key. The IC3 reminds people to be cautious when using the internet to either advertise real estate for sale or rent or to find a property to rent or buy. For Landlords and Sellers of Property: Look out for: Rental scams occur when the victim Continue Reading → Missouri’s foreclosure rate increased in February by 2.34 percent from January but is down 3.68 percent from February 2009. RealtyTrac® released its February 2010 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 308,524 U.S. properties during the month of February, a decrease of 2 percent from the previous month but still 6 percent above the level reported in February 2009. This translates into one in every 418 U.S. housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in February. Missouri ranked 30th in the U.S. in terms of foreclosure rate in Continue Reading → Dennis Norman Appellant Says Bellefontaine Ordinance is Unconstitutional but City Inspector Still Enforcing It Last month I did a post about a decision handed down by the Missouri Court of Appeals-Eastern District that was a significant victory for St. Louis property owners by striking down part of an ordinance that violates our property rights as well as our First Amendment Rights to free speech. Unfortunately, it appears no one told the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors they lost the case, or if they did, some may be choosing to ignore the court’s decision. I say this because I heard Continue Reading → Dennis Norman Update: March 23, 2010: In spite of the concern of many organizations including the St. Louis Association of REALTORS, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Title Insurance folks, the Board of Alderman passed the vacant property ordinance on March 12th – Now that lenders and title companies are aware of potential title and lien issues with this bill I have no doubt investors, and even homeowners, are going to run into some roadblocks when trying to finance property in the City of St. Louis – 2/3 of the Alderman voted in favor of the bill: Dennis Norman The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its report on the performance of commercial and multifamily mortgages in the fourth quarter of 2009. Their last report from a year ago showed that commercial and multifamily mortgages were among the best performing loans held by banks and thrifts. Now, a year later, the data still looks good and shows that commercial and multifamily mortgages continue to have the lowest charge off rate of all loan types at banks and thrifts and also perform better than their overall portfolios as well. This is good news for an already-struggling Continue Reading → Dennis Norman This story is part of my ongoing series on how local laws negatively impact the property rights of property owners in the St. Louis area Unfortunately I don’t have to try too hard to find examples of local laws that seriously impact the rights of property owners in the St. Louis area, particularly those property owners that are landlords or other investors. My story today comes from a friend of mine, a St. Louis REALTOR(R) that buys homes for his rental portfolio. For the sake of the article, and to help him avoid Continue Reading → Dennis Norman St. Louis Mortgage Delinquencies and St. Louis Foreclosure Rate hit Record Highs A report released by First American CoreLogic showed the St. Louis metro area to have a foreclosure rate in January of 1.42 percent up slightly from December’s rate of 1.36 percent and an increase of 46.39 percent from the year prior when the rate was 0.97 percent. The national foreclosure rate for January remains over twice the rate of St. Louis at 3.19 percent and was an increase of 60.3 percent from a year ago when the national Continue Reading → Dennis Norman Today the National Association of REALTORS released it’s January Pending Home Sales Index showing a decrease of 7.6 percent in the index from December, 2009 to January 2010 (seasonally adjusted) and a 12.3 percent increase from last year. Here are highlights from the report: January”s pending home sales index (seasonally adjusted) was 90.4 (the index is based upon 100.0 being equal to the average level of sales activity in 2001 which we could call the last “normal” year) which was a decrease of 7.6 percent in the index from December’s revised index of 97.8 and an Continue Reading → Dennis Norman You may want to consider possible legal issues before deciding to “walk away” Homeowners who are considering “walking away” from their home to avoid making their mortgage payment need to know that their mortgage company may try to file a lawsuit to recover the amount owed on the home. In addition, homeowners who sell their home for less than the amount they owe – a process called a “short sale” — may be sued for the unpaid balance, even after the sale of the home. Finally, homeowners with unpaid home equity loans or second mortgages may also Continue Reading → Dennis Norman UPDATE June 7, 1010 – Here are links to the Forms from MHDC to claim the tax credit as well as some sample forms they have provided showing how to fill them in: Program ApplicationHome Purchase AffidavitPromissory NoteHope Program Information and InstructionsSample Forms ****** Dennis Norman Back in December I wrote a post about a $35 million economic development initiative that was approved by the Missouri Housing Development Commission which included $15 million to pay the first-year of property taxes for qualified homebuyers who purchase a new or existing home after January Continue Reading → Dennis Norman The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently consdered an appeal by the plaintiffs of a class action lawsuit again D.R. Horton, Inc. and DHI Mortgage, Co brought by John R. Yeatman and Eleanor E. Yeatman on behalf of themselves and all similarly situated individuals. The lawsuit stems from the Yeatman’s purchase of a home from DR Horton in 2006 in which the purchase agreement gave the Yeatmans the option of receiving a discount on their closing costs on the house, provided they used DHI Mortgage as their mortgage lender. This was not Continue Reading → |
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