Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Wall Street Journal
Converting home equity into cash has been a challenge for homeowners since the real-estate downturn, but a growing number of lenders are quietly reviving a loan for seniors that does just that: The reverse mortgage.
Read the full story:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204542404577158990079313270.html?mod=WSJ_RealEstate_LeftTopNews
Monday, January 9, 2012
MSNBC
It’s a tarnished silver lining for people at risk of losing their houses and homeowners in neighborhoods blighted by bank-owned properties, but the robosigning scandal that slowed the foreclosure process to a crawl appears to have increased lender interest in short sales.
Read the full story:
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/29/9779389-increase-in-short-sales-give-market-a-little-breathing-room
Thursday, January 5, 2012
A study by the Mortgage Bankers Association shows that prospective home buyers believe that given today’s affordable home prices and low interest rates, now is a good time to buy. However, potential sellers are nearly unanimous in reporting that it is not a good time to sell a home, citing difficulty in finding buyers at desired sales prices.
The study utilizes 30 years of data from the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumer Attitudes to examine consumer attitudes toward homeownership before, during, and after the most-recent recession to see if consumer sentiment changed toward home buying and selling.
Key findings from the study include:
To obtain a copy of the report, visit www.housingamerica.org.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Housingwire
Pending home sales in California declined from October to November, but grew over last year, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® reported last week.
Read full story
http://www.housingwire.com/2011/12/21/california-pending-home-sales-drop-in-november-2
Monday, December 19, 2011
USA Today
The Obama administration’s initial foreclosure-prevention programs were intended to help 7 million to 9 million people. So far, they’ve aided about 2 million, and not all of those are out of foreclosure danger.
Read the full story
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/story/2011-12-11/foreclosure-aid-program-what-went-wrong/51815400/1
Friday, December 16, 2011
Home values nationwide declined 0.3 percent in October compared with September, according to this month’s Zillow Real Estate Market Reports. However, the rate of monthly depreciation has stabilized as the housing market heads towards the bottom. On a year-over-year basis, the Zillow Home Value Index declined 5.1 percent to $147,900. Home values have fallen 23.7 percent since their peak in May 2007.
Regionally, 95 of the 156 of the metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) covered by Zillow experienced monthly home value depreciation and 39 metros showed monthly home value increases. Twenty-two metros remained flat.
The foreclosure liquidation rate continued to decline in October with 8.1 out of every 10,000 homes in the country being liquidated. This is down significantly from the all-time high of 10.7 out of every 10,000 in October 2010 — just prior to the robo-signing controversy.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced they will suspend all evictions involving foreclosed occupied single family and 2-4 unit properties with mortgages owned by the GSEs from Dec. 19, 2011-Jan. 2, 2012.
The suspension will apply only to eviction lockouts related to Freddie Mac- and Fannie Mae-owned REO properties and will not affect other pre- or post-foreclosure processes. During this period, legal and administrative proceedings for evictions may continue, but families living in foreclosed properties will be permitted to remain in the home.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Mercury News
The most likely first-time homeowners, young professionals and couples starting a family, won’t buy these days. Or they can’t. Or they already did during the housing boom. And their absence helps explain why the housing industry is still depressed.
Read the full story
http://www.mercurynews.com/real-estate/ci_19440876
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Beginning Dec. 7, Fannie Mae will launch the HomePath Online Offers Program to collect offers and manage the offer-submission process on properties listed on HomePath.com. Agents and brokers representing buyers are now required to submit offers exclusively on HomePath.com. All properties listed in California and Florida are eligible on the designated launch date.
The HomePath Online Offers Program is designed to ease and create transparency during the offer submission process with the following features:
An easy to use, self-service offer submission system that can be assessed through HomePath.com
A transparent offer process that keeps Selling Agents informed of the status of their clients’ offers on HomePath properties listed on HomePath.com
Improved communication between the Selling Agent and the Listing Agent regarding offers on HomePath properties listed on HomePath.com
http://www.homepath.com/offerQuestion.html
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The national vacancy rate for homeowner housing was at 2.5 percent in the second quarter, according to the Dept. of Commerce’s Census Bureau. The rate was approximately the same as that of second quarter 2010 and 0.1 percentage points lower than the rate in the first quarter.The homeownership rate of 65.9 percent was 1 percentage point lower than the second quarter 2010 rate (66.9 percent) and 0.5 percentage points lower than the rate in the previous quarter (66.4 percent).Approximately 85.7 percent of the housing units nationwide were occupied and 14.3 percent were vacant in the second quarter 2011. Owner-occupied housing units made up 56.5 percent of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 29.2 percent of the inventory in the second quarter of 2011. Vacant year-round units comprised 10.8 percent of total housing units, while 3.5 percent were for seasonal use.More info
