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 Dennis Norman A report published by Lender Processing Services (LPS) analyzing homeowner’s performance on their mortgages as of July 2010 shows that mortgage delinquencies continue to decline however are still at very high levels versus historical norms. At the same time however, foreclosure starts have increased to the fourth highest level on record. Continue reading Foreclosures in July are 4th highest on record; delinquencies continue to decline
After hitting all-time low in June, pending home sales increase 5.2 percent in July The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for July shows an increase of 5.2 percent in the index in July (seasonally adjusted) which is 19.1 percent below July 2009. Continue reading Pending home sales rise in July; Down 19 percent from the year before
 Dennis Norman Interest rates dropped to new record lows this past week bring out existing homeowners to refinance their existing mortgages and even bringing out some homebuyers. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending August 27, 2010, the MBA Purchase Index (a measure of the volume of loan applications related to a home purchase) increased 1.8 percent from the week before. The four-week moving average of home purchase mortgage applications is down 0.2 percent for the period. Continue reading Mortgage Interest Rates Hit New Lows This Week; Refinancing Hits 15 Month Hig
 Dennis Norman Naturally, no sooner than I finish writing my post this morning about the Case-Shiller report on home prices in which I actually got to report somewhat “positive” news, my bubble is burst. RadarLogic, another company that has their own home price index that I like, came out with a report saying the Case-Shiller report was too optimistic and that their (RadaLogic) home price index was a better reflection of home values. Continue reading Dueling Economists: Home Prices Up or Down?
Dennis Norman This morning S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for the 2nd quarter of 2010 was released showing that the home prices improved slightly over a year ago in 17 of the 20 Metro Area’s their reports cover. The Case-Shiller Home Prices Indices showed an increase of 4.4 percent in home prices in 2nd quarter after a decline of 2.8 percent in the first quarter. As of the end of the 2nd quarter U.S. home prices are, on average, up 3.6 percent from the year before. Continue reading Report shows home prices up modestly over last year
Dennis Norman While many us have been worrying about what is happening to the value of our homes, how to deal with being underwater on a mortgage or even facing the loss of a home, there are many people, families included, in the U.S. whose worry is much more basic….where to find safe shelter for the night. Continue reading Homelessness in America
Dennis Norman The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced this week that it intends to make modifications to its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), a reverse mortgage loan insured by the federal government, to make it more attractive and cost effective for older home owners seeking to tap their home equity. A HECM is a reverse mortgage that is insured by the FHA. It is designed to enable elderly homeowners (62 years or older) to borrow against the equity in their home without having to make monthly payments as is required with a traditional mortgage or home equity loan. Continue reading HUD Announces Plans to Make Reverse Mortgages More Affordable
Dennis Norman Home mortgages are often sold or assigned, sometimes even right after the origination of the loan and, as a result, borrowers find themselves not knowing who their current lender is or how to contact their lender. This issue was addressed back in May 2009, as part of the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, lenders that purchased home mortgages were required to provide disclosures in writing to the borrower within 30 days. Continue reading New Rules for Mortgage Transfers
 Dennis Norman After a couple of days of writing about bad reports on the housing market (existing home sales and new home sales to name two) I’m excited that I actually get to write something today that is positive! According to newly released data from CoreLogic, the percentage of homeowners in the U.S. with negative equity in their homes declined slightly at the end of the second quarter of 2010 making it the second consecutive month of declines. According to the CoreLogic report, 11 million, or 23 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages were in negative equity at the end of the second quarter of 2010, down from 11.2 million and 24 percent from the first quarter of 2010. Unfortunately as much I would like to say this was from home price appreciation, unfortunately it appears to have been driven primarily by foreclosures removing some of the homes with negative equity from the scene. Continue reading Homeowners with negative equity declines for second consecutive quarter
Dennis Norman Before you decide on a mortgage make sure you fully understand all the terms of the loan and make sure you know what you are getting yourself in for. Some home mortgages have features that may be risky and make it difficult for you to make your payments in the future. Be sure that you understand the loan terms, the risks and all the costs of the loan you are getting. To help you, below are 7 key questions to ask your lender about your mortgage BEFORE you accept a loan. Continue reading 7 Key Questions To Ask Your Lender When Getting a Mortgage
Dennis Norman The good news is May’s new home sales rate of 267,000, which was the lowest sales rate on record, was revised upward to 281,000. The bad news is June’s sales rate of 330,000 was revised downward to 315,000 and now new home sales for July were reported at 276,000 the new lowest rate on record. Due to the dismal sales, the inventory of new homes on the market increased from an 8 month supply in June to a 9.1 month supply in July. Continue reading New Home Sales In July Drop to All-Time Low
Dennis Norman Over the past couple of years lawsuits have been filed against several lenders over “yield spread premiums” that were paid by the lenders to mortgage brokers originating loans on their behalf. These suits brought a lot of attention to a common practice in the mortgage industry which was to compensate the companies (or loan officers) originating loans based upon the rate and points charged to the borrower. There have been numerous debates on the topic and I’m staying out of it, however, last week the Federal Reserve announced new rules that will go in effect on April 1, 2011 that will end this practice. Continue reading New Rules Announced to Protect Mortgage Borrowers
Dennis Norman Beginning last November I have written several articles about the “sugar-rush” effect of tax credits and other stimulus on the housing market and voicing my concern that these things are short lived (like a sugar rush on a child) and after the sugar wears off there is a crash….Well, as expected, here it is… Today’s existing home sales report from theNational Association of REALTORS(R) shows existing home sales in July were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 3.83 million units which is a decline of 27.2 percent from June and is a decline of 25.5 percent from a year ago. Continue reading Home Sales Plummet in July to Record Low
Dennis Norman The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced yet another new plan to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. This plan targets homeowners that are struggling with unemployment and offers two foreclosure-prevention programs to help them. The first program will be through the existing Housing Finance Agency (HFA) Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets (the Hardest Hit Fund). Through this program the U.S. Department of the Treasury will make $2 billion of additional assistance available for HFA programs for homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments due to unemployment. Continue reading Help for unemployed homeowners facing foreclosure
Dennis Norman 1 in 3 Think Worst Is Yet to Come, While 38% Think Local Home Values Have Reached Bottom According to the second quarter 2010 Zillow Homeowner Confidence Survey, one-third (33 percent) of homeowners feel home values in their local market have not reached bottom, while 38 percent believe their market has in fact hit bottom. Continue reading Homeowners becoming more pessimistic about housing market
Dennis Norman Just as we are talking more about home prices “stabilizing” there is yet another cause for concern as to just where the market is headed. Last week Celia Chen, senior director of the Moody’s Economy.com research staff, issued a report stating that the odds of a near-term “double-dip recession” have increased from about one in five to closer to in in four. Continue reading Is the housing market headed toward a ‘double-dip’?
Dennis Norman For some time now I’ve been saying the precursor to the housing market recovering is for the mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates to fall from the present, near-record levels, down to closer to historical norms. The current mortgage loan delinquency report from TransUnion shows that, for the second consecutive quarter, things are headed the right direction. Granted the decline in loans that are 60 or more days past due declined only 1.48 percent to 6.67 percent but at least it is going the right diretion. The loan delinquency rate for the 2nd quarter of 6.67 percent is still an increase of 14.8 percent from a year ago when the delinquency rate was 5.81 percent. Continue reading Mortgage Delinquencies Fall for Second Consecutive Quarter
Editor’s note – Last month we published an article about HVCC which drew quite a few comments and responses….one such response was from veteran appraiser Paul Collins in which he shares his frustration with the state of the industry and the impact of lenders and legislation on his industry. Our thanks to Paul for allowing us to publish his thoughts.. The good ole days of direct communication and the new day we are “living” both have the same problem. Appraisers are not a valued part of the process because there are no consequences for bad lending decisions. The last time a bank valued a competent appraiser was when the local bank kept the paper and was responsible for collecting and foreclosing if that loan went bad. A real and legitimate understanding of the actual value of a property played a part in a thoughtful consideration of the overall loan application. (It even included the capacity and willingness of the borrower to repay the loan! What a concept!) Continue reading HVCC, AMC’s and the Appraisal Industry; a view from the inside
Dennis Norman Record-low interest rates have brought out existing homeowners to refinance their existing mortgages at lower rates….however, the rates don’t seem to be having the same effect on home-buyers who still seem reluctant to pull the trigger and buy a home. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending August 13, 2010, the MBA Purchase Index (a measure of the volume of loan applications related to a home purchase) decreased 3.4 percent from the week before. The four-week moving average of home purchase mortgage applications is up 0.1 percent for the period. Continue reading Refi’s Shoot Up to Highest Level in Over a Year; Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Drop
 Jennifer Gorton In 2008, the Subprime Mortgage Crisis threatened to undermine the entire global financial system. What began as a normal recession quickly turned into an economic tsunami as banks around the world began to realize to what extent their books were exposed to subprime mortgages. Central banks and world financial leaders around the globe came together in a step of unprecedented political unity and slashed interest rates to historically low levels and injected massive amounts of stimulus into the global economy in order to stem a complete financial meltdown. Of course, the quick action by financial leaders around the world was able to fight off a complete meltdown and by Continue reading The Essential Linchpin of the U.S. Economic Recovery: The Housing Sector
The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a their report on New Residential Construction for July 2010 showing a decrease in single-family home building permits and a decrease in new home starts from June. Continue reading New Home Permits and Construction Drop in July; Still outpacing new home sales though
Dennis Norman According to a report issued today by CoreLogic, home prices in the U.S. increased in June by 1.4 percent over June 2009. This ends the four-month streak of increasing year-over-year home prices which for May was 3.70 percent. Continue reading Home Price Increases Decelerate in June
Dennis Norman I remember, not that long ago, when 300,000 foreclosures in a month would have seemed unreal. However, July now marks the 17th consecutive month that there have been foreclosure filings exceeding 300,000 for the month. Continue reading Foreclosure Activity Increases In July; Down from a year ago
Dennis Norman Today the Federal Housing Finance Agency announce proposed guidance that would prohibit Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks from investing in mortgages with private transfer fee covenants. Considering that covers the lenders that originate, invest in or, or insure over 90 percent of the homes in the U.S. that pretty much puts the kibosh on financing a home with such a transfer fee. Continue reading Private Transfer Fee Covenants Draw Fire From FHFA
Ever wonder why one home will sell for more than a similar home in the same neighborhood? You’ll hear all sorts of reasons. One house has this feature or that feature while the other one doesn’t. That’s part of it but certainly not all. Continue reading Why do Some Homes Sell for More Than Others?
Dennis Norman For the fourth-consecutive week, there has been a little increase in consumers applying for a mortgage to buy a home. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending August 6, 2010, the MBA Purchase Index (a measure of the volume of loan applications related to a home purchase) increased 0.3 percent from the week before. The four-week moving average of home purchase mortgage applications is up 1.8 percent for the period. Continue reading 15 and 30 Year Mortgage Rats Hit All-Time Lows; Applications Increase slightly
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit yesterday against the owners, developers, architects and civil engineers of Park Place Apartments, a 276-unit complex in Louisville, Ky., for failing to provide accessible features required by the Fair Housing Act. Continue reading Justice Department Files Lawsuit Alleging Disability-based Housing Discrimination at Louisville, Kentucky, Apartment Complex
Dennis Norman A report just released by CoreLogic estimate the financial impact of short-sale fraud to be $310 million annually. It is estimated there is fraud in one in every 53 short sale transactions resulting in an unnecessary loss to the lender of $41,000 per transaction on average. Continue reading Report Shows Fraud in Short-Sales Cost Lenders $310 Million Annually
Dennis Norman A report just issued by Zillow shows that home values in the United States continued to decline in the second quarter of 2010, with the Zillow Home Value Index falling 3.2 percent year-over-year and 0.6 percent from the first quarter to $182,500. The national rate of decline decelerated from the first quarter, marking the second consecutive quarter of slowing declines. Continue reading U.S. Home Values Fall In 2nd Quarter; Negative Equity Declines Though
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