Take President Reagan's advice....

Take President Reagan's advice.  Take the time to think about where you are now, where you want to be and what you will do to get there.
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The number of new home permits in metro Atlanta is at the highest level in five years as the homebuilding industry shows signs of life after being flattened by the recession.  Five metro counties that are key to the region’s housing market—Gwinnett, Fulton, Cherokee, Forsyth and Cobb—logged sharp gains for the 12 months ended in March, according to an Atlanta Journal–Constitution analysis of data from the State of the Cities Data Systems. 
Gwinnett led with a 93 percent gain from the same period a year earlier, while Cherokee had a 78 percent rise in permits.  Sonja Bullard in Angel Oak Weekly
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• Approximately 80% of a child's intelligence is acquired from the mother.

• People who daydream often tend to be better at solving complex problems.

• Everything a user says to Siri on an iPhone 4S, is sent directly to Apple and recorded.

• Children laugh about 400 times a day, while adults laugh on average only 15 times a day -- Eric Rothberg with Fidelity Bank

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We need to get more housing inventory on the market.  So agents, get out there and find it!

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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
Definition of a Baby Boomer- someone born between 1946 and 1964.  They are now 20% of all Americans.  Freddie Mac will now allow income from 401k, IRA's and other retirement accounts to qualify them for their loans.  So, will lenders need to talk into account mortality rates when looking at the ability to pay for Safe Harbor and QM?

New home sale prices are up 15% year over year as an average across the US.
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Just heard today on the radio:  Atlanta housing prices are up 19% year over year for the month of May.
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"No law that is  made contrary to the constitution is valid."  James Madison  Federalist Papers #78 paragraph 10.
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Quote of the week from Commercial Lending:  No business opportunity is ever lost.  If you fumble it, your competitor will find it."
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Jill Pierce is Team Leader with RealEstateAuctions.com

 

 

Cowboys are the best clients

Nat'l Real Estate Post:
Thirty day late payments are down 25% from a year ago. This shows strength in our economy. The states with the lowest rates of delinquency are Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, S. Dakota and N. Dakota. In other words, cowboys are the best clients.
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According to Redfin, Atlanta has 6.9 months supply of homes and is a buyer's market still. -- Rachael Musiker
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Home Depot's latest earning's report is up 18%. -- The Ticker
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The Georgia Ports Authority says April had the highest tonnage volume on record.  (Looks like we are still increasing U.S. imports which is good for the real estate business as well).  WT100
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According to the Mortgage Bankers Association “Immigrant Contributions to Housing Demand” report, due to “a steady upswing” over the past three decades the number of foreign-born homeowners in the United States has increased from 800,000 new immigrant homeowners during 1980-1990, to 2.1 million in 1990-2000, reaching 2.4 million in 2000-2010.
Between 2010 and 2020 the MBA projects the number will increase by another 400,000 to 2.8 million.
Residential Finance Corp. is offering the “Foreign National Loan Program” designed to meet the special needs of foreign-born buyers.
Earlier this year Wells Fargo started catering to the growing presence of Korean middle-market companies in the U.S. with a new commercial banking unit lead by an experienced Korean-American banker who speaks the language.-- Amilda Dymi at Origination News
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Re-fi applications dropped as interest rates rose to 3.78. -- 2013 Thompson/Reuters
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The number of U.S. foreclosures dropped almost 25% in the last year says Lender Processing Services. -- kpanchuck@housingwire.com
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"April marks the sixth straight month of annual home value appreciation of 5% or above, the longest such streak since the height of the bubble in 2006. In the short-term, this has been welcome news for homeowners. But in the long-term, this cannot be sustained, and consumers entering the market today should not expect this kind of appreciation to last," said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries. --  The Ticker at Housingwire
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Foreclosures and short sales were 33.5% of the home purchase market in April this year as compared to 43.6% a year ago. -- The Ticker
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AGENTS TAKE NOTE.  Amy Tierce wants you to know:
Appraisals, home improvements and permits:
If recent work has been done on a home, appraisers are expected to prove that the work has been properly permitted. For example, if the appraiser notes that a bath has been added and does not determine if proper permits were issued, the underwriter will request documentation to determine that the bathroom was installed legally (with proper permits).
Be sure to ask your selling clients if they got permits prior to any recent work (say within the past five years to be safe). If they didn’t get permits you may want to try to get an inspector from the city or town prior to listing the property.
Just last week we had a situation where a bathroom was added in the basement of a home that now has to be removed prior to closing because the owners did not have the proper permits. Needless to say this situation caused stress and frustration for both the buyer and the seller which could have been avoided.
Commitment dates and extended closings:
Mortgage commitment letters have expiration dates. This can create some concerns when a closing is months later than the mortgage commitment date. Legally the following documents expire after 90 days and must be updated:

• Income–pay stubs
• Assets–Checking, Savings, Investment, Retirement
• Credit–must be re-pulled after 90 days but should not be re-pulled early
• Appraisal–good for 120 days before it has to be re-done.

The timing on obtaining these documents can create some issues. For example, investment or retirement accounts may only send out statements quarterly, or borrowers who are paid monthly may have to wait 30 days for their next pay stub to provide the documentation required to update the commitment letter and extend the expiration date.
All loan approvals are at risk if the borrower ruins their credit, loses or quits their job or if they spend all their down payment money, whether the commitment is issued three weeks prior to the closing or three months! It is important to work closely with your lender and your buyer so that you fully understand what needs to be done to update the mortgage commitment.
Conversely, we have buyers with extended closing dates who are required to make application right away. This is fine as long as there is no requirement to order the appraisal since the buyer would be required to pay for a second appraisal if the first one has expired.
As always, if you have questions, thoughts or concerns about the timing of a transaction, give us a call and we will walk through the scenario with you to come up with a solution that will work for everyone.
Pre-Approval Rush:
It is imperative that you get your buyers to obtain a pre-approval before you start showing them real estate. This Monday I had four sets of buyers insisting on getting pre-approved the same day in order to make an offer on a property seen over the weekend. Speed can lead to mistakes in the pre-approval process. We may simply not have enough time to put together the right package for a complicated borrower but able buyer, or we may not be able to educate them so that they are comfortable with the process especially when faced with a competitive situation.
It is better for your buyers, sellers and for you to insist that your buyers are thoroughly and thoughtfully pre-approved in advance (which should include a review of pay stubs, W-2, bank statements, credit report, tax returns) so that they are fully prepared and ready to step up and make a rock solid offer with excitement and enthusiasm and with no regrets.- Amy Tierce in Origination News.
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Things which will slow the housing recovery- Few new house starts, slow movement of foreclosures into the market and buyers' trouble getting financing. -- Jeff Cox at NBCNews.
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
"Sometimes the best move is the one you don't make."  There is still talk of raising the required down payment to 20% which will remove half of the current qualified buyers from the buying pool.  This is what Qualified Mortgage straight jacket will do to the housing market.
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Housing recovery and low income buyers

Check out Sokanu.com to see if you are in the best career for you.  Look for your passion.
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
Talk about the qualified mortgage is to raise the down payment to the point policy makers would feel comfortable about the future of the mortgage market and to avoid another market meltdown (20%). The problem with a 20% down payment is that it would eliminate half of the possible buyers which would decimate the housing market.

However, a study of Special Programs for Low Income Buyers from 1998-2012 showed 5.5% ended in foreclosures, but the subprime foreclosure rate was 25%. Most of the low income mortgages were full doc meaning the lenders made sure they could prove the borrowers could make the payments. The subprime mortgages just made sure the borrowers were breathing no matter what the down payments. The best preforming loans were VA loans which require $0 down payment. If you loose your job and have insufficient income to pay the mortgage, it doesn't matter what was the down payment.

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Housing may be rebounding, but builders, remodelers and handymen are experiencing sticker shock every time they go to buy supplies.  Wonder how long the rebound will last at this rate?
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Coach Wooden says, "Cooperation is working with others for the benefit of all.  It's NOT sacrificing for someone else's benefit.  If what you are doing doesn't help everyone involved, then it's something other than cooperation".
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Sonja Bullard with Angel Oak Funding:  Atlanta home prices are up 4.1% year over year.  The area's average home price in February was $117,500.
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The Five Year Rule for Buying a House:  Be sure you will be in the same location for at least five years or you will probably take a financial hit.
1.  Closing costs every time you buy a house can be in the thousands of dollars.
2.  Usually, it isn't until you are about five years into paying down a mortgage that you've made enough progress on the principle to make it a better deal than paying rent each month.
3.  However, if you are able to make extra payments on the mortgage, you will be able to sell and come out ahead sooner than five years. -- Moneyning.com
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70% of people can't visualize their furniture in a new house even when they have visited that house.  75% of people won't buy or rent a place they can't visualize themselves in.  Therefore, Floorplanner has purchased MyDeco3D to enable "floor plans to be populated by virtual, highly accurate versions of real-world products and furnishings". --The Ticker
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The most courteous states (saying please and thank you) are SC, NC, MD, LA, GA in that order.  The most cussing states are OH, MD, NJ, LA, IL.  The longer a call is (over 10 minutes) and if the call is in the morning, the more likely the cussing. - marchex.com
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The housing sector may finally become a direct and meaningful contributor to U.S. economic growth in 2013 and beyond, according to NewOak CEO and Co-Founder Ron D’Vari.
D’Vari expects the sector to provide an estimated 0.5% boost to gross domestic product this year by already observed trends in new and existing home sales as well as permits. -- mhopkins@housingwire.com
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are refi-ing loans which are 90-270 days late. Anything under or over that- no refi. They are required by law to send you a no doc/modification refi. Once you refi, pay the lower mortgage on time for three months and you are good to go. Yes, Fannie and Freddie are actively pursuing a policy to encourage people to quit making their payments. You don't need to do a regular refi or pay closing costs. (This is nutty especially for the rest of the tax payers, but it is a window of opportunity for many home owners.)
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We need more builders to build.

“Phoenix, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Atlanta were the four cities with the highest year-over-year price increases,” David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Atlanta metro are home prices were up 16.5% year over year as of February 2013.
Sonja Bullard with Angle Oak Funding.
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In Chapter 4 of The Compassionate Samurai, Brian Klemmer tells us to focus.  All the assets we need to focus squarely on, the things that make us most successful are all around us.  We're just not concentrating them in the right direction.  Use the phrase, "How can I" to focus ourselves and our assets in the right  directions. Step back and look at the assets we already have and ask, "How can I use this asset or that asset in a more focused direction to get the most energy?"
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To entice (private) investors, Ed DeMarco, current acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, proposed two broad approaches designed to replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
"In each approach, private investors would be compensated for pricing and bearing mortgage credit risk ahead of a government guarantee, if such a guarantee exists at all," DeMarco said Thursday.-- cmlynski@housingwire.com
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
If you buy a house which shares a well with other homes, you need a Proportional Responsibility agreement signed by all the home owners who share the well.  If you don't get the agreement, you won't get the financing on that house.
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Buyers using mortgages are up 12% from a year ago.  Until recently, cash buyers were the dominated the market, read investors.-- The Ticker
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Home owners insurance does not cover mold damage or remediation or earthquake damage.  However, it may cover items stolen from your car.
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
In Sunnyvale, CA there is a lottery for the chance to put in an offer for a 128 unit development (townhouses?).  This to to keep bidders from pitching tents on the front lawn to have a chance to bid. 
 The Housing Market Index is at 44 for the month of May.  An index of 50 means more builders have confidence in the market than not.  44 means we are almost there.  More buyers are needing more homes and the inventory is dropping.
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Rick Sharga, the executive vice president of Carrington Mortgage Holdings, said the end of the foreclosure crisis is in sight.

"It’s not over yet. There are probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 and a half to 3 million seriously delinquent loans or loans that are already in foreclosure and we’ll need to work through that pipeline of troubled loans before we can really officially declare the foreclosure crisis over."
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The median housing costs of working renters rose nearly six percent between 2008 and 2011 while their median incomes fell more than three percent. Working owners experienced a decrease in median housing costs over the three-year period, but the lower costs were accompanied by an even larger decline in their median incomes, so affordability did not improve, the study found. -- editor at Real Estate Economy Watch
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Policy makers agree we need private lending.  While Federal Home Lending banks will never disappear, they need to take a back seat in the lending market.

"To establish a liquid non-government guaranteed market there would seem to be a need to have greater homogeneity in borrower characteristics. For borrower characteristics that do not fit neatly into the secondary market, we need to find a way to get insured depository institutions back into the business of funding mortgages," DeMarco said.
A solution is to establish some type of cooperative to meet the needs of these institutions, which is already established in the FHLBanks. -- cmlynski@housingwire.com
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First time home buyers, those of average age of 31, will give up many things to get into the neighborhood of choice.  They also will give up luxury items and entertainment to save for the first home.  65% of first time home buyers are open to considering foreclosures, more so than repeat buyers. -- cmlynski@housingwire.com
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Creative real estate agents and real estate not for sale.

Melinda Fulmer of MSN Real Estate:
Just because you can't find something you want on the market doesn't mean it isn't for sale. Follow this link for some tips. These agents are creative.
http://realestate.msn.com/not-for-sale-not-necessarily-a-problem
Okay everybody.  Let's see you match this!
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In October of 2009, pursuant to SB 94, it became illegal for any person, including lawyers, real estate licensees, corporations, companies, partnerships, or any other licensed or unlicensed person or party, to demand, charge, or collect any advance, up-front, or retainer fee, or any other type of prepayment compensation for loan modification work or services, or any other form of mortgage loan forbearance, involving 1 to 4 residential units. The provisions of Senate Bill 94 were due to sunset on Jan. 1, 2013.

However, with the recent signing of AB 1950, the sunset provisions of Senate Bill 94 will be repealed, making the ban on the collection of advance fees for loan modification and forbearance services permanent.

http://ethics.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/9/documents/SB94FAQ_Revised_2011_%20PAW.pdf
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Fannie Mae's publication Housing Insights says,"If housing starts keep up with expectations and return to normal levels in 2016, it is predicted that residential construction employment will rise to nearly 2.5 million jobs."  However, the pace of growth will not be quick enough to bring back all home building jobs lost during the housing bust. In 2016, the number of residential construction jobs is expected to remain nearly 1 million jobs below peaks established during the housing boom. --- mhopkins@housingwire.com
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The impact of techonology on office space:

Workers are more interested in collaborative space and the flexibility to move their computers to the areas that best support their work that day, then fixed offices or cubicles. Collaborative meeting spaces, not individual offices, have become more prevalent. All of these trends have led to dramatic reductions in dedicated space per office worker from about 225 sq. ft. in 2010 to 176 sq. ft. in 2012, according to CoreNet Global.-- David J. Lynn in National Real Estate Investor

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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
Allan S. Blinder wants the Fed to charge negative rates.  This means that the overnight rates when the banks park their money with the Fed would take money from the banks instead of increasing the money the bank put with the Fed.  This is the Fed's way of forcing the banks to lend to the public instead of holding on just to hold on.  This isn't necessarily a good thing.  It would encourage individuals to keep cash out of banks, creating other problems like security.  The Federal Reserve board believes that specialty banks would pop up just for the purpose of parking money out of the Fed Reserve.  Also, tax payers might make massive payments to the IRS just to keep the money away from the Fed.  Then there is the possibility of getting a certified check from your bank and stuffing it in your sock drawer and hoping someone else doesn't find and cash it.
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
New Zillow scam: Fake rental put on Zillow with mostly true information on the address, email and phone number.  The key to watch for is wiring money to England before getting the keys to the property
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The Federal Reserve polled a little under 100 banks and found 32 of respondents are less likely to approve a borrower with a FICO score of 620 and a down payment of 10%.  If you throw in a 20% down payment and a 680 FICO, only 8 banks said they're less likely to approve the borrower, while 16 are now more likely.
Meanwhile, the subprime market is still around, but lenders tend to avoid it with tighter FICO requirements and more regulations stifling interest.  Brenda Swanson for Housingwire
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
You need to watch this one!  http://thenationalrealestatepost.com/category/videos/ May 9, 2013
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
The Problem Loan Rate Figure (60+ days late) is below 1% for the first time since 2007!
The highest was 2.89% in 2009.  The higher the LTV rate the higher the chance of being late.
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Wallow in the mire of your own dissatisfaction, if you choose. But until you realize that you are in control of your own life, and are the only one to decide your fate, then you will continue to be dissatisfied. If this be your chosen fate, then you might as well discontinue your complaining about life and learn to live with it.

Placing value on your life is accepting responsibility and accountability for it - if not you, then who do you suppose?  Ah'Nay Satori
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Atlanta-based Porsche Cars North America released April numbers showing a 17.3% increase in car shipments over April 2012, and a 29.1% increase for the first four months of 2013 over the previous year.  Todd Rehm
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Freddie Mac posted first-quarter net income of $4.6 billion Wednesday morning, up slightly from $4.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012 and the second largest profit in company history. 
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We're hearing at the MBA's secondary market conference that with many housing finance indicators and forecasts suggesting a downshift in refinancing and a modest pickup in purchases on the way, market participants do not want to be caught unprepared.-- Bonnie Sinnock
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With home prices surging in Southern California and across the country, builders are again seeing big opportunities. Housing starts and new-home sales are up. But even as California unemployment remains stuck above 9% — among the highest in the nation — construction companies say they're struggling to find enough qualified workers to keep up with demand for new homes. --

By Alana Semuels and Alejandro Lazo, Los Angeles Times

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Fannie Mae posted quarterly net income of $58.7 billion in the first quarter of 2013, up exponentially from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the company's comprehensive income reached $59.3 billion, compared to $3.1 billion a year earlier.
The GSE credits declining delinquencies along with strong credit results fueled by higher home prices and improved average sales prices for Fannie-Mae owned properties.
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Mark Mandel has created Compstack which uses crowdsourcing to build a database of commercial realestate and lease information.  It started in San Francisco and is expanding to L.A and D.C.
"CompStak is bringing a level of transparency to the market that will be welcomed by the entire real estate community," said Zachary Aarons of Millennium Partners, a CompStak investor. -- cmlynski@housingwire.com
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Jill Pierce is a Team Leader with RealEstateAuctions.com

Small business troubles are next.

Small businesses take loans in increments of 10 yrs or so.  They pay balloon payments at the end of 2 yrs or so.  The banks are now under more regulations than they were even two years ago.  Since the banks are under so much pressure from the gov't, they are only taking the businesses with the very best credit.  This only portends trouble for small businesses which will have trouble finding financing in this difficult economy.-- Emily Maltby
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323550604578412840972991934.html
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Good news again.
Of the 20 cities covered by the indices, all reported year-over-year increases for at least two consecutive months. Phoenix led the growth with a 23% year-over-year return. San Francisco, Las Vegas and Atlanta took the next three slots with an 18.9%, 17.6% and 16.5% year-over-year return, respectively. -- mhopkins@housingwire.com
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The nation’s supply of homes in some stage of foreclosure plummeted 23% in March, declining from 1.5 million housing units a year earlier to 1.1 million distressed properties, CoreLogic ($27.21 0%) said in a new report Tuesday.
"In March, completed foreclosures were down 52% from the peak in 2010, and almost all of the top 100 major metropolitan areas have declining foreclosure rates," said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. -- kpanchuck@housingwire.com
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HUD homes will be filling some of the inventory needs.  Investors can expect these to increase the housing inventory in the near future. 
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
Congressmen Steven Fincher from TN and Benny Thompson from MS have introduced Preserving Access to Manufactured Homes Act.  There are 22 million manufactured homes which under Frank-Dodd would be considered high cost homes and would be difficult to finance.  This bill would allow the homes to be financed like regular homes. 
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Pending home sales rose more than expected in March following a decline in February. Pending home sales gained 1.5% last month, topping the consensus estimate of a 1.0% gain.-- Brad Hoppman in Uncommon Wisdom Daily
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Large banks are selling their foreclosure inventory quickly and then loaning again to buyers with very good credit.  However, smaller banks can't turn around their foreclosures as quickly because of the regulations requiring a certain amount of reserve which would overwhelm the smaller banks' finances.  This may change if the home prices continue to rise.  The trend continues to be in the favor of those with the best credit get the house. 
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
When Obamacare kicks in (H.R. 3590), if you miss a medical payment, it goes on your credit record.  However, Maxine Waters has put forth H.R. 1767 which states that when your medical bill has been paid it should not be marked paid, but be expunged from your record.
The World Trade Center in now the tallest building in our hemisphere.
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The share of Americans who own their homes was 65 percent in the first quarter, down from 65.4 percent a year earlier and the lowest level since the third quarter of 1995, the Census Bureau reported today. The vacancy rate for rented homes dropped to 8.6 percent from 8.8 percent a year earlier, while vacancies for owner-occupied houses fell to 2.1 percent from 2.2 percent.
Diggle said the home ownership rate will continue to fall throughout the year. It peaked at 69.2 percent in June 2004, spurred by easy credit.
“Tight credit, tight for-sale inventory, the challenge of saving for a down payment, and more rental single-family supply all helped lower the home ownership rate,” Jed Kolko, chief economist for Trulia Inc. (TRLA), a San Francisco-based online real estate information service, said today in a statement.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kara Wetzel at kwetzel@bloomberg.net
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
We succeed where we have passion.  So get a blog and blog about your passion.  You will get more ROI when you love what you are doing.  Even if you think it's stupid.  Especially if you think it's stupid. Blogger and Wordpress are free.  Look at this link-  http://thenationalrealestatepost.com/2013/05/01/the-return-of-patrick/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNationalRealEstatePost+%28The+National+Real+Estate+Post%29 for more information.
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Helpful help is helping others to help themselves.

    It is absolutely okay to be self-conscious, also known as self-awareness. Giving is a wonderful expression of love. Knowing when to give and how much to give requires discernment. Therefore, give consciously realizing that you are helping another being grow beyond the need for constant help.
Ah'Nay Satori
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34 states now have rejected Obamacare.
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"Before you have an argument with your boss, take a good look at both sides...his side and the outside."
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The path to your best goals are likely not easy or straightforward but they are achievable. Find a way!...Mat Wachowski
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Herman Cain says we all need someone to love, something to do and something to hope for.  I just found a google circle of photographers who's photographs feed my soul. I think Uncle Herman needs to add that we need to feed our souls. 
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Economists widely agree it will continue with monthly purchases of $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and $45 billion in Treasuries in an all-out effort to spur borrowing, investing and hiring across the United States.

"MBS probably helps the housing market strengthen and maybe it should be the last to be cut," he said.

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/fed-mortgage-bond-buying-easing/2013/05/01/id/502171?s=al&promo_code=1353D-1#ixzz2S3pqyQoE
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5 reasons the housing market is still wobbly:
1.  Good, fairly priced land is scarce.  That's because a lot of land was foreclosed on by banks
2.  House flippers are at risk because the interest rates and gov't regulations could change for the worse at a moment's notice
3.  The recovery depends deeply on gov't aid because Freddie and Fannie are backing virtually all the mortgages.
4.  Foreign buyers driving up prices in Miami, Los Angelas, and New York.
5.  We are having a patchy recovery.  One place could be on fire and 100 miles away...nothing.
Rick Newman at U.S. News
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Throughout the summer ahead, HUD will sell approximately 20,000 distressed loans via the Distressed Asset Stabilization Program in an attempt to increase recoveries to FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund from non-performing FHA-insured loans, while contributing to stabilization and recovery in communities that took the hardest hit during the housing recovery.

The offerings by HUD will be conducted via two auctions. The auction on June 26^th will focus on selling approximately 15,000 notes through 'national pools,' while the one on June 10^th will offer approximately 5,000 notes through Neighborhood Stabilization Outcome pools.

In March 2012, HUD sold more than 16,000 seriously delinquent mortgages. -- mhopkins@housingwire.com
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Sales of newly built, single-family homes rose 1.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 417,000 units in March, according to newly released figures from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau. The inventory of new homes for sale held virtually unchanged at just 151,000 units in March, which amounts to a 4.4-month supply at the current sales pace.
"The latest sales report is right in line with our forecast for continued, modest increases in home prices and sales through 2013," said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "At this point, we are about half-way back to what would be considered a 'normal' level of sales activity as challenges related to supplies of credit, building materials, lots and labor are slowing the pace at which builders can build and sell new homes."  National Mortgage Professional reported by Sonja Bullard with Angel Oak Funding
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The CBO says one scenario could save tax payers $2.8 billion. 
"The most effective approach would be to offer principal forgiveness only to borrowers who were delinquent at the time the program was announced, thereby excluding borrowers who become delinquent in order to receive principal forgiveness," the report states.

"Another approach would be to forgive a portion of the borrower’s loan in exchange for granting the lender a claim on future equity or home appreciation — that approach is known as a 'shared appreciation' modification."

(I personally think that if reducing the principle is only for the GSE's it is fine, but if it is compulsory for the private lenders as well, it is wrong).
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Home ownership in the U.S.  fell to an 18 year low due to a rise in investor-owned rentals and tight credit for buyers.-- Newsmax
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Pocket listings are making a comeback.
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
http://thenationalrealestatepost.com/2013/05/03/fhfa-scandal-in-the-works/#comments
I think  you need to see this for yourself and make a call.
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