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Real Estate news

A survey of bank risk professionals found fewer lenders expect a rise in delinquencies on home loans, car loans, and small business loans, according to FICO’s quarterly survey.

In the latest survey, the number of respondents expecting mortgage delinquencies to rise during the next six months was 12 percentage points lower than last quarter – dropping from 47 to 35 percent.  The survey found 28 percent of respondents expected delinquencies on small business loans to increase, which is 11 percentage points lower than last quarter.  And 20 percent of respondents expected delinquencies on car loans to increase, 13 percentage points lower than last quarter.

With regard to credit cards, 32 percent of respondents expected delinquencies to increase.  That is an improvement of seven percentage points over last quarter and is the lowest figure since the second quarter of 2011.

When asked about the availability of credit for specific loan types over the next six months, the majority of respondents expected supply to meet or exceed demand for all loan types except mortgages.  With lenders unsure about the real estate sector, 56 percent of respondents believed credit supply would not meet demand for residential mortgages.

County Properties, 25 years of brokerage experience, trust and a Member of the local Better Business Bureau! We offer free counseling in real estate regarding; home values and information on options of selling vs. Foreclosure.

Click here to get loan information before the rates go up. To get started on viewing homes, condos, investment properties, pre-foreclosures, bank owned foreclosures (REO’s) or thinking of selling your property, please contact me today for free counseling at (619) 540-5811.

New Pro-Property Search. We will setup a customized search for you by our professional REALTOR® Team. Sit back relax and shop at home! We will make changes to your Pro-Property Search any time you like, just let us know. Have fun!

By the way…if you know of someone who would appreciate the level of service in real estate we provide, please call me or have them go to www.CountyProperties.net/ and I’ll be happy to follow up and take great care of them.

CB3B4898A7A4D839D659EEE66FE13F Easy 7 Secrets steps of Self Made Millionaires

Learn how to generate multimillion-dollar wealth — and enjoy the journey on your way to the top.

First, understand that you no longer want to be just a millionaire. You want to become a multimillionaire.

While you may think a million dollars will give you financial security, it will not. Given the volatility in economies, governments and financial markets around the world, it’s no longer safe to assume a million dollars will provide you and your family with true security. In fact, a Fidelity Investments’ study of millionaires last year found that 42 percent of them don’t feel wealthy and they would need $7.5 million of investable assets to start feeling rich.

This isn’t a how-to on the accumulation of wealth from a lifetime of saving and pinching pennies. This is about generating multimillion-dollar wealth and enjoying it during the creation process. To get started, consider these seven secrets of multimillionaires.

No. 1: Decide to be a multimillionaire
 
You first have to decide you want to be a self-made millionaire. I went from nothing — no money, just ideas and a lot of hard work — to create a net worth that probably cannot be destroyed in my lifetime. The first step was making a decision and setting a target. Every day for years, I wrote down this statement: “I am worth over $100,000,000!”

No. 2: Get rid of poverty thinking
There’s no shortage of money on planet Earth, only a shortage of people who think correctly about it. To become a millionaire from scratch, you must end the poverty thinking. I know because I had to. I was raised by a single mother who did everything possible to put three boys through school and make ends meet. Many of the lessons she taught me encouraged a sense of scarcity and fear: “Eat all your food; there are people starving,” “Don’t waste anything,” “Money doesn’t grow on trees.” Real wealth and abundance aren’t created from such thinking.

No. 3: Treat it like a duty
Self-made multimillionaires are motivated not just by money, but by a need for the marketplace to validate their contributions. While I have always wanted wealth, I was driven more by my need to contribute consistent with my potential. Multimillionaires don’t lower their targets when things get tough. Rather, they raise expectations for themselves because they see the difference they can make with their families, company, community and charities.

No. 5: Work like a millionaire
Rich people treat time differently. They buy it, while poor people sell it. The wealthy know time is more valuable than money itself, so they hire people for things they’re not good at or aren’t a productive use of their time, such as household chores. But don’t kid yourself that those who hit it big don’t work hard. Financially successful people are consumed by their hunt for success and work to the point that they feel they are winning and not just working.

No. 6: Shift focus from spending to investing
The rich don’t spend money; they invest. They know the U.S. tax laws favor investing over spending. You buy a house and can’t write it off. The rich, in contrast, buy an apartment building that produces cash flow, appreciates and offers write-offs year after year. You buy cars for comfort and style. The rich buy cars for their company that are deductible because they are used to produce revenue.

No. 7: Create multiple flows of income
The really rich never depend on one flow of income but instead create a number of revenue streams. My first business had been generating a seven-figure income for years when I started investing cash in multifamily real estate. Once my real estate and my consulting business were churning, I went into a third business developing software to help retailers improve the customer experience.

Lastly, you may be surprised to learn that wealthy people wish you were wealthy, too. It’s a mystery to them why others don’t get rich. They know they aren’t special and that wealth is available to anyone who wants to focus and persist. Rich people want others to be rich for two reasons: first, so you can buy their products and services, and second, because they want to hang out with other rich people. Get rich — it’s American.

More questions we can help you, at County Properties, 25 years of brokerage experience, trust and a Member of the local Better Business Bureau! Want to know what your home is worth? Click here for a free market evaluation !

Residential single family or Commercial Multi Unit Properties We will setup a customized search for you by our professional REALTOR® Team. Sit back relax and shop at home! We will make changes to your Pro-Property Search any time you like, just let us know. Have fun!

By the way…if you know of someone who would appreciate the level of service in real estate we provide, please call me or have them go to www.CountyProperties.net and I’ll be happy to follow up and take great care of them.

The spikes in sales in late-2009 and mid-2010 were due to the home buyer tax credit deadlines.  Outside of these spike periods, the past two months of sales are at the highest levels in 5 years.

ehs032112a From Feb. 2008 to 2012 Existing Home Sales Trends

  • Inventory has been steadily falling.  The charts show the raw number of visible inventory of homes for sale.  There are seasonal patterns, with more listings in spring and summer compared to winter.
  • The ‘shadow’ inventory of distressed mortgages and REOs held by banks and the federal government has also been falling.  It isn’t, therefore, the case that visible inventory is falling while shadow inventory rises.  Both visible and shadow inventories are falling.

ehs032112b From Feb. 2008 to 2012 Existing Home Sales Trends

  • The median home price showed a slight increase in February from one year ago.  The increase is more due to the mix of homes issue where the upper-end market, which had been very sluggish in recent past, is beginning to move.  The market is still dominated by sales in the lower price points.

ehs032112c From Feb. 2008 to 2012 Existing Home Sales Trends

More questions we can help you, at County Properties, 25 years of brokerage experience, trust and a Member of the local Better Business Bureau!

If you have equity in your home, we will sell your home and get top dollar in this challenging market with our  Internet Marketing and Sales Program or click Want to know what your home is worth? .

 If you do not have enough equity, and you must sell your property as a short sale we have the expertise to do so also, go to www.ShortSaleRealtors4U.com

New Pro-Property Search. We will setup a customized search for you by our professional REALTOR® Team. Sit back relax and shop at home! We will make changes to your Pro-Property Search any time you like, just let us know. Have fun!

Want to know what your home is worth?

The following are some your options there are more:

  1. The first program to try is called HARP home affordable refinance program, to get loan information
  2. You May Be Eligible For: You May Qualify For Some of the Keep Your Home California Programs:
  • Based on your answers to the eligibility questions, you may be eligible to apply for the following programs:
  • Unemployment Mortgage Assistance – Receive up to 9 months of mortgage payment subsidy if you are unemployed.
  • Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program – Funds to help reinstate your mortgage if you have fallen behind on your payments.
  • Transition Assistance Program – If you can no longer afford your home and are executing a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, there are funds available to help with the cost of moving or relocating.

3. If that does not work the next step is getting a loan modification called HAMP or a loan modification with your exisitng loan service center with their inhouse program.

For free counseling at: HOPEHomeowner Hotline | makinghomeaffordable.gov  Official Site: Gov Mortgage Relief Get Help: 888-995-HOPE. Call Now!

4. If the previous are not working for you,  instead of foreclosure to help preserve your credit, Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA) Short Sale home. Homeowner receives money credit for moving expense. Please contact me for this alternative, as your agent I will be able to help you directly to get started please fill out form below to have a free confidential phone consult.

Stop Foreclosure Now

Fannie Mae economists predict rates will stay near 4 percent through 2013

 If mortgages rates are headed up — and not everyone agrees that they are — that could create a drag on housing markets, warns Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgage have been below 4 percent for 15 weeks, averaging 3.92 percent with an average 0.8 point for the week ending March 15, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

Mortgage rates are largely determined by investor demand for mortgage-backed securities backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. If the economy picks up, MBS may fall out of favor as investors shift money out of conservative bets like bonds and into higher-risk — and higher reward — investments like stocks. That would push bond yields and mortgage rates up.

In a March 12 forecast, economists at Fannie Mae said they expect 30-year fixed-rate loans to climb slightly this year, averaging 4.1 percent during the second half of 2012, and continue on a gentle upward slope to an average of 4.3 percent in 2013.

Yun predicts rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages “will soon be in the range of 4.3 to 4.6 percent.”

In the short run, Yun says that fears that rates will rise could spur sales by getting buyers off the fence. In the long run, if rate increases actually materialize, that would reduce homebuyers’ purchasing power and shrink the pool of eligible homebuyers, Yun said in a blog post.

If mortgage rates rise to around 4.5 percent in coming weeks, Yun expects that would dent home sales by 3 percent. If the 30-year fixed mortgage rate rises to 5 percent, “then the impact is closer to 6 percent,” he said.

The impact of any rise in mortgage rates could be offset by job gains or a loosening of mortgage underwriting standards. “Still, it is worth keeping in mind that rising rates will put some drag on the broader housing market recovery,” Yun said.

Fannie Mae economists, in commentary accompanying their March housing forecast, said they “continue to expect that low mortgage rates will help support housing affordability, with the yield on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rising gradually to just slightly more than 4 percent by the end of 2012.”

Although housing indicators have improved — existing-home sales have picked up by about 27 percent at an annualized rate during the last six months — there are reasons to be cautious, Fannie Mae economists said.

A lack of sustained demand for purchase mortgages suggests “sluggish organic demand” for homes that aren’t in distress.

NAR surveys show that a rising share of contracts are failing to close in recent months, in some cases because lending standards remain tight and homebuyers don’t qualify for loans, but also because appraisals are coming in below agreed-upon sales prices, forcing sellers to lower their price or buyers to make larger down payments.

“Investors and other all-cash buyers continue to play a sizable role in supporting sales in battered housing markets,” Fannie Mae economists concluded.

A recent analysis of price and sales trends in the nation’s 25 largest metros by real estate data and analytics firm Radar Logic Inc. suggested that recent growth in home sales appears to be driven by the willingness of sellers to lower their prices, rather than a broad-based increase in demand and buyer confidence.

Click here to get loan informationbefore the rates go up. To get started on viewing homes, condos, investment properties, pre-foreclosures, bank owned foreclosures (REO’s) or thinking of selling your property, please contact me today for free counseling at (619) 540-5811.

New Pro-Property Search. We will setup a customized search for you by our professional REALTOR® Team. Sit back relax and shop at home! We will make changes to your Pro-Property Search any time you like, just let us know. Have fun!

By the way…if you know of someone who would appreciate the level of service in real estate we provide, please call me or have them go to www.CountyProperties.net/ and I’ll be happy to follow up and take great care of them.

california flag California pending home sales shot up in February

HousePorchPhoto Home prices finally bottoming out, analysts say

Things look better on the home front now compared to late last year, notes Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which revised its home price forecast Thursday to say “prices are bottoming now.”

In November, BofA Merrill Lynch analysts forecast home prices would fall another 8% from the second quarter of  2011 through the first quarter of 2013. But home prices only dipped 3.2% during the second half of 2011, implying they’d need to decline another 4% to 5% to reach the original estimate.

BofAML doesn’t think a drop that big is likely.

In fact, it now predicts roughly flat prices this year and next with modest growth in 2014, according to a forecast update from strategists Chris Flanagan and Ryan Asato and economist Michelle Meyer.

“But along with the earlier bottom is a slower recovery, and hence a flatter profile,” the analysts said. “We still believe prices should accelerate in the later years once the majority of the foreclosure inventory is absorbed, allowing prices to snap back to the trend in income.”

In the chart below, the first column of percentages represents the new forecast and the column to the far right shows the old forecast:

 Home prices finally bottoming out, analysts say

Analysts said a protracted bottom, which will last about two years, is due in part to policy initiatives such as the administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program, aimed a preventing foreclosures, and principal reductions that will be granted through the national attorneys general mortgage servicing settlement. The pilot program to rent out government-owned REO, for which BofAML has previously expressed support, and changes to the Home Affordable Refinance program also will have an impact.

“We do not believe any of these programs represents the ‘silver bullet’ for housing. However, taken together, they represent a positive step forward on the policy front,” the report said, noting that the AG settlement allows servers to move forward to more effectively service loans, foreclose when appropriate or originate new loans.

From 2012 through 2020 BofAML predicts cumulative growth of 42% in home prices — 4% on an annualized basis — comparable to its prior forecast.

BofAML expects the widely watched Case-Shiller home price index to fall 2% this quarter, reaching bottom at the end of March, with seasonal gains expected over the spring and summer and price declines over the winter. It cautioned against overacting to the choppy pattern.

The monthly inventory of available homes tumbled lower recently, reaching 6.4 months in February, down from 9.3 months in July 2011. In addition, the share of distressed sales also is on the decline. The revised report noted levels on both variables will be lower going forward than BofAML previously believed, although they expect them to modestly tick upward over the next two years.

County Properties, 25 years of brokerage experience, trust and a Member of the local Better Business Bureau! We offer free counseling in real estate regarding; home values and information on options of selling vs. Foreclosure.

Click here to get loan informationbefore the rates go up. To get started on viewing homes, condos, investment properties, pre-foreclosures, bank owned foreclosures (REO’s) or thinking of selling your property, please contact me today for free counseling at (619) 540-5811.

New Pro-Property Search. We will setup a customized search for you by our professional REALTOR® Team. Sit back relax and shop at home! We will make changes to your Pro-Property Search any time you like, just let us know. Have fun!

By the way…if you know of someone who would appreciate the level of service in real estate we provide, please call me or have them go to www.CountyProperties.net/ and I’ll be happy to follow up and take great care of them.

shadow%20inventory Foreclosure shadow inventory levels are dropping

The nation’s shadow inventory remained flat in January compared to October figures but shrunk about 10% from levels seen a year earlier, according to new data from CoreLogic.

Settlement starts the clock on short sales stopwatch Settlement will make Banks home short sales faster and easier

Mortgage servicers will be kept to strict short sale timelines agreed to under the state Attorneys General foreclosure settlement this week.

Along with the penalties and relief for borrowers, the five largest mortgage servicers must adhere to a set of new standards. Servicers will form internal groups that will conduct quarterly reviews and gauge compliance. North Carolina Banking Commissioner Joseph Smith will approve the groups and monitor the reviews.

Among the standards, however, are new requirements for short sales.

Servicers are required to give a decision to a borrower within 30 days of receiving a completed short sale request package.

The internal group must review all short sale requests in the first two months of the quarter, according to Exhibit E in the settlement filed this week. And if a servicer takes longer than 30 days on more than 10% of the requests, the firm is considered in “potential violation.”

The settlement also requires a servicer to notify a borrower within 30 days if any documents are missing from the request package.

Servicers will also be required to notify a borrower if there is a deficiency payment needed before the short sale is approved, including an approximate amount.

If more than 5% of all short sales approved in a given quarter did not include this disclosure, the bank would be in violation.

“If a real estate broker can get a checklist from the bank detailing what documentation is needed, everything can be provided up front, and the bank will be required to give a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down within 30 days. That’s not a bad deal,” said Chris Hanson of the short sale specialist Hanson Law Firm.

Short sales became notoriously arduous, lengthy, and oftentimes fraudulent process since the foreclosure crisis struck in 2007.

There were 88,303 short sales in the fourth quarter, up 15% from one year prior, according to RealtyTrac. The short sales completed in the fourth quarter took an average 308 days since the borrower entered foreclosure, down from 318 days in the previous three months.

“We continued to see a shift toward pre-foreclosure sales, or short sales, and away from REO sales in the fourth quarter,” said RealtyTrac CEO Brandon Moore in a fourth quarter report.

The Treasury Department released the first national standards for short sales under its Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, which began in 2010. Its timeline matches the AG settlement.

According to HAFA guidelines, a servicer must consider a borrower for HAFA within 30 days of the borrower either failing a Home Affordable Modification Program test or requesting considerationg for a short sale.

Chase said it completes short sales – from receiving full documentation to approval – in a little more than one month.

But under the settlement, there is some enforcement to the guidelines.

When a servicer fails any servicing standard metric, including the short sale timeline, representatives must meet with a monitoring committee overseen by Smith. The servicer will have the right to correct any potential violation by installing an action plan, according to the settlement.

If the potential violation is not cured, a servicer could face a penalty up to $1 million and another $5 million fine for repeat violations.

If you have equity in your home, we will sell your home and get top dollar in this challenging market, go to County Properties Marketing Homes.

To find out the value or your home. Click here for a free market evaluation !

If you do not have enough equity, and you must sell your property as a short sale we have the expertise to do so also and close escrow in 45-60 days or less. Learn more about mortgage relief options and how to take advantage of our FREE REALTOR (R)  CONSULTATION for loan modification and or selling .  or go to www.ShortSaleRealtors4U.com

More questions we can help you, at County Properties, 25 years of brokerage experience, trust and a Member of the local Better Business Bureau! Want to know what your home is worth? Click here for a free market evaluation !

By the way…if you know of someone who would appreciate the level of service in real estate we provide, please call me or have them go to www.CountyProperties.net and I’ll be happy to follow up and take great care of them.

Stop Foreclosure Now

Going%20Up 2 Mortgage rates inch up on positive economic data

Mortgage rates rose across the board this past week on positive jobs data and increasing bond yields, Freddie Mac said Thursday.  

The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage hit 3.92% for the week ending March 15, up from 3.88% the previous week and down from 4.76% a year ago, the government-sponsored enterprise said.

In addition, the 15-year, FRM hit 3.16%, up from 3.13% a week earlier, and down from 3.97% last year.

The 1-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage also grew from 2.73% to 2.79% in the most recent survey, while the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid arm reached 2.83%, up from 2.81% last week and down from 3.57% last year.

“An upbeat employment report for February caused U.S. Treasury bond yields to increase over the week and mortgage rates followed,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac. “The economy gained 227,000 jobs, above the market consensus forecast, and revisions added another 61,000 to January and December.”

Bankrate noted a similar positive trend across fixed and variable mortgage rates. 

“Mortgage rates increased thanks to more good news on the economy, a pat on the back from the Fed, and a Greek debt restructuring,” Bankrate said. “Although the Federal Reserve is sticking with their late-2014 timetable for boosting short-term interest rates, a more upbeat tone from the Fed did not go unnoticed by investors.”

Bankrate data shows the 30-year, FRM rising to 4.15% from 4.11% last week. The 15-year, FRM also grew from 3.34% to 3.38%, and the 5/1 ARM shot up from 3.03% to 3.14%.

County Properties, 25 years of brokerage experience, trust and a Member of the local Better Business Bureau! We offer free counseling in real estate regarding; home values and information on options of selling vs. Foreclosure.

Click here to get loan informationbefore the rates go up. To get started on viewing homes, condos, investment properties, pre-foreclosures, bank owned foreclosures (REO’s) or thinking of selling your property, please contact me today for free counseling at (619) 540-5811.

New Pro-Property Search. We will setup a customized search for you by our professional REALTOR® Team. Sit back relax and shop at home! We will make changes to your Pro-Property Search any time you like, just let us know. Have fun!

By the way…if you know of someone who would appreciate the level of service in real estate we provide, please call me or have them go to www.CountyProperties.net/ and I’ll be happy to follow up and take great care of them.

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