Foreclosures at 49 month low in December

An annual report of foreclosure activity in the US found the
number of properties subject to default notices, scheduled
auctions or bank repossessions in 2011 dropped 34% from the
previous year, according to a RealtyTrac report released today.
In addition to the overall decline in foreclosures, the report
found that December activity was at the lowest level since August
2007. However, the report cautions 2012 could likely see an
upswing in activity.  For the fifth straight year, Nevada
recorded the most foreclosure activity of any state in the
nation. While 1.45% of housing units nationwide had at least one
foreclosure filing in 2011, the Nevada rate was 6%. That
translates into foreclosure filings for 1 in 16 housing units in
the state.  Despite having the distinction of the country’s
highest foreclosure rate, the situation in Nevada has improved
significantly from years past. Foreclosure activity in 2011 was
down 31% from that of 2010. Default notice filings dropped 70% in
the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter. However, that
decrease may be largely attributed to a change in Nevada state
law that requires an additional affidavit before beginning the
foreclosure process.

Other states with an above-average percentage of homes with at
least one foreclosure filing in 2011 represent almost every
region except New England:
-  Arizona – 4.14%
-  California – 3.19%
-  Georgia – 2.71%
-  Michigan – 2.21%
-  Florida – 2.06%
-  Illinois – 1.95%
-  Colorado – 1.78%
-  Idaho – 1.77%

The latest NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers showed a growing trend among recent buyers.

The latest figures show that 89 percent of buyers purchased their home with the help of a real estate or broker. This is a sharp increase from a decade ago in 2001, when only 69 percent of buyers enlisted the help of an agent or broker.

Why do today’s buyers buyers choose to work with an agent? Let’s look at just a few of the many reasons an agent can be your biggest ally.

First, agents are licensed professionals, which means they had to complete coursework and pass an exam in order to become and agent. They have the education and experience to help you navigate what will be one of the biggest purchases of your life.

They also have access to a wide range of properties and can guide you to those that are the best fit for you, which can save you time and energy. If you are unsure what type of property you’re interest in, an agent can help explain the pros and cons of things such as condo life versus single-family detached living.

Where are the up and coming neighborhoods? Which areas are more walkable or have access to better schools? These are all issues an agent deals with daily.

They can also ease the burden of buying by simplifying the process. They set up showings, drive you to appointments if needed, and help you handle the intricacies of negotiations.

Today’s market also presents challenges that simply weren’t present or didn’t dominate the market a decade ago. Buyers are faced with some great deals, but through some complicated channels, such as short sale or foreclosure. How does one handle these sort of contracts? Your agent or broker will know.

According to the NAR, “More than ever home buyers are relying on real estate agents and brokers to help them with their home purchase regardless of whether the home they are buying is a foreclosure, short sale, or even a FSBO sale because they need a real estate agent to help them through the process.”

Finally, buyers are unsure if now is really a good time to buy. They need to rely on someone with local market knowledge. Is this a good neighbor to invest in? Are prices still dropping in this community? How long do homes take to sell? What is the median selling price? Buyers want the best deal out there.

The 2011 Profile found that more buyers are opting against dual agency, where the agent represents both the buyer and seller. This could signal that today’s buyers are very cautious about getting into the market. While a dual agent isn’t supposed to harbor any bias, buyers now want to be extra sure they are getting the best deal possible. In fact, “60 percent of recent buyers had an oral or written arrangement with the real estate agent or broker so that the buyer’s agent only represented the buyer and not the seller.”

Finding the Positives in Economic and Housing Conditions in 2012

Posted By susanne On January 22, 2012 @ 1:05 pm In Business Development,Business Outlook,Consumer News and Advice,Finance and Economy,Real Estate Information,Real Estate News,Real Estate Trends,Today’s Marketplace,Today’s Top Story – Consumer | No Comments

^[1]While 2011 was clearly a challenging year, there is a lot to be positive about looking ahead. Economically, while buffeted by natural disasters and fiscal policy indecisiveness at home and a European sovereign debt crisis abroad, the U.S. economy was able to stave off economic stagnation in 2011 and is likely to continue to do so in 2012.

Housing statistics and the duration of the housing downturn to date indicate that 2012 may be the year we begin to turn the corner. In the summer of 2011, economic concerns peaked as the economy appeared to be on the brink of stagnation. Since the recession officially ended, this was a nadir for the economy as consumer confidence Data as of November 2011 plummeted, concern about a double-dip recession resurfaced, and fiscal policy indecisiveness reached its zenith. In the second half of the year, and heading into 2012, most major economic statistics are exhibiting an encouraging level of stability and positive, but weak, trends. Though the pace of growth is slow, it is to be expected in an economic recovery caused by a financial crisis.

Households are paying off their debts and at the same time accessing credit more easily. Surprisingly, households also added Home Equity Lines of Credit in the third quarter for the first time since the financial crisis began, which is a positive sign of access to liquidity that softens the impact of income shocks. A quarterly survey by the New York Federal Reserve Bank1 shows that total household debt continues to decline, but at a slowing pace. During 2012, households will need to find their equilibrium between household debt levels and consumption.

Consumer sentiment rebounded strongly in the latter part of 2011, posting a six-month high in December. While still low compared to pre-recession levels, this figure indicates an improving belief in the strength of the economy in 2012.

The labor market seems to be ever so slowly clawing its way toward recovery. In December, jobless claims were at their lowest level since 2008. The unemployment rate is proving stubbornly persistent and gains are often due to declines in the number of people participating in the labor force. The consensus is that unemployment will remain high in 2012 and that it will take a number of years to reduce the level significantly. Nonetheless, there has been consistent private sector job creation in the latter half of 2011. We can expect the persistence of unemployment to be a particularly contentious issue in the 2012 election year.

Housing is an industry with long business cycles. Typical regional housing recessions have taken anywhere from three to five years to find their bottom. The national housing recession has behaved similarly in that it has bounced along a bottom for the past two years. While prices are declining again to new lows, affordability is rising dramatically due to a combination of house price deflation along with rock-bottom mortgage interest rates. Adjusting for inflation, this has been a “lost decade for housing as prices are the same as at the beginning of the millennium.

The time is right in 2012 for prices to begin growing again and housing affordability will put a floor under any further significant declines in 2012. The spring and summer buying season in 2012 will be watched very closely for positive signs of demand.

Most housing statistics basically moved sideways in the latter part of 2011. Builder sentiment is improving ever so slowly, but remains at very low levels. Housing starts are also increasing, driven mostly by multifamily starts. Even single-family housing starts began increasing at the end of 2011. Both single family starts and permits rose at an annualized pace of 15 percent over the six months ending in November 2011. Existing home sales also started to trend upward at the end of 2011, and were 12 percent higher in November 2011 compared to January 2011.

Putting all of these statistics together indicates there is a very long way to go and that the housing market is likely to sustain these trends in 2012. While we cannot say with a high degree of certainty what 2012 has in store for us, indications based on the latter part of 2011 are that both the broad economy and the housing market are moving toward positive growth in 2012. However, some impediments do exist including slower global economic growth, a recession in Europe, and fiscal and political uncertainty in the U.S. Taking these facts and trends together, we are bullish on the prospect of improving economic performance in 2012 from 2011.

For more information, visit www.corelogic.com ^[2].

Investors buying with cash pressure home prices

by KERRI PANCHUK

Monday, January 23rd, 2012, 7:51 am

Investors are gobbling up residential real estate with cash, pushing national home prices lower, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.

The overall proportion of cash buyers in the housing market soared to a record 33.2%, compared to 29.6% a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the investor class relied heavily on cash to buy homes, with 74% of investors using cash to buy homes in December.

Investors represented 22.8% of home purchases in December alone, up slightly from 22.2% a month earlier.

The study says investor bids are bringing prices lower by waiting for other buyers to lose bids through the extensive mortgage approval process. The study says investors are nabbing properties at lower prices when other buyers lose bids during the extensive mortgage approval process or appraisals.

Real estate agents that responded to the survey said investors usually offer 10% to 20% below the listing price up to a price of $250,000.

Write to Kerri Panchuk.

Foreclosures fall to lowest level since 2007   By Les Christie @CNNMoney January 12, 2012 NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Foreclosure filings and repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007 last year. Total filings, including default notices and bank repossessions were down 33% for the year to 2.7 million, according to RealtyTrac, the online marketer of foreclosed properties. One in every 69 homes had at least one foreclosure filing during the year, while 804,000 homes were repossessed. That’s a significant improvement from the peaks reached in 2010 — when 1.05 million homes were repossessed — and the lowest levels seen since 2007. More than 4 million homes have been lost to foreclosure over the past five years. While the declines seem like good news for the housing market, where a flood of foreclosed homes has depressed home prices, much of it is due to processing delays caused by fall-out from the “robo-signing” scandal that broke in late 2010. During the year, banks spent more time making sure paperwork was legal and proper, creating a backlog in the foreclosure pipeline. As a result, the average time it took to process a foreclosure climbed to 348 days during the fourth quarter, up from 305 days a year earlier. “Foreclosures were in full delay mode in 2011, resulting in a dramatic drop in foreclosure activity for the year,” said Brandon Moore, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. However, Moore said there were “strong signs” during the second half of the year that lenders are working through foreclosure backlogs in certain markets. He expects foreclosure activity to rise above 2011′s level but remain below the peak hit in 2010. Low rates offer some help for homeowners Early in 2011, many forecasters were predicting a wave of foreclosures due to resetting adjustable-rate mortgages, but low mortgage rates helped many borrowers refinance into more affordable loans, said Moore. The government helped as well, through efforts like the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), which made refinancing easier for borrowers who owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth. Government foreclosure prevention programs, including HARP and the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), have started about 5.5 million mortgage modifications since April 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “Programs like HAMP and HARP have definitely made a dent in the foreclosure problem,” said Moore “However, they are certainly not living up to their billing of preventing several million foreclosures. In addition, many [HAMP] homeowners fall back into foreclosure later on.” Of course, there were still plenty of factors working against homeowners in 2011, including the continued erosion in home prices. Falling prices rob homeowners of home equity, which they can tap if they need emergency cash. Foreclosure hot spots Hot spots for foreclosures remain mostly in “bubble states,” where speculative investors helped drive up home prices beyond their fundamental values during the mid-2000s housing boom. Nevada, where one out of every 16 households received some kind of default notice during the year, was the worst hit of all, a distinction it has held for the fifth consecutive year. Arizona had the second highest foreclosure rate and California came in third. Florida, which had been running neck-and-neck with the other “Sand States” in past years, fell to seventh, behind Georgia, Utah and Michigan. Among metro areas, Las Vegas suffered from the highest foreclosure rate in 2011. California put seven cities in the top 10, led by Stockton in the second slot. Other cities in the top 10 included Phoenix, which finished sixth, and Reno, Nev. was eighth.     January 16, 2012 at 12:58 PM | Categories: News | URL: http://wp.me/pPoVF-93 Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

Fannie Mae sees 2012 home sales up 3.5% to 4.74 million   by ANDREW SCOGGIN www.housingwire.com Friday, January 13th, 2012 The housing sector will likely take incremental steps forward in 2012, though total originations will fall on fewer refinances, according to economists at Fannie Mae. The second half of the year should outpace the first six months in terms of growth, though fiscal policy and political uncertainty in Washington will likely drive consumer and business activity, the mortgage giant said. Chief Economist Doug Duncan said positive consumer activity and challenges in housing and the global economy will equate to moderate growth for the year. “We’re entering 2012 with decent momentum, especially on the employment side, which is fostering positive household and consumer behavior,” Duncan said in a release. “Unfortunately, we expect this momentum to slow as we move through the first half of the year.” The report released Friday forecast total home sales to increase 3.5% to about 4.74 million in 2012 from 2011 with another 5% gain in 2013 to nearly 5 million. New home sales could jump 10.4% for 2012. The Federal Housing Finance Agency home sales price index, excluding refinances, could dip 1.1% for 2012 from a year before, according to the forecast. Economists predicted the 2011 index would finish 4.6% lower than 2010. Mortgage originations as dollar volume could see a decline as well in 2012, largely on a steep drop in refinances. The Fannie report said total originations will fall to $1.01 trillion in 2012 from a predicted final 2011 tally of $1.36 trillion. Economists expected refinancing to plummet to $540 billion from $894 billion. Purchase mortgages, however, will rise to $471 billion in 2012 from a estimated 2011 total of $464, according to the report. Total single-family outstanding mortgage debt will likely drop 1.3% to $10.14 trillion in 2012. For the U.S. economy as a whole, Fannie researchers predicted real GDP would increase 3.3% in the fourth quarter to finish the year at 1.7% growth. Economists forecast 2.3% GDP growth for 2012 and 2013.    January 16, 2012 at 12:59 PM | Categories: News | URL: http://wp.me/pPoVF-95 Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://blog.title365.com/2012/01/16/fannie-mae-sees-2012-home-sales-up-3-5-to… Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

Home Remodeling Repair & Improve Ideas & Solutions Radio & Podcasts Contact Us Community Presented by: The Welcome Mat Get out your model trains and scrapbooking supplies–January is National Hobby Month! In this week’s issue of the Money Pit e-newsletter, you’ll find tips on how to make room for your hobby in your home and other great ideas for organizing your space. You can do-it-yourself, but you don’t have to do it alone. This Issue Hobby Rooms: Create a Space for Your Favorite Pastime Many of us have dreamed of a space in our homes dedicated to our favorite hobby. Maybe for you it’s a workshop, a sewing room, a writer’s nook or an art studio. Well what are you waiting for? There’s no better time than now to live your dream. And you might be surprised by how easy it is to create a hobby room in the home you already have. read more Closet Organization Closet organization may seem like a scary task, but with the right steps you can have a completely organized place to store your clothes and accessories. The following guidelines will not only make organizing your closet simple, but also to create a stylish storage solution that will keep your closets organized year-round. read more Homework Help for Kids Comes from Home Office Organization If your family’s squad of scholars is distracted and disorganized during evening homework sessions, you can make a few changes to create an organized home office space that will encourage academic success, homework help, and family harmony. A truly smart office space can be created on the cheap with this quick lesson in office organization. read more New Year’s Resolution Contest Winner Congratulations to Kimberly A. from Trinity, TX who won our Resolutions for Your Home contest on Hometalk.com. She’ll get a $250 Home Depot gift card. You can be a winner too! There’s a chance to win a prize each week at hometalk.com. read more Share This Information With A Friend! Simply forward this Email. And invite friends to register to receive this E-newsletter each week. If you would like to unsubscribe from our weekly newsletter, please refer to the unsubscribe directions at the bottom of this newsletter. You are currently subscribed to moneypit_e-newsletter as: dabeisner@yahoo.com To unsubscribe: click here or write to Squeaky Door Productions, Inc., 57 S. Main Street #133, Neptune, New Jersey 07753

FHA says: Flip that house    By Les Christie @CNNMoney January 2, 2012 NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Flippers, the real estate investors who buy homes on the cheap and quickly resell them at a profit, just got a reprieve from the Federal Housing Administration. In an effort to help stabilize housing prices and unload some of the foreclosures that are flooding low-income communities, the mortgage insurer extended a waiver of its anti-flipping regulations through 2012. The waiver, which was initially issued in 2010 and set to expire this month, suspends regulations that prohibit the agency from insuring mortgages used to purchase homes that are bought and resold in less than 90 days. “This extension is intended to accelerate the resale of foreclosed properties in neighborhoods struggling to overcome the possible effects of abandonment and blight,” said Acting Federal Housing Administration Commissioner Carol Galante. Low-income neighborhoods are particularly plagued by foreclosed homes that lower property values and act as magnets for crime and other social ills. Real estate flippers often rehab these damaged homes before reselling them, improving conditions for neighborhoods. The FHA, which does not issue mortgages but insures them, is a primary player when it comes to mortgage lending in low-income communities. Many loans in these communities could not be issued without FHA backing. The ban against flipping was initially put in place to prevent predatory flipping, in which homes are quickly resold at inflated prices to unsuspecting borrowers. In order to qualify for the waiver, certain conditions must be met. The transaction must be “arms length” with no other relationship between seller and buyer. In addition, if the new sale price is 20% or more above the previous selling price, the lender has to document and justify the increase and meet other conditions, such as making sure the home has been inspected. Since the waiver went into effect in February of 2010, the FHA has insured more than 42,000 loans to purchase homes that were being resold within 90 days. These totaled more than $7 billion in mortgage principal. Thanks for flying with WordPress.com