As of April 2013, there were 182,678 homeowners in Missouri (26.68 percent) that were underwater on their mortgage meaning that their loan balances exceeds 125 percent of the current value of their home, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac. As a comparison, Illinois’ underwater homeowner rate is 34.79, Florida 41.24, Nevada 52.07 and California 25.07 In a little more upbeat news, the RealtyTrac report also revealed that foreclosure filings (default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions) in April affected 144,790 properties in the U.S. which is a decline of 5 percent from the month before and a Continue Reading →
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The St Louis Housing Market was delivered a blow by a Clear Capital report just released ranking the performance of the housing market in St Louis as the 7th worst of the major metro areas in the U.S. According to the report, St Louis home prices dropped 0.3 percent in the past quarter and declined 1.0 percent from a year ago, that, coupled with the fact that REO’s (foreclosed property owned by banks) makes up 1/3 of the St Louis market, put us at 7th on the “bad” list. At the top of the “good” list was Las Vegas with Continue Reading → In What Cities Can You Make The Most Money Flipping Homes? Unfortunately, St. Louis did not make the list. However, that is actually a good thing as the cities at the top of RealtyTrac’s list of the top 25 cities in the U.S. for flipping homes are all cities that were hammered when the market crashed. This is not to say that the opportunity does not exist in St Louis to flip property for a profit or to make good buys for rental or other long term investment, it’s just the profits here may not be as large as Continue Reading → Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420 “The (real estate) recovery has been much more like the tortoise than the hare,” said Stephen Blank, a senior resident fellow of the Washington-based Urban Land Institute. “We’ve become used to slow relief. But we have finally turned the corner.” Real estate markets on both coasts in places like; New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston were the first to emerge from recession and will pick up their pace of recovery through 2013, said Blank, a principal researcher for Emerging Trends. He was the main speaker at the annual outlook presented by Continue Reading → When you purchase a home if you are most likely going to obtain some type of survey as part of the purchase process. Even if you don’t think you need one, if you are obtaining a mortgage, the lender is going to require that you get one. There are many types of surveys though and not all are created equal. Here in St. Louis it is quite common for a home buyer to obtain a “spot” survey because, at around $100, it is the lowest cost survey that will normally meet the lenders requirements. However, in my opinion, all home Continue Reading → St. Louis is the 4th best place in the U.S. for investors to buy property, based upon a recent report by Radar Logic. In compiling the list of cities, Radar Logic examined where institutional investors (i.e., corporations, LLC’s, partnerships and trusts) were buying property and how big of discounts they were receiving compared to other home sales in that area. The Top 10 Markets For Investors Based Upon Discounted Home Prices: Continue Reading → The home ownership rate in St Louis during the 1st quarter of 2013 was 74.2 percent, the highest level since the 4th quarter of 2006 when the rate was 74.3 percent, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. I think this is pretty remarkable given that since the housing market crash of 2007, a record number of homeowners have lost their homes in foreclosure and now homeownership rates in St Louis are higher than before the crash. Copyright MORE, REALTORS
Foreclosures were completed on 55,000 properties in the U.S. in March 2013, an increase of 6 percent from the month before but a decline of 16 percent from March 2012. Foreclosure activity has decreased over 50 percent (52) from when the number of foreclosures peaked back in 2010. Looking to buy a foreclosure? Click here for current list of St Louis foreclosures for sale Highlights of the Corelogic Foreclosure Report for March 2013: The FDIC filed suit yesterday against 10 directors and officers of Champion Bank alleging “negligence, gross negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty in the underwriting, recommendation, and approval of seven high-risk out-of-territory commercial real estate (“CRE”) loan participations and two business lines of credit (collectively, the “Loss Transactions”), resulting in damages of at least $15.56 million,” according to court documents filed. 4:13-cv-00816 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as Receiver for Champion Bank et al v. DiMaria et al – Defendants: St Louis Home Sales Up Over 11 Percent In March St Louis home sales rose in March to 2,729 homes sold in the five-county St Louis core area (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) which is an increase of 11.3 percent from March 2012 when there were 2,451 homes sold. St Louis home prices rose 3.7 percent in March to an average sales price of $146,146 from $140,904 a year ago. On a national level, the Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) was at 105.7 for March, Continue Reading → Mortgage interest rates keep falling and this week the interest rate on a 15 year fixed-rate mortgage hit a new record low of 2.8 percent, according to a weekly national survey conducted by Bankrate.com. Continue Reading → The housing market continues to show signs that a recovery is underway with today’s report from LPS showing that mortgage delinquencies in March 2013 fell 3.13 percent from the month before and were down 3.03 percent from a year ago, according to a report just released by LPS. The foreclosure inventory rate fell slightly (0.41 percent) from the month before but was down almost 20 percent (19.61)from a year ago. Almost all the data on the housing market, including the St Louis housing market, has been encouraging lately and pointing toward signs that a recovery is underway. Woo hoo! New home sales continued the upward trend in March with new homes in the US selling at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 417,000 homes, an increase of 1.5 percent from the month before and an 18.5 percent increase from a year ago, according to the US Census Bureau and HUD. New home sale prices declined in March to a median price of $247,000, down 6.7 percent from February’s median new home price of $264,900 but up 3 percent from a year ago when the median new home sales price was $239,800. The inventory of new homes for sale remained steady Continue Reading → St Louis Home sales rose in March to 2,397 homes sold, up from 1,817 homes sold in February and up 11.7 percent from a year ago when there were 2,145 homes sold. St Louis’ year-over-year increase in home sales in March actually topped the increase in US home sales for the month which rose 10.3 percent from the year before. FICO Survey Shows Bankers Are More Optimistic About Housing Market Most bankers surveyed (83.7 percent) in FICO’s first quarter 2013 survey, said they felt mortgage delinquencies would decline, or at worst stay the same, during the next 6 months. Additionally, 70.8 percent of the bankers feel home prices are rising at a sustainable pace. Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420 Housing Boom Era Type Home Buying Tactics Reappearing in St Louis Real Estate Market During the home buying frenzy of the housing boom, which peaked in 2006, it was common to see home buyers, in an effort to beat out other buyers fighting for the same home, include price escalation clauses in their offers and make “naked” (contingency-free) offers. It was also common for a seller to purposely price their home low in an effort to rein in multiple buyers and pit them against each other in a bidding war. We are Continue Reading → Home ownership has not lost its luster Survey results just released by Prudential Real Estate reveal that, in spite of the collapse of the real estate market and the challenges faced by many home owners the past few years, 96 percent of Americans still feel that home ownership is important. The survey also showed that consumers remain pretty optimistic about the future of the real estate market with 77 percent of respondents indicating that they feel the real estate market and property values will recover. This is up from 73 percent that felt this way at the end of Continue Reading → The thrill of buying or selling a home can quickly come to an end when you have a bad moving experience or, worse yet, get ripped off by a dishonest moving company. How do you avoid a dishonest mover? The U.S. Department of Transportation has published 8 “red flags” to be on the lookout for to avoid getting ripped off: “RED FLAGS” to be on the lookout for: St Louis Residential Construction Gets Boost From Apartment Construction St Louis residential construction activity is on the rise with building permits increasing by almost 75 percent in the past year in the immediate St Louis area. As the table below shows, the largest increase in residential building permits came in multi-families with a 154 percent increase in permits in the area in the past year. During the same period, single family permits in St Louis were up just over 50 percent. Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420 Home Prices Nationwide Shooting Up Faster Than Anyone Thought Possible Not Long Ago The US housing market has broken out of a deep slump, and prices are shooting up faster than anyone thought possible a year ago. Prices of existing homes rose 10% in February nationally from a year ago. What is causing this increase? “Nationwide, we’re not in a bubble,” says Glenn Kelman, CEO of online real estate company Redfin, however Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego may be headed that direction, according to Redfin’s data. Redfin is not in St Louis so our city was not on their list but in the coming weeks I plan to do an analysis of the St Louis market in the same manner they did of other markets and will publish what I find at that time. In the meantime, here’s the info from Redfin. St Louis Real Estate Market Turns Into Seller’s Market! The St Louis Real Estate Market has become a seller’s market, according to the latest market data from MORE, REALTORS. The inventory of homes for sale is on the decline while buying activity is up which makes for a competitive market for buyers. Thinking of selling and want to know if your neighborhood is a seller’s market? Contact us and we’ll answer that question for you. To get the latest St Louis Real Estate Stats and the latest, best and most comprehensive St Louis Real Estate Data, check out our 5-minute Continue Reading → St Louis Foreclosures on 4,252 Properties During 1st Quarter 2013 St Louis Foreclosures declined 11.96 percent during the first quarter of 2013 from a year ago, according to a newly released report by RealtyTrac. According to the report, 4,252 properties in St Louis received a foreclosure filing (default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions) during the first quarter of 2013 which is a decline of 9.88 percent from the 4th quarter of 2012 and a 11.96 decline from the 1st quarter of 2012. St Louis new home construction has suffered like pretty much the rest of the country has over the past 5 years or so as a result of the real estate bubble burst. The news lately has been better as we have seen new home construction in St Louis increase, in some areas significantly, but, as I often remind readers, it is all relative. The increases we are seeing now are increases from historically low numbers in the recent past and have a long way to go to get back to a “normal” level. The chart below (which is “live” and Continue Reading → Has St Louis Become A Sellers Market? As the news about the St Louis real estate market becomes more optimistic, the question being asked has become “Is It A Sellers Market In St Louis?”. To answer that question, I put together some market data from that last couple of years to show how the market is changing in the St. Louis area and produced our latest infographic illustrating what I found. To find out if it is a sellers market in St Louis check out the infographic by clicking here. Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420 Free Credit Scores are Not Part of the Free Annual Credit Report Consumers Currently Receive Consumers currently have the right to request their free credit report once a year, but a credit report does not include free credit scores. These two items are often confused to be the same, which they are not. You generally must pay to see your credit score. It’s a three-digit grade that predicts how risky you are to a lender. Earlier this month, bills were introduced in the House and Senate to allow all consumers Continue Reading → St Louis Foreclosures Are On The Decline The inventory of St Louis foreclosures in February was down 0.5 percent from February 2012, according to a report from Corelogic. The decline is modest, but is still good news for our St. Louis market. There were 10,733 St Louis foreclosures completed in the 12 month period ending February 2013, the 12th highest number of the major metro areas in the U.S. covered by the Corelogic report, as shown in the table below. Barely over 3 month supply of homes for sale in St Louis Home sales in the U.S. fell slightly in February from the month before, according to the National Association of REALTORS’ pending home sales index. The index slid to 104.8* in February from 105.2 in January however was still 8.4 percent higher than a year ago and at the second highest level in nearly three-year. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR, said “limited inventory is holding back the market in many areas” and that “only new home construction can genuinely help relieve the inventory shortage…” As the Continue Reading → New Home Sales In Midwest Outperform The National Market! New home sales in the Midwest were at an adjusted annual rate of 58,000 homes in February, an increase of 13.7 percent from January’s rate of 51,000 homes, according to data released this morning by the Census Bureau. The Midwest was the only region in February with an increase in new home sales from January and the Midwest and West region were the only two regions with an increase in new home sales from a year ago. New home sale prices rose in February to $246,800 from $239,600 the month before, Continue Reading → Making Sense of Confusing Real Estate Terms If you are buying, selling or refinancing a home you will come across real estate terms and industry lingo that may sound foreign to you. To help address this issue, below you will find definitions for the most common real estate terms that you are likely to come across when buying, selling or refinancing a home. If you have other questions about title insurance, or the role of the title company in these transactions, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help. // |
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