It's been a cold, snowy winter.

The mortgage delinquency rate hit the lowest level in 5 years and dropped below 4% for the first time since 2008.
According to TransUnion’s latest mortgage delinquency report, the rate of borrowers 60 days of more delinquent on their mortgages ended the fourth quarter of 2013 at 3.85%.
 “It’s encouraging to see the mortgage delinquency rate drop for two consecutive years, but at the same time, mortgage delinquencies continue to be twice as high as levels observed prior to the housing bubble,” said Steve Chaouki, head of financial services for TransUnion. -- Brena Swanson in HousingWire
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Since Jan. 18, the CFPB's amendment to Regulation B hasrequired lenders to send loan applicants free copies of "all written property valuations" created to support a mortgage credit application. That includes appraisals, automated valuation models and broker price opinions.
Hence DataQuick is offering alternative data support to lenders trying to comply with the new CFPB requirement. It has updated its online property intelligence portal, PropertyFinder 2G, so users can customize comparable sales data and analysis to accurately assess the property without generating a valuation estimate subject to the notification requirement. -- Amilda Dymi in Origination News
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Johnstown Castle Gardens, Ireland

Shared by Tina En
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New single-family homes recorded a sharp uptick in January, running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 543,000, according to the latest findings from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Builder Applications Survey. 
“It is also worth noting that the significant January increase also followed a particularly slow pace of sales in November and December,” Fratantoni continued.
Meanwhile, the estimated 543,000 unit sales pace for January increased 35% from December’s pace of 402,000 units.
The average loan size of new homes decreased from $300,444 in December to $289,358 in January.  -- Brena Swanson in HousingWire
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Crowdfunding Real Estate, with the SEC's Blessing
Now a New York startup is trying to harness the power of the Internet to raise capital for real estate developments, with less risk and greater transparency for the small-time participants than most crowdfunding platforms.
Investments start at $100. Groundfloor connects independent developers seeking alternative funding outside the traditional banking structure with mass-market investors. Interest rates offered to investors are determined by an algorithm that benefits the earliest who pledge to invest. For example, more than 69 investors are currently set to earn 8.75% interest or more on the inaugural Groundfloor project. "The offered rate decreases incrementally as projects near full funding." -- Amilda Dymi in Origiantion News.
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Landschaftspark Duisburg

Shared by Ralph Leuschner
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"My single-family forecast for 2014 is pretty aggressiv—822,000 starts which is likely 200,000 more than 2013," said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "There are five key points to the turnaround. Consumers are back, pent-up demand is emerging, there is a growing need for new construction, distressed sales are diminishing and builders see it."  -- Shared by Sonja Bullard in Angle Oak Weekly.
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The debate continues over how much the weather is really to blame for the poor December and January economic numbers – ranging from job creation and retail sales to home sales and home starts – and now our friends at Trulia (TRLA) have weighed in on the subject......
Finally, housing activity tends to bounce partway back the month after bad weather (unless that next month is unusually bad, too). Rain and cold don’t last forever, and neither do their effects on housing. Therefore, bad winter weather will only delay some construction and sales activity, rather than make it disappear. Severe winter weather may cause housing activity to wobble, but cold, rain, and snow won’t hobble the housing recovery. -- Trey Garrison in HousingWire
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Lunenburg, Novia Scotia

Shared by Nancy Dempsey
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Mortgage rates now between 4.3% and 4.75% and trickling up. -- Geoff Smith
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:

Last week we reported that high level investment execs have been killing themselves. Two of those guys were from Chase and now yet another Chase banker has decided it would be better to jump off a building in Hong Kong rather than go to work the next day. That’s three from Chase in the past few weeks. One jumped off a cliff and the other two jumped off of buildings.
And what if you bank there, or have a mortgage there, does it make you concerned that this most unusual activity is happening within the walls of one of your financial institutions? Is there something coming your way that you should be concerned about? Well, let us know what you think about all this down below and to learn more watch the video above.
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Castle in Trevejo, Spain

Shared by Xalima Miriel
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Auction.com and the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals are joining forces to advance sustainable Hispanic homeownership.
NAHREP promotes Hispanic homeownership by educating and empowering the real estate professionals who serve Hispanic buyers and sellers. The partnership will help real estate professionals and their clients take advantage of opportunities to buy and sell through Auction.com. -- Trey Garrison in HousingWire
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The oldest Slovenian castle, Bled castle is a medieval castle perched on a rock and rises 130 meters over the glacial Lake Bled in Bled, Slovenia. The castle dates back to the 11th century with most of the present structure coming from the 16th century. The castle forms a dramatic backdrop to the romantic island and the beautiful area set against the Julian Alps makes it a popular tourist destination.

Shared by Yen Baet
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Fannie Mae reports $84.8 billion income for 2013 and $6.6 billion for 4Q13

Payments to Treasury finally exceed bailout amount

Fannie Mae reported annual net income for 2013 of $84 billion, which includes the release of the company’s valuation allowance against its deferred tax assets, and annual pretax income for 2013 of $38.6 billion.

Fannie Mae reported net income of $6.5 billion for the fourth quarter of 2013, the company’s eighth consecutive quarterly profit, and pretax income of $8.3 billion for the fourth quarter of 2013.

Fannie Mae will pay Treasury $7.2 billion in dividends in March 2014.

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Shared by Uros Kralj
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Housing starts dropped in January, but what would you expect with all that snow on the ground?  I don't know of any contractors who would even try.  Just wait until the weather warms up and housing starts will explode.  JPierce
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:  Zig Ziglar says that 84% of all salespeople have some sort of call reluctance. We think it’s more, don’t you?
http://thenationalrealestatepost.com/enough-with-the-call-reluctance-already/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNationalRealEstatePost+%28The+National+Real+Estate+Post%29
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Bandra-Worli Sea Link, shared by Rajinder Jindal

The Target hacking scandle and the effect on home loans.

"Energy and Persistence conquer all things." Benjamin Franklin.
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:

ARM's (adjustable rate mortgages) are beginning to catch up with FRM's (fixed rate mortgages) again.  This is not a bad thing.  Check out the link, http://thenationalrealestatepost.com/arms-preferred-over-fixed-with-consumers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNationalRealEstatePost+%28The+National+Real+Estate+Post%29
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From the Bureau of Economic Analysis:
(DPI) decreased $3.8 billion, or less than 0.1 percent, in December according to the Bureau of Economic
Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $44.1 billion, or 0.4 percent. In November, personal income increased $29.8 billion, or 0.2 percent, DPI increased $14.4 billion, or 0.1 percent, and PCE increased $74.8 billion, or 0.6 percent, based on revised estimates. Real disposable personal income decreased 0.2 percent in December, in contrast to an increase of 0.1 percent in November. Real PCE increased 0.2 percent in December, compared with an increase of
0.6 percent in November.--------------------------------------------

Shared by Xalima Miriel, Sortehla Spain, a city from the middle ages.

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With Bloomberg breaking news Tuesday night that American Homes 4 Rent, the nation’s second-largest single-family landlord, has tapped Goldman Sachs (GS) to arrange a bond backed by house rental payments, it looks like REO-to-rental as an asset class is here to stay a while.  -- Trey Garrison in HousingWire
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The Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes reveal the Federal Reserve is taking its taper of asset purchases a bit further, reducing monthly acquisitions of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities by $10 billion total.
Starting in February, it will scale back agency MBS purchases by another $5 billion, acquiring the assets at a pace of $30 billion per month rather than $35 billion. -- Brena Swanson in HousingWire
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Shared by Guy Kawasaki, Ancient ghost city of Ani
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2014/01/the-ancient-ghost-city-of-ani/100668/

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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
Master Bedroom? Safe Neighborhood? Bachelor Pad? Are you offended? Probably not, but at the drop of a hat someone else could be and if your real estate advertisement offends someone, it could mean a lawsuit. There’s certain phrases that are obviously offensive, but more and more real estate agents and builders are starting to shy away from virtually “anything” that can be perceived as offensive.
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CFPB director on the defensive:
Rep. Stevan Pearce, R-N.M., said the CFPB's rules on a "qualified mortgage" and restrictions on high-cost loans would largely exclude manufactured housing—and then accused Cordray of purposely trying to oppress lower-income families.
"Fifty percent of the homes in New Mexico are trailer houses. And now then, because of that [rule], almost all of our lenders are out of that market," Pearce said. "You're going to choke down the rural small areas, the areas that don't fit your definition of what's really right for people to live in. It is a war on the poor that is being conducted by you and this administration. It is one where the low-income suffer the most, they don't have other options." -- Rachael Witkowski in HousingWire.----------------------------
Shared by Uros Kralj, shot by Emanuele Serraino, Trajan's Market, Rome Italy

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The conventional thinking is that the flow of REO into the market is slowing and prices are too high to generate the kind of returns institutional investors expect.
But institutional investors are “changing their business model,” according to Auction.com executive vice president Rick Sharga.
They are buying single-family properties between $85,000 to $150,000, Sharga said. And they are also starting to offer financing to smaller investors that buy and rent those single-family homes.
“What you are seeing is that a lot of slack that you would expect to see with the big guys moving away is being taken up by individual investors,” Sharga said Tuesday at a National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals conference in Washington.
Auction.com sold 40,000 properties in 2013 via its online auction platform. The Irvine, Calif., company is also offering bridge loans of $500,000 to $1 million to small investors that buy distressed properties. -- Brian Collins in Origination News
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:

If you’re not aware, the Tax Exemption that saved people on huge tax consequences due to a short sale or foreclosure is gone. This could definitely put a slow down on the real estate market. The lack of this exemption could be the very thing that stops someone from going through with that short sale. These taxes can be devastating to people.
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U.S. housing is now the most unaffordable that it ever has been, says Anthony Sanders, distinguished professor of real estate finance at George Mason University.
“Real median household income (has been declining) since peaking in 1999 and is now $5,000 lower or 9% lower,” Sanders says. “Average U.S. house prices are, on the other hand, 68.4% higher today than in December 1999.”
The bottom line: the outsized and growing number of single-family rentals may be a serious indicator of an unhealthy housing market, but the impact it’s having on rental rates in general is nil, and at least part of the price appreciation the market has seen is as much a rebound effect as it is the impact of investor dollars pouring in and snatching up bargains. -- Trey Garrison in HousingWire
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Shared by Karol Nienartowicz, Sniezka, Karkonosze Mountians, Poland

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I thought this was interesting from the Census Bureau

Goods and Services

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of

Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce,
announced today that total December exports of

$191.3 billion

and imports of

$230.0 billion resulted in a goods and services

deficit of

$38.7 billion, up from $34.6 billion in November,

revised. December exports were $3.5 billion less than
November exports of $194.8 billion. December imports were
$0.6 billion more than November imports of $229.4 billion.

Selected Not Seasonally Adjusted Goods Details

The December figures show surpluses, in billions of

dollars, with Hong Kong $3.3 ($2.9 for November), Australia
$1.6 ($1.2), Brazil $1.5 ($1.1), and Singapore $1.2 ($1.2).
Deficits were recorded, in billions of dollars, with China $24.5
($26.9), European Union $11.3 ($10.1), Japan $6.0 ($5.8),
Germany $5.9 ($5.9), Mexico $4.2 ($4.1), OPEC $4.0 ($4.8),
Canada $3.4 ($1.5), Saudi Arabia $2.8 ($2.9), Ireland $1.8
($1.8), Venezuela $1.6 ($1.5), India $1.5 ($1.0), and Korea
$0.8 ($1.2).----------------------------------
Shared by Gia Huy Au Duong, Paris


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According to the Fannie Mae National Housing Survey, approximately 40% to 50% of eligible mortgage borrowers said they have not refinanced the mortgage, despite the opportunity for potentially significant savings.
Therefore, at this point, whether or not a borrower refinances could be up to the lenders, and how well they communicate information to their clients. -- Jacob Gaffney in HousingWire
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Commercial and multifamily mortgage originations are expected to grow to $300 billion in 2014, rising 7% from 2013 volumes and will continue to rise to $333 billion in 2016, as HousingWire posted Monday. -- Brena Swanson in HousingWire
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Shared by Kyoung Woo Park

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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
Now we’ve all heard about this issue. In fact at least 70 million people had their credit card information stolen, and the truth is the number is looking like it’s going to me much more. Yikes! That’s a lot of people! In fact, it’s 1 in 5 people. So take a look around guys, someone you’re looking at has some A-Hole buying a flat screen TV on their dime and isn’t going to make the payments for it.
That means there’s a bunch of people that are going to have issues getting home loans for problems that they didn’t create. Look, it’s just a fact man, so deal with it. When you start seeing this stuff pop up, don’t say we didn’t tell you.
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With 105,000, foreclosure starts ended 2013 at the lowest level since April 2007. -- Evan Nemeroff in Origination News
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Shared by Dieter Birr

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In the last month mortgage interest rates have dropped to between 4.125% and 4.375%
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How community banks will reign in 2014
Despite some small lenders choosing to shut the door on originating mortgages, community banks could have just the right kind of leverage to succeed in 2014’s lending environment.
“Community banks, I think, are best prepared and best equipped. They are uniquely positioned, and their market is well defined,” Christina Boyle, vice president and interim head of the Single-Family Sales and Relationship Management organization with Freddie Mac said. “They are not trying to be positioned in everything.” -- Brena Swanson in HousingWire
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Twisted staircase, shared by Sergey Alimov

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Yet, even (Robert) Shiller acknowledges the advantages of homeownership over and above renting under the US legal system. More importantly, he also notes that the concept of homeownership began in the early twentieth century as a means of encouraging families to save.
So, in the 21st century, perhaps we can revisit our heritage, realizing that the acquisition of a home can be a far more personal and important decision to an individual than merely serving as an investment vehicle.
While the value of one’s home is an important barometer of the welfare of that individual and their family, the purchase of a primary residence should not be undertaken with an eye towards investment as its paramount purpose. It is only when we, as a country, end the comparison of real estate values and other investment vehicles, that the real estate sector of our economy can begin to heal.  (Robert Schiller won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2013.) -- Behzad Gohari in Origination News
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Tunneling beneath London, shared by Guy Kawasaki