Foreclosures in St. Louis Increase 50 Percent in July from a Year Ago; Mortgage Delinquencies Follow Suit

By , on September 10th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Anyone that follows any of my posts on various real estate blogs may well be getting tired of hearing me talk about foreclosure and mortgage delinquency rates. This is no doubt especially true when I am doing it in the context of trying to “chill” the excitement over recent “good” news on the housing market. However, there is good reason for this; these two issues are real problems, including right here in St. Louis, and they are not going away anytime soon.

This was evidenced in a report released today by First American Continue Reading →

Mortgage rates drop; Borrowers refinancing jumps over 22 percent for the week

By , on September 9th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending September 4, 2009. The report showed an increase of 17.0 percent in borrowers applying for home mortgages to buy a home from the week before. This marks the largest gain in the index since early April, putting the index at the highest level since the first week of January.

There was a massive increase of over 22 percent from the week before for borrowers refinancing their existing home mortgage making . This the biggest jump in the increase Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Undervalued by almost 10 percent

By , on September 8th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

According to a report issued by IHS Global Insight, house prices in the St. Louis area in the second quarter of 2009 are almost 10 percent below their estimated value.

IHS Global Insight, when determining statistically normal house values, considers not only house prices and interest rates, but household incomes, population densities, and any historical premiums or discounts metropolitan areas have exhibited over time.

Continue Reading →

Title Insurance 101 from a St. Louis Title Professional – Final post in the series

By , on September 5th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Over the past two days I published the first part and second part of my E-View TMwith Wendy Cromer, Vice-President of Marketing for Security Title Insurance Agency, LLC about title insurance, the new laws affecting it and things consumers should know.

Wendy Cromer, Vice-President of Marketing, Security Title Insurance Agency LLC

Today were going to do the final part of our E-View TM with Wendy:

Dennis-Wendy, title insurance seems to be one of those things that is a mystery to most homeowners. Can you please explain what title insurance is and Continue Reading →

Title Insurance 101 from a St. Louis Title Professional – Part 2 of a series

By , on September 4th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Yesterday I published the first part of my E-View TM with Wendy Cromer, Vice-President of Marketing for Security Title Insurance Agency, LLC about title insurance, the new laws affecting it and things consumers should know.

Wendy Cromer, Vice-President of Marketing, Security Title Insurance Agency LLC

Today we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday in our E-View TM:

Dennis-Wendy, here in St. Louis we have “split-closings” which I think are viewed by many in the title insurance industry as a bad thing, and in fact the new laws we discussed yesterday Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market Facts and Figures for July 2009

By , on September 2nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS(R) and the St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) have just released information on the St. Louis real estate market for July. Following are some highlights from the data which is for St Louis city and county.

Sales for July (existing homes-does not include new):

Single family homes – 1446 for the month 48 percent had 3 bedrooms Condos and Coops – 243 for the month 77 percent were 2 bedrooms or less Continue Reading →

US Pending Home sales increase in July; Midwest home sales decrease by 2 percent

By , on September 1st, 2009

Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NAR

By: Dennis Norman

Today the National Association of REALTORS(R) issued their Pending Home Sales Index Report for July showing pending sales in the U.S. were up for the sixth consecutive month, the best streak since NAR began the pending home sale index in 2001.

Here in the Midwest pending home sales for July were not as strong showing a 2.0 percent drop from June, however still 8.1% above a year ago. The only other region that saw a decline in month to month pending home sales in July was the Northeast with a Continue Reading →

Appraisal, Loan Modification and Foreclosure Lawsuits Soar

By , on August 31st, 2009

Dennis Norman

A surge in litigation tied to real estate appraisals, loan modifications and foreclosures contributed to a 54 percent increase in mortgage-related lawsuits, according to the second quarter Mortgage Litigation Report from MortgageDaily.com.

During the second quarter, 125 cases were tracked, jumping from an already active 81 first quarter cases. The second quarter of 2008 had just 42 cases.

Continue Reading →

Beware The False Bottom In Housing

By , on August 28th, 2009

Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds

By: Charles Hugh Smith:

In February 2007 I suggested a 4% mortgage delinquency rate could trigger a decline in the entire housing market. Since that proved prescient, we should revisit the analytic tool behind that call: the Pareto Principle.

There is a whiff of euphoria in the housing market, a heavily touted confidence that “the bottom is in.” It’s all roaring back–rising sales, multiple bids by anxious buyers, 3.5% down payments, low mortgage rates and the bonus of an $8,000 first-time home buyer credit (a gift from U.S. taxpayers). Continue Reading →

Mortgage interest rates increase slightly

By , on August 27th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending August 21, 2009. The report showed an increase in borrowers applying for home mortgages of about 1 percent from the week before for borrowers buying homes and an increase of almost 13 percent from the week before for borrowers refinancing their existing home mortgage.

Interest rates inched up a little last week according to the survey.

The average interest rate for 30 year fixed rate mortgages increased to 5.24 percent from 5.15 percent with loan fees increasing Continue Reading →

New Home Sales in Midwest drop 7.6 percent in July; All other regions saw increase for July

By , on August 26th, 2009

Dennis Norman

This morning the U.S. Department of Commerce released a report showing the sale of New Homes here in the Midwest region in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 61,000 units, a 7.6 percent decrease from Junes annual rate of 66,000 units. The U.S. as a whole saw a 9.6 percent increase in new home sales in July over the month before with the Midwest beign the only region not to show an increase for the month.

New home sales in the Midwest for July 2009 lag 4.7 percent behind July 2008 new Continue Reading →

New Laws affecting real estate in Missouri

By , on August 25th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The Missouri Legislature passed several bills this past session affecting real estate or property in Missouri, most of which were signed into law by Governor Nixon and go into effect August 28, 2009. Below is a brief synopsis of the new laws and their purpose based upon the bill summary. (Unless noted different the new law goes into effect August 28, 2009- For the complete bill click on the bill number): Continue Reading →

St Louis home prices declined more in past year than national average

By , on August 24th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to a report issued by First American CoreLogic national home price declines continue to improve citing that national housing prices fell 7.8 percent in June 2009 compared to June 2008 representing the small est year-over-year decline recorded to date in 2009. This was a 0.7 percent improvement over Mays decline of 8.5% from the prior year. St. Louis did not fare quite as well in the CoreLogic report. The report shows St Louis home prices decreased 11.34% in June, 2009 compared to June 2008 and, opposite the national trend, represented a 1.43% larger decline than Mays Continue Reading →

One in twelve borrowers seriously delinquent on their mortgage

By , on August 22nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

All the news lately about the housing market, home sales in particular, has been encouraging and showing signs of stabilization in the real estate market and demonstrating that the real estate market may have seen the worst. Just when you think you may be through the storm though you see another dark cloud lurking in the distance. For the real estate market this dark cloud could very well be mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures.

At the end of this week the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that serious mortgage delinquencies (homeowners that are 90 or Continue Reading →

St Louis Housing Market has 6.8 percent increase in homes sales in July

By , on August 21st, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The St. Louis housing market is showing some signs of strength with St Louis home sales increasing in July to a seasonally adjusted rate of 21,038 homes, an increase of 6.8 percent from June’s seasonally adjusted rate of 19,691 homes. This increase for the month is very close to the increase in home sales in the U.S. according to the report released today from the National Association of REALTORS(R), existing home sales in July rose 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.24 million units up from a level of 4.89 million units Continue Reading →

Interest Rates drop to lowest level in three months

By , on August 20th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to Freddie Macs weekly mortgage market survey the interest rate on home mortgages dropped to a new three-month low. The survey shows the interest rate on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage averaging 5.12 percent with 0.7 percent in fees and points this week, down from 5.29 percent last week. Last year at this time, the 30 year interest rate averaged 6.47 percent.

The interest rate on a 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 4.56 percent with 0.7 percent in fees this week, down from 4.68 percent last week. Last year at this time the 15 Continue Reading →

House Prices in St Louis Increase in June; St Louis ranks 5th in 2-year house price change

By , on August 20th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to the Housing Market Report that was issued this morning by Radarlogic, home prices increased in June from the previous month in 23 out of the 25 metropolitan areas tracked by their company. St. Louis was among the 23 metros that showed an increase in home prices in June over May.

Overall the composite for all 25 metros showed a 3 percent gain in price from May to June representing one of the largest monthly gains reported by RadarLogic since June 2000. St. Louis home prices increased 2.2 percent over May.

There has been a Continue Reading →

Free Movers For Families Affected by Foreclosure

By , on August 19th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

I came across something today that, while it is very sad there is such a demand for, it is heartwarming to see this need being addressed; helping families that have lost their homes in foreclosure move and store their belongings.

There is a new non-profit organization, FreeMooves, that is offering free moving and storage services to families affected by foreclosure throughout the U.S.

Continue Reading →

New home starts and completions in July down from June; Permits are up

By , on August 18th, 2009

This morning the US Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a their report on New Residential Construction for July 2009 showing a slight increase in new home construction activity from June in the U.S.

For the Midwest region of the U.S. the report showed the following:

Building permits issued for single-family residences in July were at an annual rate of 77,000 which is a 5.5% increase over June, but still 18.9% below July 2008. Continue Reading →

What homes are selling in St. Louis?

By , on August 17th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

Lately the news on the real estate market has been a little more optimistic and almost encouraging at times. Most of the news and stats are national or regional and, as I and others have said many, many times, all real estate is local. So what’s going on in the St. Louis market and more specifically, what is selling here?

In putting together stats for this post I included data from the following areas:

St. Louis City St. Louis County St. Charles County Jefferson County Franklin County Continue Reading →

Refinancing borrowers choose fixed-rate loans over ARMS

By , on August 15th, 2009

Freddie Mac announced that in the second quarter of 2009, refinancing borrowers overwhelmingly chose fixed-rate loans, regardless of whether their original loan was an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) or fixed. In fact, ninety-nine percent of prime borrowers who originally had a conforming ARM selected a new conforming fixed-rate mortgage when they refinanced.

While 30-year fixed-rate mortgages still tend to be the preferred loan, more borrowers are choosing 15-year fixed-rate loans than before. “When interest rates hit very low levels for fixed-rate mortgages, borrowers often take tis opportunity to lower their interest rate and shorten their loan term,” said Frank Nothaft, vice Continue Reading →

Almost thirty percent of mortgages in St. Louis are underwater

By , on August 14th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to a report issued by First American CoreLogicmore than 15.2 million U.S. mortgages, or 32.2 percent of all mortgaged properties, are in a negative equity position. In addition, according to the CoreLogic report, there are an additional 2.5 million mortgaged properties that are approaching negative equity. Negative equity and near negative equity mortgages combined account for nearly 38 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage. The numbers for St. Louis are a little better than the U.S. numbers. In St. Louis, 170,871, or 29.50 percent of all properties with a mortgage, are in negative equity. Continue Reading →

Advice to sellers from a St. Louis REALTOR – final post in the series

By , on August 13th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

We’ll pick up where we left off after parts one and two of this series about selling a home in this market:

Question- Now for the $64 question, how should a seller properly price their home in this market?

Answer- In today’s market sellers are in fierce competition with one another for buyers. A seller can do everything right in presenting their home from maintenance and upkeep to staging, but if the price is not appropriate buyers will move on quickly. The simple truth is, there is another seller around the corner ready to set their Continue Reading →

Advice to sellers from a St. Louis REALTOR – part two of a series

By , on August 12th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

We’ll pick up where we left off in part one of this series about selling a home in this market:

Question- How should a seller select an agent? What should they look for in an agent and what should a seller avoid?

Answer- Years of experience is not as important as it once was. Certainly, the seller needs an agent with market knowledge, but the fact is today’s market is new territory for all REALTORS(R). I believe a seller in today’s market needs to be certain their REALTOR(R) has a firm grasp of marketing a property to Continue Reading →

Advice to sellers from a St. Louis REALTOR – part one of a series

By , on August 11th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

If you are a homeowner looking to sell your home today I don’t think I need to tell you it could be a challenge. In an effort to address some of the questions you may have about selling your home now as well as provide some useful tips and information

Now, lets find out what it takes to sell a home in this market:

Continue Reading →

Storm water consumer protections signed into law

By , on August 10th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Legislation to protect St. Louis area residents from storm water fees for services they are not receiving was recently signed into law. Representative Tim Jones sponsored the legislation, which was amended to House Bill 661 during the 2009 session and was signed by the Governor on July 7th.

Rep. Tim Jones, 89th District

“When MSD refused to remove this unfair tax, I heard the voices of my constituents loud and clear. Although we knew it would be a touch mountain to climb to pass legislation of this magnitude in only one Continue Reading →

Survey shows shift in consumer real estate decisions; more making move for the better

By , on August 9th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Relocation.Comconducted a survey in June which shows that 50 percent of people who recently moved did so to improve their living situation, whether to move into a bigger home or move to a better neighborhood. The results of Relocation.Com’s most recent survey is a dramatic reversal from a similar Relocation.Com survey in March 2009 that found the recession played a much larger role in the decision to move.

As the primary reason for moving, No. 1 on the list was to live in a bigger/better home (26 percent), followed by living in a Continue Reading →

FBI Arrests Two People in Foreclosure Scheme

By , on August 8th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Previously I did an article on avoiding foreclosure rescue scams which have unfortunately become rather common in recent months.

This week the FBI arrested two people that the FBI alleges has done just that. I wanted to share the press release from the FBI to heighten people’s awareness of scams such as this and hopefully help prevent more victims of such scams. The press release describes in detail how they allege this scam was carried out. To read the FBI press release click here, or just read below as I have published it Continue Reading →

St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Final Post of the series

By , on August 7th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Earlier this week I did part one , and yesterday part two of my E-View with Carole Baras, CRS, GRI, ePRO, the 2009 President of the St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) to get her take on the St. Louis real estate market.

Today I’ll pick up where I left off and complete my E-View with Carole:

Carole Baras, 2009 President, St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R)

Dennis – Carole, What do you feel are the best opportunities today for buyers in St. Louis?

Carole – Buyers that are looking to purchase a Continue Reading →

Mortgage rates decline this week on better than expected economic news

By , on August 6th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to Freddie Macs weekly mortgage market survey mortgage rates decreased slightly for the week ending August 6, 2009 from the prior week. The survey shows 30 year fixed rate mortgages averaging 5.22% with 0.6% in fees and points, down from 5.25% the week before. Last year at this time, the 30 year rate averaged 6.52%.

Rates on 15 year fixed-rate mortgages decreased slightly as well, down to 4.63% from 4.69% the week before, 5/1 ARM’s held about the same at 4.73% and 1 year ARM’s as well as 4.78%. This time last year these arms Continue Reading →

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