My family is definitely a beach-loving family! Most of the trips and vacations our family has been on over the years have included beaches and both of our children’s first trips as infants were to the beach. So, I guess it is safe to say our family loves beaches and we are not alone! Even though beach property has suffered during the real estate bust, there seems to always be demand for homes in beach communities. Some areas, like Sarasota, Florida, are already seeing prices increase on homes located on or near the beach. Did you wait too late to buy that second home or vacation home in a beach community? Well, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac, there are still some bargains to be found out there! Continue Reading →
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CoreLogic released its April Home Price Index (HPI) report showing home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased on a year-over-year basis by 1.1 percent in April 2012 compared to April 2011. This is the second consecutive month with year-over-year increases, and the first time two consecutive increases have occurred since June 2010. On a month-over-month basis, home prices, including distressed sales, increased by 2.2 percent in April 2012. This marks the second consecutive month-over-month increase this year. Continue Reading → A common complaint that consumers have regarding today’s mortgage loan origination process has to do with all of the hoops they have to jump through in order to get a loan. Continue Reading → Trulia today released the latest findings from the Trulia Price Monitor and the Trulia Rent Monitor, the earliest leading indicators available of trends in home prices and rents. Based on the for-sale homes and rentalslisted on Trulia, these monitors take into account changes in the mix of listed homes and reflect trends in prices and rents for similar homes in similar neighborhoods through May 31, 2012. Continue Reading → This morning RealtyTrac® released its U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report™ for the first quarter of 2012, which shows that sales of homes that were in some stage of foreclosure or bank owned accounted for 24 percent of all St. Louis metro area home sales during the first quarter — up from 17 percent of all St Louis home sales in the fourth quarter and the same as the first quarter of 2011. The report also shows that, during the quarter, over 10 percent (10.36) of St Louis metro home sales were short-sales, an increase from 5.85 percent the previous quarter and an increase from 7.46 percent from the first quarter of 2011. Continue Reading → According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Applications Survey, average mortgage rates fell to yet another new survey low last week. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances fell to 3.91 percent from 3.93 percent the week before. Despite the drop, mortgage loan demand was relatively flat. The Refinance Index dropped 1.5 percent from the previous week and the Purchase Index slipped 0.6 percent. The Market Composite Index, which measures total mortgage loan application volume, fell 1.3 percent from the week before. The refinance share of all mortgage activity was unchanged at 76.6 percent. Continue Reading → If you feel you were a victim of an improper foreclosure process in 2009 or 2010 by one of the companies below, you may apply for an independent foreclosure review and receive compensation if the independent review finds evidence of direct financial injury to you due to servicer error. Time is running out however as the deadline to apply is July 31, 2012. To make it easier to understand the process, the fed’s have produced a video on how to apply which I have included below. Continue Reading → Rents Rise in Three-Quarters of Markets, According to April Zillow Real Estate Market Reports National home values rose for the second month in a row, climbing 0.7 percent from March to a Zillow Home Value Index of $147,300. This is the largest monthly increase in home values since January 2006, when they rose 0.8 percent, according to the April Zillow® Real Estate Market Reports. Rents also rose from March to April, increasing 1.6 percent, according to the Zillow Rent Index. Rents rose in 78 percent of the 178 markets covered by Zillow. Continue Reading → But Negative Equity is a Paper Loss for Most, As 90% of Underwater Homeowners Pay Mortgage on Time Nearly one-third (31.4 percent) of U.S. homeowners with mortgages – or 15.7 million – were underwater on their mortgage in the first quarter of 2012, despite rising home values, according to the first quarter Zillow® Negative Equity Report[1]. Collectively, underwater homeowners owed $1.2 trillion more than their homes were worth. Negative equity rose slightly from 31.1 percent in the fourth quarter, and declined from 32.4 percent one year ago. Continue Reading → Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for April 2012 showing an increase of 3.3 percent from the month before, and an increase of 9.9 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for April was 343,000 homes, up from a revised rate of 332,000 homes the month before. The supply of new homes on the market decreased to a 5.1 month supply from a revised 5.2 months the month before. The median new home price increased slightly to $235,700 from a revised median price of $234,000 the month before and increased 4.4 percent from a year ago when the median new home price was $224,700. Continue Reading → Fannie Mae’s April 2012 National Housing Survey indicates consumer attitudes toward homeownership, the economy, personal finances, and home prices continuing to improve. Continue Reading → Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in April were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.62 million units which is a increase of 3.4 percent from the month before and an increase of 10.0 percent from a year ago. The actual number of homes sold in April was 400,000 which is an increase of 11.1 percent from the month before and an increase of 6.7 percent from a year ago when there were 375,000 homes sold. Continue Reading → The mortgage delinquency rate (the percentage of home loans 30 or more days past due) increased in April 0.4 percent from the month before according to the latest “First Watch Report” from Lenders Processing Services (LPS). While this is a modest increase, it temporarily reverses the trend we have seen for the past 9 months of declining mortgage delinquency rates. The mortgage delinquency rate in April, at 7.12 percent of all loans, is down 10.6 percent from a year ago however. The foreclosure rate for April was 4.14 percent, the same as the month before as well as the year before so, at least the foreclosure rate is remaining flat and not increasing. Continue Reading → By now almost everyone has probably heard a story about (or experienced themselves) the laborious, time-consuming and mind numbing process of trying to buy (or sell) a home on a short sale or, in other words, for less than is owed on the home with the lenders blessing. Unfortunately the lenders blessing, in many cases, has taken many weeks or even many months to get causing many buyers and sellers to give up along the way. Now though, thanks to a recent rule change by Fannie Mae, this process will be improved greatly and happen within 30 days in most instances. Continue Reading → motivation for the move is warmer weather, not a job. Wow, I can relate to that….. In fact, according to the report, most long distance house hunters are looking in markets with higher unemployment and slower job growth than where they currently live. Fro example, as you can see in the chart below, 3 times as many people in Minneaplolis – St Paul (with 6.2 percent unemployment) are looking for homes in Phoenix (where unemployment is 8.5) than vice versa. Continue Reading → The St. Louis real estate market has increased activity and is showing signs of St Louis home prices stabilizing. Get this and much more up to date information on St Louis Real Estate from an experienced St Louis Realtor in this informative video update. Continue Reading → This morning, RealtyTrac released their U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for April 2012 which shows that foreclosure filings (default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions) we’re reported on 1,793 properties in St. Louis during the month, a 0.33 percent decrease from the previous month and an increase of 28.53 percent from April 2011. During the month, 1 out of every 696 homes in St. Louis had a foreclosure filing. Continue Reading → According to a new report, The Shifting Nature of U.S. Housing Demand, by The Demand Institute, average home prices will increase by up to 1 percent in the second half of 2012. By 2014, home prices will increase by as much as 2.5 percent. From 2015 to 2017, the study projects annual increases between 3 and 4 percent. This recovery will not be uniform across the country, and the strongest markets could capture average gains of 5 percent or more in the coming years. Continue Reading → The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for April 2012 showing an increase in single-family home building permits from the month before of 1.9 percent and a 18.5 percent increase in new home starts compared to the year before. Continue Reading → By committing to a mortgage loan, the borrower is entering into a financial agreement with a lender to pay back the mortgage money, with interest, over a set period of time. The borrower’s monthly mortgage payment may change over time depending on the type of loan (Fixed, ARM, Interest Only, etc.). However, for this article, we will address the typical 30 year fixed Principal and Interest loan program. So… Continue Reading → Before you go getting too excited over my headline, I should point out that, even though Fed Reserve Board Governor Duke’s presentation today at the National Association of REALTORS mid-year meeting in Washington D.C. was titled “Prescriptions for Housing Recovery”, Governor Duke opened her remarks with “I wish I had such a prescription”. She went on to say that it is difficult to think of a single thing that, by itself will generate a sustainable recovery in housing. She did say, however, that she saw some policies that will help reduce the shadow inventory of houses in the foreclosure pipeline as well as improve the availability of financing to potential home buyers. Continue Reading → The collapse of the real estate market, along with a down economy has created a fertile environment for fraudsters to attempt to advantage of the many desperate homeowners that are out there. Their methods vary from foreclosure “rescue” schemes, mortgage assistance scams and other scams that generally offer to lower your payments or debt, prevent foreclosure, etc. Below is a list of tips the Department of Justice published this week to help consumers prevent themselves from becoming a victim of fraudsters. More good news on the housing market! The national mortgage delinquency rate (borrowers that are 60 or more days past due) declined for the first 3 months of 2012, coming in at 5.78 percent according to a report issued by TransUnion. This is after increases in the delinquency rate in the prior 2 quarters and is the lowest rate since the 1st quarter of 2009. Continue Reading → Finally, after several years of writing depressing things about the real estate market and housing industry, I’m getting to write some positive things lately! Well, to keep the party going, today I have a list of 10 towns in the U.S. that are leading the U.S. in terms of a housing market recovery according to the “Top Turnaround Town Report” from REALTOR.com. Seven of the top ten markets are in Florida, but the number 1 turnaround town in the U.S. according to the report is Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona where the inventory of homes for sale has fallen almost 50 percent in the past year while prices increased almost 27 percent during the same period. Continue Reading → With interest rates at all time lows, it is worth the few minutes to do a mortgage check up and determine if a refinance would be beneficial to your situation. Since there are many reasons a homeowner may choose to refinance, we’ll take a look at the few most common reasons to consider a refinance. Continue Reading → A report released this morning by CoreLogic, one of the nations leading providers of property information shows that home prices in the U.S. fell in March 0.6 percent from the year before and increased by 0.6 percent from the month before. Excluding distressed sales, month-over-month home prices increased for the third month in a row. If we take distressed sales out of the picture then the year-over-year home prices increased 0.9 percent. According to the report, St. Louis home prices declined by 3.4 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices increased by 1.7 percent in March 2012 compared to March 2011. Continue Reading → In a report released by Trulia, which looks at changes in asking prices on homes that are for sale as a leading indicator of where the market is headed, asking prices on homes for sale, on a year over year basis, were up 0.2 percent nationally. Here in St. Louis, as the chart below shows, we can see that year–over-year asking prices in the St. Louis MSA are up almost 1 percent, or almost 5 times the national average but still far from the ten MSA’s in the U.S. with the highest price increases (see table below). Continue Reading → As the chart below shows, St Louis Home Prices appear to have hit bottom back around April 2011 then were headed back down in the last half of the year but have been on the rise since (chart includes data through today) so, unless things change course, I would say St Louis home prices have bottomed out. Don’t worry, if you’re one of the many, many people out there that have been waiting for the “bottom” to buy, you haven’t missed out yet…prices are still low. Our newsletter has charts like below for each county in the St Louis area so you can see how your county is doing. Sign up for it here. Continue Reading → Whatever funds the borrower intends to use to close a transaction has to be sourced and seasoned. Providing proper asset documentation and the actual source of the funds is a critical element of the approval and closing process. There’s nothing worse in a real estate purchase than making it all the way through the hoops and hurdles of the approval process just to have a loan fall apart due to the borrower not using an acceptable source of funds in order to close. In other words, “Mattress Money” is no longer a legitimate source. Continue Reading → Clear Capital just released it’s Home Data Index™ (HDI) for April, which reveals that REO’s, which have been a drag on the market for several years now by bringing home prices down, are actually help bolster prices as a result of investor demand for REO’s for rentals. REO home price gains (on a price per foot basis) are “vastly outpacing fair market prices on a national level” according to the report. Continue Reading → |
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