For those that have been reading my articles for a while, you know I am not a Pollyanna when it comes to the real estate market, opting instead to tell it like it is, even when the news is not so encouraging. For that reason, as well as the data behind my opinion, I think my suggestion that now is a good time to buy a home in St Louis should be considered to be a credible opinion from an industry insider. Continue Reading →
Before I begin, I should point out that what I’m about to tell you runs contrary to what the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), the largest trade association in the country and one I belong to and support, will tell you. The NAR position on the mortgage interest deduction (MID) is, quoting from their website, “the mortgage interest deduction (MID) is a remarkably effective tool that facilitates homeownership.” Continue Reading →
The St Louis real estate market performed well in 2015 and, by all indications, 2016 should be an even better year for the St Louis real estate market! Continue Reading →
I have the honor of serving as chairman of the St Louis Industry Forum which consists of leaders of professional and trade associations that are engaged in some aspect of the real estate industry in St Louis (such as REALTORS, Builders, Mortgage Lenders, Bankers, etc) and at our bi-monthly meetings millennial’s are often the topic of conversation with regard to this generations thoughts on home ownership vs. renting, where they want to live and other related matters. Continue Reading →
As of the end of the 3rd quarter this year, seven percent of all St Louis homeowners with a mortgage were in a negative equity position meaning their current mortgage balance exceeds the current value of their home, according to a report just released by Corelogic. Continue Reading →
According to a report just released by TransUnion, the mortgage delinquency rate for borrowers that are 60 days or more delinquent, declined almost 30 percent during the 3rd quarter of 2015 from a year ago. During the third quarter of this year, the mortgage delinquency rate was 2.40%, down from 3.36% during the third quarter of 2014. Continue Reading →
No, in spite of the fact this is October, this article is not about Halloween nor the zombies associated with it, instead, it’s about vacant homes that have delinquent mortgages but have not yet been foreclosed upon yet, which the industry has applied the term of “zombie” to. Continue Reading →
Since the real estate market bubble burst in 2008, the number of foreclosed homes that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has had to manage and sell to investors and new home owners has increased significantly, averaging around 100,000 homes sold per year and hitting a peak of 111,416 HUD homes sold during fiscal year 2013. Continue Reading →
There were 123,546 St Louis homeowners with negative equity, or in a seriously underwater condition on their mortgage meaning they owe more than the current value of their home, in the St Louis MSA during the 2nd quarter of 2015 according to the most recent data by RealtyTrac. This works out to 17 percent of all St Louis metro area homeowners with a mortgage being underwater on their mortgage which is an improvement from 21 percent just 2 quarters prior. Continue Reading →
On October 3rd some new regulations with regard to home mortgages and loan closings will go into effect that have the mortgage and real estate industry in a little bit of a panic. As a result of passage of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act there is a major overhaul to the lending industry in the works. Continue Reading →
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York just released it’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for the 2nd quarter of 2015 in which some encouraging facts were revealed with regard to the home mortgage market, including: Continue Reading →
In case you are concerned the real estate industry is not subject to enough regulation, do not let your heart be troubled as new regulations imposed by the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was signed into law back in 2010, affecting home mortgages go into effect October 3, 2015. Continue Reading →
One year ago today, the small city of Ferguson gained international attention after Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an incident which spurred weeks of violence and property destruction in Ferguson. This delivered a blow to the Ferguson real estate market which was still struggling to recover from the housing bubble burst in 2008 which had severely impacted the area. Continue Reading →
The number of St Louis homeowners that are underwater, or have negative equity in their homes, has shown an upward trend lately, while those St Louis homeowners that are “equity rich” has trended downward. Continue Reading →
For the month of May, 2015, less than 3 percent (2.95%) of St Louis mortgages were seriously delinquent (90+ days) marking a slight decline from the month before and a decline of 13 percent from a year ago, according to data just released by CoreLogic. Continue Reading →
St Louis bank and government owned home sales are down as banks and government enterprises such as Fannie Mae, FHA, VA and Freddie Mac whittle down their inventory of foreclosed homes while, at the same time, new mortgage delinquencies and foreclosure rates continue to decline. While this is Continue Reading →
Over two million (2.2 million) boomerang buyers may re-enter the housing market as home buyers over the next five years as their credit recovers to the point where they can obtain a home mortgage again, according to a study just released by Trans Union. According to the study, 700,000 of those buyers will be eligible for mortgages this year alone. Boomerang buyers are described as homeowners who lost their home in foreclosure, did a short sale, deed in lieu or had some other serious negative credit action with regard to their home mortgage, such as becoming 60 days or more Continue Reading →
That’s right, Zombies are very real and very present in St Louis…at least Zombie foreclosures that is! That’s right. According to a foreclosure zombie report just released this morning by RealtyTrac, St Louis made the list of “Top 10 Zombie Foreclosure Rates Among Major Markets”, coming in at number 6 on the list with 1 of every 1,627 housing units being a zombie foreclosure. In the number 1 spot on the list was Tampa Florida where 1 of every 217 housing units is a zombie foreclosure (the complete list, and infographic, is below). Continue Reading →
The mortgage delinquency rate (home owners that are 60 days or more delinquent on mortgage payment) dropped to 2.95 percent in the first quarter of 2015, marking the first time the mortgage delinquency rate has been below 3 percent since the 3rd quarter of 2007 when the rate was 2.61 percent, according to a report released this morning by TransUnion. Continue Reading →
A definite confirmation of an improving real estate market is the fact that, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac, loan originations, for the purchase of a home, during the first quarter of 2015 increased 17 percent from a year ago. Additionally, Kansas City, Missouri saw the 4th largest increase from a year ago, of major metro areas, with a 32 percent increase in home loans. St Louis made the top 20 list for year or year increases with a 13 percent increase.
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There have been many recent articles and reports about the millennial generation and why they are not buying homes at the same rate as earlier generations did at their age. Many point to the burden of student loan debt as a cause of their inability to qualify for a mortgage thereby holding the millennials back from buying a home. However, a new study by TransUnion suggests this may not be the case. Continue Reading →
Seriously underwater homeowners, those people whose mortgage debt is 125 percent or more of their current home’s value, increased to 13.2% of all home loans during the 1st quarter of 2015, marking the first increase in rate from the prior quarter since February 2012, according to a report released this morning from RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →
This week FNC, Inc., a large company that provides real estate market information to mortgage lenders across the country, published their FNC Residential Price Index™ report which showed St Louis home prices declined slightly in January from the month before (0.4%) and were also down slightly (0.7%) from a year ago. Continue Reading →
Almost half (42%) of the residents in Missouri plan to buy a home within the next five years, according to the recently released BMO Harris Home Buying Report. Buyers surveyed indicated they plan to pay an average of $242,000 for a home when they move and almost half of the potential home buyers have indicated they are willing to get into a bidding war to get the home they want. Continue Reading →
Traditionally the only Rental history that gets reported to the credit bureaus is negative! If you fail to make your payment to your landlord…look for a collection account or even a judgment to show up on your credit profile and potentially drop your credit score like a rock! Continue Reading →
Mortgage Delinquencies (borrowers that are 60 days or more late on their house payment) declined in the 4th quarter of 2014 marking the 12th consecutive quarter of declines in the mortgage delinquency rate, according to data just released by TrasnUnion. As the table below shows, the mortgage delinquency rate for the 4th quarter of last year was 3.29%, a decline of 2.1% from the quarter before and a decline of 14.5% from the 4th quarter of 2013.
Foreclosures and better borrowers are the reason…
Ezra Becker, vice president of research and consulting at TrasnUnion, said the improvement in mortgage delinquencies Continue Reading →
The seriously delinquent mortgage rate (90+ days late) fell to 1.91 percent of all outstanding mortgages in November, the lowest level since December 2008, according to a report just released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Continue Reading →
St Louis had 6,215 completed foreclosures in 2014 putting it 7th on the list of metros in the U.S. in terms of the number of completed foreclosures. As the table below, which lists the 25 top metro areas for foreclosures, shows, Tampa saw the most foreclosures with over 18,000 being completed during 2014, according to newly released data from Corelogic.
According to the Corelogic report, there were 563,294 completed foreclosures in the U.S. during 2014, the lowest total for any 12 month period since November 2007 when it was 589,570.
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Down payment help is available for 87 percent of the homes in the U.S., according to an analysis completed recently by RealtyTrac and Down Payment Resource. This analysis looked at the geographic location of homes to see if they were within areas where down payment assistance are available to purchasers meeting the qualifications of the program. Continue Reading →
Flood zones are land areas identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Each area of land is mapped and labeled into a flood zone. FEMA flood maps include zones that are broken into several areas. Here are the most common flood zone areas that you will see in Missouri: Continue Reading →