Prices Decline Slightly But Show Signs of Stabilizing

While home values are continuing to decline, they are beginning to stabilize as the market nears the bottom, according to the Zillow Real Estate Market Report, released Tuesday.

Since their peak in May 2007, prices have fallen 23.7 percent, according to Zillow’s data.
On a yearly basis, prices fell 5.1 percent in October, arriving at $147,000.
However, on a monthly basis, prices fell just 0.3 percent, demonstrating a deceleration in decline.
“As expected, home values continue to fall in the back half of this year due to an abundance of housing supply relative to demand,” said Dr. Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist. “Potential buyers remain on the sidelines or doubled up in other households, despite record high housing affordability and historically low mortgage rates.”

Zillow, based in Washington, measures 156 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) each month. In October, prices declined in 95 MSAs and rose in 39.
Prices in the remaining 22 MSAs remained relatively unchanged over the month.
Some of the harder hit areas are starting to a reprieve from their sharp declines in home values.
Miami’s prices remained essentially unchanged for the month, and hard-hit areas of Phoenix and Detroit saw slight gains – 0.2 percent in Phoenix and 1 percent in Detroit.
On a yearly basis, 10 of the 156 MSAs experienced rising prices.
In addition to stabilizing prices, Zillow reported another positive sign for the market in its most recent report. The foreclosure liquidation rate fell for in October to 8.1 out of every 10,000 homes.
This contrasts the record high reached one year ago – 10.7 of every 10,000 homes.
While Zillow reports some slight positive signs for the market, Humphries says the “crisis of consumer confidence along with high rates of negative equity, are the biggest factors hindering a housing recover.”
“However, I’m encouraged by the positive, albeit slow, progress in working down the unemployment rate, which should help to improve consumers’ appetites for buying homes,” he continues. (Krista Franks - dsnews.com)

Industry Home Price Reports Show Further Declines

Home price indexes from CoreLogic and Lender Processing Services (LPS) both recorded continuing declines through the month of October.

CoreLogic’s study shows national home prices dropped 1.3 percent between September and October, marking the third straight monthly decline.
The company puts October home prices 3.9 percent below their year-ago levels. That follows a decline of 3.8 percent in September 2011 compared to September 2010.
“Home prices continue to decline in response to the weak demand for housing,” commented Mark Fleming,

CoreLogic’s chief economist. “While many housing statistics are basically moving sideways, prices continue to correct for a supply and demand imbalance.”
Fleming says looking forward, CoreLogic’s forecasts indicate flat growth through 2013 for residential home prices.
LPS says its preliminary data indicates the same downward trajectory for home prices, with a 1.1 percent month-over-month decline for October, coming on the heels of a 1.2 percent drop in September.
Kyle Lundstedt, managing director for LPS Applied Analytics, says the latest data is consistent with seasonal patterns occurring since 2009.
“Each year, prices have risen in the spring, but revert in autumn to a downward trend that has not only erased the gains, but has led to an average 3.7 percent annual drop in prices to date,” Lundstedt explained.
LPS’ latest index of average national home prices continues the downward trend begun after the market peak in June 2006, when the company says the total value of U.S. housing inventory stood at $10.6 trillion.
The value has declined 30.2 percent since that peak to $7.56 trillion.

Treasury to Withhold Foreclosure Prevention Incentives from Two

The U.S. Treasury said Wednesday that it will continue to withhold incentives from JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America for modifications, short sales, and deeds-in-lieu completed through government programs.

JPMorgan is the only servicer participating in Treasury’s Making Home Affordable program that was determined to need “substantial improvement” in complying with program guidelines during the third quarter.

The company – now said to be the largest U.S. bank by assets – was also in need of “substantial improvement” during the first and second quarters of this year. JPMorgan’s servicer incentives have been withheld since the first assessment was made at the conclusion of Q1.
Treasury called out JPMorgan in its report for the servicer’s “lack of progress in implementing previously identified improvements.”
Bank of America was given a grade of needing “substantial improvement” during the first and second quarters, but moved up a notch on the assessment scorecard to needing only “moderate improvement” for the third quarter.
Still, Treasury says it “will continue to withhold servicer incentives from Bank of America, NA, until it makes additional improvements.”

Treasury’s quarterly compliance assessments cover the 10 largest servicers participating in the Making Home Affordable program.
Six other servicers were also found to need “moderate improvement” during the third quarter: American Home Mortgage Servicing, CitiMortgage, GMAC Mortgage, Litton Loan Servicing, Ocwen, and Wells Fargo. Incentives are not being withheld from any of these program participants.
Two servicers met the established benchmarks for program compliance, indicating that they require just “minor improvement” on the areas reviewed for the third quarter: OneWest Bank and Select Portfolio Servicing.
Treasury says when Making Home Affordable began, “most servicers did not have the staff, procedures, or systems in place to respond to the volume of homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages, or to respond to the housing crisis generally.”
Officials note that participating companies have taken specific actions to better their servicing processes. “While the servicers have improved their performance, they still have more progress to make,” according to Treasury.
Treasury says its decision to make individual servicer assessments public is intended to push servicers to correct identified shortfalls.
Treasury notes that participation in Making Home Affordable – including the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) program– is voluntary.
As such, Treasury does not have the authority to impose fines or penalties, but can take certain remedial actions for non-compliance such as withholding incentive payments. (Carrie Bay - dsnews.com)

California and Nevada AGs Announce Mortgage Investigation Alliance

Attorneys General Kamala Harris of California and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada have entered into a joint investigation alliance targeting both mortgage servicers and perpetrators of mortgage-related fraud.

The AGs say the initiative is designed to assist homeowners who have been harmed by misconduct and fraud in the mortgage industry.
The alliance will link the California and Nevada attorney general offices’ civil and criminal enforcement teams in order to speed up investigations of wrongdoing in the two states, which have experienced similar foreclosure and mortgage fraud crises.
“The mortgage crisis is a man-made disaster that has taken a heavy toll on the country, but it saved its worst for California and Nevada,” Harris said. She described the mortgage crisis as “a law enforcement matter,” adding

that she and Masto will pursue prosecution to hold those responsible accountable.
The partnership forged between Harris and Masto illustrates the deep rifts that have developed within the attorney general camp in recent months over robo-signing settlement negotiations.
What started out as a united front of lead counsels from all 50 states has splintered as talks between the AGs and servicers has dragged on for over a year.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed her own individual lawsuit against the five servicers taking part in the negotiations last week.
The California-Nevada mortgage investigation alliance is the product of weeks of discussion between Attorneys General Harris and Masto to ascertain “the most effective and efficient means of achieving justice” for their respective states, the two said in a joint statement. Tuesday’s announcement formalizes an agreement reached between the two officials last week.
By most measures, California and Nevada have been the states hardest hit by the nation’s foreclosure crisis. The attorneys general note that the crisis in their states are similar because both employ a non-judicial foreclosure system in which a bank can foreclose on a borrower’s home without court oversight.
“The collective result has created a rich opportunity for predators, leading both states to make mortgage-related law enforcement action a top priority,” according to Harris and Masto. (DSNews)

Experts Advocate Stabilizing Neighborhoods with Short Sales

“Foreclosures are going to go up before they go down,” according to Craig Nickerson, president of the National Community Stabilization Trust.

Nickerson says estimates put foreclosure tallies at 850,000 this year, as high as 1.5 million in 2013, and then back to the levels we’re at today by 2015.

With all these distressed properties potentially making their way to an already stressed marketplace, Nickerson, along with a panel of industry professionals at the inaugural MPact Conference advocated for bulk short sales.

The panel discussion centered around neighborhood stabilization initiatives and HUD’s $7 billion program created to facilitate the rehabilitation of properties in communities challenged with high levels of foreclosures and property vacancies – aptly named the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).

“Foreclosure prevention by itself is not going to [be the] cure” for the housing crisis, Hala Farid, deputy director of Citigroup’s Office of Homeownership Preservation, told those attending the standing-room-only session.
Farid says Citi is devising a procedure where NSP program participants will have access to escalated points of contact to expedite the short sale process in support of neighborhood stabilization efforts.
Francis Martinez Myers, president of Employee Transfer Corporation (ETC) and ETCREO Management, said the industry is “on the cusp” of utilizing short sales as a viable means of stabilization, “but it’s not without its challenges,” she added.

“Lenders have to be aggressive about offering pre-approved listing prices for short sale properties,” according to Myers. She says having pre-approvals in hand would help facilitate transactions for bulk short sales.
Myers described the size and magnitude of this crisis as unprecedented. “I feel like we are in a five-alarm fire and we are still negotiating over which kind of garden hose we’re going to use … If we’re not careful and not aggressive, it’s going to be very difficult to get through this,” she said.
“Holistically we’re not doing enough fast enough,” according to Myers. Just “selling one house at a time, means 10 years from now we’ll still be here having this conversation,” Myers said.
She spoke of the advantages of tailoring services that are geared toward investors and nonprofit groups to facilitate bulk purchases of short sale properties.
Myers says her organization is working on a pilot initiative which aggregates available short sales in the market, pools together properties meeting investors’ and nonprofits’ qualifications, and lines them up for inspection.

Tyler Smith, VP of Wells Fargo’s REO disposition team, noted that managing investor participation with communities’ neighborhood stabilization efforts “can sometimes be a conflict of interest.”

According to Jerome Devadoss, manager of alternative dispositions for Fannie Mae’s REO sales operation, it’s important to engage community-minded investors to work alongside local nonprofits toward neighborhood stabilization, whether it’s through short sales or any other loss mitigation strategy.

Jim O’Donnell, manager of the West Coast REO Revitalization Program at Chase, says his company is exploring ways to facilitate short sales to nonprofit organizations. Chase is looking to make short sales and distressed portfolios part of its “First Look” program.

Short sales are increasingly making their way into the conversation as a practicable solution to support neighborhood stabilization.

Eric Will, senior REO sales director for Freddie Mac’s HomeSteps division, said “knowledge around this [short sale] space is growing. We know it needs to be done.”

Why online real estate auctions?

Why online auctions?

Real estate auctions are one of the fastest-growing forms of Real-Estate Marketing in the United States. If you are a Seller who wants to move your property at an accelerated pace, and to earn true market value in return, then the Auction Method of marketing may be for you. If you are a Buyer who wants to make a smart investment at fair market value, and is tired of endless negotiations with unresponsive sellers, then the purchase of properties at Auction will work for you.
Until recently real estate auctions, unlike art and antique auctions, have experienced unfounded negative images in the market place. The majorities of auctions today don't result from foreclosure or distress situations, but rather are the result of a seller choosing a cost-effective, accelerated method to sell a property. Auction is truly a win-win situation: sellers obtain immediate cash and buyers purchase properties at fair market value, the price determined by open, competitive bidding.
Online Real Estate Marketing is an innovative and effective marketing tool which can be profitable to sellers and buyers, alike. In fact, under the right circumstances, online marketing can be the most effective way to accelerate a property sale and establish the property's true market value. All of our transactions are conducted via the Internet, on our company's website.
Our state of the art Online Marketing format allows customers and/or brokers/agents to transact from their own computer, 24/7, in the privacy of their own home or office. A property listed with our company, receives world wide exposure through our international alliance with an extended network of renowned real estate professionals and comprehensive marketing campaigns.
Our comprehensive marketing campaigns are creative, effective, results-oriented and tailored specific for each property. Each campaign is conducted on a local, regional, national and International level. Our company's experienced marketing professionals, execute the most focused cost-effective advertising campaign for every online listing.

Why sell real estate at auction

Why selling at auction?

• Real Estate Auction offer the seller another option.
• Auctions create competition among buyers. Consequently, the Auction price can exceed the price of a negotiated sale.
• An Auction generates excitement and heightens buyer interest.
• An Auction creates the most exposure in the shortest period of time and accelerates sales.
• Requires that potential buyers be registered and qualified with certified funds on the day of the Auction.
• Eliminates high seller carrying costs -- such as interest, taxes, and maintenance.
• Eliminates high seller carrying costs -- such as interest, taxes, and maintenance.
• Auction is a true market forum.
• A seller can plan and select the date they want to sell. They control the sales process.
• A seller sets the terms and conditions of the sale while maintaining control of the property throughout the Auction.
• Auction eliminates numerous and unscheduled showings.
• Auction takes the seller out of the negotiation process.
• Auction is an aggressive, advanced marketing program that increases potential interest in and awareness of a property.
• A seller is able to obtain liquidity, free up capital and move on to other investments or property decisions.

Questions and Answers on selling at auctions

 

Questions and Answers on selling at auctions

Q: Why should I sell my property using the Auction Method?
A: To accelerate the sale of your property by generating additional consumer interest and activity. Advertising a property for Auction creates a sense of urgency, bringing all interested parties together on one specified day. An Auction provides multiple bidders competing to buy, bringing higher revenues than negotiating with a single buyer. Non-contingent contracts and 30-day settlements are required of the buyer of your property. This means a quick transaction for you.
Q: I am not in financial trouble, and I am concerned about what people may think if I should Auction my property. Can you give me any insight on this?
A: You are not alone in your concerns. Many people are afraid of the old, outdated perception of Auctions that some people have. There are great differences in the marketing and the public image of a voluntary, 'by choice' Auction, such as ours versus a distress Auction. For example, some owners may offer financing on certain Auction properties. Our Auctions are positive, enthusiastic events designed to generate competitive bidding to secure the highest possible market price for your property.
Q: I am concerned about the net amount I will realize from the Auction, and my ability to cover my existing mortgage. What advice do you have to offer on this?
A: We understand your concerns and your need to cover an existing mortgage on your property. Auctions are designed to accelerate the sale of property by determining what the market is willing to bear. On Auction day, the market will determine what valuation is acceptable for your property. The fact that you are selling at Auction does not change the market value of your property. In short, if the market value is at a level below your existing mortgage, then that is the price that you have to work with regardless of whether you use the traditional method or the Auction method to sell your property.
Q: Will we still have to consider contingent contracts?
A: Everything that we sell at Auction is sold "as is" and "non-contingent," with a 30-day projected settlement date and the buyer paying all allowable closing costs associated with the sale.
Q: Where will the Auction of my home be held?
A: The property will be listed on our fully automated website for a predetermined time period. Buyers can bid on the property online from the comfort of their own home or office during the listed period.
Q: Who pays the Auctioneer fee?
A: The Auctioneer is paid via the buyer's premium, which is added to the buyer's final bid. There is no commission charged to the seller.
Q: Does "as is" mean that I do not need to disclose any known defects?
A: Though we are selling "as is," we must abide by applicable State and Federal Laws. The Broker-Auctioneer will offer full disclosure to all interested parties in accordance with the law.
Q: How do I sign up for Auction?
A: Contact 24by7bid Realty, Inc. to set up an appointment to view your property and determine whether it is appropriate for the Auction Method of sale. If your property is listed with a Real Estate Broker, ask them to refer your listing to Continental Realty, Inc. and the Broker will be compensated. After signing with us, expect a three to four week advertising campaign prior to your Auction day. Then expect to close in 30 days or less, with no contingencies.
Q: The property is priced below the market right now. What is this going to mean if I register it for Auction?
A: We find that often price is not the issue in determining why a property has not sold. Many times the reason that a property has not sold is that there has not been adequate traffic to view the property, and therefore, not enough interest has been generated in order to sell the property. In other words, it has become "stale" on the market. The Auction process is the best way to revive interest in the property and instill the excitement for it that will result in a positive sale.
Q: What types of properties do you sell?
A: We Auction all types of Real Estate, from condominiums, co-ops, townhouses, single-family dwellings, land, vacation properties, commercial, investment properties, to high-end premier properties and country estates. Auctions have been successful in all of these categories.

Study Uncovers Declines Among Owner-Occupant REO Buyers

Looking for an REO buyer? It’s becoming harder to find owner-occupants to fit that bill.

New Vista Asset Management has published the results of a three-year study on buyers of foreclosed homes, covering 18 counties hit hardest by the mortgage crisis.
The company says the percentage of REO homes sold to owner-occupant buyers has decreased in almost every market.
In Los Angeles County, California, for example, owner-occupant REO buyers have dropped from 80 percent in 2009 to 60 percent by the third quarter of 2011.
New Vista’s study uses data extracted from local recorder, courthouse, and tax assessment records – looking at foreclosed homes sold by banks, HUD, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac – to determine whether the purchasers were owner-occupants or absentee owners using single-family homes as rental or vacation properties.
The company began tracking real estate sales transactions closed in the first quarter of 2009 and includes consecutive quarterly data through the third quarter of 2011.
“Although, quarter-by-quarter, we have observed some market-specific increases, over the entire period, owner occupancy rates for REO sales have broadly weakened,” said Brian Hurley, New Vista’s president and COO.
Hurley notes that with eleven consecutive quarters of data, the company can look beyond both seasonality and the temporary impact of demand stimuli such as the homebuyer tax credit, and observe “a clear pattern of decline.”
Wayne County, Michigan is the only market of the 18 analyzed that has seen the percentage of owner-occupant REO buyers increase over the last three years, albeit from extremely low levels.
In 2009, owner-occupants accounted for nearly 33 percent of REO purchases in Wayne County. By the third quarter of this year, their share had risen to just over 37 percent.
Wayne County was the only market that had an owner occupancy rate for single-family REO sales below 50 percent in 2009.

By the third quarter of 2011, owner occupancy rates for REO sales in an additional four of the studied counties had fallen below 50 percent, including Maricopa County, Arizona; Osceola County, Florida; Miami-Dade County, Florida; and Clark County, Nevada.
Most markets included in the study saw their share of owner-occupant REO buyers drop by double-digits over the three-year period.
Kevin Stein is with the California Reinvestment Coalition, a nonprofit organization that advocates for increased access to credit on behalf of California’s low-income communities.
Commenting on New Vista’s results, Stein said, “We are troubled by the significant drop in owner occupant purchases of REO properties in these hard hit markets, which is no doubt compounded by decreased access to credit and a failure to repair foreclosed properties to move-in condition.”
Stein says the increased investor acquisition of REOs is reversing the years of community development progress that nonprofits have facilitated.
“We need to ensure that lenders, nonprofits and government agencies are working together to give qualified homebuyers a fair chance to purchase REO properties and help stabilize residential neighborhoods,” Stein added.
While New Vista has been tracking the study’s findings since the first quarter of 2009, company management elected to formally publish the index in response to a growing focus on investor-driven solutions to the nation’s residential real estate crisis.
“Several initiatives now under consideration promise to channel more houses to investors rather than to owner-occupant purchasers,” Hurley noted.
“We timed the first release of our study to raise awareness of the community impacts that current REO disposition practices are already having,” he explained.
Hurley says bulk sales, drop-bid foreclosure auctions, and proposals under review by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to facilitate the sale of government-owned REOs for rental purposes all promise to move more REOs out of local real estate markets.
“Before the market adopts new strategies to address an expected surge in foreclosure volumes, we wanted the owner-occupancy impact of current approaches to be well understood,” Hurley said.
New Vista’s “Index of the Percentage of Single Family REO Properties Sold to Owner-Occupant Buyers” will now be published quarterly.
The company plans to increase coverage to include additional markets in 2012. (DSNews.com)

Rate on 30-year fixed mortgage falls to 3.98%

WASHINGTON – The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage hovered above its record low for a fourth straight week. But cheap mortgage rates have done little to boost home sales or refinancing.

Freddie Mac says the rate on the 30-year fixed loan fell to 3.98% percent from 4% the previous week. Seven weeks ago, it dropped to a record low of 3.94%, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage edged down to 3.3 percent from 3.31%. Seven weeks ago, it too hit a record low of 3.26%.

Rates have been below 5% for all but two weeks this year. Yet this year could be the worst for home sales in 14 years. (USA Today)

First-Time Buyers Drop Off as Tax Credits Expired…

According to results from the C.A.R. 2011 Annual Housing Market Survey, the share of first-time buyers declined from 44 percent in 2010 to 34 percent in 2011, and fell for the second straight year. The proportion of first-time buyers was the lowest in the last four years, and it was the first time since 2008 that the share dropped below the long-run average of about 39 percent.
Demand for entry-level homes dropped significantly so far this year after the federal and the state tax credits expired in the second half of 2010. Tax credits were a big factor in many first-time buyers’ decision to purchase a home in the last two years, as seven in 10 surveyed* said the federal tax credit was either “very important” or “most important” in their home buying decision. Results from the Annual Housing Market Survey also support this finding as seven percent of all first-time buyers bought their homes primarily because of tax advantages in 2009 and 2010, however less than one percent in 2011 claimed that to be their primarily reason for purchasing a home.
   
        (*C.A.R.’s 2009 First-Time Home Buyers Tax Credit Survey)

Online Real Estate Auctions vs Live Auctions

Online Real Estate Auctions

Internet technology changed the way most companies around the world are doing business today. The same technology has also changed the real estate and auction industry. Not too long ago, auction companies conducted only live auctions. Bidders had to be at the auction location at a specific time and date in order to physically bid on the property. If they were a minute late, they missed the chance to register and bid. Once the auctioneer declared the auction open, nobody else could enter the bidding process. Other factors, such as adverse weather conditions, could also hinder the process of a live auction. Later, live auctions improved with the introduction of online technology, which allowed bidders to bid on a property without being present at the auction location. The auctioneer could call out the bids and, at the same time, monitor the computer screen for bids received through the Internet. Again, however, even in this scenario, if you missed the date and time of the auction, you missed your chance to buy the property. The concept of online auctions has, therefore, represented a huge breakthrough for the auction industry. Online auctions eliminate the hassle associated with conducting the actual auction in front of the property on a certain date and time. The online auction is simply conducted online for a set period of time. During this time, bidders can place their bids, online, any time they desire, from the comfort of their home or office. There is no longer a need for an auctioneer to calls. The auction website acts as the ‘auctioneer’.

George Avram

Broker/Owner/Real Estate Auctioneer

Continental Realty Inc.

16 Crow Canyon Court Suite 100

San Ramon CA 94583

DRE# 01422589

925-548-5461

www.24by7bid.com