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St Louis is a pretty modest place as a whole and is very affordable when it comes to housing costs. This doesn’t mean that you can’t find a multi-million dollar estate if you are in the market for one. The proof is in the slideshow below…the most expensive homes currently on the market in the St Louis area: Yes, I know how to spell “facts” and am aware that “fax” machines have went the way of the dinosaurs and therefore would never advise someone to get one, so what exactly am I talking about in my post title? Actually, my recent discovery of a company that was launched in 2012 called Housefax prompted me to do this post, hence “fax”, however, I also mean to suggest that you should get all the “facts” you can (about the house and market) before you buy a home. First, about Housefax. The company was launched last year and it’s top Continue Reading → Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420 St Louis Mortgage companies were not making many 30-year, fixed-rate jumbo mortgages a year ago, but now many St Louis Mortgage companies are offering fixed jumbos – with very competitive rates, including my firm, Paramount Mortgage. As interest rates start to rise, homeowners are thinking they may not see rates this low in the future and if their ARM is maturing a couple of years from now, they could be in a tough spot. Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420 Since the real estate market crash, millions of homeowners have lost their homes in a foreclosure, been forced to do a short sale to get out from a home they were underwater on or file bankruptcy as a result of financial hardship as a result of the the market crash and general economic downturn. Many of these homeowners have resorted to renting or living with relatives but, as time passes and the financial wounds heal, are now wanting to buy a home again prompting the question, “how long do I have to wait Continue Reading → One-third of Homebuyers Surveyed Are Ill-prepared to Get a Mortgage Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420 According to a survey recently conducted by Zillow, many homebuyers are really not armed with the information they should have before attempting to obtain a mortgage. For example, over one-third (34 percent) of the prospective homebuyers surveyed did not know that a qualified borrower can obtain a home loan today with less than a five percent downpayment. In addition, many homebuyers have misinformation that can prevent them from obtaining the best possible mortgage interest rate. For example, 26 percent of the homebuyers said 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 → 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 → 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? 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 → Nationwide 30-year fixed mortgage rates have climbed to their highest level of the last five weeks according to last week’s rate survey conducted by Bankrate.com. Continue Reading → Shadow Inventory (properties with seriously delinquent mortgages, are in foreclosure or owned by lenders (REO) but not currently listed on the MLS) are a leading indicator of future foreclosure rates so it is good to see that the shadow inventory in the U.S. in October fell to 2.3 million units, a decline of 12.3 percent from a year ago, according to a report from CoreLogic. Continue Reading → Annually, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) conducts a survey of people that bought and/or sold a home in the past year to learn about their shopping habits, what motivated them to do what they did, etc. The NAR “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers” for 2012 was just released and shows, among other things, that 90 percent of home buyers used the internet in finding the home they bought and, of those, about half used a local MLS site and/or agent/company site Continue Reading → Shadow inventory, one of the “culprits” that eats away at the housing market and puts downward pressure on home prices, fell to 2.3 million homes in July 2012, down 10.2 percent from July 2011. This works out to a six month supply of shadow inventor and is roughly the same as things stood back in March 2009. Shadow inventory consists of properties with seriously delinquent mortgages (90+ days delinquent), in the foreclosure process or owned by a lender but not listed for sale in the MLS. In other words, shadow inventory is a glimpse of things to come in terms of distressed sales therefore when we see declines in the numbers like this, it is encouraging and yet another sign that a recovery of the housing market may be on the way. Continue Reading → If you are considering buying your first home you may very well be asking yourself if now is the time, have prices bottomed out and trying to weigh the risks of buying a home versus the rewards. Well, if this is the case, allow me to give you some things to put on the “rewards” side of the equation…. For starters, with mortgage rates at historic lows, your monthly mortgage payment in most cases should be much lower than what you are currently paying in rent! Remember this…”Your Landlord says Hi…& Thanks You for Paying His Mortgage.” Also, we have seen flexibility from sellers on negotiations and most are helping in paying for the buyers closings costs…so that just leaves the down-payment! Continue Reading → If you’ve been waiting to buy a new home thinking that prices will continue to fall as builders get more desperate to sell homes, I think you may have missed the boat, er, house. The bruised new home market continues to show signs that the worst is over including numbers just released showing new home sales in the U.S. in August were up almost 28 percent from a year ago and new home prices were up 17 percent during the same period in the U.S. Here in St. Louis, the St. Louis HBA just reported that building permits for new homes in St. Louis are 15% through August compared with this time last year. Continue Reading → Interest rates have been strong all year, last week however, we saw mortgage backed securities rally each day and with the release of unemployment figures on Friday we are now officially sitting at historic lows! If you have not taken advantage of these rates…what are you waiting for? Maybe you have been told that you don’t have enough equity in your home due to the housing market trending down over the past few years? Continue Reading → 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 → For the second month in a row, home prices have risen higher than a year ago. Median prices in March were an impressive 5.8% higher than March 2011 in the 53 metro areas surveyed for the RE/MAX National Housing Report. February marked the first time in 18 months that home prices rose higher than the previous year, and year-to-year price increases haven’t occurred in two consecutive months since August 2010. Home sales in March were 25.4% higher than February and 1.5% higher than March last year. For the last 9 months, sales have reached a level higher than the same month in the previous year. Following these trends, the spring and summer months should experience increased activity. With falling inventory and many markets witnessing multiple offers with bidding competitions, prices are likely to continue to rise in many areas. Continue Reading → st-louis-realtor-dennis-norman-shadow-inventory-corelogicA report released this morning by CoreLogic shows that the current residential “shadow” inventory as of January 2012 was 1.6 million units, equivalent to a 6-months’ supply, and approximately the same level last reported in October 2011. The shadow inventory is down from a year ago though, when it was at 1.8 million units, or an 8-months’ supply. Currently, the flow of new seriously delinquent (90 days or more) loans into the shadow inventory has been offset by the roughly equal flow of distressed sales (short and real estate owned), according to the report. “Almost half of the shadow inventory is not yet in the foreclosure process,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Shadow inventory also remains concentrated in states impacted by sharp price declines and states with long foreclosure timelines.” Continue Reading → Over the past few years many people that had never faced financial trouble found themselves in foreclosure, doing a short-sale or deed in lieu or filing bankruptcy as a result of the burst of the housing bubble, record unemployment and a weak economy in general. People in this situation, many of whom were homeowners for years, were forced to lived with relatives or friends, or rent until they were able to get through their financial crisis. Now, many of these folks have been able to get back on their feet and want to buy a home again but don’t know when, or if they will be able to get a home loan again due to their past. Continue Reading → Mark Fleming, Ph.D., Chief Economist for CoreLogic, in a presentation yesterday, said the housing market is not out of the woods yet as the potential of a double-dip in our economy increases and as 30 to 40 percent of economists feel there is a chance of another recession. Continue Reading → A report released this morning by CoreLogic shows that the current residential “shadow” inventory as of July 2011 declined slightly from 1.7 million units in April to 1.6 million units, and was down from 1.9 million units a year ago. This current shadow inventory represents a 5 month supply. CoreLogic includes in it’s shadow inventory numbers properties that are either 90+ days delinquent on mortgages, in some stage of foreclosure, or an REO but not presently for sale in an MLS. Would you like to buy one of those foreclosure or REO bargains, but don’t have the cash to have the necessary work done? There’s a new rehab loan program in St. Louis that will help homeowners do just this! This program allows buyers to buy Bank Owned or Foreclosed Property (let’s call them “distressed homes”) and also borrow funds for the rehabilitation of these properties. A report released this morning by CoreLogic shows that the current residential “shadow” inventory as of April 2011 declined to 1.7 million units, down from 1.9 million units a year ago. This current shadow inventory represents a 5 month supply, same as the supply a year ago. The 800 pound gorilla in the room has finally lost some weight! RealtyTrac released their foreclosure report for the first quarter of 2011 which shows foreclosure filings were reported on 681,153 U.S. properties during the quarter, a 15 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a 27 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2010. St. Louis did not see as big of a decrease but still the numbers are looking better! St. Louis had 5,023 properties with foreclosure filings during the first quarter 2011 which works out to one in every 248 St. Louis properties and represents a Continue Reading → A report released this morning by CoreLogic shows that the current residential “shadow” inventory as of January 2011 declined to 1.8 million units, down slightly from 2.0 million units a year ago. This current shadow inventory represents a 9 month supply, same as the suply a year ago. Today, CoreLogic released its “U.S. Housing and Mortgage Trends Report” which stated “their research indicates that the most popular measure of existing home sales is overstated by 15 percent to 20 percent. ” 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 a buyer hasn’t walked through the door in 30 to 45 days, a seller needs to lower their asking price. If a home hasn’t had an offer in six months, it’s time to rethink the sale..” According to a report released by ZipRealty, the number of price-reduced homes on the market increased 3.26 percent in August compared to July. ZipRealty’s monthly review of MLS-listed properties in 26 major markets found that 47 percent of “for sale” homes had at least one price reduction and the average seller actually slashed their list price twice to attract buyers. Ever wonder why one home will sell for more than a similar home in the same neighborhood? You’ll hear all sorts of reasons. One house has this feature or that feature while the other one doesn’t. That’s part of it but certainly not all. |
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