Friday, August 28, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Where will housing be in 2012?
In 3 years, market will likely be governed by local issues, not credit crisis
Americans have not seen a boring housing market since the last millennium. You know — the average, ordinary kind of market where supply just about matches demand, prices are steady, and real estate ceases to be a topic of daily conversation. Instead, we've had six years of upside craziness followed by three years of downside terror. Now we're in a tug-of-war between those who think we've finally found a bottom and those who are convinced that the overhang of unsold homes is going to push prices considerably lower.
By 2012 we may finally get back to blissful boredom. With any luck, three years should be long enough for the U.S. economy to recover and for the nation's housing inventory to shrink to more normal levels. At that point, housing will return to its old ways, with prices governed not by national mood swings and global credit crises but by local issues ranging from zoning to immigration to job growth.
Mortgage rates climb to 5.29 percent
A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.52 percent
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Rates on 30-year 
The average rate on a 30-year
Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped to a record low of 4.78 percent earlier this year, but have been above 5 percent since June.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Dallas-Fort Worth pre-owned home sales fall just 7% in July
According Dallas Morning News article, sales in DFW metroplex have the smallest decrease in pre-owned home sales since last fall. Is it temporary slowdown, or we reached the bottom? Knowing that until 2011 48% of the home owners (nationwide) will be underwater, is hard to believe that we will not have another downturn.
Pre-owned home sales in North Texas declined by only 7 percent in July, the smallest year-over-year decrease since last fall and another sign that the housing market dive may be easing.
Prices were also up last month after a long run of declines from the previous year.
The median price of houses sold through the Realtors' Multiple Listing Service was $155,000 – 3 percent higher than in July 2008, North Texas Real Estate Information Systems and Texas A&M University's Real Estate Center said Monday.
"This is very good news for an industry that has been hurting for some time," said D'Ann Petersen, a business economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. "I still think it is too early to say whether we've hit bottom for sure, but there are definitely signs that things are becoming less worse.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Just listed
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Dallas-area homeowners fight for loan modifications from swamped mortgage servicers
After losing his job in January, Stuart Miller has fought hard to keep his home out of foreclosure. At the end of May, the 55-year-old Plano man began trying to get Wells Fargo & Co. to review his application for a loan modification. After making repeated calls, he finally was told that the company would place a three-month moratorium on his mortgage payments. "They're going to give me July, August and September, but I haven't paid June yet," said Miller, a former trainer for a franchise company. He's among many struggling homeowners who say their attempts to get a loan modification have been met with either long waits to get their case reviewed, no response at all or a runaround.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Gaming The Obama Mortgage Rescue
In his 25 years as a real estate agent, Jim Klinge has seen plenty of borrowers try to work the system, especially in subprime-scourged North San Diego, where he works and lives. Like many in his industry, he says the Obama administration's $75 billion loan modification plan is giving rise to another bout of fraudulent mortgage activity. "With all certainty, it's being gamed," he says. Under the president's program, if a borrower is deemed in "imminent default," the lender and Uncle Sam will rework the mortgage by lowering interest rates, stretching out the payback term or lowering the principal to reduce the monthly payment to less than a third of the borrower's current income.Some borrowers may be lying to get help, while shady loan mod shops are ripping off distressed homeowners.
Report: Dallas-Fort Worth homeowners likely to see rise in equity
Promising report for DFW housing market. According The Center for Economic and Policy Research and the National Low Income Housing Coalition homeowners in the Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex will have average $87,110 in home equity by 2013.
The prospects for rising home equity in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are improving, according to a new report.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research and the National Low Income Housing Coalition looked at housing and economic conditions in 100 of the country’s largest metropolitan areas.
The just-released research suggests that D-FW homeowners will have an average $87,110 in home equity by 2013. That’s up about $6,000 from a similar estimate made in October.
The equity outlook is based on purchases of homes priced at 75 percent of the median price. Equity is the difference in what an owner owes on a house and what it's worth at sale.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
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