By Dennis Norman, on January 22nd, 2014
St Louis distressed home sales continue to fall, according to a report published by MORE, REALTORS based upon data released by RealtyTrac. This report supports other market data that indicates the St Louis real estate market is recovering from the devastation brought on it when the real estate market bubble burst back in 2008.
The market crash brought many institutional buyers into the market, buying up homes as prices fell, but the recovery of the St Louis real estate market has slowed this activity as well. Home sales fueled by institutional investors fell 23.6% in December 2013 from the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 16th, 2014 Foreclosures in the St Louis metro area during the 4th quarter of 2013 were down 13.79% from the prior quarter and down 40.64% from the 4th quarter of 2012, according to a report released today by RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, the foreclosure rate for 3 of the 5 core St Louis counties declined in the 4th quarter from the prior quarter and all declined from the year before.
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By Dennis Norman, on January 13th, 2014 St Louis foreclosures are on the decline, however there are still some “deals” out there for buyers on homes that were previously foreclosed upon. Presently, there are 714 bank-owned or government owned homes in the St Louis 5-county core area (city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) listed for sale in the St. Louis area MLS. St Louis foreclosures typically sell at a discount of 25% – 40% off retail, and sometimes even more, however you can bank on the fact that the better the price is the more work Continue Reading →
By Tyler Frank NMLS # 942420, on January 3rd, 2014 Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420
The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has made some changes for 2014, which took effect January 1 and affect FHA home loans. First and foremost, you will see a drop in the maximum allowable loan. In the St. Louis metro area, for example, the new max loan amount for a single-family home has been lowered to $271,050 from $281,250.
Other items of note regarding FHA have not changed; so as a refresher let’s look at FHA qualifications and rules:
Borrower must put 3.5% down based on sales price. 100% of the buyer’s contribution Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 2nd, 2014 It’s hard to believe that it has been over 5 years since the housing market bubble burst but, as we begin this new year, it is good to continue to see market data that supports a St Louis housing market recovery is underway!
As we have been reporting here on St Louis Real Estate News, over the past few months we have seen a solid recovery trend in the St Louis real estate market. Home prices have increased as have home sales, the new home market continues to make progress with new home construction and sales on the rise and Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 20th, 2013 St Louis homes sales (the 5-county core market*) for the 12 month period ending November 30, 2013 increased 4 percent from the same period a year ago, in contrast to national home sales which are down 1.2 percent from a year ago. As the table below shows, St Louis distressed home sales (foreclosures, bank-owned and short sales) have declined by more than a third and are currently responsible for just 5 percent of the overall home sales.
St Louis home prices are increasing too with the median home price for the past year coming in at $149,600, an increase of Continue Reading →
By Tyler Frank NMLS # 942420, on December 13th, 2013 Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420
On January 10, 2014 the mortgage world is going to go through some changes. These changes will affect consumers and their ability to qualify for a home loan. Is it doom and gloom? Not really.
A “Qualified Mortgage” or QM, is something we at Paramount Mortgage have been doing for a while. It is all about the consumer having the ability to repay the loan and verifying, to the best of our ability, through paperwork, all the facets of a loan approval. It is very possible additional paperwork may be requested Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 12th, 2013 St. Louis foreclosures have declined roughly 50 percent from a year ago, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, the foreclosure rate for the 3 main counties of St Louis (city of St Louis, St Louis County and St Charles county) was down from the month before (or about the same for the city), however Franklin and Jefferson county saw an increase from the month before. All five counties have seen a significant drop in foreclosure rate from a year ago.
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By Dennis Norman, on November 26th, 2013 St. Louis short sales accounted for just 1 percent of the overall home sales activity during October in the core market of St. Louis (the city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin), according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, Jefferson County had the largest percentage of short sales in October at 7% and St Charles and Franklin both the lowest at 0%. REO sales (prior foreclosures that are now bank owned) on the other hand, made up 7 percent of St Louis area home sales in October, an Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 20th, 2013 St Louis homes sales (the 5-county core market*) increased slightly in October 2013 to 2,211 sales from 2,207 sales the month before. However, as the table below shows, a couple of key things worth noting are that October home sales increased 6.76 percent from October 2012 and, in October 2013, distressed sales (foreclosures, short sales, REO’s) accounted for just a little over 20% of total home sales, down from almost 31% a year ago.
St Louis home prices, as the chart below shows, have steadily risen in the past year from a median price of $130,000 in October 2012 to Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 15th, 2013 St. Louis foreclosure activity shot up in October from the month before for the metro area as a whole with foreclosure actions occurring on 1 of every 923 housing units, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. Even with the increase, October’s foreclosure activity rate for the St Louis metro area was down over 20% from a year ago. Foreclosure activity varied widely across the St Louis metro area with St Louis county seeing a 77% month over month increase and St. Charles and Franklin county both seeing declines in month over month as well as year over year rates.
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By Dennis Norman, on October 24th, 2013 Cash Home Buyers in St Louis were responsible for 50 percent of the home sales in September 2013 in the St Louis Metro area, according to a new report just released today by RealtyTrac. The report showed that state-wide, cash buyers accounted for 48 percent of home sales in Missouri during the month. As the table below shows (a St Louis Real Estate News Exclusive), in the city of St Louis 69 percent of the home sales in September were cash sales.
Cash sales are often associated with investors and, as the table shows, there is no lack of investor Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 21st, 2013 The foreclosure rate in St Louis fell to 1.04 percent for the month of August, a decline of 33.5 percent from a year ago when the St Louis foreclosure rate was 1.55 percent, according to a report just released by CoreLogic. The national foreclosure rate for August at 2.36 percent was over twice as high as the St Louis rate. Other good news for the St Louis real estate market contained in the report was that the St Louis mortgage delinquency rate (90 days or more late) was 3.78 percent, a decrease of 16.6 percent from a year ago when Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 17th, 2013 House flipping in St Louis is on the rise according to the 3rd quarter house flipping report just released this morning by RealtyTrac, the foreclosure tracking gurus. What is “house flipping”? Well, back when I entered the real estate business (1979) and began buying and selling homes, a “flip” was referred to as a house we sold and would close the our purchase, as well as our resale, on the same day. Today, “flipping” is applied to a home that is bought and then resold within a short period, for the purposes of the RealtyTrac report, 6 months.
The RealtyTrac Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 10th, 2013
St Louis foreclosure activity during the 3rd quarter of this year was down 35.70 percent from a year ago, according to a report just released this morning from RealtyTrac. There was foreclosure activity of some kind (notice of trustee sale published, foreclosure auction or new REO property) on 3,256 properties in the St Louis metro area during 3rd quarter of this year. This works out to foreclosure activity on one of every 382 properties in the St Louis metro area. St Louis’ foreclosure activity rate ranks 98th of the large metro areas (200,000+ population) in the U.S.
Nationally, foreclosure Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 3rd, 2013
Agency relationships between a buyer or seller of a home and the real estate agent are probably one of the most confusing aspects of the real estate transaction for consumers and for many real estate agents as well for that matter. Dual agency takes the confusion to a whole new level though for the parties involved as the issue gets quite complex. At the very basic level, dual agency exists when the same real estate agent represents both the buyer and seller in the same real estate transaction (a bad idea in my humble opinion). At a more complicated Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 27th, 2013 Daniela Spiridon, a 42 year-old woman from St. Charles, pled guilty yesterday to six felony counts of wire fraud related to a scheme she operated out of an office in Chesterfield, according to a report from the FBI. According to the indictment Spiridon was charged under, she operated her business out of an office at 18118a Chesterfield Airport Road, in Chesterfield, MO under several business names, including A&AD Investments, LLC; CDRS ESC Investments, a.k.a. CDRS ESC and CDRS LLC.
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By Dennis Norman, on September 20th, 2013
St. Charles county is a “hidden gem” for real estate investors wishing to buy rental property, according to RealtyTrac’s newly published “List of Top 25 Hidden Gem Single Family Rental Markets“. St. Charles County was the only Missouri county that made the list and it came in at 21 on the list with a gross yield on rental property of 9.4 percent. The gross yield is determined by taking the annual median rent for a county and divide it by the median price of home in that county. In the case of St Charles county, the median Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 17th, 2013
The housing market continues to show signs of recovery, today with the report by S&P/Experian showing that their credit default index for first mortgages fell by 12 percent in the past year and by over 20 percent (20.8%) for second mortgages during the same period. While this may not be that exciting of a topic or seem like such a big deal to some, given the fact that mortgage delinquencies are a leading indicator of foreclosures and, over the past few years, foreclosures have pommelled some neighborhoods all but destroying home values, this is really huge from a big Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 14th, 2013
There were 59,709 St Louis homeowners with negative equity in the 2nd quarter of 2013, a 33 percent decline from the first quarter of this year when there were 89,690, according to a report released by CoreLogic. During the 2nd quarter just over 1 in 10 (10.6%) of all St Louis homeowners with a mortgage owed more on their home then the current value thereby putting them underwater, or in a negative equity position. The quarter before, about one in 6 (16%) St Louis homeowners with a mortgage were underwater.
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By Dennis Norman, on September 13th, 2013
There were 1,198 St Louis foreclosure filings in August 2013, down 1.27 percent from 1,213 in July and down over 40 percent (40.58%) from August 2012 when there were 2,016 foreclosure filings, according to RealtyTrac.
Of the 20 largest metro areas in the U.S. covered by the report (see below), St. Louis had the 7th lowest foreclosure rate for August with 1 foreclosure filing for every 1,039 housing units. Boston had the lowest rate with 1 foreclosure for every 2,669 housing units and Miami the highest with 1 foreclosure for every 324 housing units.
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By Dennis Norman, on September 6th, 2013
Nearly one of every 4 St Louis homeowners with a mortgage are seriously underwater, meaning their mortgage exceeds the current value of their home by 25 percent or more, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, the city of St. Louis has the highest percentage of seriously underwater homeowners at 31 percent and Franklin county the lowest at 14 percent. In addition, there are another 104,000 St Louis homeowners in a “near-equity” or “resurfacing equity” position, meaning their loan equals 90 to 110 percent of the current value of their home. As long Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 15th, 2013
The number of St Louis homeowners with a foreclosure filing in July was 1,183 homeowners, a decline of 1.09 percent from June and a whopping decline of 36.4 percent from a year ago when 1,860 properties had a foreclosure filing, according to a report just released this morning by RealtyTrac. This works out to one in every 1,052 St Louis properties receiving a foreclosure filing, slightly lower than the national rate of one in every 1,001 properties and well below the 1 in every 250 rate in Miami, the metro area with the highest foreclosure rate in the U.S. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 26th, 2013
The truth on the Mortgage Interest Deduction
Currently, lawmakers in Washington D.C., while looking for ways to “close loopholes” and cut spending, are looking hard at something once considered “untouchable”, the mortgage interest deduction (MID). While there is probably little chance of totally eliminating the ability for homeowners to deduct the mortgage interest they paid on their homes, there is a possibility the deduction could be altered significantly or capped, and, perhaps, even phased out over time.
Like most current events, there are stories out there with varying degrees of accuracy about the benefit of the mortgage interest deduction Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 25th, 2013
St Louis distressed home sales have fallen substantially in the past year with distressed home sales in June making up less than 1 in 5 home sales (18.3 percent) for the 5 county core area of the St Louis MO market (St Louis City and County, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin Counties), according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS. REO sales (bank and government-owned properties) accounted for just 15.8 percent of St Louis home sales in June (5 county core), down from 22.6 percent in June 2012. Short sales (where sellers sell for less than they owe) accounted Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 23rd, 2013
The St Louis foreclosure rate fell in May to 1.16 percent, down 33 percent from a year ago when the St Louis foreclosure rate was 1.75 percent, according to newly released data from Corelogic. More good news in the data is the fact that the St Louis mortgage delinquency rate declined in May as well, falling to 3.88 percent of all mortgage loans, down 17 percent from a year ago when the St Louis mortgage delinquency rate was 4.7 percent.
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For Advice on How to Buy St Louis Foreclosures From A 2000+ Home Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 10th, 2013 Foreclosures and Shadow Inventory are each down double digits from a year ago as the market continues to improve. In May there were 52,000 foreclosures completed in the U.S., a decline of 27 percent from 71,000 completed foreclosures a year ago, according to a new report from CoreLogic. The shadow inventory (foreclosed homes that are bank owned but not listed for sale) l falling below one million homes in April, a decline of 34 percent from it’s peak in 2010, when it reached 3 million homes.
Mortgage delinquencies are improving as well with less than 2.3 million mortgages (5.6 percent Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 8th, 2013 The number homeowners in a negative equity position (owing more on their mortgage than the current value of their home) during the first quarter of this year fell to just 7.3 million homeowners in the U.S. or less than 15 percent of all homeowners with a mortgage, according to the most recent data from Lenders Processing Services (LPS). This represents a decline of almost 50 percent in the number of negative equity homeowners from a year ago. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 25th, 2013
St Louis Foreclosures fell in April to 1.2 percent of all St Louis homes with a mortgage, a decline of 33 percent from a year ago when the rate was 1.78 percent and is now at the lowest rate in well over 3 years, according to a report just released by CoreLogic. This puts St Louis foreclosures less than half the national rate for April of 2.65 percent.
In addition, the report reveals that St Louis mortgage delinquencies are also down significantly for April 2013 which 3.96 percent of St Louis mortgage being 90 days or more delinquent, a Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 13th, 2013 If you want to buy a St Louis foreclosure, you will have to be prepared to move quick, and pay up to be successful! Over the past 60 days, there were 929 new foreclosure listings (bank and government owned homes) in the St Louis core market area (St Louis City & County, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin Counties). These new St Louis foreclosures for sale have an average listing price of $84,467 and almost 50 percent of them are already sold (48%), selling in a median time of 11 days and for an average of 106 percent of the list Continue Reading →
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