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Dennis Norman Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for September 2010 showing an increase of 6.6 percent from the month before, but a decrease of 21.5 percent from a year ago. Mortgage Insurance, also known as PMI, is a supplemental insurance policy you may be required to obtain in order to get a mortgage loan. PMI is provided by private (non-government) companies and is usually required when your loan-to-value ratio — the amount of your mortgage loan divided by the value of your home — is greater than 80 percent. Dennis Norman This morning S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for August was released showing a deceleration in the annual growth rates of home prices from the month before in 17 of the 20 Metro areas covered by the report. The Case-Shiller Home Prices Indices for the 20 metros showed a decrease of 0.2 percent in home prices in August from July and an increase of 1.7 percent in home prices from the year before. Dennis Norman According to a report issued yesterday by CoreLogic, home prices in the St. Louis area decreased in August 2010 by 3.53 percent from the year before, over twice the US rate of price decline for the same period of 1.5 percent. However, distressed home sale prices are to blame and appear to be causing more damage in the St. Louis housing market than on the US housing market on average. I say this because the data shows if we exclude the distressed sales then home prices in St. Louis only declined 0.28 percent for the same Continue Reading → Dennis Norman The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development today released their “October 2010 Scorecard” on the “Obama Administration’s Efforts to Stabilize the Housing Market”. The scorecard points out the success of “The President’s housing market recovery efforts” but does point out that “data in the scorecard also show that the recovery in the housing market continues to remain fragile.” Dennis Norman Today’s existing home sales report from theNational Association of REALTORS(R) shows existing home sales in September were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.53 million units which is an increase of 10.0 percent from August but is a a decline of 19.1 percent from a year ago. Joe Plemon, ChristianPF.com Owning your own home may still be the great American dream, but, the influx of foreclosures in recent years has made it a nightmare for millions. If you are considering purchasing a home, I challenge you to at least think through the advantages of renting before you buy. Here are a few. 1. Less risk Strangely, risk seems to be the factor least considered The Justice Department announced this week that a Munster, Ind., condominium association and its three member board of directors have agreed to pay $120,000 to resolve allegations that they refused to approve the sale of a condominium to an African-American couple because of their race and because they had children. The settlement must still be approved by U.S. Senior District Judge Philip P. Simon. Dennis Norman A new Harris Poll shows that more people would like to live in, or near, New York City than any other city in the U.S. San Diego came in second and Las Vegas third. This should not come as a surprise as this Harris Poll has been done annually since 1997 and New York City has ranked number one every year except 1998 when it fell to second behind San Francisco. Dennis Norman If there is a silver lining to the lousy real estate market we’ve witnessed over the past 3 years, maybe this is it….housing affordability! According to the Beacon Economics Home Affordability Index, homes selling in August were at their most affordable level sinde data became available over 40 years ago (1969). The Beacon Index, quite similar to the National Association of REALTORS housing affordability index, takes into account the percentage of income an average family would need to make mortgage payments on an average home. A critical step in the mortgage loan application process is to verify the sources for your down payment, closing costs and assets, as well as documenting income and debts. The lender uses this step to determine your qualifications as a borrower. Dennis Norman According to a recent Harris Poll, the economic and political unrest in California has not deterred Americans from their desire to live in the state as more Americans would like to live in California that in any other state. This is the seventh time in a row since 2002 that California has topped the list where people would like to live if they did not live in their own state, according to the poll. The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a their report on New Residential Construction for September 2010 showing a slight increase in single-family home building permits and an increase in new home starts compared to the month before. Dennis Norman According to a report just released by RealtyTrac® foreclosures increased in the third quarter of 2010, although with a slowing rate of increase. There were 930,437 foreclosure filings in the third quarter, up almost 4 percent from the 2nd quarter but up only 1 percent from the year before. One in every 139 housing units in the U.S. received a foreclosure filing during 3rd quarter. During the month of September alone, there were foreclosure filings reported on 347,420 U.S. properties, an increase of nearly 3 percent from the previous month and an increase of 1 percent Continue Reading → Dennis Norman A “first-look” report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data, shows that things are not getting better on the “home-front”….The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate (not including foreclosures) for September was 9.27 percent, a 0.6 percent increase from the month before, however it is a 7.8 percent decrease from the year before. The foreclosure rate for September was 3.84 percent, a 1.1 percent increase from the month before and a 3.6 percent increase from the year before. Dennis Norman In a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, John A. Courson, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said that the MBA “opposes the practice of private third parties, such as developers, builders, licensing companies and real estate brokers, imposing private transfer fee covenants on residential real estate for the purpose of extracting future income.” However, in his letter Mr. Courson goes on to say that the “MBA is concerned thatencumbering housing transactions with these types of PTFs will impede the marketability and affect the valuation of properties and thus Continue Reading → You’ll see an interest rate and an Annual Percentage Rate (A.P.R.) for each mortgage loan you see advertised. The easy answer to “why” is that federal law requires the lender to tell you both. The A.P.R. is a tool for comparing different loans, which will include different interest rates but also different points and other terms. The A.P.R. is designed to represent the “true cost of a loan” to the borrower, expressed in the form of a yearly rate. This way, lenders can’t “hide” fees and upfront costs behind low advertised rates. Dennis Norman The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law by President Obama in July,called for HUD to administer and oversee a $1 billion Emergency Homeowners Loan Program (EHLP), to provide assistance, for up to 24 months, to homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure on their home as a result of a substantial reduction in income due to “involuntary unemployment, underemployment, or a medical condition”. This program will be available to borrowers in 32 states, those states that did not receive other funding under the Treasury Departments “Hardest Hit Housing Fund” program. Dennis Norman According to a new survey released by FindLaw.com, nearly two-thirds of Americans say the current economic situation is making them less likely to buy a house. The survey shows that sixty-three percent of American adults say they are less likely to buy a house because of the current state of the economy. So even with record-low interest rates, depressed home prices and plentiful inventory to choose from, only 8 percent of people say the current economic situation makes them more likely to buy a house. About a quarter of people – 28 percent – say they are Continue Reading → Dennis Norman Today Bank of America announced they will stop foreclosure sales in all fifty states until after they have completed their review of foreclosure documents. This comes after Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co and GMAC deciding last week to stop foreclosure proceedings in states that require a judicial foreclosure process which was apparently the result of recent court decisions on lawsuits brought by homeowners that alleged lenders were abusing the foreclosure process. Dennis Norman Today, Trulia released it’s “Rent vs. Buy Index” which established a price-to-rent ratio for the 50 largest cities in America (by population), then, based upon that ratio, determined which cities it makes more sense (financially) to rent versus buy. Number of price-reduced homes on Market Rose 24 percent in September from 2009.. According to a report released by ZipRealty, the number of price-reduced homes on the market increased 2.1 percent in September compared to August. ZipRealty’s monthly review of MLS-listed properties in 26 major markets found that 47.8 percent of “for sale” homes had at least one price reduction and the average seller actually slashed their list price twice to attract buyers. If you have bought a house and are getting ready to apply for your home mortgage, or perhaps you are about to refinance your existing mortgage to take advantage of the dirt-cheap interest rates, this handy loan application checklist will help you be prepared and make the process smoother and quicker: Dennis Norman The CEO of Freddie Mac, Ed Haldeman, published a blog post this week which said reports of mortgage fraud were on the rise; there were nearly 38,000 cases of mortgage in the first half of 2010 – a 13 percent increase over the same period in 2009. Haldeman says that the fraudsters prey on the vulnerability of struggling borrowers by offering a quick fix to a homeowner who is under water and desperate. A common ploy for a scammer is to promise a struggling homeowner mortgage relief of modification of their loan. Dennis Norman Pending home sales rise for 2nd consecutive month in August – The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for August shows an increase of 4.3 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), which is 20.1 percent below a year ago. Dennis Norman I saw an interesting tidbit that came from the US Census Bureau that shows just how much things have changed in the real estate world in the past 60+ years in the U.S. The piece I saw was from the census bureau’s “Profile America” series and discussed one of the first communities built in our country by a real estate developer back in 1947. The place was the town of Levittown, on New York’s Long Island and aptly named for the developers, William and Alfred Levitt. Eventually the town contained more than 17,000 Cape Continue Reading → Dennis Norman I just returned from the Lake of the Ozarks after attending business meetings for the Missouri Association of REALTORS (MAR) which included an update on AMENDMENT 3, the effort backed by MAR to prevent double taxation on Real Estate in Missouri. The “update” was more like a football rally, complete with “cheerleaders” and all and, while the fanfare was a little over the top for me, I was thrilled to see so much enthusiasm by REALTORS from across the state over this issue. “It is particularly disheartening then that lenders are often the subject of ill considered accusations regarding discrimination, accusations based upon analyses that lack statistical rigor”– Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics Dennis Norman This week the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released a paper, “A Review of Statistical Problems in the Measurement of Mortgage Market and Credit Risk” conducted by Professor Anthony M. Yezer of the George Washington University and sponsored by MBA’s Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA). This paper examines the fundamental assumptions that are often used as an analysis of whether their is Continue Reading → There are so many different charges involved in buying a home, it is important to know what to expect at the settlement. Your lender is required to give you a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) of your settlement costs within three business days of your loan application. Once you get it, review the charges below to avoid any surprises when you sit down to close on your loan. Dennis Norman According to an analysis of more than 25,000 loan quotes and purchase request by Zillow, nearly one-third of Americans are unlikely to qualify for a mortgage because their credit scores are too low. Borrowers with credit scores under 620 who requested purchase loan quotes for 30-year fixed, conventional loans were unlikely to receive even one loan quote on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, even if they offered a relatively high down payment of 15 to 25 percent. Nearly one-third of Americans, or 29.3 percent, has a credit score this low, according to data provided by myFICO.com. |
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