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Median home sale price up a bit in Sacramento County
Article from Sacramento Bee:

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• Round up the family and get ready for a whole lotta fun with Disney’s hilarious animated comedy HOME ON THE RANGE. It’s a “total joy,” raves Gene Shalit, The Today Show. When a greedy outlaw schemes to take possession of the “Patch Of Heaven” dairy farm, three determined cows, a karate-kicking stallion named Buck, and a colorful coral of critters join forces to save their home. The stakes

Voices of Roseanne Barr, Dame Judi Dench, Jennifer Tilly, Cuba Gooding., Jr. When a gang of outlaws want to take over a peaceful dairy farm in the Old West, its inhabitants-three clever cows and a stallion among them-try to outwit the bungling would-be usurpers. Animated. 2004/color/76 min/G/widescreen.A spiky animation style and cowboy yodelling give Home on the Range some charisma. A trio of cows–Maggie (voiced by Roseanne, She-Devil), Mrs. Calloway (Judi Dench, Iris), and Grace (Jennifer Til

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Home loan rates have come down. But the same cannot be said about, real estate prices. According to data provided By Jones Lang LaSalle, real estate prices have increased rapidly by as much as 30-40% (mostly in newly-launched projects) across Indian Tier I cities, even though the real estate market has been witnessing a slow down since 2009.

“The real estate prices, especially in the metros, have gone through the roof. You cannot think of owning a house unless you dip into both the incomes,” says Suresh Sadagopan, Certified Financial Planner, Ladder 7 Financial Advisories. One of the ways, however, you can lower the loan burden and increase affordability by jointly shouldering the loan repayment.

1) Both should be co-owners

Just taking a join loan won’t make you eligible for tax breaks. Both of you can avail tax benefits on the home loan only if both of you are the co-owners of the property. “Co-borrowers, who are also co-owners, are eligible for tax rebate in the proportion of their share in the loan. It means you have to consider the repayment capacity of each spouse while deciding the share of the loan. So, a couple can be e…………………continues on Economic Times
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Man pleads guilty in home-loan scam
Article from OCRegister:

An Orange County man accused of scamming hundreds of desperate homeowners with empty promises of home-loan modifications faces a year in jail after he pleaded guilty to felony charges.

Prosecutors want Andrew Michael Phalen, 25, of Mission Viejo, to also pay back the people they say were victimized by a bogus mortgage-refinancing service. Phalen is scheduled to be sentenced early next month; four of his alleged partners have also been charged.

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The men, operating under several business names, sent “probably hundreds of thousands” of mailers to homeowners offering to help them restructure their mortgages, Deputy District Attorney Megan Wagner said. They charged as much as $ 4,000 up-front for the service, Wagner said, “and then nothing ends up happening.”

In some cases, they did send packets of home-refinancing paperwork to lenders, Wagner said. But their success rate was closer to 20 percent, at best, than the near-100 percent that they advertised, she said.

California law makes it illegal to solicit up-front fees for home-loan modifications. Phalen pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to collect up-front fees and conspiring to commit grand theft, Wagner said; court records show several grand-theft charges were dismissed.

His public defender did not return a phon…………………continues on OCRegister
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BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., May 16, 2012 – /PRNewswire/ – With the onset of spring comes the peak time of year for buying and selling property in the real estate industry. For sellers, ‘staging’ is a successful tactic often used to increase the appeal of their home to prospective buyers. While curb appeal, clutter removal and a thorough cleaning are all standard practices, a few extra steps can dramatically improve a buyer’s take on a home.

“One of the most important points for homeowners looking to sell is to understand the type of person who will likely buy their house,” said Janice Jones, national vice president of merchandising at Pulte Homes. “Singles, young families and empty nesters all have different needs, wants and tastes. Understanding the buyer’s hot buttons will help homeowners determine whether they should change any current spaces to create a better match with the lifestyle of the most likely buyer.”

To increase the likelihood of a sale, Pulte Homes offers the following tips to create an up-to-date fresh look and help set a home apart from the competition.

Use Color

Adding the right punch of color to accent walls or trim can create depth, enhance kitchen cabinets or bring a boring bathroom to life. There are endless ways to add color to a home, and novice designers…………………continues on Sacramento Bee
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Cover story: Home options that add the most value
Article from Washington Times:

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The Home Buyer’s Advisor

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SACRAMENTO — A pair of controversial bills in the California Legislature that would give homeowners more rights to fight foreclosures is being opposed by the nation’s principal home loan regulator.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency on Tuesday expressed that criticism in a letter to a six-person legislative conference committee. The first bill would prevent borrowers from being foreclosed on when they have applied for a loan modification. The second proposal would guarantee that borrowers have a single point of contact when dealing with a mortgage service company.

The Housing Finance Agency doesn’t like the measures, saying they could unduly delay the foreclosure process and add to overall lending costs. Such delays could harm the recovery of a still fragile housing market, the agency said. The agency regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government entities that hold about three-fifths of California mortgages.

The federal regulator also criticized a provision in the bills — dubbed the Homeo…………………continues on Los Angeles Times
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What a Home Loan Modification Can Do for You
Article from Guardian Express:

By Dorothy Bunce

If you applied for a home loan modification a while back but gave up in frustration, you may wish to consider applying again. Many mortgage companies, especially Bank of America, are finally getting their act together and are properly processing applications. However, because of past problems, lots of people are unenthusiastic about doing the work necessary to submit an application.

Let me give you some motivation to try the home loan modification process and reasons in dollar amounts. I do not believe you need to hire an attorney such as myself to help you do so. If you are able to read this article, you are smart enough to apply for a loan modification without expensive help from me or any other lawyer. Practicing law has made a comfortable living for me, and I am not so desperate to make money that I would recommend that you hire me to do something you can easily do for yourself.

Is your home loan $ 150,000 at 7% interest? A loan modification could reduce your payment to 2% interest for 3 years, which would mean a payment of $ 550.00 per month for principal and interest. Impound or escrow fees for insurance and taxes would, of course, have to be added to this payment amount as it would with the other amounts indicated in this article.

Is your home loan $ 200,000 at 6% interest? A loan modification could…………………continues on Guardian Express
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The steep fall in Irish house prices may drive losses on foreclosed home loans to as high as 70 percent, according a Moody’s Investors Service report based on mortgage-backed securities it tracks.

“Over half the loans in even the best pools are in negative equity, whereas nearly every loan is in negative equity in the worst pools,” analysts Maria Divid and Barbara Rismondo in London said in a report today. “There is little chance that distressed borrowers will be able to significantly increase their debt service abilities; or materially reduce their negative equity.”

House prices dropped 49 percent from their high in 2007, Ireland’s Central Statistics Office said April 26. Prices may decline as much as 60 percent from that peak, Moody’s said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Esteban Duarte in Madrid at eduarterubia@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Armstrong at parmstrong10@bloomberg.net

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The average home price in Canada in April was up 0.9 per cent from a year ago …
Article from Winnipeg Free Press:

The Canadian Press – ONLINE EDITION

By: Sunny Freeman, The Canadian Press

Posted: 05/15/2012 8:40 AM | Comments: (including replies) | Last Modified: 05/15/2012 2:16 PM

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China Real Estate Unravels
Office sales were down -10.2%, while growth in “commercial” (ie, retail) property sales, which saw a boom in 2011, decelerated to +10.5%. Although many people were touting a month-on-month sales recovery in March, compared to the Chinese New Year …
Read more on Business Insider

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ASB is the latest bank to pass on lower wholesale interest rates to customers with fixed mortgages, slashing fixed home loan interest rates by up to 45 basis points.

The cuts, effective from today, include a 45 basis point reduction in the 12-month rate to 5.25% per annum; a 30 bps reduction in the two-year rate to 5.55% and a 35 bps reduction to the three-year rate to 5.75%.

The bank was able to pass on savings from lower funding costs, ASB general manager products, retail and business banking strategy Shaun Drylie says.

Its annual fixed-term home loan rate now matches that of ANZ National and Westpac at a 17-year low.

BNZ’s equivalent rate is slightly at 5.75% – on par with the average floating rate across the major banks.

Kiwibank, the first bank to slash mortgage rates in late April, is offering the lowest one-year fixed interest rate at 4.99% – but that requires borrowers to have 30% equity in their property.

BNZ treasurer Tim Main told NBR ONLINE last week that despite the series of home-loan rate cuts, wholesale funding costs remained high for banks.

“Many banks price off the wholesale curve, which has dropped in recent weeks because of expectation for a Reserve Bank rate cut.
 


“At the margin it’s still costing us more compared to what is maturing.”


On the wholesale market, he expected costs of fu…………………continues on National Business Review
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Home Loan Modification Secrets
Article from Guardian Express:

By Dorothy Bunce

If you previously applied for a home loan modification and gave up in frustration, now may be a good time to try again. Lenders have started to get their acts together and have made the process simpler by hiring people with real qualifications to process the applications. The cost to apply is virtually nothing.

Should you apply? There is no point in applying if you can’t afford your mortgage or if you have unrealistic expectations. You should expect that the best you will be able to accomplish is to temporarily reduce the interest rate on your home mortgage to between 2-3%. Don’t expect to get a principal write down or forgiveness, and don’t expect any modification for your rental or investment properties. Don’t expect to pay less than 31% of your income for your home mortgage.

What’s required? The lender will want to see some tax returns, bank records and pay stubs to verify your claim of hardship. Believe it or not, that is because some people lie when they submit an application for a loan modification, and the mortgage companies don’t intend to be made fools of again like they did with the “stated income” loans, which have been referred to as “liar loans.”

When you submit the paperwork, double check your records. If the lender has asked you for your four most recent pay stubs, providing a pay stub ou…………………continues on Guardian Express
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In figures released yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of first home buyers in NSW has fallen almost 50 per cent in the three months since the concession was taken away.

In the budget last year, treasurer Mike Baird announced that from January, first home buyers purchasing existing homes would have to pay transfer title charges on properties under $ 600,000.

Exemptions now only apply to houses that are newly built or bought off the plan, about 20 per cent of the market.

The treasurer said the ABS results could not be attributed solely to the removal of the stamp duty concession.

“Although disappointing, today’s result is not surprising as the weakening national economy continues to dampen confidence. Despite this, first home buyer approvals were still 7 per cent higher in the first quarter of this year than they were in the same quarter last year under state Labor,” Mr Baird said.

“While recent cuts to interest rates should provide some relief and support to the housing market, the NSW government has acknowledged that housing supply remains a key challenge across the state and more needs to be done to support this important segment of our econo…………………continues on NEWS.com.au
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Huge Homebuyer Savings Compared to 5 Years Ago
Article from Mortgage Daily:
The three-bedroom residence at 1083 Hernandez Avenue in Las Vegas shows how much difference five years and a record-low mortgage interest rate can make for prospective homeowners.

In November 2007, when the average rate for a 30-year fixed home loan was 6.21 percent, the home sold for $ 348,500.

Today, with the average rate having hit 3.83 percent last week, the property is on the market for $ 180,000.

The bottom line: Today’s buyer would save almost half a million dollars compared to the buyer of five years ago — $ 168,500 less up front because of the lower sales price and $ 297,238 less in interest over the life of the loan.

“The interest rates certainly are an encouraging factor for people to go out and purchase or refinance,” GLVAR President Kolleen Kelley said Friday. “A quarter of a point is probably not going to make a big difference on a monthly payment, but if it’s half a point, a point, two points and you’re looking to refinance or buy, now is really the time to do it.”

According to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the rate slid from 3.84 percent to 3.83 percent last week — the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.

Over the past two decades, 30-year fixed home loans averaged 6.9 percent.

Over the past decade, they averaged 5.93 percent. Slow U.S. job growth and financial uncertainty in Europe…………………continues on Mortgage Daily
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Refreshing news for local home-sellers is in the latest look at sale prices for homes and condos in four Metro Detroit counties.

Median prices rose to $ 70,000 in Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Wayne last month, a 1.6-percent rise from March. The new median is nearly 19 percent higher than in April 2011, says a report Monday from Realcomp II Ltd., a multiple listing service in Farmington Hills.

Selling prices rose within each county, extending a four-month trend for 2012. Livingston County has the highest median ($ 150,000), followed by Oakland ($ 114,500), Macomb ($ 72,500) and “Greater Wayne,” excluding Detroit ($ 62,000). Percentage increases from the previous April are in a table below.  

Sales volume slipped for the first time in 10 months as fewer residential properties were on the market – 19,119 in Metro Detroit, 20 percent below the number of  listings a year earlier.

Realtors sold 4,341 residences metro-wide last month, 89 fewer than the previous month.   

Oakland County had the largest total of April deals in Metro Detroit, with 1,448 purchases.

Earlier Realcomp II figures for this year’s first quarter showed a median price jump of nearly 10 percent in the four metro counties (excluding Detroit), compared to the first three months of 2011. Sales volume rose from January through March by more than 700 homes and condos, a…………………continues on Patch.com
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Maple Grove’s Median Home Price Climbs in April
Article from Patch.com:

The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors (MAAR) reported last week that April’s median home prices in Maple Grove jumped 42.4 percent from the same month a year earlier.

Maple Grove’s median home price was $ 249,250 in April, up from $ 175,000 the same month in 2011, according to MAAR data. That uptick mirrored the rising fortunes of the Twin Cities-area housing market where the median home price posted a 12.4 percent year-over-year increase.

Meanwhile, while the number of completed home sales in Maple Grove rose from 71 in April of 2011 to 94 this past month; the city’s year-to-date total closed sales is up 32.4percent from the same period in 2011, MAAR reported.

Across the Twin Cities region, Realtors pointed to several signs that the real estate market is bouncing back.

In general, Minnesota homes are selling at their fastest pace in some time and prices are continuing to climb over the same levels reported a year earlier. The median sales price for the Twin Cities metro area for April 2012 was $ 163,000, up 12.4 percent from April 2011. That’s the largest year-over-year jump since January 2004.

On average, homes sold in 135 days, down 14.9 percent from last April. Sellers received an average of 93.3 percent of their list price, up from 90.1 percent last April. Cash buyers made up…………………continues on Patch.com
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Apple Valley Home Sales Prices Make Big Rebound in April
The median home sales price in Apple Valley for April exceeded April 2011 by more than 42 percent. By Allison Wickler and Scott Fagerstrom In April, the median home sales price for the Twin Cities metro area was $ 163000, up 12.4 percent from April 2011 …
Read more on Patch.com

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Since the bureau’s inception, it’s been asking consumers for feedback on issues including student loans, credit cards and how you’re affected by mandatory arbitration clauses.

Now the CFPB is soliciting your opinion on mortgage points and fees. The agency wants to make it easier for you to understand what you are paying so you can compare loan deals.

Here’s some of what the bureau is considering:

•A rule that makes sure consumers who pay upfront discount points at least get a certain minimum reduction of the interest rate in return. Often a borrower will pay a discount point, which is a fee expressed as a percentage of your loan, to get a lower interest rate. Typically, depending on the creditworthiness of the borrower, a discount point costs 1 percent of the total loan. So, for instance, on a $ 300,000 loan, each point would cost $ 3,000.

A rule that lenders would have to offer consumers the option of a no-discount-point loan.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a flat origination fee? The bureau thinks so. Another proposal would no longer allow origination fees that vary with the size of the loan.

With the dizzying array of mortgage fees, it’s hard for people…………………continues on HeraldNet
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NY home loan court filings still marred
Article from New York Post:

Redirect Notice

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US March Homebuyer Affordability Index: Summary
Article from Bloomberg:

U.S. housing was less affordable in March than the previous month, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The composite homebuyer index fell to 204.3 in March from 207.9 the prior month. A value of 100 means that a family with the national median income has exactly enough income to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home. An increase in the index means that a family is more likely to be able to afford the median priced house.

Following is a table compiled from the homebuyer affordability index report:

===============================================================================
                        March     Feb.     Jan.     Dec.     Nov.     Oct.
                         2012     2012     2012     2011     2011     2011
===============================================================================
Composite Index         204.3    207.9    205.8    197.9    194.5    198.5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fixed Index             201.1    200.4    201.2    192.5    190.1    194.2
===============================================================================
                        March     Feb.     Jan.     Dec.     Nov.     Oct.
                         2012     2012     2012     2011     2011     2011
====================================================.....................continues on Bloomberg

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