Publishers note: If you have been reading our blog for a while you are probably aware we have been supporters and advocates of the home-buyer tax credit as well as the extension and expansion of the credit, which happened last week. We realize however, there are people that do not support the credits for a variety of reasons. I came across the article below which was written prior to passage of the extension of the credit by Ted Gayer. I think this is a well written piece and does present the “other side of the coin”…Ted agreed to allow us Continue Reading →
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St. Louis mortgage rates dropped this week to almost record lows according to St. Louis-based Paramount Mortgage Company. Lower interest rates, low prices and the extension and expansion of the home-buyer tax credit should be pretty tempting to buyers out there. St. Louis Mortgage Rates – November 10, 2009 * Dennis Norman Foreclosure rates in St. Louis increased for the month of September over the same period last year according to a report released by First American CoreLogic. The report showed the St. Louis metro area to have a foreclosure rate of 1.26 percent in September, up just slightly from August’s rate of 1.24 percent, but up over 59 percent from a year ago when the rate was 0.79 percent. The national foreclosure rate for September was over double the rate of St. Louis at 2.93 percent and was an increase of 75 percent from a year Continue Reading → Dennis Norman The percent of American home owners with mortgages in a negative equity position fell to 21 percent in the third quarter of this year, down from 23 percent in the second quarter, as home values stabilized in the short term and more underwater homeowners lost their homes to foreclosure, according to the third quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Reports. Year-over-year home values in the U.S. declined for the 11th consecutive quarter, falling 6.9 percent to a Zillow Home Value Index of $190,400. However, the rate of year-over-year decline shrank for the third quarter in a row, meaning Continue Reading → Department of Justice Press Release TAMPA—United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton today announced the results of a nine-month-long Mortgage Fraud Surge investigation that has resulted in charges against more than 100 defendants and involves allegations concerning more than $400 million in loans procured by fraud and more than 700 properties. U.S. Attorney Albritton is holding events throughout the district this week to highlight the announcement. There are currently mortgage fraud-related charges pending against approximately 500 defendants in federal mortgage fraud cases around the nation. The cases concern both mortgage schemes designed to defraud mortgage lenders and “foreclosure rescue Continue Reading → Dennis Norman If you are a homeowner facing losing your home in foreclosure but you do not qualify for or have not been able to sustain other loan-workout solutions, such as a modification, you may have another alternative: The Deed for Lease program announced yesterday by Fannie Mae for homeowners with loans insured by Fannie Mae. “The Deed for Lease Program provides an additional option for qualifying homeowners who are facing foreclosure and are not eligible for modifications,” said Jay Ryan, Vice President of Fannie Mae. “This new program helps eliminate some of the uncertainty of foreclosure, keeps Continue Reading → Dennis Norman UPDATE 11/06/09 5:14 p.m. – Thanks to Denis T who was commenting on this post, click here to go to the IRS site with information on the new tax credits. UPDATE 11/06/09 1:00 p.m. – I just heard that a short while ago President Obama signed the bill into law. IT’S OFFICIAL! So if you are in the market for a home .. Go For It! St. Louis mortgage rates dropped this week according to St. Louis-based Paramount Mortgage Company. Low interest rates and the homebuyer tax credit, which is close to getting extended beyond the current expiration date of November 30th, should be tempting to buyers. St. Louis Mortgage Rates – November 4, 2009 * Dennis Norman UPDATE 11/05 2:00 pm – The House has passed the bill by a vote of 403 – 12 – It now goes to the President who is expected to sign today or tomorrow. UPDATE 11/05, 12:35 pm- To read the section of H.R. 3548 that contains the details concerning the first-time home-buyer tax credit click here. If you care to read the entire bill click here. UPDATE: At 5:28 p.m. by a vote of 98 to 0 the Senate Passed H.R. 3548 – It now will go to the House where it is expected to pass Continue Reading → Loose lending standards in government-backed mortgages is setting up the next wave of defaults and sharp declines in housing prices. Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds Beneath the hype that housing has bottomed is an ugly little scenario: lending standards are still loose and the low-down payment, high-risk loans being guaranteed by government agencies are setting up the next giant wave of defaults and foreclosures. You might have thought that the near-demise of risky-mortgage mills Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have cooled the supply of highly leveraged Continue Reading → I posted yesterday on the Wall Street Journal article Report Sheds Light on Why Homeowners Walk Away. A couple of commenters on the WSJ article said why they were walking away from their mortgage, and I thought their comments were interesting enough to repeat. The first walker says that as a good borrower he is unable to have his loan modified, the second blames bank policies: The banks (my lender is CITI) are unwilling to modify mortgages for the people able to pay. I suspect if the people underwater, but with money and good credit – you know, responsible people Continue Reading → 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 → 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 → Gerry Loesch, PE In part one, part two, part three and part four of this series I gave you some background on Gerry Loesch as well as his informative E-View TM. Now we’ll finish with the final post of his E-View TM: Q-What should a consumer look for when choosing a building inspector? A-In my opinion, when selecting a building inspector the following things should be considered: Gerry Loesch, PE In part one, part two and part three of this series I gave you some background on Gerry Loesch as well as his informative E-View TM. Now we’ll pick up where we left off. Gerry’s closing remarks show his passion for his profession: “I still love what I do. It is the only job where I get to give my opinion, no one has to agree with it, and I still get paid.” Well said Gerry! Where do I sign up??? Now we’ll continue with the E-View TM: Q-Many cities and municipalities throughout the country Continue Reading → 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 → 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 → Gerry Loesch, PE In part one and part two of this series I gave you some background on Gerry Loesch as well as his informative E-View TM. Now we’ll pick up where we left off. Gerry graduated from the University of Missouri at Rolla with a Bachelors and Master degree in Civil Engineering. He has been performing home inspections and engineering consultations for 32 years and during that period has inspected almost 15,000 homes. Now we’ll continue with the E-View TM: Gerry Loesch, PE In part one of this series I gave you some background on Gerry Loesch as well as the beginning of his informative E-View TM. Now we’ll pick up where we left off. Gerry served as the National President of ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) in 1984-1986 and has served as well in various positions of numerous other local and national industry related organizations over the years. Now we’ll continue with the E-View TM: 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 * Gerry Loesch, PE To answer this question I called upon Gerry Loesch, a 30 year veteran home inspector with an impressive resume. Gerry was kind enough to do an in-depth E-View TM with me on the subject of home inspections. Gerry’s experience and knowledge shows in the depth and detail of his answers. Since this is a rather long E-View TM I’ll do it in a series. In each post I will begin with a some background on Gerry. 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 → 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. 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. 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 seniorsBy: 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 → 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 * 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): 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 → 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 → |
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