Home buyer tax credit update-November 2, 2009

By , on November 2nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

UPDATED: 6:15 pm Central Time-

The Senate voted 85-2 this afternoon to end debate on the amendment..This is clears a procedural hurdle and will allow the bill and amendment to be voted on by the Senate, most likely on Tuesday or Wednesday….If passed by the Senate it would then need to go back to the House for passage and then on to the President.

Here’s the latest info I have on the possible extension of the home-buyer tax credit:

The Dodd-Lieberman-Isakson Amendment I spoke of in last Friday’s update was added to the unemployment bill Continue Reading →

Pending home sales in midwest rise 8.1 percent in September

By , on November 2nd, 2009

Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NAR

Today the National Association of REALTORS(R) issued their Pending Home Sales Index Report for September showing pending sales in the U.S. rose again for the eighth consecutive month – marking the longest streak since since NAR began the pending home sale index in 2001. The pending home sales index for the US rose 6.1 percent from August. Here in the Midwest the pending home sales index rose 8.1 percent from August marking the third month in a row the index in the Midwest increased.

As I have expressed previously, I’m somewhat cautious about Continue Reading →

Home buyer tax credit update-October 30, 2009

By , on October 30th, 2009

Dennis Norman

In yesterday’s update I had some rather encouraging news about the possible extension of the first-time home buyer tax credit of $8,000 that has stimulated some home buying but is set to expire on November 30th. The good news was that there is an agreement amongst the powers that be with regard to extending the home buyer tax credit, which in itself is a HUGE step toward getting the credit extended, but as I said yesterday, “the fat lady hasn’t sang yet”.

Based upon the latest news I just received in an email update from the Continue Reading →

Home buyer tax credit update

By , on October 29th, 2009

Dennis Norman

I have been talking a lot lately about the first-time home buyer tax credit of $8,000 that has stimulated some home buying but is set to expire on November 30th. I have also shared the efforts by organizations such as the National Association of REALTORS, The Mortgage Bankers Associaiton, The National Association of Home Builders and Fix Housing First to urge Congress to extend the home buyer tax credit as well as expand it to include more than just first-time home buyers.

Unfortunately there are some inaccurate reports I’m seeing this morning that indicating the Senate Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate News – St Louis mortgage rates inch up this week

By , on October 27th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

St. Louis mortgage rates inched up a little this week according to St. Louis-based Paramount Mortgage Company.

Between these low rates and the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit that is available until Nov 30th, I would think there is a lot of incentive for a first-time buyer to buy a home now if they are in a position to do so.

St. Louis Mortgage Rates – October 27, 2009 *

Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate – St. Charles County home price declines vs assessors property values; Update

By , on October 26th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Last week I did a post after reading an article on StlToday.com about the change in property values being made by St Louis area assessors from 2007 to 2009. As I pointed out in my article I assumed the values shown by the assessors including ALL types of property and not just homes, however my analysis was based only upon the sale prices of homes.

Prior to doing the post I had requested just the residential data from the assessor’s office for the area counties but had not been able to obtain that data. Subsequently I Continue Reading →

Web Site Launch Promoting “Vote YES to Stop Double Taxation”

By , on October 24th, 2009

A new Web site provides Missouri voters with information about a proposed state constitutional amendment barring politicians from imposing double taxation on sales of homes and other real estate. I would encourage Missouri residents to visit www.YesToSaveHomes.com to learn more about the proposal.

Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market Update – 3rd Quarter Report

By , on October 23rd, 2009

Dennis Norman

Due to the overwhelming demand for up to date information on the St. Louis housing market, as well as the positive response to our prior reports we have published, at St. Louis Real Estate News we will now be publishing “St Louis Real Estate Market Update Reports on a regular basis. We hope that you enjoy the information and we certainly hope the reports start having more positive news in them soon. If there is any data we are not including that you would like to see please let us know in a comment.

Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate – St Louis area home price declines vs assessors property values

By , on October 22nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

In an article this morning on StlToday.com I saw where property values, as determined by the St. Louis CountyAssessors office, declined 6.1 percent from 2007 to 2009. Hmm, I thought, that sounds pretty good actually, I think the St. Louis housing market would be doing great if that was close to reality. To see how the actual St. Louis housing market did during the same period I researched the sales prices of homes sold in the St. Louis metro area in 2007 and 2009 then computed the change in value during the period. Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate – Reverse mortgages pave the way to financial freedom for many St Louis seniors

By , on October 21st, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

Many seniors find themselves in a situation where there are struggling to keep up with rising costs of gasoline, utilities, property taxes and insurance but yet they own a home that is either paid for or has a significant amount of equity. Since, in many cases, they have been in their homes for years, raised families and have a lifetime of memories in their home selling it to realize the equity out of it is usually not something they would consider.

A “reverse mortgage” may be a “best of both worlds” alternative: A chance to get Continue Reading →

St. Louis mortgage rate drop to 5 percent this week for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage

By , on October 20th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

Mortgage interest rates are already low, but dropped a little further this week, according to Paramount Mortgage Company.

Between these low rates and the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit that is available until Nov 30th, I would think there is a lot of incentive for a first-time buyer to buy a home now if they are in a position to do so.

St. Louis Mortgage Rates – October 20, 2009 *

Continue Reading →

HAMP loan modifications up 40 percent in September; Serious mortgage delinquencies up 147 percent in past year

By , on October 20th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Yesterday the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s trial mortgage loan modifications under the Obama Administrations Home Affordable Modification Plan (HAMP) were up more than 40 percent in September 2009 from the previous month. According to the report, mortgage loans that are 60-plus-days delinquent increased to 1,401,000 borrowers in July, up a whopping 147 percent from July, 2008 when there were 566,000 borrowers 60 plus days delinquent.

Here are highlights from the report (all the data, unless noted otherwise is from July 31, 2009):

Continue Reading →

St Louis housing prices projected to drop 1 percent in next 12 months

By , on October 19th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Veros Real Estate Solutions released their quarterly report projecting how the housing market is going to perform in the next 12 months in major metropolitan areas of the U.S. The bad news for St. Louis is, we didn’t make the list of top 5 metros in terms of expected housing price performance. The good news is we didn’t make the list of the 5 worst markets either.

The top-performing metros are projected to have housing prices appreciate 5 percent over the next 12 months and the worst peforming metro are expected to see Continue Reading →

Over 30 percent of St. Louis homes for sale have had price cut

By , on October 15th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Last week I did a post on another blog about a report that had just been released by Trulia indicating that over 25 percent of the homes listed for sale in the U.S. had experienced a price reduction in the 5-month period from June 1 through October 1st and that the average price reduction was about 10 percent.

In an effort to see how things here in St. Louis were stacking up to the national numbers from Trulia, I wanted to assemble the same data, for the same period that Trulia did and see how we Continue Reading →

New! Local St. Louis Mortgage Rates

By , on October 14th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

In the past I have been doing weekly posts with updated current mortgage rates based upon national data from either Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae or the Mortgage Bankers Association. However, just like real estate, mortgage rates are “local” to some extent and do vary in different markets.

In an effort to help people in the St. Louis metro area get a more accurate picture of what mortgage interest rates are doing here, not to mention data that is accurate up to the minute I publish rather than delayed several days or a Continue Reading →

Mortgage rates increase; loan applications decrease

By , on October 14th, 2009

Dennis Norman

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending October 9, 2009. The report showed an increase of 1.8 percent in mortgage loan applications from the week as interest rates inched back above 5 percent for the first time in four weeks.

Refi’s continue to dominate the mortgage application activity with 67.4 percent of all mortgage loan applications being refinances.

Continue Reading →

The St. Louis Real Estate Market Bubble and Burst; St. Louis County hurt the worst in the area

By , on October 13th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Statistics and reports are flying at us from every direction about the real estate market nowadays. Some reports say we have hit bottom, some even say the housing market has started a recovery others say worse times are ahead. Since I don’t think anyone can really tell us what the future has in store for the housing market I thought now may be a good time to look at history…at least short term history, to see where things stand at this point. Along the way we may see a trend or perhaps even feel like we Continue Reading →

Over 360,000 borrowers have taken advantage of Fed’s Loan Modification Program

By , on October 9th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Earlier this week the Treasury Department released it’s eight “Tranche” report updating the status of the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) which includes the Home Affordable Modification Programthat I have written about on several occasions. The report shows that progress is being made with regard to loan modifications with $27.07 billion, of the $50 billion available) committed to loan modifications through September 30, 2009 (see “HAMP” details on chart below). Continue Reading →

Foreclosure Rate in St. Louis Increases

By , on October 8th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By Dennis Norman

Foreclosure rates in St. Louis increased for the month of August over the same period last year according to a report released today by First American CoreLogic. The report showed the St. Louis metro area to have a foreclosure rate of 1.24 percent in August, up just slightly from July’s rate of 1.20 percent, but up over 63 percent from a year ago when the rate was 0.76 percent.

As bad as the foreclosure rate for St. Louis sounds we are still doing better than the national rate of 2.86 percent for Continue Reading →

Homebuyer Tax Credit Best Tool for Sustaining Housing Recovery, Says NAR

By , on October 8th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The best available tool for sustaining the still-fragile housing market is the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit, (expires November 30) and it is essential that Congress extend the credit into 2010, the National Association of Realtors® testified at a hearing of the U.S. House Small Business Committee yesterday.

NAR Regional Vice President Joseph L. Canfora said “the credit is working,” pointing out that the 355,000 to 400,000 transactions directly attributable to the credit made a significant dent in the housing inventory and will help to stabilize home prices. Further, the credit has provided a Continue Reading →

MBA urges US House Small Business Committee to Extend and Expand Homebuyer Tax Credit

By , on October 7th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Today, testifying before The US House of Representatives Small Business Committee, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) told the committee that the current credit cycle and recession began in the U.S. housing market, and recovery will not be complete until the current oversupply of house on the market has dramatically decreased.

The MBA then cited the recent report by the IRS that over 1.4 million taxpayers have benefited from the tax credit. “Although (the) MBA is seeing some improvement in the housing market, it is essential that the favorable impact of the first-time homebuyer Continue Reading →

Mortgage interest rates on 30 year loan stay below 5 percent for third consecutive week

By , on October 7th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending October 2, 2009. The report showed an increase of 16.4 percent in mortgage loan applications from the week before fueled by interest rates remaing below 5 percent.

Unfortunately interest rates seem to be doing more for existing homeowners and the mortgage industry than investors and the real estate market at refi’s for the week made up 66.3 percent of the mortgage loan application activity. Over the past four weeks shows homeowners refinancing existing loans is up 6.7 percent Continue Reading →

Missouri Association of REALTORS working to prevent double taxation

By , on October 6th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

According to a report prepared by the Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA) in 2006, thirty-five states plus the District of Columbia impose a real estate transfer tax. What a transfer tax amounts to is when you sell or transfer a house (or other real property) you pay a tax to the state on the sale ranging from a low of 0.01 percent in Colorado to a high of 2.2 percent in the District of Columbia.

In addition, in some states (Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, New Hersey, Pennsylvania, Washington and West Virginia) some of Continue Reading →

Homebuyer tax credit has been primary cause of recent return of buyers to market according to study

By , on October 5th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Results have just been released of a study conducted by Rosen Consulting Group as to the effectiveness of the 2009 first-time-homebuyer tax credit and the potential need for an extension of the credits.

The Rosen Consulting Group was retained by Fix Housing First, a coalition that was originally working to convince Congress for a housing stimulus package that they feel would have a more significant then what was ultimately passed, and since has been working to get the tax credit extended beyond its current expiration date of November 30, 2009.

The study noted Continue Reading →

Dept of Defense Homeowners Assistance Program expanded to help people

By , on October 2nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP)was established back in 1966 to give some monetary relief to eligible service members and federal employees who suffer financial loss on the sale of their primary residence when a base closure or realignment announcement cause a decline in the residential real estate market and they are not able to sell their homes under reasonable terms or conditions. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) temporarily expands the HAP program to assist service members and Department of Defense employees who are wounded, injured or become ill when deployed, Continue Reading →

Time is running out to take advantage of Freddie Mac’s ‘SmartBuy’ Sales Promotion

By , on October 1st, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

Back in July I did a post about Freddie Macs “Smartbuy” sales promotion for owner-occupants buying Freddie Mac Homesteps(R) Homes. The special offer began July 17, 2009 and ends October 30, 2009 so there is less than a month to take advantage of it.

Under this promotion people buying a Freddie Mac home for their personal residence will receive at no cost:

A comprehensive two-year HomeProtect(R) Home Warranty Up to 3.5% payment by Freddie Mac towards buyers closing costs Homeprotect(R) Appliance discount (up to 30% savings on name brand appliances) Continue Reading →

Average home prices across US are about where they were six years ago

By , on September 29th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, home prices in July declined 12.8 percent from a year ago in their 10-city composite and 13.3 percent in their 20-city composite. On a positive note, all 20 metro areas showed an improvement in the annual rates of decline when comparing July to June.

Continue Reading →

Home prices down 30 percent since peak in 2005 and trend is downward

By , on September 28th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

I came across an interesting chart that I want to share. The chart below, courtesy of Chart of the Day, shows median home prices in the U.S. since 1970 (adjusted for inflation). As you can see from the chart, home prices trended upward from 1970 until peaking in the late 70’s (right around 1979 when I got into real estate, great timing on my part!) and then began dropping until the mid 80’s when prices began a rather rocky and unsteady climb upward.

As the chart illustrates, median home prices really started increasing, and Continue Reading →

Almost 1 in 5 prospective homebuyers say extending $8,000 tax credit to 2010 would be primary influence on their decision to buy

By , on September 25th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

Nearly one in five (18 percent) prospective first-time homebuyers said extending the $8,000 tax credit would be the primary influence on their decision to buy a home before the end of 2010, according to a Zillow survey. That would equate to 334,000 buyers from Dec. 1, 2009 to Nov. 30, 2010 – a likely time period for an extension, according to additional analysis.

Zillow queried adults who qualify as a first-time homebuyer, asking them if an extension of the tax credit would influence their plans to buy a home before the end of 2010. If the Continue Reading →

Existing home sales in Midwest drop 6.6 percent from July to August; St Louis down 9 percent

By , on September 24th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

According to the latest report released today from the National Association of REALTORS(R), existing home sales for August in the Midwest dropped 6.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.14 million units down from a level of 1.22 million units in July. The August home sales rate of 1.14 million happens to be exactly what it was this time last year for the Midwest which is not as well as the US is doing as a whole. As a whole, the rate of existing home sales in August was up 3.4 percent from Continue Reading →

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