Posted 7-24-11

SHORT SALE BREAK THROUGH!!!!

  San Diego Union-Tribune

New law gives added protection to short-sale hopefuls
On Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 458 (Corbett) into law.  The new law, which contained an urgency clause and became effective upon signing, protects homeowners pursuing short sales by barring first and secondary lien holders from going after sellers for money owed after the short sales close.

Making sense of the story
A short sale – a transaction in which the homeowner sells the property for less than is owed on the mortgage – must be approved by the lien holder or lien holders, if there is more than one.

Under previous law (SB 931 of 2010), a first mortgage holder could accept an agreed-upon short-sale payment as full payment for the outstanding balance of the loan, but the rule did not apply to junior lien holders. SB 458 extends the protections of SB 931 to junior liens.

The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) sponsored the bill and urged lawmakers to pass this much-needed legislation.

“The signing of this bill is a victory for California homeowners who have been forced to short sell their home, only to find that the lender will pursue them after the short sale closes and demand an additional payment to subsidize the difference,” said C.A.R. President Beth L. Peerce.  “SB 458 brings closure and certainty to the short-sale process and ensures that once a lender has agreed to accept a short-sale payment on a property, all lienholders – those in first position and in junior positions – will consider the outstanding balance as paid in full, and the homeowner will not be held responsible for any additional payments on the property.” 

Posted 7-24-11

09:47 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 13, 2011

California homeowners continue to have trouble getting home loan modifications that stick under the Obama Administration's Home Affordable Mortgage Program, according to a report released Tuesday by the California Reinvestment Coalition, a consumer advocacy organization whose members provide foreclosure counseling.

"The findings of the report suggest that modifications are still hard to come by, and that servicers have not corrected many of the problems that have led to investigations of foreclosure abuses," the coalition wrote in summarizing its findings after it reviewed data the Treasury made public earlier this year and its own latest survey of nonprofit housing counselors.

Among the highlights of its report:

Of 568,630 borrowers who have requested loan modifications, 46 percent were denied immediately, 23 percent received a permanent mortgage modification, and a third of applicants were stuck in trial modifications or had their modifications cancelled.

Principal reductions are nearly impossible to receive. In Los Angeles and Fresno only 5 percent of loan modifications included some degree of principal forgiveness.

94 percent of housing counselors reported that homeowners are losing their homes to foreclosure while still in negotiations with their servicers for loan modifications.

Much of the data released from Treasury was incomplete or inadequate for true transparency.

Regular folk might think that owners of big, expensive homes who are most behind on their mortgage payments and owe a ton of money to lenders would be among the first that banks would evict, sending their houses to a trustee sale.

But Sean OToole, founder and chief executive of ForeclosureRadar.com, an online marketer of foreclosed real estate, in a blog reported his firm conducted a study that shows banks are taking longer to foreclose on higher balance loans where losses are larger and on loans for houses where they hold both the first and second mortgages.

O'Toole said he had figured banks would randomly foreclose on houses, with their primary aim to discourage borrowers from thinking they could live in their homes for free for years on end. But he said an in-depth study of bank foreclosures showed that "this game of chance is not completely random" and banks are seeking to delay digesting their largest losses. Under new accounting rules, they don't have to report the loss on a failed mortgage until the underlying property is sold in foreclosure.

"The truth is that the larger the loan balance you have, the more upside down you are in the home, and the bigger the loss for the lender, the better your chances are of not being foreclosed on for a very long time," writes O'Toole

Posted 5-31-11

Your Invited to celebrate Century 21's 40th Birthday Party and watch the Cake Boss as he prepares the biggest cake he's ever made and delivers it to the our C21 Convention to feed over 4000 Century 21 Agents and Brokers.  Not only is our Century 21 All Moves office celebrating Century 21's Birthday--we are celebrating ours--we are the only origonal franchise in the entire Century 21 System in the WORLD--celebrating 40 years of serving Granada Hills and the San Fernando Valley.

Join us on Monday, June 6th at 6 PM at LA Pizza on Devonshire at Balboa (SE Corner), as we celebrate and watch CAKE BOSS on the TLC network, with Pizza and Cake.  I would be very excited if you would show up and celebrate with us!

 _____________________________________________________________________________________

90-day Market Stats for Single Family properties in
GRANADA HILLS, CA as of May 13 2011

• Median List Price: $391,694 Average List Price:$452,257
• Total Inventory: 224Price Per Square Foot:$232/SqFt
• Average Home Size:1,969 SqFt  Median Lot Size:7,975
• Average # Beds:3.65Average # Baths:2.46
• Homes Absorbed:16 Newly Listed:19
• Days on Market: 115 daysAverage Age:49 years

Data provided by and ©2011 Altos Research LLC 

Posted 5-5-11

WEATHER: Tornado outbreak may be worst in U.S. history with 327 killed, NOAA says

Last week’s burst of tornadoes through the Southeast killed more than 320 people and might rack up close to $5 billion in insured losses. “Storms produced wind gusts of more than 200 miles per hour,” Bloomberg reports. “More than 600 tornadoes formed in all of April, compared with the previous record of 267 set in 1974. That makes April 2011 the most active month ever.”

FAMILY: Weak economy causes some to cut back on kids

Is a bad economy responsible for less children in this country? “The U.S. fertility rate fell 4 percent from 2007 to 2009 – the biggest drop in more than 30 years,” MSNBC reports. “There is not enough data to prove cause and effect, but independent researchers do see a trend.”

GAS: Rental car gas prices hit more than $9 a gallon

If you think you’re paying a lot at the pump, try renting a car. “The price of gasoline has reached more than $9 a gallon for drivers who don’t pay ahead of time and who return their rental cars without a full tank,” USA Today reports. “Hertz customers renting a Ford Club Wagon, which has a 35-gallon fuel tank, would owe Hertz $325.15 for gas if they returned the wagon with a nearly empty tank.”

JOBS: Private employers added 179,000 jobs in April

While the country got more job offers last month, it was just shy of what experts were predicting and wanted to see: 179,000 instead of 198,000. Meanwhile, “Employers announced 36,490 planned job cuts last month,” MSNBC reports, “the lowest monthly total of the year.”

TECH: Is Mac under a virus attack?

A bogus anti-virus program for Apple computers has caused a stir and a scare – because most malware and virus attacks are directed at PC owners. Should Mac owner be worried? “No,” CNN reports. “But there’s some bad news rising on the Apple malware front.”

Posted 5-2-11

5 'Most Innovative' Mobile Apps
PC World recently released its top picks for most innovative apps for 2011 — mobile apps for tablets and smartphones that have the potential of making your life easier. Here are five free apps that made the list for iPhone or Android:

1. Fring: An upcoming version of this app will offer free video group calls with up to four people at once. (A beta is currently available.)
Platform: Apple’s iOS, Android
Price: Free

2. UpSoundDown: You can put your phone on speakerphone mode automatically by just laying your phone down on a table or turning the phone upside down like you’re using it as a microphone. When you pick the phone back up, you’ll be able to use the handset again.
Platform: Android
Price: Free

3. Zite: This app learns what you like to read and then scans your Facebook and Twitter feeds for news based on your reading habits. It then populates a virtual magazine with content that is tailored to your reading habits.
Platform: Apple iOS
Price: Free

4. Adobe Photoshop Express: You can manipulate photos using this app’s simple features on your iPhone or iPad and then store your photos on the Internet to access from anywhere. Coming soon: Photoshop for iPad, which works like a desktop version of the Photoshop software, which includes layers and effect features (price to be determined for iPad version).
Platform: Apple iOS
Price: Free

5. iSwifter: iPad lovers will appreciate this app, which allows you to watch Flash videos and view Web site animations.
Platform: Apple iOS
Price: Free

Source: “The Top 15 Innovative Mobile Apps in 2011,” InfoWorld (April 2011)
 

Posted 5-2-11

Similarly, foreclosure starts were up over 10 percent over 2010, though the evolving crisis in documentation and foreclosure processing might slow the rate at which delinquent loans move to foreclosure starts. Early 2011 numbers already suggest that trend. Nevertheless, out of 6.9 million first-lien, non-current loans, 2.2 million are in foreclosure inventory, 2.1 million are seriously delinquent, 1.8 million are new delinquencies and around 710,000 are 60 to 90 days late.

Again, early 2011 numbers are showing a greater impact from the foreclosure processing and documentation scrutiny banks are currently under. This will result in a longer “hanging” period of the foreclosure and REO inventory. For example, while foreclosure sales (moving of loans from the foreclosure inventory to REO status) topped out at over 120,000 a month before the documentation scrutiny began, they are currently down to about the 65,000-80,000 range.

Another interesting occurrence resulting from the foreclosure documentation and processing scrutiny is the recycling of loans previously in foreclosure inventory back into the seriously delinquent inventory. As LPS’ decomposition of seriously delinquent inventory shows, over one-third of that inventory are loans 12 or more months delinquent; a third of those are 24 months or more delinquent. The share of seriously delinquent loans grew by 172 percent over the last year. Another indication of the recycling of previous foreclosure inventory is that 35 percent of foreclosure starts are actually repeat foreclosures; this share has been consistently rising since the last summer.

What does this all mean for the shadow inventory? In short, there is still a lot of it out there. There are currently a little over 3 million loans in the shadow inventory. This number includes all loans in the foreclosure inventory and a share of delinquent loans. It also includes delinquent loans that are anticipated to enter foreclosure over the next year. These “new entrants” account for about one-third of the 3 million shadow inventory estimate. The loans excluded (i.e., subtracted) from the shadow inventory are those serious delinquencies already listed for sale and modifications. According to the Mortgage Metrics Report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) for the fourth quarter 2010, non-HAMP modification activity seriously ramped up in 2010. Two-thirds of the modifications in 2010 were non-HAMP and there was a total of 939,835 modifications in all of 2010. With trial modification, that adds up to over 2.1 million modifications for the whole of 2010. The Mortgage Metrics Report also shows that about 30 percent of those modifications will re-default 6 months after the modification. Lastly, REO inventory not yet on the market is added to the shadow inventory. This brings the final figure to about 2.36 million properties. All of that information allows us to estimate the number of months it would take to clear the current shadow inventory. Again, if we do not account for delinquencies anticipated to enter foreclosure over the next year, the final shadow inventory comes out to 1.5 million properties.

Over the past year, distressed sales have accounted on average for 34 percent of existing home sales. If this trend continues, current shadow inventory would take about 16 months to clear. This figure naturally varies significantly among the states. But also, the share of distressed sales has been growing in recent months. The NAR's REALTOR® Confidence Index shows increases in distressed sales from 37 percent in January to 40 percent in March. At the March rate of 40 percent, shadow inventory would clear in 14 months.

When comes to shadow inventory, there continues to be many moving pieces which affect the way in which shadow inventory may clear. One issue that could have the most impact is banks’ handling of foreclosures and how that will play out. Another continuing issue is the number of homeowners who are “underwater” and the likelihood of whether or not they will walk away from their mortgages. And there are still a number of Option ARMs scheduled to reset in 2011 and 2012. With tightening of lending rules, these homeowners may have a more difficult time refinancing their loans into more favorable terms.

Posted 4-26-11

FHA to CHANGE their rules once again!!!!! READ.....

Posted 4-19-2011

HomePath® Buyer Incentive

Fannie Mae is currently offering buyers up to 3.5% in closing cost assistance through June 30, 2011.

The HomePath property buyer must meet the following qualifications to be eligible:

• Buyers and/or selling agents (the agent representing the buyer) must request the incentive upon submission of initial offer in order to be eligible.
• The initial offer must be submitted on or after April 11, 2011 and close by June 30, 2011. If an initial offer was made prior to the effective date, the offer is not eligible for the incentive.
• The sale must close on or before June 30, 2011. No exceptions will be made to this deadline.
• Only buyers purchasing a HomePath property as their primary residence may receive up to 3.5% in closing cost assistance. Second homes and investment properties are excluded from the incentive.
• Buyer must sign the Owner Occupant Certification Rider to the Real Estate Purchase Addendum.
• If a buyer's total closing costs are under 3.5%, the difference will not be available as a credit to the buyer.

As part of our Women’s History Month coverage, we’ve talked about the gender pay gap, myths about women and money, and how women face other challenges in the workplace. Today we’re adding to that by talking about money advice for women.

There’s a lot of sound advice available online and elsewhere that applies no matter who you are, but there are different circumstances and habits for men and women worth talking about.

For example, women have a harder time negotiating salary increases – men are four times more likely than women to negotiate. And women who do negotiate are treated differently than men, NPR recently found.

We talked to April Kossuth, a self-employed interior designer, about how a woman’s take on money and business. Watch the video below, then get more advice on the other side

One of the reasons for Kossuth’s success is her emphasis on a do-it-yourself ethic. She says: “I’m a big believer in research. Research everything you can. It’s not always easy starting your own business and it can be intimidating, but there’s no reason it needs to be if you get all your intelligence together.” Here’s a few tips to get started researching…

1. Know your worth. Kossuth says she started out charging clients too little, but realized she was better than she gave herself credit for. “I was appreciated for what I did and got good reviews from customers, so that made me believe in myself more,” she says. Women shouldn’t have to settle for less just because they’re women – research what you should be paid for your work on sites like Salary.com and PayScale.com and set your expectations accordingly. When you apply for a new job, don’t take an offer that isn’t fair. Wellesley College has a list of resources for negotiating pay.
2. Insure yourself. It’s a fact of life that women live longer than men. But if a woman breadwinner passes away and the husband has to raise the kids, life insurance could be crucial. How much is enough? There are online calculators that can hel you determine how much you need, including this one from Bankrate.com. Long-term care insurance is another consideration: According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 70 percent of people over 65 will need long-term care of some kind. As Stacy mentioned in the video above, women also make up 70 percent of nursing home patients. Check out 10 Tips to Find Long-Term Care Insurance.
3. Invest well and early. One of the myths we recently busted in Shattering 5 Myths About Women and Money was that women aren’t as good at investing as men. Women have some qualities – like being more willing to ask for help, and being less likely to gamble – that make them better than some men. Kossuth says, “I don’t love math and don’t want to sit and do it, but you can’t be afraid of money. You just have to do it and learn.” She says the best people to learn from are the ones you admire for their success. “Get good advice, ask them questions: How do I do it? What do I do? What do you think about this investment?” Whether it’s real estate or the stock market, women should make it a goal to save for retirement.
4. Save where you can. Women are already good savers, and many recognize that deals have come a long way since the days of coupon-clipping. According to TechCrunch, women are more likely than men to look for bargains online – for example, 77 percent of Groupon users are women. To make the deal-finding process easier, use a tool like Google Reader to aggregate deal sites like RetailMeNot.com, SlickDeals.net, and FatWallet.com. We also have a deals search engine on our deals page.
5. Find a financial advisor. While there’s a lot to be said for learning things yourself, financial professionals are often useful for questions about investing, insurance, and retirement. Kossuth says, “I found the right advisor after having one first that wasn’t. I’m not going to be talked down to. I want something explained to me in a way I can understand it and make an intelligent decision.” Check out How to Find a Financial Advisor.

Bottom line? The vast majority of financial wisdom applies equally to men and women. But where there are differences between the sexes, both men and women should recognize their potential weaknesses and capitalize on their individual strengths.
 

Foreclosing on 2010- Shadow Inventory that we all heard!!

By Selma Hepp, Research Economist

Last year was a rather volatile one for the economy. While the economy did improve, unemployment remained at elevated levels. Housing affordability was at record levels and mortgage rates extremely favorable for homebuying – but even some qualified borrowers had challenges in obtaining mortgages. Inflation remained tame, but consumer confidence still struggled to improve.

2010 was a volatile year for foreclosures as well. Last year around this time we examined the question of shadow inventory (see the March 2010 issue of Real Estate INSIGHTS). We noted then that shadow inventory could be defined in a number of ways. Some consider all loans with at least one missed payment as part of shadow inventory while others account for cures through modifications and short sales in determining shadow inventory. In terms of foreclosures, things appeared quite dismal last March. So, is the worst behind us?

It is still difficult to say. What is relatively safe to say about 2010 is that the bottleneck has shifted – from delinquencies to the foreclosure inventory. In other words, a significant portion of the delinquent inventory that built up since the beginning of the crises is now moving into the foreclosure inventory as modification efforts and cures are taking effect. The result is declining delinquent inventory and increasing foreclosure inventory. What is also relatively safe to say is that new problem loans continue to improve; all states are showing significant 12-month declines in new seriously delinquent loan inventory and a 38 percent annual decline nationally.

To put it into numbers, according to Lender Processing Services (LPS), there were 8.1 million total non-current loans (delinquent and in foreclosure inventory) in February of 2010 – the peak of the foreclosure crisis. Currently there are about 6.9 million non-current (i.e., at least 30-days delinquent) loans. This decline has contributed to a significant drop in delinquencies. Delinquencies fell by 18 percent over the course of 2010, while more serious delinquencies (90+ days late) fell by 12 percent. Since a share of these delinquencies that have not cured or been modified has ended up in the foreclosure inventory, the foreclosure inventory is up over 9 percent over the past year.