A survey conducted by Harris Interactive, for Lending Tree, shows that consumers do not comparison shop when it comes to their home mortgage, instead borrowers often “lock in” their first home loan offer. The survey shows 96 percent of consumers compare prices when shopping for anything, but nearly 40 percent obtain just one home loan quote. An interesting comparison given was when shopping for a home computer, consumers check out and research an average of 3.1 models before making a purchase. This probably helps explain why, according to the survey, only 28 percent of borrowers stated they were “very confident” Continue Reading →
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A report released this morning by CoreLogic shows negative equity declined in third quarter of 2010 for residential properties, marking the third-consecutive quarterly decline. The CoreLogic reports that 10.8 million, or 22.5 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages were in negative equity at the end of the third quarter of 2010, down from 11.0 million and 23 percent in the second quarter. While the decline is good news, the bad news is that the report states the decline is “due primarily to foreclosures of severely negative equity properties rather than an increase in home values.” I have been hearing a lot of talk about Reverse Mortgages (aka Lifetime Mortgages) lately so I decided I wanted to find out a little bit more about them. Upon first hearing about them, I thought that they were a terrible idea, but after finding out a little bit more, I can now at least see some of the potential advantages to having one. Either way, I am not a mortgage expert and most of what is included in the article was what I found during a couple hours of research about them – so if you see anything that Continue Reading → Ah, the reverse mortgage battle continues…Consumers Union says their risky and dangerous; RetireSafe, a grassroots organization that advocates on behalf of seniors says they provide financial independence to Seniors…so who’s right? First off, I have to say that I personally feel reverse mortgages offer an excellent opportunity for seniors to live a better life, or get them through a tough financial period, by tapping the equity in their homes. I have written before about a friend of mine, Tom Carter, who has helped dozens of seniors over the years with reverse mortgages. Having said that, obviously, like almost Continue Reading → A former residential sales manager at a Florida property management company pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with housing repair contracts for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Justice announced this week. Benjamin K. Graves, formerly a residential sales manager at West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Orlando, Fla., to wire fraud. According to the one-count felony charge filed on Nov. 12, 2010, in the Middle District of Florida, Ocwen managed foreclosed properties under contract with the VA, which guaranteed qualifying residential mortgages for Continue Reading → Report by Zillow estimates that U.S. Homes have now lost $9 Tillion in value since Market Peak U.S. homes are expected to lose more than $1.7 trillion in value during 2010, which is 63 percent more than the $1 trillion lost in 2009, according to a report released by Zillow.com. That brings the total value lost since the market peaked in June 2006 to $9 trillion. Settlement Provides $2 Million to African-American Borrowers Who Paid Higher Interest Rates PrimeLending, a national mortgage lender with 168 offices in 32 states at the end of 2009, has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against African-American borrowers between 2006 and 2009. CASH-IN REFIS… Over the past years, many of Americans pulled money out their homes through “cash-out” refis. Today, many of my clients are bringing cash into their refinance transactions. Money is flowing in the opposite direction. According to information released by the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (HBA), building permit activity in the St. Louis area through October of this year, is up over 12 percent from the same time last year. Today, Trulia and RealtyTrac released the latest result of their ongoing survey tracking the attitude of homebuyers toward foreclosed homes. The most recent survey, conducted in early November by Harris Interactive, showed that Americans are still concerned about the health of the housing market with 58 percent of adults survey expecting a housing recovery to take at least another two years. For those that frequent this site you have probably noticed (and perhaps even participated in) an informal survey we were running on the site. For about the past four months we have asked the question: “Is a home a good long-term investment?” and the results are in: 61 percent of the respondents said Yes 39 percent of the respondents said No So there you have it….In spite of the real estate recession, which has been with us for too long now, about 3 out of 5 people still look at a home as a good long-term investment. For what it’s Continue Reading → Dennis Norman The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for October shows an increase of 10.4 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 20.5 percent decrease from a year ago. According to a report released by RealtyTrac, foreclosure homes accounted for 25 percent of all U.S. residential sales in the third quarter of 2010 and that the average sales price of properties that sold while in some stage of foreclosure was more than 32 percent below the average sales price of properties not in the foreclosure process — up from a 26 percent discount in the previous quarter and a 29 percent discount in the third quarter of 2009. Freddie Mac announced today it has ordered all evictions involving foreclosed occupied single family and 2-4 unit properties that had Freddie Mac mortgages to be suspended from December 20, 2010 to January 3, 2011. A report released by CoreLogic showed the St. Louis metro area to have a foreclosure rate in September of 1.57 percent, and increase of over 25 percent (25.6%) from a year ago, and an increase of a little over 3 percent from the month before. The national foreclosure rate in September was 3.29 percent, a slight increase from 3.20 percent the month before. Dennis Norman This morning S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for the third quarter or this year was released showing home prices declined 2.0 percent in the third quarter after having risen 4.7 percent in the second quarter. Nationally, home prices are 1.5 percent below where they were a year ago. In September, 18 of the 20 metro areas covered by the report had declines in the home price index. Homeowners will be protected by a new Federal Trade Commission rule that bans providers of mortgage foreclosure rescue and loan modification services from collecting fees until homeowners have a written offer from their lender or servicer that they decide is acceptable. After surging in the second quarter, mortgage fraud case activity sank in the third quarter based on the Third Quarter 2010 Mortgage Fraud Index from Mortgage Daily. The Mortgage Fraud Index came in at 1007 during the third quarter – falling 41 percent from the second quarter. The index hasn’t been this low since the first quarter 2008, when it was just 713. Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for October 2010 showing a decrease of 8.1 percent from the month before, but a decrease of 28.5 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for October was 283,000 homes, a 8.1 percent decrease from Septbmer’s rate of 308,000 homes. The supply of new homes on the market increase from an adjusted 7.9 month supply in September to a 8.6 month supply in October. The median new home price decreased for the month to $194,900 from $226,300 the Continue Reading → How much interest can you save by increasing your mortgage payment? Check out the link below and the financial calculator will help you determine your savings. Click the “View Report” button to see a complete amortization payment schedule, and how much you can save on your mortgage! Today’s existing home sales report from theNational Association of REALTORS(R) shows existing home sales in October were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.43 million units which is a decrease of 2.2 percent from September and is a decline of 25.9 percent from a year ago. On the heels of the post I just did on shadow inventory, it is good to see a positive report on mortgage delinquencies! According to a report issued by TransUnion, mortgage loan delinquencies in the third quarter of this year declined 3.45 percent to 6.44 percent, marking the largest quarterly decline since the fourth quarter of 2006. A report released today by CoreLogic shows that, while the overall inventory of homes for sale has remained the same in the past year at 4.2 million new and existing homes for sale as of August, the number of homes in “shadow inventory” has grown from 6.1 million a year before to 6.3 million as of August, 2010. According the to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), the largest obstacles to the recovery of the housing market are job creation and the availability of credit. At their board meeting last week, NAR approved a credit polity to urge the mortgage lending industry to “reassess and amend their policies so more qualified home buyers can become home owners.” According to a survey just released by Transunion, Landlord’s and Property managers appear to be making it through the Great Recession and are seeing improvement in the market from their perspective. In fact, seven out of 10 property managers said their rental properties have no vacancies, an increase of almost 17 percent from a year ago. Only 39 percent of respondents said they’re having difficulty finding residents in today’s economic climate. Additionally, more than 3 out of 4 respondents (76 percent) said rental prices have either remained the same or increased since last year. The “robo-signing” scandal that has exposed illegal practices by servicers of mortgage loans has also showed the urgent need to reform a broken system that is plagued with abuses, lacks adequate resources and has pushed countless homeowners toward foreclosure. That’s the message that Diane Thompson, a lawyer for the National Consumer Law Center, delivered in testimony earlier this week to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Obtaining a mortgage to buy a home, or to refinance an existing mortgage, can sometimes be a little intimidating to borrowers, but it needn’t be. Granted, this is something the typical person only does every few years at most and regulations continually change the process, but that’s where lenders such as myself come in to the picture, to provide you the info you need and to guide you through the process. The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a their report on New Residential Construction for October 2010 showing a slight increase in single-family home building permits and a small decrease in new home starts compared to the month before. Price Reductions Surpass Highest Historical Levels in 15 U.S. Cities, Remain Flat Nationwide According to a report released this morning by Trulia.com, 27 percent of the homes for sale in November have experienced at least one price cut. Following four-consecutive months of increases, this rate has now flattened out nationwide. However, locally the story is different as 15 major cities hit an all-time high for price reductions in November. “Price reduction increases in many large U.S. cities can be attributed to the basic principle of supply and demand –– on that score, buyers clearly have the advantage this Continue Reading → A “first-look” report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data, is somewhat encouraging as it shows the U.S. mortgage delinquency rate (not including foreclosures) for October was 9.29 percent and, while that is a terribly high rate, it is just barely higher than Septembers’ rate of 9.27 percent. Mortgage delinquencies are a “leading indicator” of foreclosures, so perhaps that means we are getting close to the foreclosure activity leveling off. |
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