The Great Housing Rush!

 

Been thinking about selling your home?

If you’ve been thinking of selling your home, but don’t believe it is worth enough to cover what you owe, you might be pleasantly surprised. The reason? Prices have gone up significantly during the last year!

This simple fact has helped a market that only about one year ago was still bouncing off the bottom, begin the slow, but steady process of recovery. As a result, people are buying homes again.

I have a report that explains in detail why prices have gone up and why your home might be worth more than you think! The report is entitled “The Great Housing Rush,” and I believe you’ll be surprised by when you download and read the report. Once you are done, contact me today for a free market analysis.

Rob Sales
Prudential Southeast Coastal Properties
Associate Broker, CDPE Advance,
DPP, REO Specialist, CIAS
912-655-7674

Some Results Indicate Investors are NOT the Dominant Force 2013

A recent trend report from HousingPulse indicates that investors are NOT the driving force in the current housing surge.  Results from the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey actually show first-time homebuyers and current homeowners are leading the market in 2013.

This presence of non-investor homebuyers is strengthening the market for non-distressed properties.  The spring/summer season of 2013 should prove to be remarkably strong says the report.

HousingPulse's data indicates that the current homebuyers carry a 42.2% market share this past March.  This is down from the fall numbers, but overall up in the year-over-year statistics.

The media continues to gives credit to the investors for driving the recent heightened activity; however, their share according to the report indicates only 21.8% market share in March 2013.  While looking at non-distressed property trends, investor shares are even less at 13.3% for the same time frame.  Current homebuyers had 50% market share and first-time homebuyers 36.8%.

Looking at DISTRESSED property trends for the same report, HousingPulse indicates the share of home purchases fell to 35.6% in March but peaked at 36.2% in March.

*The Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey is based on a national survey of about 2000 real estate agents each month and provides up-to-date intelligence on home sales and mortgage usage patterns throughout the country.

Much of the country is seeing a lack of inventory in the non-distressed property segment, but with a strong sale market.  Additional factors contributing to the strength of the market, is the average time-on-market for non-distressed properties.  Numbers fell dramatically to 10.9 weeks on average, recorded the lowest since 2009 by HousingPulse.


Source: HousingPulse Update April 2013

Georgia's Foreclosure Rollercoaster Not Over Yet

Georgia foreclosures have been on a rollercoaster ride over the past two years says Daren Blomquist, Realty Trac Vice President. Recently he presented his analysis supporting this statement at the 2013 Inaugural Meeting of the Georgia Association of Realtors.

He was approached by two realtors from Walton County, which has the highest foreclosure rate in the state. Both told him his analysis was exactly what they had been experiencing.

Below is his presentation outlining Georgia's situation.

Georgia Foreclosure Situation & Outlook from RealtyTrac

Georgia is among the non-judicial foreclosure states — most of which have been less susceptible to being tossed to and fro by the storm waves generated by the robo-signing settlement, however, it has most definitley seen it's "ebbs and flows" directly correlated with the major highlights of the robo-signing settlement case.

Blomquist's Slide 7 above most clearly demonstrates this. After trending higher through most of 2010 and during early months of 2011, Georgia foreclosure activity decreased on an annual basis for 13 straight months starting in March 2011. This trend began just a few months after the robo-signing controversy came to light in October 2011 and after the 49 state attorneys general investigation into foreclosure practices by the nation’s five leading lenders had gotten into full swing.

In April 2012 the settlement was finalized and Georgia foreclosure spiked for three straight months in April, May and June 2012. Starting in July 2012 there have now been six straight months of annual decreases in Georgia foreclosures, which would correlate direclty with a Georgia Court of Appeals ruling in July 2012 that held lenders to a higher standard in providing information about the entity that actually owns the mortgage to homeowners on foreclosure notices.

Blomquist believes this rollercoaster ride over the past two years in Georgia isn't over yet. He states that it actually foreshadows more bumps in the state’s foreclosure trends before its housing market can return to smooth sailing.

The three-month surge in foreclosure notices in mid-2012 — not to mention the 32 percent of Georgia homeowners who are seriously underwater (see slide 16) — indicates there are still many homeowners in danger of foreclosure in the state.

2013 is expected to be an important year in which these idle foreclosures will push through the pipeline, along with the huge foreclosure inventory that already exists in the state (see slide 11) ensures that the lingering foreclosure problem will continue burden Georgia home prices. Georgia's saturated market provides inventory for Realtors to sell and buyers and investors to buy.


Source: David Blomquist, RealtyTrac.com February 14, 2013

Short Sale Incentives

 

 

 

 

Get cash to sell the home you can’t afford

Since the beginning of the housing crisis, millions of homeowners have found themselves pinned in by their financial circumstances and chained to a mortgage on which they owe more than their home is worth. In the past, homeowners enduring these challenges had very few options, and most would be forced to lose their home to foreclosure.

 

Today, however, there are more options. The government and the banks have created a multitude of programs and foreclosure alternatives that can help people in these circumstances find a dignified solution for their problems without crippling their financial future. These options include loan modifications, refinancing, or short sales.

The most amazing development in today’s market, however, is one simple fact: Banks are now willing to give cash to homeowners to sell the home they can’t afford.

 

Please contact me today if you or someone you know could use my help and wants the latest information about current incentives available to distressed homeowners.

Rob Sales

Prudential Southeast Coastal Properties

Associate Broker, CDPE Advance,
DPP, REO Specialist, CIAS
912-655-7674
www.smartshortsales.net

 

Short Sales to Overtake Foreclosures in 2013

Short sales are expected to overtake foreclosure in 2013 as the dominant workout solution for distressed homeowners.

Credit-rating agency DBRS attributed the change to “the record number of servicers that are using short sales as their primary loss-mitigation tool to prevent delinquent loans from entering foreclosure.”

HOPE NOW, an alliance of mortgage servicers, investors and non-profit counselors, reported this week that nearly 40,000 short sales were completed in August, bringing the total to more than 1 million since December 2009, when it began tracking statistics. Another 36,260 were completed in July.

“The increase of short sales has been significant and, for the first month since reporting on short sales, we estimate a high of 39,559,”

Short sales in recent years have lost their stigma as hundreds of thousands of homeowners have used it as the best solution to avoid foreclosure. Banks responded by creating massive departments and streamlinin g the process.

Why?

Because they net 12% to 25% more money in a short sale than a foreclosure. Is it any wonder why banks prefer a short sale over foreclosure? HOPE NOW Executive Director Faith Schwartz said in a release. “Short sales provide another tool to avoid the high cost of foreclosure for families, communities and investors.”

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reported earlier this year that 138,000 short sales were completed in the first half of 2012, and anecdotal evidence from the industry suggested that number would continue to increase in the second half of the year. HOPE NOW also reported foreclosure sales nationwide in August increased 12% to 71,149, up from 63,527 in July.

 And foreclosure starts increased 14% to 187,941, compared with 164,593 in July. In the West, foreclosure starts have been on the decline. California saw a 20.7% decrease in September from August, according to ForeclosureRadar, an online industry tracker. The number of starts dropped by as much as 40% in Nevada and Oregon. Regional foreclosure filings were down even more from the previous year. California dropped 48.1% from September 2011, while Nevada and Washington saw decreases of more than 70%.

Still, more than 14,000 foreclosure actions were filed last month in California. The recent foreclosure activity, along with the approximately 5 million homes in shadow inventory (homes 60-plus days behind or already owned by banks but not on the market), indicates the housing market has a long recovery ahead.

Short sales and loan modifications will play an integral role in putting the economy back on its feet.

Smart Real Estate Investing.com (800) 452-7627

WSJ- Courts Stall Housing Recovery

Even as the nation's foreclosure rate continues to fall, states with court oversight of the foreclosure process are lagging behind, potentially delaying their housing recoveries.

 The Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday that 4.1% of mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit homes—about 1.9 million households—were in the foreclosure process at the end of the third quarter, down from 4.4% a year earlier and the lowest level in 3½ years. The national average, however, masks big differences between the states. Among the 12 states with foreclosure rates that exceed the national average, 11 of them require banks to take back properties by going to court.

Foreclosure rates stood at 6.6% in those "judicial" states in September, while they have dropped sharply to 2.4% in the "nonjudicial" states where banks face fewer hurdles to foreclosure. Foreclosures have always taken longer in states with judicial review, but in recent years, the sheer volume of cases has overwh elmed courts, and the "robosigning scandal" that hit lenders added to the delays. Judicial review may give troubled homeowners more time to work out problems, but critics of the system say the delays are postponing states' housing recoveries.

"The distinction between the judicial and the nonjudicial states is, if anything, getting sharper," said Michael Fratantoni, the MBA's vice president of research. The upshot is the housing recovery is likely to be "muted" in judicial states, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "Some markets are still going to suffer more price declines," he said.

Smart Real Estate Investing.com (800) 452-7627

Fiscal Cliff for Short Sales Too!

If Congress drives the economy off the "fiscal cliff," wave goodbye to short sales that have helped the housing market get back on its feet.

At risk is a provision that erases taxes on selling a home for less than what's owed to the bank. Expiration of the tax treatment would create a major new headache for the one in four homeowners who owe more than their house is worth. Those "underwater" sellers would have to come up with a big check for Uncle Sam to pay the tax on the difference.

That “would be a blow to the housing recovery,” said Paul Diggle, a housing economist at Capital Economics. “The increased use of short sales, rather than foreclosures, has become an important support to the recovery.”

Currently, roughly a quarter of all home sales are short sales. Bank of America Wednesday reported that some 62,000 borrowers have completed short sales that saved them $7.4 billion in debt, or an average of about $120,000 each. In 2007, as the housing boom turned to bust, Congress passed the Mortgage Debt Relief Act, which shielded such forgiven debt from taxes.

The law was extended in 2010 but is due to expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts to steer away from the so-called “fiscal cliff.” Separate bills have been introduced in the House and Senate to extend the mortgage relief tax break for another year. The measure would cost about $1.3 billion in uncollected taxes. The law is credited with helping pull the housing industry out of the worst recession in nearly a century. Though still deeply depressed, sales of both new and existing homes have been steadily rising.

 Home prices appear to have bottomed out and are rising again in many parts of the country. Restoring the tax on debt forgiveness could throw cold water on one in four home sales by sticking the seller with a large tax bill. “If (homeowners) decide that a short sale is not the best option, and they just allow (the mortgage) to be fore closed, that has a more negative impact on the neighborhood and on home values,” said Blomquist.

That would be bad news for lenders, too. The average price of a bank-owned property seized in foreclosure is about $30,000 lower than comparable house transferred in a short sale. Banks also avoid the legal costs of seizing a home and the extended cost of maintaining it. “(A short sale) really does work out to both the borrower’s and lender’s benefit in most cases,” said Michael Fratantoni, a research analyst at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Smart Real Estate Investing.com (800) 452-7627

Not All Sunsets are Beautiful

In 2007, the Mortgage Debt Relief Act was passed in an attempt to help the millions of homeowners who, due to the housing crisis and economic crash, suddenly found themselves in danger of losing their home to foreclosure.

The act has helped many distressed homeowners find solutions to avoid foreclosure and opened up options to them that were previously unavailable.

The Mortgage Debt Relief Act, however, was only intended to be a temporary solution and is now set to expire at the end of 2012. There is a bill in Congress that would extend it, but it is unclear if it will pass. For distressed homeowners, this means that time is limited to take advantage of this program.

Time is running out. But there is still a chance to change your financial direction and avoid foreclosure.  Contact me and I can help.  You didn't create this and you are not ALONE!

 

Rob Sales

Prudential Southeast Coastal Properties

Associate Broker, CDPE Advance,
DPP, REO Specialist, CIAS
912-655-7674
www.smartshortsales.net

Recovery or Blimp in Housing Crisis?

As you can see it appears from the following graphs that things are starting to get better.  The big  question remains!!  Is this the start of the recovery or is just a blimp?  The issue is that the inventory of all price points appears to be diminishing in Coastal Georgia.  Additionally, there remains the “Phantom Inventory” that everyone continues to talk about.  Hopefully, we are at the bottom.  However, I believe we will remain at the current level until late fall of 2012.  Review all of the following graphs and make your own conclusion.  Let the numbers speak for themselves.