Friday, February 15, 2008
Short Sale Story with Homecomings Financial
Just the facts and nothing else. My clients and I placed an offer on a home that was in the short sale status and listed with a local real estate office. We placed the offer and it was accepted by the seller on 11.14.2007. Of course in a short sale, the lender has to approve everything that happend in regards to the transaction. We waited and waited and waited. We had a closing date coming up on 1.31.2008. The listing agent made numerous calls begining in the middle of January. Not once did Homecomings Financial respond. I even called because my buyers were concerned and tired of waiting. After 22 minutes on hold, somebody finaly answered. They had no answers and were not concerned in the least about helping the sale close. All they could say was " I don't know whats going on, but I will call the listing agent when I do". To top it off, the person I spoke with was rude and had an attitude when he found out I was the buyers agent. Bottom line was, on 02.11.08, we canceled the contract and the agent pulled the listing. Here you have a situation where they had the opportunuty to get one of their bad deals they should have never loaned on off the books , but could careless. Now the home is just parked there, the sign is gone and they are right back where they started. Pathetic is the best way to describle Homecomings Financial, A GMAC company. Does this mean that all their employees are rude and they handle all their transactions like, truth is, I don't know. Maybe this is standard, maybe this is an exception. You be the judge. And by the way, here's the link to ripoffreport.com, by the looks of it, there are about 75 other people who were treated poorly enough to take the time to write. http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/120/ripoff0120390.htm#91853
Why Key Housing Indexes don't Agree
Daily Real Estate News February 15, 2008
Why Don't Key Housing Indexes Agree?
Tracking housing values is harder than tracking stocks, and for many home owners who are watching their biggest investment decline, it is more painful. The two ways to track home prices are the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's index and the gloomier Standard & Poor's Case/Shiller index, analysts say. Both are based on a concept, developed in the 1980s by Karl Case of Wellesley College and Robert Shiller of Yale University, that looks at repeat sales of the same houses.OFHEO's index says home prices rose nationally by 1.8 percent between the third quarters of 2006 and 2007. But the S&P/Case-Shiller national index of home prices was down 4.5 percent in the same period. This discrepancy persists even though both barometers avoid distortions that occur in other widely cited measures, including avoiding fluctuations caused by the sale of high-priced homes.What causes the discrepancy? The bottom line is economists can point to some differences, but overall they don’t know what causes the gap. And as some analysts have pointed out, with any luck, by the time they figure it out, we’ll be out of this slump and won’t care any more.
Why Don't Key Housing Indexes Agree?
Tracking housing values is harder than tracking stocks, and for many home owners who are watching their biggest investment decline, it is more painful. The two ways to track home prices are the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's index and the gloomier Standard & Poor's Case/Shiller index, analysts say. Both are based on a concept, developed in the 1980s by Karl Case of Wellesley College and Robert Shiller of Yale University, that looks at repeat sales of the same houses.OFHEO's index says home prices rose nationally by 1.8 percent between the third quarters of 2006 and 2007. But the S&P/Case-Shiller national index of home prices was down 4.5 percent in the same period. This discrepancy persists even though both barometers avoid distortions that occur in other widely cited measures, including avoiding fluctuations caused by the sale of high-priced homes.What causes the discrepancy? The bottom line is economists can point to some differences, but overall they don’t know what causes the gap. And as some analysts have pointed out, with any luck, by the time they figure it out, we’ll be out of this slump and won’t care any more.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Home Prices UP ? What ?
Home Prices up in Half of Markets
Roughly half of metropolitan areas continued to show rising home prices in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to the latest quarterly survey by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.In the fourth quarter, 73 out of 150 metropolitan statistical areas show increases in median existing single-family home prices from a year earlier, including 11 areas with double-digit annual gains and another 12 metros showing increases of 6 percent or more; 77 had price declines including 16 with double-digit drops.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said disruptions in the mortgage market have played a role. “The continuing crunch in the jumbo loan market that began in August has disproportionately reduced the number of transactions in higher price ranges,” he said. “For buyers who need loans of more than $417,000, mortgage interest rates have been running more than a percentage point higher, and that has been having an obvious impact. Higher ratios of sales for more moderately priced homes are naturally dampening the national median price as well as the data for some of the more expensive markets.
”NAR’s track of metro area single-family home prices is the largest published series of metropolitan home prices, with data available back to 1979. The metro home price series treats all homes equally, without placing higher weights on more expensive homes as in other home price series.
The disruption in higher priced sales continues to drag down the aggregate national median existing single-family home price, which was $206,200 in the fourth quarter, down 5.8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006 when the median price was $219,000. The national median normally is a typical market price, where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.NAR President Richard Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, Calif., said he is encouraged with plans to increase conventional loan limits. “Higher limits for FHA loans, which go into effect March 14, will be a big help to first-time buyers in high-cost markets. Higher limits for conventional loans purchased by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will take a bit longer – when they become available, high-income, creditworthy borrowers in high-cost areas will have access to affordable and safer financing, and that will help unleash pent-up demand,” he said.
“With the market in a state of flux, it’s especially important for consumers to stay abreast of widely varying and changing market conditions. We encourage them to have a traditional long-term view, which means taking the time to thoughtfully research the market. More than ever, the best resource is a REALTOR® who can put local conditions in perspective, provide advice and negotiate the transaction.
”Despite the annual decline in the fourth quarter median home price, the typical seller who purchased their home six years ago still saw a very healthy gain. The median increase in value for sellers who purchased that home in the fourth quarter of 2001 is 31.2 percent, and the median home equity accumulation is $49,000.
In the fourth quarter, the largest single-family home price increase was the Cumberland area of Maryland and West Virginia, where the median price of $116,600 rose 19.0 percent from a year ago. Next was Yakima, Wash., at $170,600, up 18.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006, followed by the Binghamton, N.Y., area, where the fourth quarter median price increased 14.8 percent to $110,000.
“The healthiest housing markets today generally are moderately priced and are experiencing job growth and often population growth, which in turn is supporting strong price growth,” Yun said. “Most of the weakest markets have either experienced both job and population losses, or they are experiencing corrections following a prolonged period of rapid price growth.
”Median fourth-quarter metro area single-family home prices ranged from a very affordable $72,600 in the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman area of Ohio and Pennsylvania, to nearly 12 times that amount in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area of California, where the median price was $845,300. The second most expensive area was San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, at $777,300, followed by the Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine area (Orange County, Calif.), at $657,400. Other affordable markets include the Saginaw-Saginaw Township North area of Michigan, with a fourth-quarter median price of $74,900, and Decatur, Ill., at $75,000.
In the condo sector, metro area condominium and cooperative prices – covering changes in 59 metro areas – show the national median existing-condo price was $221,100 in the fourth quarter, essentially unchanged from $221,200 in the fourth quarter of 2006. Thirty-three metros showed annual increases in the median condo price, including four areas with double-digit gains; 26 areas had price declines including four with double-digit drops.
The strongest condo price increases were in Bismarck, N.D., where the fourth quarter price of $125,000 rose 20.8 percent from a year earlier, followed by the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner area of Louisiana, at $173,300, up 17.8 percent, and Knoxville, Tenn., where the median condo price of $160,800 rose 10.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006.
Metro area median existing-condo prices in the fourth quarter ranged from $109,900 in Wichita, Kan., to $595,700 in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont area. The second most expensive condo market reported was Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, at $363,100, followed by the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos area at $327,000.
Other affordable condo markets include both Indianapolis and Greensboro-High Point, N.C., at $116,700 in the fourth quarter, and the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor area of Ohio at $120,000.
Total state existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.96 million units in the fourth quarter, down 8.5 percent from 5.42 million in the third quarter, and are 20.9 percent below a 6.26 million-unit pace in the fourth quarter of 2006. “With prior reports of national home sales declines, it is not surprising to see 14 states with declines in excess of 20 percent from a year ago,” Yun noted.Source: NAR
Roughly half of metropolitan areas continued to show rising home prices in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to the latest quarterly survey by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.In the fourth quarter, 73 out of 150 metropolitan statistical areas show increases in median existing single-family home prices from a year earlier, including 11 areas with double-digit annual gains and another 12 metros showing increases of 6 percent or more; 77 had price declines including 16 with double-digit drops.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said disruptions in the mortgage market have played a role. “The continuing crunch in the jumbo loan market that began in August has disproportionately reduced the number of transactions in higher price ranges,” he said. “For buyers who need loans of more than $417,000, mortgage interest rates have been running more than a percentage point higher, and that has been having an obvious impact. Higher ratios of sales for more moderately priced homes are naturally dampening the national median price as well as the data for some of the more expensive markets.
”NAR’s track of metro area single-family home prices is the largest published series of metropolitan home prices, with data available back to 1979. The metro home price series treats all homes equally, without placing higher weights on more expensive homes as in other home price series.
The disruption in higher priced sales continues to drag down the aggregate national median existing single-family home price, which was $206,200 in the fourth quarter, down 5.8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006 when the median price was $219,000. The national median normally is a typical market price, where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.NAR President Richard Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, Calif., said he is encouraged with plans to increase conventional loan limits. “Higher limits for FHA loans, which go into effect March 14, will be a big help to first-time buyers in high-cost markets. Higher limits for conventional loans purchased by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will take a bit longer – when they become available, high-income, creditworthy borrowers in high-cost areas will have access to affordable and safer financing, and that will help unleash pent-up demand,” he said.
“With the market in a state of flux, it’s especially important for consumers to stay abreast of widely varying and changing market conditions. We encourage them to have a traditional long-term view, which means taking the time to thoughtfully research the market. More than ever, the best resource is a REALTOR® who can put local conditions in perspective, provide advice and negotiate the transaction.
”Despite the annual decline in the fourth quarter median home price, the typical seller who purchased their home six years ago still saw a very healthy gain. The median increase in value for sellers who purchased that home in the fourth quarter of 2001 is 31.2 percent, and the median home equity accumulation is $49,000.
In the fourth quarter, the largest single-family home price increase was the Cumberland area of Maryland and West Virginia, where the median price of $116,600 rose 19.0 percent from a year ago. Next was Yakima, Wash., at $170,600, up 18.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006, followed by the Binghamton, N.Y., area, where the fourth quarter median price increased 14.8 percent to $110,000.
“The healthiest housing markets today generally are moderately priced and are experiencing job growth and often population growth, which in turn is supporting strong price growth,” Yun said. “Most of the weakest markets have either experienced both job and population losses, or they are experiencing corrections following a prolonged period of rapid price growth.
”Median fourth-quarter metro area single-family home prices ranged from a very affordable $72,600 in the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman area of Ohio and Pennsylvania, to nearly 12 times that amount in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area of California, where the median price was $845,300. The second most expensive area was San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, at $777,300, followed by the Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine area (Orange County, Calif.), at $657,400. Other affordable markets include the Saginaw-Saginaw Township North area of Michigan, with a fourth-quarter median price of $74,900, and Decatur, Ill., at $75,000.
In the condo sector, metro area condominium and cooperative prices – covering changes in 59 metro areas – show the national median existing-condo price was $221,100 in the fourth quarter, essentially unchanged from $221,200 in the fourth quarter of 2006. Thirty-three metros showed annual increases in the median condo price, including four areas with double-digit gains; 26 areas had price declines including four with double-digit drops.
The strongest condo price increases were in Bismarck, N.D., where the fourth quarter price of $125,000 rose 20.8 percent from a year earlier, followed by the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner area of Louisiana, at $173,300, up 17.8 percent, and Knoxville, Tenn., where the median condo price of $160,800 rose 10.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006.
Metro area median existing-condo prices in the fourth quarter ranged from $109,900 in Wichita, Kan., to $595,700 in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont area. The second most expensive condo market reported was Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, at $363,100, followed by the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos area at $327,000.
Other affordable condo markets include both Indianapolis and Greensboro-High Point, N.C., at $116,700 in the fourth quarter, and the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor area of Ohio at $120,000.
Total state existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.96 million units in the fourth quarter, down 8.5 percent from 5.42 million in the third quarter, and are 20.9 percent below a 6.26 million-unit pace in the fourth quarter of 2006. “With prior reports of national home sales declines, it is not surprising to see 14 states with declines in excess of 20 percent from a year ago,” Yun noted.Source: NAR
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Value Adjustments
Daily Real Estate News February 13, 2008
Cities Where Values Have Fallen the Most
While resetting rates are causing some foreclosures, falling home prices are also playing a big part in the real estate malaise.Home owners who owe thousands more on their homes than they are currently worth find themselves unable to refinance and unable to sell at a price that will come close to covering what they owe on the mortgage.However, according to ZipRealty, a real estate tracking firm that aggregates multiple listing service data, the decline may be reaching bottom with inventories starting to decline nationwide. Even in Sacramento and Las Vegas, inventory numbers have started to fall, if only marginally, ZipRealty says.The following are the top 10 cities where prices have fallen the most in the last year, according to ZipRealty.
Sacramento, Calif.: - 18.5 percent
Las Vegas: - 17.2 percent
San Diego: - 17.1 percent
Tampa, Fla.: - 11.7 percent
Los Angeles: - 10.7 percent
Miami: - 10.6 percent
Phoenix: - 9.5 percent
Jacksonville, Fla.: - 8.7 percent
Detroit: - 7.7 percent
Atlanta: - 7.1 percent
Sacramento, Calif.: - 18.5 percent
Las Vegas: - 17.2 percent
San Diego: - 17.1 percent
Tampa, Fla.: - 11.7 percent
Los Angeles: - 10.7 percent
Miami: - 10.6 percent
Phoenix: - 9.5 percent
Jacksonville, Fla.: - 8.7 percent
Detroit: - 7.7 percent
Atlanta: - 7.1 percent
Source: Forbes, Matt Woolsey (02/12/08)
Monday, February 11, 2008
Short Sale Definition
short sale defined
A sale of a house in which the proceeds fall short of what the owner still owes on the mortgage. Many lenders will agree to accept the proceeds of a short sale and forgive the rest of what is owed on the mortgage when the owner cannot make the mortgage payments. By accepting a short sale, the lender can avoid a lengthy and costly foreclosure, and the owner is able to pay off the loan for less than what he owes. See also deed in lieu (or foreclosure).
A sale of a house in which the proceeds fall short of what the owner still owes on the mortgage. Many lenders will agree to accept the proceeds of a short sale and forgive the rest of what is owed on the mortgage when the owner cannot make the mortgage payments. By accepting a short sale, the lender can avoid a lengthy and costly foreclosure, and the owner is able to pay off the loan for less than what he owes. See also deed in lieu (or foreclosure).
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