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".... the average timelines for loans liquidated through short sales are about 12 months shorter than those liquidated through real estate-owned properties." -- cmlynski@housingwire.com (I hope every one sees that short sales are far superior to foreclosures. For too long banks have refused to work with home owners. This allows more inventory, less damage to the home owner's credit score and more revenue for the banks. A win all the way around.)
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
HUD has been there for us in the good times, but because of continuing their philanthropic pursuits during the bad times, they are in the hole. They are raising the MI due to the hit on their funds. If borrowers take an FHA loan, the MI stays with them through the entire loan. If they go conventional, they can drop the MI eventually. So, those who have no choice are the ones who will take the FHA loans now and those with good credit can go with conventional loans. Now those who are less credit worthy will be the ones who get loans through the federal gov't, those who are more likely to be foreclosed on. FHA is suppose to be bringing money into the federal gov't, but this will eventually be a drain on those same funds. (My comment is that the federal gov't encourages risky behavior by forcing the tax payers to fund those who want to do silly things. Return the responsibility to the states which are more responsive to the needs of the citizens.)
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Real Estate Agents control 45% of lender choices for the buyers. The worst problems are due to underwriters doing piecemeal and last minute requests, appraisors and changes in underwriting policies.
Real estate agents added that the uncertainty of closing dates is disruptive and expensive for borrowers. In fact, 65% of agents said they would be more willing to recommend a particular lender if they provided a mobile "app" to track the status of scheduled mortgage closings. --
HousingWire
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Freddie Mac announced Monday its new free, online tutorial called CreditSmart, that will provide working families and new or inexperienced borrowers with the basic information they need to buy their home.
CreditSmart will include information on building savings, personal credit and making wise financial decisions. The online tutorial is a comprehensive, multilingual financial educational curriculum, reaching more than 3 million consumers in 33 states.
Christina Diaz Malone, Freddie Mac’s vice president of corporate relations and housing outreach, said, "Our new online CreditSmart tutorial is a stepping stone to homeownership, especially for working families who are unsure how to start household budgets or build the personal savings and strong credit for the future."
She added, "Today's announcement underscores Freddie Mac's commitment to help America's next generation of borrowers achieve long-term financial stability."
For future borrowers, the online tutorial includes advice on topics such as banking, budgeting and credit.
For current homeowners, it is tailored to helping them avoid foreclosure, maintaining their home and succeeding as homeowners.-- HousingWire
-----------------------------------------------------Building supply costs continue to rise. This is hurting the ability of the builders to compete with foreclosures. However, we are entering a period of deflation which will lower prices, and the oil and gas prices are falling due to the increased domestic supply we have here in the US. We are also reestablishing the supply lines for supplies and workers since the recession. I know the builders I talk to are not happy with continued increased costs. With the continuing increasing regulations, we are in a war of the gov't vs. the consumer.
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Phoenix home prices rise almost 30% in twelve months. Over all in the US housing market, there is still a sales-to-list price ratio of 95% which means more homes are still selling below the asking price. All of this depends on the specific market, so watch your own market!
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There are crowdfunding sites springing up specifically for real estate. Should be interesting to follow.
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In order to make housing affordable for rural towns and cities, the USDA has a USDA Rural Housing Service. The town must have a population less than 25,000, but two senators are trying to raise that cap to 35,000 until the year 2020, "Providing these loans, grants, and loan guarantee programs helps younger generations stay in the communities they’re from, and ensures rural housing markets have access to private credit." -- cmlynski@housingwire.com
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More homeowners are putting money into their homes. Existing home sales were up almost 9% last year and with the increase in home values, owners are starting to invest in their own homes again. However, construction supplies costs are still rising rapidly which is unusual in this economic climate. Maybe with gas prices dropping, the cost of supplies will begin dropping as well.
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One of the economists I subscribe to, and whom I trust, is saying that the home buying investor bubble is about to pop. This will leave only the foolish investors still buying or trying to buy homes in bulk. This is good for the buyers as this will halt the tremendous rise in home prices, but will hurt the sellers by keeping many of them under water. Check out Mike Larson at Money and Markets. He has a very good finger on the pulse of investing from what I have seen in the past couple years.
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
Back in 2007 Fannie and Freddie put a fee on mortgages because we were in a declining market and they were getting hammered. It is called the Adverse Market Fee. It was for loans which didn't make certain credit scores but still got the loans. But now, when we are on a price rise and Fannie and Freddie are making oodles, that fee still exists at 1/4 to 1/2 bip (?). It is like the telegraph tax which the gov't instituted to pay for the Mexican-American War back in 1846 that anyone who has a landline is still paying for. Last year Fannie did $371 billion in mortgage loans plus $12.32 in non-Fannie agency securities and $65 billion in non-Fannie, non-agency securities for a total in over $633 billion in mortgage loans. If you add in the additional quarter in all those loans you get an additional $1,582,500,000 of income for Fannie alone. Fannie has done nothing to recind it even though we are no longer in a declining market and Fannie is making oodles. So, if you feel like it, write to Fannie and ask nicely for them to stop the fee. However, if Fannie and Freddie stop making the banks pay this fee (which is passed along to us citizens), the banks will probably continue to charge us that same fee. This is because the gov't is putting more and more regulation on the banks outside of Frank-Dodd and Basel III. In the first quarter of 2013 the banks had the best quarter in the history of the FDIC at $39 billion profit. This makes some in gov't want to make higher and higher capital reserve requirements for the banks which will push the banks to continue to loan only to those with the highest credit scores. It seems like the more gov't interfers with the banks, the worse off we the people are.
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...the House finally passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a bill that allows private Internet companies to share personal details about your online activity with the U.S. government.
CISPA was widely disputed over privacy fears but was sold as a way to prepare the U.S. against cyber attacks, following repeated warnings by U.S. intelligence officials that these attacks could inflict serious damage to the nation’s infrastructure and industry.
We find it ironic that CISPA, which was supposedly a measure to protect our country against cyber attacks, took more than a year to get through the House.
Meanwhile, an act to allow Washington insiders to continue to line their pockets from illicit trading didn’t even take a week (the STOCK act).-- Brad Hoppman at Uncommon Wisdom Daily
---------------------------------------------------------"Housing construction is starting to pick up, but is well below historical averages," Nothaft said. "Supported by low mortgage rates, we expect more homes to be built in 2013 than in any year since 2007. This increased construction employment should continue to help bring down the overall unemployment rate."
It's a careful balance for now, but as long as interest rates remain low enough to attract buyers, and housing prices grow enough to attract builders, the construction recovery will continue to grow and help spur overall growth in employment.---- Illyce Glink with MoneyWatch
---------------------------------------------------------Jill Pierce is a real estate agent for RealEstateAuctions.com
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