While the St Louis housing market is improving, unfortunately the homeowners that can afford it the least are the ones that are still the hardest hit with 41.5% of all homeowners with a mortgage on a home in the bottom price tier (the 25% lowest valued homes in St Louis) being underwater on their mortgage, meaning they owe more than their homes are worth. This is according to the newly released Zillow Negative Equity report which shows that, at the opposite end of the spectrum, in the top tier, only 11% of St Louis homeowners are underwater, or in a Continue Reading →
Indicating continued stabilization of the housing market, the first mortgage default rate dropped in April to 1.01%, the seventh-consecutive monthly decline and the lowest level seen since July 2006, according to the just-released S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indice report. In April, 2013, the first mortgage default rate was 1.31%.
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Mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates both declined in March to the lowest levels since October 2007 and 2008, respectively, according to data just released by Black Knight Financial Services (formerly LPS). The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate (30+ days delinquent) in March 2014 was 5.52%, a 7.57% decline from the month before and a 16.29% decline from a year ago. The U.S. foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate in March 2014 was 2.13%, a decline of 4.23% from the month before and a drop of 36.69% from March 2013.
There are still several states with double-digit mortgage delinquencies, Mississippi being the one with Continue Reading →
Almost 1 of every 4 St Louis homeowners with a mortgage (23%) are seriously underwater, meaning their mortgage(s) total at least 125% of their homes current value, according to a report for the 1st quarter of 2014 just released this morning by RealtyTrac. According to the report, there are 161, 310 St Louis homeowners that are underwater while 138,492 homeowners (19%) have “resurfacing equity” meaning their mortgage totals are 90% – 110% of their homes current value, allowing them to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Throughout the state of Missouri, 22% of homeowners with a mortgage Continue Reading →
In spite of a somewhat sluggish start to the spring housing market, consumers are more optimistic about the housing market now than they were this time last year, according to the results of the Fannie Mae National Housing Survey results just released. Survey results show that 38% of the respondents think now is a good time to sell a home which, while low, is still almost 50% higher than a year ago when only 26% felt it was. Consumers are also feeling more optimistic about the prospects of obtaining a home loan with 52% saying they believe it would be Continue Reading →
Don’t shoot the messenger, but I have to tell you I’m not feeling quite as warm and fuzzy about the St Louis real estate market as I was a couple of months ago. In February, there were 1,623 homes sold in the 5-county core St Louis market, a decline of over 14% from February of last year when there were 1,898 homes sold. Also, 2014 is starting out sluggish with just 3,225 homes sold in the first two months, 14.5% less than this time last year when there were 3,774 homes sold. There are definitely encouraging things as well, such Continue Reading →
The number of St Louis homeowners with negative equity (also referred to as “underwater” homeowners) increased in the 4th quarter of 2013 to 11.6% of all the St Louis homeowners with a mortgage on their home, an increase from 11.3% in the prior quarter, according to a newly released report from CoreLogic. Another 4.4% of the home owners with a mortgage were in a “near negative equity” position, up from 4.3% in the 3rd quarter.
Nationally, 13.3 percent of homeowners with a mortgage were in a negative equity position during the 4th quarter of 2013, the same as the quarter Continue Reading →
Even with rising home prices and interest rates that are following suit, it’s cheaper to buy then rent both on a national level as well as in all of the 100 largest metro areas, according to a report just released by Trulia. According to the report, nationally it is 38% cheaper to buy than rent and in St Louis, it is 54% cheaper to buy then rent putting St. Louis at the #10 spot on “Where Buying a Home is a No-Brainer” list. See below for the complete list of the top 10 no-brainer to buy cities as well as Continue Reading →
source: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Property fraud is a serious threat to homeowners, according to the FBI. A practice that was virtually unheard of until about 6 years ago is something called “house stealing” in which con artists identify a house to target and then steal it. How? It’s actually pretty easy. They get the owners name and personal information, which is easily obtainable today online, and then complete a few forms, forge the owner’s signature and the next thing you know, the con artist owns the house. Other fraudulent activity includes placing mortgages on property not owned Continue Reading →
The mortgage delinquency rate for homeowners 60 days or more delinquent on their mortgages fell below 4 percent during the last quarter of 2013, the first time the delinquency rate has been below 4% since 2008, according to TransUnion. According to the report, every state in the U.S. saw a decline in mortgage delinquency rates from to the 4th quarter of 2012 to the 4th quarter of 2013 with only two, New Jersey and New York, not seeing a double digit decline. See the info graphic below for more info.
Home loan rates have been near historic lows for a while now but the $64 question is, where are home loan rates headed in the future? While there are, of course, a variety of opinions out there, the majority of the noteworthy ones are thinking interest rates are headed upward. In the Well’s Fargo Securities Economic Outlook report for 2014, interest rates in the year ahead (2014) was addresses, saying “we expect long-term rates to exhibit an upward bias as Fed tapering moves forward. However, the extent of any increase in long-term rates should be modest, given continued low inflation Continue Reading →
Over 1 of every four St Louis homeowners (28%) with a mortgage are seriously underwater on their mortgages, meaning the current value of their home is at least 25 percent less than the total of their mortgages as of December 2013, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac. On a national level, in December 19% of the homeowners with a mortgage were considered seriously underwater.
At the other end of the spectrum, 11 percent of St Louis homeowners with a mortgage are “equity-rich“, meaning their mortgages total less than 50% of the current value of their home. On a Continue Reading →
Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420
The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has made some changes for 2014, which took effect January 1 and affect FHA home loans. First and foremost, you will see a drop in the maximum allowable loan. In the St. Louis metro area, for example, the new max loan amount for a single-family home has been lowered to $271,050 from $281,250.
Other items of note regarding FHA have not changed; so as a refresher let’s look at FHA qualifications and rules:
Borrower must put 3.5% down based on sales price. 100% of the buyer’s contribution Continue Reading →
Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420
On January 10, 2014 the mortgage world is going to go through some changes. These changes will affect consumers and their ability to qualify for a home loan. Is it doom and gloom? Not really.
A “Qualified Mortgage” or QM, is something we at Paramount Mortgage have been doing for a while. It is all about the consumer having the ability to repay the loan and verifying, to the best of our ability, through paperwork, all the facets of a loan approval. It is very possible additional paperwork may be requested Continue Reading →
The foreclosure rate in St Louis fell to 1.04 percent for the month of August, a decline of 33.5 percent from a year ago when the St Louis foreclosure rate was 1.55 percent, according to a report just released by CoreLogic. The national foreclosure rate for August at 2.36 percent was over twice as high as the St Louis rate. Other good news for the St Louis real estate market contained in the report was that the St Louis mortgage delinquency rate (90 days or more late) was 3.78 percent, a decrease of 16.6 percent from a year ago when Continue Reading →
January 10, 2014 new QM rules (qualified mortgage) will go into effect and will most likely negatively impact the ability of some home buyers to obtain a mortgage. In terms of how many borrowers the new rules will affect, it is hard to say. There have been several analysis’ done of the percentage of home loans originated in 2012 would not have met the QM rules and the estimates vary from 12 percent to more than half. Personally, I think the lower estimates are probably closer to accurate, but it is still a significant number…potentially somewhere around 1 of every Continue Reading →
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), cautioned today that, given the fact the U.S. Government spends one dollar for every 75 -80 cents it takes in, if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, the government will have to decide where to cut its spending. Should the government choose not to pay its interest obligations, “we can expect interest rates on Treasury bonds to rise…and if that happens, mortgage rates will rise, because mortgage rates follow Treasury rates.”
Yun went on to say that if mortgage interest rates do rise we can expect home sales to drop Continue Reading →
As we enter the 7th day of the government shut down, concern grows among home buyers and sellers as to how this may affect the transactions here in St Louis. The short answer is that, fortunately, it appears the impact will be minimal for the most part. This morning at a meeting of the St Louis Industry Forum, which I chair, this topic was discussed and from the input of the real estate-related professions represented, it appears the impact of the government shutdown on real estate transactions here will be minimal.
Shelly Clark, President of Cardinal Surveying, said that there Continue Reading →
Agency relationships between a buyer or seller of a home and the real estate agent are probably one of the most confusing aspects of the real estate transaction for consumers and for many real estate agents as well for that matter. Dual agency takes the confusion to a whole new level though for the parties involved as the issue gets quite complex. At the very basic level, dual agency exists when the same real estate agent represents both the buyer and seller in the same real estate transaction (a bad idea in my humble opinion). At a more complicated Continue Reading →
Three of every 10 Americans don’t qualify for a home loan, according to the Zillow Mortgage Market Place Analysis. The analysis also showed that only borrowers with a credit score of at least 740 should expect to get the best mortgage rates offered due to tougher mortgage lending standards.
In doing their analysis, Zillow analyzed a total of 13 million loan quotes and over 225,000 purchase loan requests from September 2013. What was revealed was that borrowers with a credit score under 620 who requested a home mortgage for a 30-year fixed-rate loan, were unlikely to receive a loan. Continue Reading →
The housing market continues to show signs of recovery, today with the report by S&P/Experian showing that their credit default index for first mortgages fell by 12 percent in the past year and by over 20 percent (20.8%) for second mortgages during the same period. While this may not be that exciting of a topic or seem like such a big deal to some, given the fact that mortgage delinquencies are a leading indicator of foreclosures and, over the past few years, foreclosures have pommelled some neighborhoods all but destroying home values, this is really huge from a big Continue Reading →
There were 59,709 St Louis homeowners with negative equity in the 2nd quarter of 2013, a 33 percent decline from the first quarter of this year when there were 89,690, according to a report released by CoreLogic. During the 2nd quarter just over 1 in 10 (10.6%) of all St Louis homeowners with a mortgage owed more on their home then the current value thereby putting them underwater, or in a negative equity position. The quarter before, about one in 6 (16%) St Louis homeowners with a mortgage were underwater.
Nearly one of every 4 St Louis homeowners with a mortgage are seriously underwater, meaning their mortgage exceeds the current value of their home by 25 percent or more, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, the city of St. Louis has the highest percentage of seriously underwater homeowners at 31 percent and Franklin county the lowest at 14 percent. In addition, there are another 104,000 St Louis homeowners in a “near-equity” or “resurfacing equity” position, meaning their loan equals 90 to 110 percent of the current value of their home. As long Continue Reading →
Lending Tree just released a list ranking the credit quality of perspective homebuyers by State based upon home loan applications during the 2nd quarter of 2013 and the report gives Missouri a score of 75.69 out of a possible 100, bringing our state in at 41st in the nation. In determining the credit quality of the borrower or “borrower health” in Lending Tree terms, they take into consideration three things on perspective homebuyer loan applications: weighted average of credit score, loan-to-value ratio [LTV] and overall lendability of mortgage-seekers to arrive at a score.
At the top of the list, Continue Reading →
Home Price Appreciation for 2013 is expected to be 6.75 percent (year-over-year from 2012), according to the average estimate of a panel of 106 economists surveyed by Pulsenomics. Interesting enough, though the economists had varying opinions, not one panelist project a decrease in home prices for 2013, in fact the lowest estimation of home price increase for 2013 was 1.69 percent and at the other end of the spectrum, the highest projection was 15 percent.
Also worth noting from the survey was the fact that 88 percent of the economists on the panel did not feel that Continue Reading →
That’s right, along with very affordable home prices, Missouri also has almost the lowest closing costs in the nation at an average of $2,188 for lenders’ origination fees and third party fees, second only to the state of Wisconsin with average closing costs of $2,119, according to the 2013 closing cost survey by Bankrate.
See table below for survey results for all states:
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Nearly three out of four people (74%) say now is a good time to buy a home, according to the July 2013 National Housing Survey by Fannie Mae. In addition, forty-percent of the people surveyed feel now is a good time to sell a home, this is up for 36 percent that felt that way the month before and matches the survey high since it’s inception.
SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS:
St Louis mortgage interest rates are on the rise and hitting levels we have not seen in the past year and a half and the 3.x percent rates we have become somewhat accustomed to are gone. However, before you panic or think the housing market is headed toward another crash as a result, you should keep in mind that todays rates (see below for current rates) of about 4.5 percent for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage is still lower than the average monthly mortgage interest was for more than 40 years proceeding 2012. Granted, looking back, 2012 was Continue Reading →
The truth on the Mortgage Interest Deduction
Currently, lawmakers in Washington D.C., while looking for ways to “close loopholes” and cut spending, are looking hard at something once considered “untouchable”, the mortgage interest deduction (MID). While there is probably little chance of totally eliminating the ability for homeowners to deduct the mortgage interest they paid on their homes, there is a possibility the deduction could be altered significantly or capped, and, perhaps, even phased out over time.
Like most current events, there are stories out there with varying degrees of accuracy about the benefit of the mortgage interest deduction Continue Reading →
The typical St Louis house is owner occupied (64.4 %), has 2+ bathrooms (62%) a garage or car port (84%) and a porch, deck, balcony or patio (96%), according to data just released by the U.S. Census bureau. According to the 2011 American Housing Survey, 68.5 percent of St Louis homeowners have a mortgage equal to 72 percent of the value of their house on average and with a median payment of $900 per month.
Click here for complete American Housing Survey Results.