Atlanta real estate firms Coldwell Banker Joe T. Lane Realty Inc., Coldwell Banker Bullard Realty Company Inc. and Rodney Lee Foreman, one of their former real estate agents, have agreed to pay $160,000 to settle allegations that they illegally steered prospective homebuyers toward and away from certain neighborhoods based on race and color, the Justice Department announced today.
The agreement, subject to approval by a federal court in Atlanta, resolves the Justice Department’s Jan. 25, 2009, lawsuit which originated from a complaint filed by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Testing conducted by NFHA of Coldwell Banker Joe T. Lane Realty Inc. in 2003 and 2004 revealed that Foreman had steered white testers towards areas that are predominately white and away from areas that are predominately African-American because of race or color, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
According to the complaint, before showing the tester any homes, Foreman told the tester that he did not know where to take the tester because he could not tell from talking on the telephone whether the tester was white. Foreman said words to the effect that “I didn’t know if you were a Caucasian or not over the phone.” After an investigation, HUD found reasonable cause to believe that unlawful discrimination had occurred and referred the matter to the Justice Department.
“People have the right to make fully informed housing choices. Unlawful steering by real estate agents frustrates this right and perpetuates segregated communities,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The work undertaken by NFHA and HUD is critical to our efforts to eliminate such discrimination. Real estate agents nationwide should take note that the Department of Justice works vigilantly to combat this type of discrimination.”
“This case demonstrates that racial steering is not a relic of the past. Effective civil rights law enforcement, including testing, can and must put an end to housing discrimination,” said John Trasvina, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
Atlanta real estate firms Coldwell Banker Joe T. Lane Realty Inc., Coldwell Banker Bullard Realty Company Inc. and Rodney Lee Foreman, one of their former real estate agents, have agreed to pay $160,000 to settle allegations that they illegally steered prospective homebuyers toward and away from certain neighborhoods based on race and color, the Justice Department announced today.
The agreement, subject to approval by a federal court in Atlanta, resolves the Justice Department’s Jan. 25, 2009, lawsuit which originated from a complaint filed by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Testing conducted by NFHA of Coldwell Banker Joe T. Lane Realty Inc. in 2003 and 2004 revealed that Foreman had steered white testers towards areas that are predominately white and away from areas that are predominately African-American because of race or color, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
According to the complaint, before showing the tester any homes, Foreman told the tester that he did not know where to take the tester because he could not tell from talking on the telephone whether the tester was white. Foreman said words to the effect that “I didn’t know if you were a Caucasian or not over the phone.” After an investigation, HUD found reasonable cause to believe that unlawful discrimination had occurred and referred the matter to the Justice Department.
“People have the right to make fully informed housing choices. Unlawful steering by real estate agents frustrates this right and perpetuates segregated communities,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The work undertaken by NFHA and HUD is critical to our efforts to eliminate such discrimination. Real estate agents nationwide should take note that the Department of Justice works vigilantly to combat this type of discrimination.”
“This case demonstrates that racial steering is not a relic of the past. Effective civil rights law enforcement, including testing, can and must put an end to housing discrimination,” said John Trasvina, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
Fannie Mae is offering 3.5 percent in closing cost assistance or an equivalaent amount in appliances for people purchasing a Fannie Mae-owned HomePath® property.
Fannie Mae is trying to entice buyers to buy one of their HomePath® homes by offering to pay up to 3.5 percent in closing cost assistance or an equal amount toward new appliances for owner-occupants who close on the purchase of a property listed on HomePath.com before May 1, 2010. First-time homebuyers, and some long-term homeowners, will also be eligible for the Homebuyer Tax Credit.
Properties eligible for this incentive are listed on HomePath.com and most listings include detailed property descriptions, photographs, community and school information and more. In addition, many Fannie Mae-owned properties are eligible for special HomePath Mortgage and HomePath Renovation Mortgage financing which offers homebuyers an opportunity to purchase with as little as 3 percent down.
“Attracting qualified buyers to the market and reducing the inventory of vacant homes is critical to stabilizing neighborhoods and helping the market recover. Many families are taking advantage of the federal homebuyer tax credit to buy a new home so this is a great time for Fannie Mae to offer some additional help,” said Terry Edwards, Executive Vice President of Credit Portfolio Management. “Homebuyers have the option to choose between financial assistance toward closing costs or new appliances for their home.”
More Than 15,000 Additional Homes Were Listed for Sale in January Within 27 Major U.S. Housing Markets
Dennis Norman
January marked the first time in 18 months that more homes were listed “for sale” compared to the previous month, with an additional 15,000 homes, or a 2.9 percent increase, listed for sale compared to December according to the January Housing Inventory Index, a survey of Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listed homes in 27 major U.S. housing markets conducted by ZipRealty.
Other highlights from ZipRealty’s January Housing Inventory Index include:
The number of home listings year-over-year remains down 22.3 percent, with 163,000 fewer homes on the market.
The combined number of MLS-listed single family homes and condos within the 27 major U.S. markets surveyed in January totaled 567,265, up from 551,447 in December.
Markets in California showed significant jumps in inventory in January with month-over-month increases of 10.1 percent in the San Francisco Bay Area, 8 percent in Orange County, 4.5 percent in Los Angeles, and 6.5 percent in San Diego.
Baltimore was one of only two markets where the number of homes listed for sale decreased, at a modest 1.9 percent. In Miami there was a minor decrease of .05 percent.
The average median list price of $258,634 was relatively flat in January, down 1 percent (or $2,521).
“Serious sellers need to list their home now, rather than wait for the spring, to capitalize on buyers looking to take advantage of the tax credit extension,” said ZipRealty President and CEO Patrick Lashinsky. “While the number of homes for sale is starting to increase, we are still seeing some markets with a shortage of homes for sale.”
Following is a snapshot of the housing inventory across the 27 metros that ZipRealty tracked in January 2010:
Bank of America has systems in place to begin implementing the Second Lien Modification Program (2MP) with the release of final program policies and guidelines by federal regulatory agencies, which is expected soon. 2MP will require modifications that reduce the monthly payments on qualifying home equity loans and lines of credit under certain conditions, including completion of a HAMP modification on the first mortgage on the property.
“For many homeowners facing severe financial difficulty, decreasing the payment on the first mortgage without a reduction in the payment on the second lien may not produce an affordable combined mortgage payment,” said Barbara Desoer, president of Bank of America Home Loans.
This is a pretty significant move since Bank of America is the largest mortgage servicer in the country with nearly 14 million loans, approximately 3 million of which are second liens. The bank says they will modify eligible second liens regardless of whether the first lien is serviced by them or another servicer.
Home Loan Applications Jump 21.0 Percent Last Week.
Dennis Norman
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending January 29, 2010. The report showed the MBA Purchase Index (a measure of the volume of loan applications related to a home purchase) increased 21.0 percent from the week before and the four-week moving average for the index is up 7.6 percent.
Homeowners taking advantage of near record-low interest rates and refinancing their existing mortgages continue to dominate the mortgage application activity this week, with refinances making up 69.2 percent of loan applications for the week. ARM’s continue to be unpopular among borrowers and only make up 4.5 percent of new mortgage loans.
Interest rates and fees for the week:
30 year fixed-rate mortgage interest rates decreased slightly to 5.01 percent from 5.02 percent the previous week, with fees increasing to 1.04 percent from 1.00 percent on loans that are 80 percent of the value of the home.
15 year fixed rate mortgage interest rates decreased to 4.33 percent from 4.34 the previous week, with fees increasing to 1.17 percent from 1.14 percent on loans that are 80 percent of the value of the home.
One-year ARM interest rates decreased to 6.7 percent from 6.84 percent with fees increasing to 0.34 percent from 0.33 percent for loans that are 80 percent of the value of the home.
December’’s pending home sales index (seasonally adjusted) was 96.6 (the index is based upon 100.0 being equal to the average level of sales activity in 2001 which we could call the last “normal” year) which was a 1.0% increase in the index from November and an increase of 10.9 percent from the year before.
December’’s not-seasonally adjusted index index was at 64.0, a 18.1 percent decrease from November and a 10.5 percent increase from a year ago.
Oh yeah, now that I have given my take on things, you can see what Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for NAR, has to say about it:
The U.S. Department of Commerce released a report showing the sale of New Homes in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000, a 7.6 percent decrease from the revised November rate of 370,000 and is 8.6 percent below a year ago.
My Mantra
As has been my long-running mantra, I don’t like “seasonally adjusted” numbers and “rate” of sales. Why, for one I can’t figure out how in the world they compute the numbers. Second, I just don’t think discussing the “rate” of new home sales paints a realistic picture of the market. I think this holds especially true when we have artificial forces affecting the housing market such as tax credits and other incentives. This can create unseasonal bursts or declines in sales that don’t really have anything to do with the underlying fundamentals of the housing market.
Effect of tax credits on homebuyers like kid’s “sugar-rush”?
Here is the raw data, the ACTUAL new homes sold- no fluff, no “adjusting”
23,000 new homes sold in December, an 11.5 percent decrease from November’s 26,000 new homes sold and also a 11.5 percent decrease from December 2008 when there were 26,000 new homes sold
52 percent (12,000) of the new homes sold were in the South region- a decrease of 14.2 percent from November’s 14,000 new homes sold
the west region had 5,000 new homes sold the same as the month before.
the Midwest had 3,000 new homes sold, a 40 percent decrease from November’s sales of 5,000 homes.
The Northeast was the only region with an increase in sales. Decmebers sales of 3,000 homes was a 50 percent increase from November’s 2,000 new homes sold.
374,000 new homes sold in 2009 which is a 22.9 percent decrease from 2008 when there were 485,000 new homes sold.
All four regions saw fewer home sales in 2009 than 2008.
Midwest decrease of 22.9 percent
South decrease of 24.` percent
West decrease of 23.7 percent
Northeast decrease of 11.4 percent
Median sale price of new homes in the US in December was $221,300.
For the new homes sold in the US in December the median time they have been on the market for sale is 13.9 months.
Inventory of new home in US at end of December is 234,000 which translates into a 10.2 month supply.
So how accurate was my predicion for 2009?
For some time I have been predicting new home sales for 2009 would end up around 385,000 – 395,000…In November I pinned the number down at 390,000…I was feeling somewhat optimistic because of the tax credits. It looks like I was a little too optimistic and was off by 16,000 homes or 4.2 percent….I guess not too bad for an amateur…
My prediction for 2010
With everything going on in our economy, elections this year, etc, it is really hard to predict what will happen in the new home market. Having said that, I will say that I don’t see 2010 being worse than 2009, unless interest rates increase significantly during the year or unemployment does not improve. Abset those two events I am going to predict that 2010 will be just slightly better than 2009 and come in at 380,000 – 400,000 homes sold.
This week the Treasury Department issed a reportwhich included stats on the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) which is part of the Obama administrations’ Making Home Affordable Programand “is a loan modification program designed to reduce delinquent and at-risk borrowers’ monthly mortgage payments”. The HAMP program got underway around March of this year and is set to expire December 31, 2012. According to the government website HAMP is intended to help keep “3 to 4 million Americans in their homes by preventing avoidable foreclosures.”
Permanent modifications triple in December from November:
According to the report there was great progress made in December with getting borrowers moved from the trial loan modification period to a permanent modification. Last month when I wrote about the November report there were just a little over 30,000 permanent loan modifications done since the program started, however the December report shows that over 112,000 permanent loan modifications have been done or offered to borrowers.
Here are highlights from the report:
Number of Trial Period Plan Offers Extended to Borrowers (Cumulative) – 1,164,507
All HAMP Trials Started Since Program Inception – 902,620
All Active Modifications (Trial and Permanent) – 853,696
Top 20 Cities Are From California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona; Utah, Illinois, Oregon, Idaho Cities Indicate Foreclosure Problem Is Spreading.
Today RealtyTrac® released its year-end 2009 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report which shows that cities in four Sun Belt states accounted for all top 20 foreclosure rates in 2009 among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or greater, but foreclosure activity showed signs of spreading into previously insulated areas as unemployment became more of a driving factor.
California accounted for nine of the top 20 metro foreclosure rates, followed by Florida with eight, Nevada with two and Arizona with one. The highest-ranked metro area outside of those four states was in Boise City-Nampa, Idaho, which ranked No. 24 with 4.66 percent of its housing units receiving at least one foreclosure notice in 2009.
“While it was expected that cities from states with the highest levels of foreclosure activity would top the charts, there is evidence that we’re entering a new wave of foreclosures, driven more by unemployment and economic hardship than what we’ve seen over the past few years,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Areas like Provo, Utah; Fayetteville, Ark.; Portland, Ore.; and Rockford, Ill., all posted foreclosure rates above the U.S. average in 2009. And markets like Honolulu, Minneapolis and Seattle saw foreclosure activity increase at more than twice the national pace over the past 12 months — although all three of those markets still had 2009 foreclosure rates that were at or below the U.S. average.”
Top 10 metro foreclosure rates
Las Vegas posted the nation’s highest metro foreclosure rate for the year, with more than 12 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure notice in 2009 — more than five times the national average. Las Vegas reported a quarter-over-quarter decline in foreclosure activity in the fourth quarter — as did all the other metro areas with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 for 2009.
With 11.87 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure notice in 2009, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. documented the second highest metro foreclosure rate. Other Florida cities in the top 10 were Orlando-Kissimmee at No. 7 (8.17 percent), Port St. Lucie at No. 9 (7.58 percent), and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach at No. 10 (7.16 percent).
Merced, Calif., registered the nation’s third highest metro foreclosure rate, with more than 10 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure notice in 2009. Other California cities in the top 10 were Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at No. 4 (8.80 percent), Stockton at No. 5 (8.62 percent), and Modesto at No. 6 (8.53 percent).
The Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale metro area in Arizona documented the nation’s eighth highest metro foreclosure rate in 2009, with more than 8 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure notice during the year.
Even in Tough Times, 77 Percent of Americans View Homeownership as a Part of Their Own Personal American Dream
A national survey released yesterday by Trulia shows that many Americans feel that President Barack Obama has not lived up to the hope he created during his campaign and his first 30 days in office. In Trulia’s latest American Dream survey conducted online on its behalf by Harris Interactive from January 19-21, 2009 President Barack Obama scored considerably lower marks on the topic of restoring the American dream of home ownership compared to a survey conducted February 20-24, 2009 after his first 30 days in office.
The current survey found that 37 percent of Americans gave President Obama a grade of “D” or “F” on the decisions he’s made towards restoring the American dream of home ownership compared to only 22 percent in the February 2009 survey. Additionally, 54 percent gave him a grade of “A” or “B” in February 2009 compared to only 37 percent in January 2010. Despite these lower grades, and the troubles that have continued to plague the U.S. housing market, the survey found that the “American Dream” of homeownership continues to be alive and well with more than three out of four Americans considering owning a home as a part of achieving their personal American dream.
“I am thrilled to see that the American dream of homeownership is alive. If the dream had died we would be in a lot of trouble,” said Pete Flint, CEO and co-founder of Trulia. “Everyone realizes there is no easy fix and we have a long road ahead. Until there is a reversal in unemployment and the growing number of home foreclosures, the U.S. real estate market will continue to see significant volatility. I agree with the results of our survey that job creation and job security have to be the President’s top priority.”
President Obama’s Report Card
Democrats currently rate President Obama’s performance higher than Republicans, but both downgraded the President’s performance in the January 2010 survey compared to the survey Trulia conducted in February 2009. The current survey shows that “A” ratings from Democrats decreased by 19 percentage points and a 3 percentage point decrease from Republicans. Additionally, “F” ratings from Democrats increased by 3 percentage points and by 13 percentage points from Republicans.
Jan. 2010 Grades
Republican
Democrat
All Adults
“A”
2%
19%
11%
“B”
10%
43%
26%
“C”
24%
25%
26%
“D”
27%
7%
16%
“F”
37%
6%
22%
Feb. 2009 Grades
Republican
Democrat
All Adults
“A”
5%
38%
21%
“B”
18%
42%
33%
“C”
31%
14%
24%
“D”
21%
3%
10%
“F”
24%
3%
12%
Priorities Going Forward
Democrats and Republicans agree on the areas President Obama needs to focus on in 2010 to stabilize the U.S. real estate market. Creating jobs and job security continues to be at the top of the list with 62 percent of adults referencing it as a key priority for the President. With foreclosures reaching record levels in 2009 and expected to grow even more this year, it’s not surprising that 45 percent of adults included this as an important area of focus. Rounding out the top three priorities for President Obama is bringing/keeping low interest rates at 39 percent. Only 27 percent of Americans surveyed believe extending the home buying tax credit through the end of 2010 should be a key initiative to help stabilize the housing market.
Jan 2010 Focus
Republican
Democrat
All Adults
Create Jobs & Job Security
58%
65%
62%
Reduce Foreclosures
37%
54%
45%
Lower/Keep Low Interest Rates
43%
43%
39%
Extend Home Buying Tax Credit Through 2010
24%
32%
27%
Other
14%
4%
11%
This sentiment was also echoed on Trulia Voices Community, with many users feeling that President Obama tried to do too much, and that the key to fixing the economy and housing market will be to focus on creating new jobs and job security.
Positive and Negative Views
The majority of Americans surveyed were unaffected by the events that have transpired during the past year in the housing market, with 60 percent saying their view towards homeownership is unchanged. Slightly more of those surveyed have a more pessimistic than positive outlook with 21 percent saying they have at least a somewhat more negative view towards owning a home compared to 20 percent having at least a somewhat more positive view.
Survey Methodology
The Trulia American Dream housing study is conducted online periodically by Harris Interactive on behalf of Trulia. Harris Interactive® fielded this current study on behalf of Trulia from January 19-21, 2010 via its QuickQuerySM online omnibus service, interviewing a nationwide sample of 2,232 U.S. adults age 18 years or older, of whom 1,523 were homeowners and 614 were renters, and 702 were Democrats and 601 were Republicans. Results were weighted as needed for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available.
Harris Interactive® also fielded the February 2009 survey on behalf of Trulia from February 20-24, 2009 via its QuickQuery(SM) online omnibus service, interviewing a nationwide sample of 2,076 U.S. adults age 18 years or older, of whom 1,418 were homeowners and 595 were renters, and 732 were Democrats and 573 were Republicans . Results were weighted as needed for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available
Zip Realty’s “Home Hunter” Report for 4th quarter 2009 shows some housing markets heating up.
While some of the “hottest” real estate markets in the country — those where homes are selling most above their list prices — continue to be distressed areas dominated by heavily discounted prices, a report issued by ZipRealty revealed some notable exceptions. In two higher priced ZIP codes Continue reading Some Housing Markets Getting Hot Again
This morning the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for November was released showing that home prices in their 10 city and 20 city composite indexes decreased 0.2 percent from October. The indexes include the major metropolition areas in the U.S. (details for metros included are in chart that follows).
NAR’s “seasonally-adjusted” numbers show sales down 16.7 percent for the month…2009 finishes with 5,156,000 homes sold…My projection for the year was 5,143,000 homes….missed it by 13,000 (2/10 of 1 percent) hmm..not bad for a “non-economist”
This week FHA announced policy changes that are going to help them shore up their finances but will make it more difficult and/or costly for a borrower.
In a report issued today by First American CoreLogic national home prices continue to decline with their HPI (Loan Performance Home Price Index) declining by 5.7 percent in November 2009 compared with the year before. If you take the distressed sales out (foreclosures, short sales, etc) the nation decline in HIP for the same period was 5.1 percent. Continue reading U.S. Home prices continue to decline
Average price cut for homes drops to 11 percent off original price…discount increases to 15 percent off original price for homes priced above $2,000,000.
The foreclosure rate in the U.S. for the month of November, 2009 was 3.09 percent, a 77.6 percent increase from November, 2008 when the rate was 1.74 percent according to a report by First American CoreLogic.
If you are one of the million-plus homebuyers that was fortunate enough to qualify for the Home Buyer tax credit, read on for information on how to claim your credit.
Today the Internal Revenue Service released a new form that eligible homebuyers must need to use to claim the first-time homebuyer credit this tax season, along with instructions and guidelines for other documentation that must accompany your tax return. Continue reading IRS Releases Instructions on how to Claim Homebuyer Tax Credit
December’s foreclosure actions mark tenth straight month of over 300,000 notices and drive the 2009 total to over 3.9 Million notices on over 2.8 Million properties.
This morning RealtyTrac® released its year-end U.S. Foreclosure Market Reporttm for the year 2009.
Nation’s Fifth-Largest Housing Developer to Retrofit Record Number of Apartments for People With Disabilities, Create National Accessibility Fund
Dennis Norman
Today, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and its member fair housing organizations in Atlanta, Ga., Melbourne, Fla., and Napa and Marin, Calif., announced a landmark agreement with the A.G. Spanos Companies to increase housing accessibility for people with disabilities. Under the agreement, the nation’s fifth largest builder of residential real estate will retrofit properties in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, and Texas at an estimated cost of $7.4 million. Continue reading Landmark Civil Rights Agreement Will Increase Housing Accessibility Across Country
Home-buyers mortgage activity increases from week before…down from a month ago though
Dennis Norman
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending January 8, 2010. The report showed the MBA Purchase Index (a measure of the volume of loan applications related to a home purchase) increased 14.3 percent from the week before and the four-week moving average for the index is down 6.4 percent.
Lower List Prices and Fewer Price Reduced Homes Point to More Realistic Seller Pricing in December 2009
According to a report issued by ZipRealty there were 17,741 fewer homes listed for sale in December with reduced prices which represents a decline of 7.1 percent compared to November. This data is from a monthly survey of Multiple Listing Services (MLS) in 27 major U.S. markets conducted by the national online real estate brokerage ZipRealty. Continue reading Fewer homes on market with reduced prices in December
Depending on which estimate you believe, somewhere between one-third and one-half of the homeowners with a mortgage in the U.S. owe more on their homes than their homes are currently worth. This has lead to an unprecedented amount of short-sales and in many cases, a lender “forgiving” you of the short-fall (the amount of your loan your sale proceeds were not adequate to pay) which, in the past could have left you owing taxes on the “forgiven debt”. Continue reading Will you owe taxes on a short-sale or foreclosure?
It’s not surprising, that according to Zip Realty foreclosures and short sales dominated the U.S. housing market last year and were the driving force for the real estate roller coaster ride of 2009.
In the past I think closing costs associated with the purchase of a home were pretty much a mystery to many, if not most, home buyers with many not even being sure what they were paying for. Most buyers simply went through the process, paying for closing fees, notary fees, title examination, title insurance, survey, flood letters, courier fees, recording fees, etc. without ever realizing that these fees and costs may vary with other vendors. Continue reading Home buyers can shop for closing services and save money
So what am I talking about? The pending home sales data that was released by the National Association of REALTORS today, of course. Actually I could be referring to any data on the housing market whether new home sales, foreclosure rates, interest rates, existing home sales or inventories of homes for sale. Continue reading Let’s play ’spin the data’
According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, borrowers with FHA loans that are experiencing problems associated with drywall (ie; chinese drywall) may be eligible for assistance to help them rehabilitate their properties.
FHA is reminding its approved lenders that they are to offer special forbearance for borrowers confronted with the sudden effects of damaging drywall products in their homes including the financial hardship associated with related home repairs. Continue reading HUD may assist homeowners that have problem drywall issues
There were many housing-related records broken in 2009..unfortunately all of them I am aware of are negative; foreclosure rates, mortgage delinquencies and bank failutes to name a few. Well, according to MortgageDaily.Com there was also a record set by the number of mortgage related firms that ended operations or failed last year. MortgageDaily.com tracks mortgage company failures on it’s website The Mortgage Graveyard. Continue reading Record number of mortgage companies failed in 2009
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Atlanta real estate firms Coldwell Banker Joe T. Lane Realty Inc., Coldwell Banker Bullard Realty Company Inc. and Rodney Lee Foreman, one of their former real estate agents, have agreed to pay $160,000 to settle allegations that they illegally steered prospective homebuyers toward and away from certain neighborhoods based on race and color, the Justice Department announced today.
Other highlights from ZipRealty’s January Housing Inventory Index include:
Bank of America 
Homeowners taking advantage of near record-low interest rates and refinancing their existing mortgages continue to dominate the mortgage application activity this week, with refinances making up 69.2 percent of loan applications for the week. ARM’s continue to be unpopular among borrowers and only make up 4.5 percent of new mortgage loans.
the “rate” of new home sales paints a realistic picture of the market. I think this holds especially true when we have artificial forces affecting the housing market such as tax credits and other incentives. This can create unseasonal bursts or declines in sales that don’t really have anything to do with the underlying fundamentals of the housing market.
A national survey released yesterday by 
While some of the “hottest” real estate markets in the country — those where homes are selling most above their list prices — continue to be distressed areas dominated by heavily discounted prices, a report issued by 
According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, borrowers with FHA loans that are experiencing problems associated with drywall (ie; chinese drywall) may be eligible for assistance to help them rehabilitate their properties.
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