Real Estate

Nationwide Open House Weekend Kicks Off Today

Nearly half of all home buyers visit open houses during their home search. This weekend, those numbers may swell as buyers across the country take advantage of the Realtor® Nationwide Open House, June 4-5.

“Realtors® bring value to home buyers and sellers, and this weekend, Realtors® are bringing them together through the Realtor® Nationwide Open House,” said NAR President Ron Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I. “The event will give consumers the chance to find out more about home ownership, allow buyers to pursue their dream of owning a home, and give Realtors® an opportunity to connect with consumers about the housing issues that matter most in their area.”

During the weekend of June 4-5, Realtors® will hold open houses in local neighborhoods throughout the country, as well as across the globe. Over 300 Realtor® associations are participating in the event, along with NAR global partners in Canada, Denmark, France, Israel, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. During the weekend Realtors® will be on hand to provide guidance and insights into the social and financial benefits of home ownership.

According to a recent nationwide Pew Research Center survey, eight in 10 adults agree that buying a home is the best long-term investment a person can make. In addition, a strong majority of renters – 81 percent – said they would prefer to one day buy a home, demonstrating the value Americans continue to place on home ownership.

“There’s a reason owning a home is called the American Dream,” said Phipps. “Home ownership benefits individuals and families, strengthens our communities, and is integral to our nation’s economy. We hope that everyone who aspires to become a home owner will come out this weekend, not only to learn about the homes for sale in their local market, but also to find out more about how current and future public policies may affect their ability to achieve and sustain home ownership, now and in the future.”

To find open houses in your area, visit www.realtor.com and search for open houses in the Realtor® Nationwide Open House Weekend box on the home page. The special search function will be available beginning June 3.

Reprinted with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org. This and other news releases are posted in the News Media section.

Real Estate

Top Real Estate Headlines for Week Ending: November 19th

Although the stock market survived a flurry of economic reports released this past week, the mortgage bond market received a good old fashioned beat down. Both home buyers and homeowners were disappointed as the week ended with higher mortgage rates.

Now that folks have changed their focus to the upcoming holiday, let’s take a break to review what the top real estate and mortgage headlines were this week according to the National Association of Realtors.

• 3 Reasons to Sell a Home Soon
  Steve McLinden says to focus on your local situation when deciding whether to sell, look at comparative sales, investment potential, lending standards, and interest rates.
• Banks, Congress to Face Off on Foreclosures
  As the Hill heads into a “lame duck” session of Congress, both the Senate and House will hear testimony from banks regarding housing financing.
• Credit Score Requirements Stifling Borrowers
  Big lenders keep raising minimum credit scores, increasing the number of borrowers who can’t obtain financing.
• Big Banks Fixing Foreclosure Processes
  A Treasury official notes that 11 federal agencies contend that the foreclosure document problems don’t represent a threat to U.S. financial stability.
• 7 Trends That Will Drive the Future of Housing
  From decreases in the average size and cost per square foot for housing to Baby Boomers living with children, these are the likely changes for housing in the upcoming years.
• NAR Praises FHA’s Increased Stability
  An independent audit shows that the Federal Housing Administration cash reserve levels have increased over the past year.
• Mortgage Bankers: Foreclosures Are Falling
  The percentage of homes in some stage of foreclosure went down between the second and third quarter of this year, due in large part to banks’ investigations of their processes.
• Mortgage Rates Back on the Rise
  Average rates for 30-year mortgages shot up this week, according to Freddie Mac.
• America’s 10 Dirtiest Cities
  Forbes magazine names cities across the country that could use a little clean up.
• Analysts Say Housing Is Better But Still Fragile
  Low interest rates coupled with stabilizing home prices could give the economy a boost, analysts say.
• 6 Helpful Tools For Your Virtual Assistant
  These free and low-cost online tools can save you and your virtual assistant time and help get your business organized.
• Signs Mortgage Fraud Might Be Picking Up
  Information group says investment companies are involved in a high number of suspicious resales.

These were the top real estate and mortgage headlines for the week ending November 19, 2010.

Want to know how these national real estate headlines could impact you right here locally in Northwest Indiana? Subscribe to this blog, Today’s Real Estate Reality, and let our collective years of real estate experience in Northwest Indiana guide you to an informed and successful real estate transaction today.

Real Estate

Home Sellers – Feeling Lucky With Your Real Estate Sale?

In case you missed this morning’s headline, Existing Home Sales Swan Dive. That’s right. Sales of existing home sales plummeted 27.2 percent in July. Furthermore, the National Association of Realtors stated that July’s existing home sales is the lowest reading since NAR has been keeping track.

It should also be noted that total housing inventory increased by 2.5 percent in July. It will now take up to 12.5 months to sell the existing homes inventory.

What does this mean for home sellers?

If you’re a home seller, there’s no more time to waste on hoping for a buyer to come along and pay you what you think your home is worth. It’s time for home sellers to get serious and figure out what is their liquidation home sale price.

What are the odds that home sellers will actually sell their homes?

Every real estate market is different, but the growing consensus is the same. Successful real estate transactions are becoming more difficult by the day whether it is due to inflexible home sellers, home buyers remorse, unflattering home inspections and/or below market value home appraisals.

Other mind numbing real estate headlines for home sellers to think about.

• Redfin: Less Than Half of All Home-Sale Attempts Successful in ’09 - The Wall Street Journal
• Nearly Half of the Homes on the Market in July 2010 Had Prices Cut, According to ZipRealty – RISMedia

If home sales is a game of numbers, wouldn’t you want to be on the side with the highest probability of success. Understanding the dynamics of the real estate market is one aspect that your real estate professional must grasp. Working with a local real estate professional who can provide clarity is a must.

Otherwise, if you’re feeling lucky your best bet for your home sale may come down to the flip of a coin.

Real Estate

The Truth Behind Case-Shiller Claim of Housing Recovery

Using data compiled in December, Standard & Poors released its Case-Shiller Index Tuesday.  The report shows home prices down just 2.5% on an annual basis, a figure much lower than the 8.7% annual drop reported after Q3.

According to Case-Shiller representatives, the housing market is “in better shape than it was this time last year”, but some of the summer’s momentum has been lost. 15 of 20 tracked markets declined in value between November and December 2009.

Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note the 5 markets that didn’t decline — Detroit, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego.  Each of these metro regions were among the hardest hit nationwide when home prices first broke.  Now, they’re leading the pack in price recovery.

For some real estate investors, that’s a positive signal.  But we also have to consider the Case-Shiller Index’s flaws because they’re big ones.

As examples:

1. Case-Shiller data is reported on a 2-month lag
2. The Case-Shiller sample set includes just 20 U.S. cities
3. There’s no “national real estate market” — real estate is local

That said, the Case-Shiller Index is still important. As the most widely-used private sector housing index, Case-Shiller helps to identify broader housing trends and many people believe housing is a key element in the economic recovery.

If the markets that led the housing decline will lead the housing resurgence, December’s data shows that full recovery is right around the corner.

Contact James K Barath in Northwest Indiana to Qualify for Your FREE FHA Home Loan Approval Today!

Real Estate

Simple Real Estate Definitions: Quitclaim Deed

By its most common definition, a quitclaim deed is a document by which one person passes legal and financial ownership of a home to another person.

It’s also a way for an owner of a home to remove himself from the title to the property.

Often misspelled as “quick claim deed” or “quit claim deed”, quitclaim deeds have a multitude of applications, including:

• Assigning a home to a trust or entity
• Adding a partner to title after marriage
• Removing a partner from title after divorce

In order to quitclaim a property, the grantor must have the legal right to assign the property to a grantee, or else the quitclaim deed is worthless.  For example, you can’t quitclaim your interest in City Hall to your neighbor because you don’t actually own City Hall. 

This is where quitclaim deeds vary from warranty deeds (or grant deeds) — the types of transfers that occur when real estate is sold.  In instances of the former, the title to a home is guaranteed to be clear.

Before using a quitclaim deed on your own home, consult an estate planning attorney.  Transferring real property can ruin a will, or trigger taxes — it’s important to consult a professional for help.

Need more expert advice? Ask the team of Certified Mortgage Planning Specialists at Benchmark Mortgage.

Real Estate

Why Home Prices Are Almost Certain To Rise This Fall

In what’s becoming a regular occurrence, housing data blew away economists expectations Tuesday.

As reported by the National Association of Realtors®, the Pending Home Sales Index posted its 6th consecutive monthly gain in July.

After a meteoric rise that started in January, the index is now at its highest levels in more than 2 years.

A “pending home sale” is a home that is under contract to sell, but not yet closed.  It’s not the same as an actual home sold, but data shows that nearly 80% of homes under contract close within 2 months and many more close in months 3 and 4.

Home buyers — take note.  When the Pending Home Sales Index is rising, it means that market activity has picked up.  This can lead to any one, or a combination, of the following:

1. Multiple-offer situations
2. Reduced negotiation leverage over sellers
3. Higher home sale prices with fewer concessions

So, consider yourself alerted.  If you’re buying a home in the next several months, expect the recent run in Pending Sales to lead to a run in closed sales, too.  That should lead home prices higher in most markets.

Indeed, we’re already seeing it.  Case-Shiller says prices are on the upswing.

Real Estate

National Real Estate Data Lumps 128,203,000 Homes in America into 1 Data Set

National real estate data helps economists identify trends in the housing market. It shapes policy and influences markets.

For active home buyers and home sellers, though, national real estate data is irrevelant. This is because national data says nothing for the factors determining home prices in any given zip code.

See, national real estate news is mash-up of data. It’s 128,203,000 homes from all 50 states. Each of these states has its own economy and there are different factors that drive home values in each.

Most Americans understand this.

But, if we dig deeper, we see that within those states, there are more than 19,000 incorporated cities — plus thousands of unincorporated ones. And like the 50 states, city-to-city home values vary by economy, too.

Furthermore, each city is comprised of areas, and those areas can be broken down into neighborhoods and then sub-divided again into streets, with blocks.

It’s apparent that a random home in Alabama can’t be compared to a random home in California. Yet, that comparison is exactly what you’re getting with national real estate data and why we can’t rely on it to say “values are up” or “values are down”.

Values depend on what’s happening locally.

For buyers and sellers, the underlying goal is to meet at “the right price”. To reach that sort of price discovery, you have to look local.

It’s not as easy as it sounds.

Local real estate trends is a topic that’s too narrow to be covered by the national press. It’s even too narrow for local papers. Therefore, buyers and sellers have two places to turn:

1. A general real estate website
2. A practicing real estate agent

Using both sources for local data is common among today’s buyers and sellers.

National real estate news offers little value with respect to home price negotiation. Because all real estate is local, your real estate data should be, too.

Real Estate

A Great Combination: Too Many Homes For Sale And Low Mortgage Rates

For the first time in over a year, the sales of “used homes” fell below the 5-million unit trendline, helping to push the total home inventory higher by 0.1 percent nationwide.

Based on the rate at which homes are selling nationwide, it would take 11.2 months for the existing housing supply to be exhausted.

For home buyers, this is an opportune time for negative news on housing.

First, sellers know that between now and the Super Bowl, housing activity will be light. The general scarcity of buyers may force a seller to accept a bid he wouldn’t have accepted otherwise.

Second, the economy is showing weakness and that, too, can concern a home seller. Buyers are less likely to extend themselves during times of economic uncertainty, further reducing the buyer pool and, again, putting pressure on the seller to “make a deal”.

And lastly, because the government has been trying to force mortgage rates down as a way to stimulate the economy, the weak housing data is actually making it cheaper to finance a home. This means that a well-qualified home buyer can better stay within budget.

Each 0.500 percent rate reduction saves $33 per $100,000 borrowed.

It is important to remember, though, that the U.S. housing market is not national — it’s highly localized. This is one reason why national real estate reports can be misleading. Just as figures from Phoenix have little to do with statistics from St. Paul, even data from neighboring ZIP codes can vary.

The universal truth, however, is that a home that is priced fairly will sell more quickly than a home that is not. And, until the Super Bowl passes in 45 days, expect fewer buyers to be out there competing for them.

(Image courtesy: The Wall Street Journal Online)

Real Estate

Streamlined Modifications – Will it Help?

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced today that a major program designed to simplify and streamline loan modifications for struggling homeowners to prevent foreclosures had been established. The collaboration between Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRM), Federal Home Loan Banks, HOPE NOW (and it’s 27 service partners), Department of Treasury, Federal Housing Administration and FHFA would be implemented by December 15th.

Who will be eligible?

1. Owner Occupied Primary Residences ONLY
2. Three or more missed payments (90 day late)
3. Has NOT Filed for Bankruptcy
4. Loan is FNM, FRM or Portfolio with Participating Investors
5. Certify economic hardship/change in financial circumstances
6. DID NOT Purposely Default to Obtain Modification

The primary objective of the new program is to make mortgage payments affordable to those who can qualify. The allowable housing debt ratio for the program is 38%. This can be achieved by the reduction in interest rate, extending the term (30 years to 40 years) and restructuring the principle balance payment structure…or any combination.

It must be noted that the main difference between the new program and the HOPE for Homeownership provision in the Home Economic Recovery Act 2008 is that it is not intended for principal balances to be forgiven. This should be more appealing to lenders; however, less incentive to homeowners that have negative equity.

Therefore, who will really benefit from the streamline modification program?

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