U.S. banking regulators are close to finalizing new national guidelines that will impact mortgage servicing shops after an interagency investigation revealed "significant weaknesses in mortgage servicing related to foreclosure oversight and operations," said John Walsh, the Acting Comptroller of the Currency, in prepared statements to be delivered before a Senate Banking panel today. "In general, the examinations found critical deficiencies and shortcomings in foreclosure governance processes, foreclosure document preparation processes, and oversight and monitoring of third-party law firms and vendors," Walsh said.
"These deficiencies have resulted in violations of state and local foreclosure laws, regulations, or rules and have had an adverse affect on the functioning of the mortgage markets and the U.S. economy as a whole." Walsh said even though the process of outlining new guidelines for servicers is at its early stage, regulators intend to address some of the pressing issues they discovered while investigating the servicing process — namely a lack of national standards for the foreclosure process and borrower confusion over whom to contact in foreclosure cases due to uncertain protocols.
Walsh's report on the investigation of loan servicing firms comes on the heels of a major announcement from the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS. MERS, which is an electronic registry of mortgage records, informed members late Wednesday that they are now prohibited from foreclosing on residential loans using the MERS name. MERS has long been the target of foreclosure defense attorneys and consumer advocates for creating a foreclosure process that fails to create transparent oversight and protocols.
Walsh said as part of their comprehensive examination of servicing shops, regulators examined Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS), MERSCORP, the parent company of MERS, and MERS itself. After reviewing the servicing shops and examining bank self assessments, as well as 2,800 foreclosure cases, Walsh said investigators concluded that there were "significant weaknesses in mortgage servicing related to foreclosure oversight and operations." He said regulators have yet to finalize their proposed guidelines, but that will be the next step in the process.
American Eagle Realty can help with all of your real estate needs including foreclosure. American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
Whether you want buy, rent, or sell a home we can assist you.
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Foreclosure Sales Rise Dramatically in Key States
Foreclosure Sales Rise Dramatically in Key States
Published: Tuesday, 15 Feb 2011 | 2:33 PM ET
By: Diana Olick
CNBC Real Estate Reporter
Last week a foreclosure report from RealtyTrac showed the process was still completely skewed by the so-called "robo-signing" (faulty paperwork) issues at some of the nation's largest mortgage servicers that were uncovered last fall. Another report today from ForeclosureRadar.com, which only tracks a few states out West, shows some important micro-moves that will have a big impact on the Spring housing market.
ForeclosureRadar.com shows that foreclosure sales, that is, either bank repossessions or sales to third parties (usually at the courthouse steps and often investors) jumped dramatically in January from the previous month in some crucial states.
In California, bank repossessions jumped 51.5 percent, in Arizona 56.2 percent, in Nevada up 36.8 percent.
"We have not seen this level of activity on the courthouse steps for months," says Sean O'Toole, CEO and Founder of ForeclosureRadar.com. "The increase in foreclosures is just in time to provide a fresh supply of entry level homes for the spring home buying season."
More inventory is not what this housing market needs, especially not what home builders need, and especially in those hard hit states where there is already do much foreclosure and builder inventory. Home builder sentiment hasn't budged in four months, according to a new report today from the National Association of Home Builders. One of the main reasons for the chronic low confidence is competition from foreclosures.
Something else important to note is something I've mentioned before, but really became clear in January's numbers. Notices of Default (NOD), the first phase of the foreclosure process, fell off dramatically in January in California especially.
"Remember, December was a holiday month, and a holiday moratorium month," mortgage consultant Mark Hanson tells me. "There may have been 14 or 15 [work] days in December, therefore, in California with 23.5K NOD, that's 1680 per day. In January there were 21 days and 25.1K NOD. That's only 1195 a day."
So bottom line. Average daily NOD rate for CA fell from 1680 per day to 1195 per day from December to January, or 29 percent, according to Hanson.
Why are the banks holding off? Likely trying to be ultra-careful to avoid lawsuits, or trying to manage the pipeline as they now pump out the foreclosure sales. One thing we do know, the drop in NOD's is not because the market/economy suddenly turned around. They're coming.
American Eagle Realty can help with all of your real estate needs including foreclosure. American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
Whether you want buy, rent, or sell a home we can assist you.
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Published: Tuesday, 15 Feb 2011 | 2:33 PM ET
By: Diana Olick
CNBC Real Estate Reporter
Last week a foreclosure report from RealtyTrac showed the process was still completely skewed by the so-called "robo-signing" (faulty paperwork) issues at some of the nation's largest mortgage servicers that were uncovered last fall. Another report today from ForeclosureRadar.com, which only tracks a few states out West, shows some important micro-moves that will have a big impact on the Spring housing market.
ForeclosureRadar.com shows that foreclosure sales, that is, either bank repossessions or sales to third parties (usually at the courthouse steps and often investors) jumped dramatically in January from the previous month in some crucial states.
In California, bank repossessions jumped 51.5 percent, in Arizona 56.2 percent, in Nevada up 36.8 percent.
"We have not seen this level of activity on the courthouse steps for months," says Sean O'Toole, CEO and Founder of ForeclosureRadar.com. "The increase in foreclosures is just in time to provide a fresh supply of entry level homes for the spring home buying season."
More inventory is not what this housing market needs, especially not what home builders need, and especially in those hard hit states where there is already do much foreclosure and builder inventory. Home builder sentiment hasn't budged in four months, according to a new report today from the National Association of Home Builders. One of the main reasons for the chronic low confidence is competition from foreclosures.
Something else important to note is something I've mentioned before, but really became clear in January's numbers. Notices of Default (NOD), the first phase of the foreclosure process, fell off dramatically in January in California especially.
"Remember, December was a holiday month, and a holiday moratorium month," mortgage consultant Mark Hanson tells me. "There may have been 14 or 15 [work] days in December, therefore, in California with 23.5K NOD, that's 1680 per day. In January there were 21 days and 25.1K NOD. That's only 1195 a day."
So bottom line. Average daily NOD rate for CA fell from 1680 per day to 1195 per day from December to January, or 29 percent, according to Hanson.
Why are the banks holding off? Likely trying to be ultra-careful to avoid lawsuits, or trying to manage the pipeline as they now pump out the foreclosure sales. One thing we do know, the drop in NOD's is not because the market/economy suddenly turned around. They're coming.
American Eagle Realty can help with all of your real estate needs including foreclosure. American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
Whether you want buy, rent, or sell a home we can assist you.
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Sunday, February 13, 2011
S.A.F.E Act Changes In Kentucky
BIG NEWS IN KENTUCKY!!! The Kentucky Department of Financinal Institutions ("DFI") has announced that the Secure And Fair Enforecement for Mortgage Licensing Act (a/k/a the S.A.F.E. Act) does NOT apply to INVESTOR BUYERS!
This is a new interpretation of the SAFE Act in Kentucky. In the past, we were told that Investor Buyers were not allowed to purchase with Private Financing or Seller Financing unless 1) the lender (seller or private lender) was licensed in Kentucky as a loan officer; 2) the lender was an owner occupant of the property being sold and financed at the time of the sale; OR 3) the lender was closely related to the Buyer.
The definition of a "mortgage loan" in the SAFE Act refers to a loan given primarily for "personal, family or household use." However, the Kentucky DFI originally did not recognize "investor buyers" as exempt under the Kentucky SAFE Act. That has now changed. Even though the law hasn't changed, the DFI's interpretation of the law has.
Therefore, effective immediately, Investor Buyers are able to obtain seller financing or private financing without the lender being a licensed loan officer, an owner occupant seller or a close relative.
The intent of the SAFE Act was to protect "consumers" (defined as someone purchasing for personal, family or household use). In our opinion, Kentucky's DFI correctly exempts investors because they don't fit this definition.
We have been pushing for this answer from Kentucky's DFI for nearly a year now. And finally, we have what we wanted.
Hopefully, in the future there will be an exemption that allows private lenders or sellers to give up to 3 or so loans in a 12 month period, but that literally is going to require "an Act of Congress." But it does appear that Congress is moving in that direction.
From: Borders & Borders Attorneys
American Eagle Realty can help with all of your real estate needs including foreclosure. American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
Whether you want buy, rent, or sell a home we can assist you.
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Cash Buyers Lift Housing
Richard Stoker, with wife, Jane, is buying three Miami Beach condos.
Buyers in markets around the U.S. are snapping up homes in all-cash deals, betting that prices are at or near bottom and breathing life into some of the nation's most battered housing markets.
Cash buyers represented more than half of all transactions in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area last year, according to an analysis from real-estate portal Zillow.com. In the fourth quarter of 2006, they represented just 13% of deals. Meanwhile, downtown Miami prices rose 15% in 2010 from a year earlier, according to the Miami Downtown Development Authority.
WSJ's Mitra Kalita reports more and more homebuyers are selling investments to pay cash for real estate, sensing a bottom in the housing market.
The percentage of buyers in Phoenix paying cash hit 42% in 2010—more than triple the rate in 2008, according to Raymond James's equity research division.
Nationally, 28% of sales were all-cash transactions last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. The rate was 14% in October 2008, when the trade group began tracking the measure.
The jump in real-estate purchases made with cash is another sign of the revival of animal spirits in the U.S. economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 69.48 points Monday, or 0.6%, to 12161.63, and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 8.18 points, or 0.6%, to 1319.05.
Monday's announcements of $13 billion in acquisitions lifted stocks on hopes of more deals, share buybacks and dividends as companies regain momentum in an improving economy.
Journal Community
The two stock indexes have soared more than 80% since early March 2009.
The Federal Reserve reported that Americans increased their use of credit cards in December for the first time since August 2008, showing that consumers are getting less skittish about opening their wallets. Investors also were soothed Monday by encouraging signs in Egypt, including last weekend's reopening of banks.
Residential real estate has been slower to bounce back than stocks, but the presence of apparent bargains is luring in newly confident buyers.
Richard Stoker, a retired sales executive, recently plunked down cash for two condominiums in Miami Beach, and plans to close on one more in coming days. He loves the complex's ocean views, four swimming pools and activities such as yoga and Pilates.
But what also motivated the purchase, said the 73-year-old, was that "the prices were just irresistible. Florida's been hit pretty hard." To pay the $1.8 million, $1.2 million and $1 million prices on the condos, Mr. Stoker and his wife, Jane, cashed out of some financial investments and sold a Roy Lichtenstein painting and an Alexander Calder mobile.
Mr. Stoker could have taken out mortgages, but decided to pay cash. "It was a good time to lighten up in the art market and take on real estate at a favorable price," he said.
The harder a market has been hit, say economists, the higher the percentage of cash deals. Last summer, piano teacher Virginia Hall-Busch told a real-estate agent she met through the Rotary Club to keep her posted on deals on historic houses in Stone Mountain, Ga.
A few days later, Ms. Hall-Busch, 62, got a call about a 1918 bungalow with three bedrooms and one bathroom listed for "short sale," which in the real-estate world means at a price lower than what's owed on it. The home had been on the market for $159,000, then dropped to $129,000 and then to $79,900.
"I offered them 50," she said. "I figured, it wasn't like I needed a place to live. I can afford to be a little cocky here."
Ms. Hall-Busch closed in October for $52,500 and began renovations within weeks.
"When you have a bad economy, it's hard on lots of people," she said. "But right now if you've got the money to put down on a house, long term it's going to be good thing."
Some of the cash purchases reflect a tight lending environment, where even people with good credit and ample down payments are sometimes turned away for conventional borrowing.
"The rates are great but the underwriting is brutal," said Henry Schlangen, an agent with real-estate firm Pacific Union International who buys and sells for clients, mainly in Napa Valley, Calif.
"They hang these people upside down and shake them till they see what falls out of their pockets. So people are buying with cash and maybe they'll 'refi' later."
Mr. Schlangen, who deals in higher-end properties such as vineyard estates, estimated that 95% of his deals last year were all-cash, up from about half in previous years. "The deals that are consummating, these are buyers who feel they got a great deal," he said, noting a surge of buyers from China.
Cash buyers can often command 5% to 10% more off the asking price than a potential buyer using a mortgage, said Mohammed Siddiq, a real-estate professional in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Sellers prefer cash deals since they close more quickly and avoid risks such as a buyer's job loss or a bank's changing its mind.
And while many buyers making low-ball offers dig their heels, Mr. Siddiq said he has started to see bidding wars and slightly increasing prices.
Nationally, it isn't clear whether prices have bottomed. The Case-Shiller index of housing prices in 20 cities showed a steep decline in prices until 2009, when they appeared to bottom and began to trend upward. But in the second half of last year, prices began falling again. A Zillow index, meanwhile, never noted the uptick.
Since mid-October, Canyon Ranch in Miami Beach, the development Mr. Stoker bought into, has sold 35 units, with a third of the buyers from overseas and many others retiring from the Northeast.
The Stokers have a home in Potomac, Md., but spend most of the year in Florida. Mr. Stoker doesn't plan to rent out any of his new properties, saying he and his wife will live in one with two dogs, his son might live in another and the third will house an older dog and guests.
By S. MITRA KALITA
Jason Henry for The Wall Street Journal
American Eagle Realty can help with all of your real estate needs including foreclosure. American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
Whether you want buy, rent, or sell a home we can assist you.
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Buyers in markets around the U.S. are snapping up homes in all-cash deals, betting that prices are at or near bottom and breathing life into some of the nation's most battered housing markets.
Cash buyers represented more than half of all transactions in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area last year, according to an analysis from real-estate portal Zillow.com. In the fourth quarter of 2006, they represented just 13% of deals. Meanwhile, downtown Miami prices rose 15% in 2010 from a year earlier, according to the Miami Downtown Development Authority.
WSJ's Mitra Kalita reports more and more homebuyers are selling investments to pay cash for real estate, sensing a bottom in the housing market.
The percentage of buyers in Phoenix paying cash hit 42% in 2010—more than triple the rate in 2008, according to Raymond James's equity research division.
Nationally, 28% of sales were all-cash transactions last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. The rate was 14% in October 2008, when the trade group began tracking the measure.
The jump in real-estate purchases made with cash is another sign of the revival of animal spirits in the U.S. economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 69.48 points Monday, or 0.6%, to 12161.63, and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 8.18 points, or 0.6%, to 1319.05.
Monday's announcements of $13 billion in acquisitions lifted stocks on hopes of more deals, share buybacks and dividends as companies regain momentum in an improving economy.
Journal Community
The two stock indexes have soared more than 80% since early March 2009.
The Federal Reserve reported that Americans increased their use of credit cards in December for the first time since August 2008, showing that consumers are getting less skittish about opening their wallets. Investors also were soothed Monday by encouraging signs in Egypt, including last weekend's reopening of banks.
Residential real estate has been slower to bounce back than stocks, but the presence of apparent bargains is luring in newly confident buyers.
Richard Stoker, a retired sales executive, recently plunked down cash for two condominiums in Miami Beach, and plans to close on one more in coming days. He loves the complex's ocean views, four swimming pools and activities such as yoga and Pilates.
But what also motivated the purchase, said the 73-year-old, was that "the prices were just irresistible. Florida's been hit pretty hard." To pay the $1.8 million, $1.2 million and $1 million prices on the condos, Mr. Stoker and his wife, Jane, cashed out of some financial investments and sold a Roy Lichtenstein painting and an Alexander Calder mobile.
Mr. Stoker could have taken out mortgages, but decided to pay cash. "It was a good time to lighten up in the art market and take on real estate at a favorable price," he said.
The harder a market has been hit, say economists, the higher the percentage of cash deals. Last summer, piano teacher Virginia Hall-Busch told a real-estate agent she met through the Rotary Club to keep her posted on deals on historic houses in Stone Mountain, Ga.
A few days later, Ms. Hall-Busch, 62, got a call about a 1918 bungalow with three bedrooms and one bathroom listed for "short sale," which in the real-estate world means at a price lower than what's owed on it. The home had been on the market for $159,000, then dropped to $129,000 and then to $79,900.
"I offered them 50," she said. "I figured, it wasn't like I needed a place to live. I can afford to be a little cocky here."
Ms. Hall-Busch closed in October for $52,500 and began renovations within weeks.
"When you have a bad economy, it's hard on lots of people," she said. "But right now if you've got the money to put down on a house, long term it's going to be good thing."
Some of the cash purchases reflect a tight lending environment, where even people with good credit and ample down payments are sometimes turned away for conventional borrowing.
"The rates are great but the underwriting is brutal," said Henry Schlangen, an agent with real-estate firm Pacific Union International who buys and sells for clients, mainly in Napa Valley, Calif.
"They hang these people upside down and shake them till they see what falls out of their pockets. So people are buying with cash and maybe they'll 'refi' later."
Mr. Schlangen, who deals in higher-end properties such as vineyard estates, estimated that 95% of his deals last year were all-cash, up from about half in previous years. "The deals that are consummating, these are buyers who feel they got a great deal," he said, noting a surge of buyers from China.
Cash buyers can often command 5% to 10% more off the asking price than a potential buyer using a mortgage, said Mohammed Siddiq, a real-estate professional in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Sellers prefer cash deals since they close more quickly and avoid risks such as a buyer's job loss or a bank's changing its mind.
And while many buyers making low-ball offers dig their heels, Mr. Siddiq said he has started to see bidding wars and slightly increasing prices.
Nationally, it isn't clear whether prices have bottomed. The Case-Shiller index of housing prices in 20 cities showed a steep decline in prices until 2009, when they appeared to bottom and began to trend upward. But in the second half of last year, prices began falling again. A Zillow index, meanwhile, never noted the uptick.
Since mid-October, Canyon Ranch in Miami Beach, the development Mr. Stoker bought into, has sold 35 units, with a third of the buyers from overseas and many others retiring from the Northeast.
The Stokers have a home in Potomac, Md., but spend most of the year in Florida. Mr. Stoker doesn't plan to rent out any of his new properties, saying he and his wife will live in one with two dogs, his son might live in another and the third will house an older dog and guests.
By S. MITRA KALITA
Jason Henry for The Wall Street Journal
American Eagle Realty can help with all of your real estate needs including foreclosure. American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
Whether you want buy, rent, or sell a home we can assist you.
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Monday, February 7, 2011
Foreclosures Expected to Peak in 2011
NEW YORK -- The bleakest year in foreclosure crisis has only just begun.
Lenders are poised to take back more homes this year than any other since the U.S. housing meltdown began in 2006. About 5 million borrowers are at least two months behind on their mortgages and more will miss payments as they struggle with job losses and loans worth more than their home's value, industry analysts forecast.
"2011 is going to be the peak," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc. The firm predicts 1.2 million homes will be repossessed this year by lenders.
The outlook comes after banks repossessed more than 1 million homes in 2010, RealtyTrac said Thursday. That marked the highest annual tally of properties lost to foreclosure on records dating back to 2005.
One in 45 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last year, or a record high of 2.9 million homes. That's up 1.67 percent from 2009.
For December, 257,747 U.S. homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice. That was the lowest monthly total in 30 months. The number of notices fell 1.8 percent from November and 26.3 percent from December 2009, RealtyTrac said.
The pace slowed in the final two months of 2010 as banks reviewed their foreclosure processes after allegations surfaced in September that evictions were handled improperly. Under increased scrutiny by the government, lenders temporarily halted taking actions against borrowers severely behind on their payments.
However, most banks have since resumed their eviction processes, and the first quarter will likely show a rebound in foreclosure activity, Sharga said.
Foreclosures are expected to remain elevated through the year as homeowners contend with stubbornly high unemployment, tougher credit standards for refinancing and falling home values. Sharga said he expects prices to dip another 5 percent nationally before finally bottoming out. The decline will push more borrowers underwater on their mortgages. Already, about one in five homeowners with a mortgage owe more than their home is worth.
The pain likely will be the most acute in states that have already been hit hard. That includes former housing boom states Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California, along with states that are suffering most from the economic downturn, including Michigan and Illinois.
Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate in 2010 for the fourth straight year, despite a 5 percent decline in activity from the year before. One in every 11 households received a foreclosure filing last year in the state. In December, foreclosure activity increased 18 percent from November with a 71 percent spike in bank repossessions.
Arizona and California also showed sharp December increases in the number of homes banks took back, at 52 percent and 47 percent, respectively. Arizona, along with Florida, finished the year at No. 2 and No. 3 for the highest foreclosure rates.
One in every 17 Arizona households got a foreclosure filing last year, while one in 18 received a notice in Florida.
California, Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Illinois and Colorado rounded out the top ten states with the highest foreclosure rates.
More than half of the country's foreclosure activity came out of five states in 2010: California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan. Together, these states recorded almost 1.5 million households receiving a filing, despite year-over-year decreases in California, Florida and Arizona.
RealtyTrac tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions -- warnings that can lead up to a home eventually being lost to foreclosure.
American Eagle Realty can help with all of your real estate needs including foreclosure. American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
Whether you want buy, rent, or sell a home we can assist you.
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Lenders are poised to take back more homes this year than any other since the U.S. housing meltdown began in 2006. About 5 million borrowers are at least two months behind on their mortgages and more will miss payments as they struggle with job losses and loans worth more than their home's value, industry analysts forecast.
"2011 is going to be the peak," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc. The firm predicts 1.2 million homes will be repossessed this year by lenders.
The outlook comes after banks repossessed more than 1 million homes in 2010, RealtyTrac said Thursday. That marked the highest annual tally of properties lost to foreclosure on records dating back to 2005.
One in 45 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last year, or a record high of 2.9 million homes. That's up 1.67 percent from 2009.
For December, 257,747 U.S. homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice. That was the lowest monthly total in 30 months. The number of notices fell 1.8 percent from November and 26.3 percent from December 2009, RealtyTrac said.
The pace slowed in the final two months of 2010 as banks reviewed their foreclosure processes after allegations surfaced in September that evictions were handled improperly. Under increased scrutiny by the government, lenders temporarily halted taking actions against borrowers severely behind on their payments.
However, most banks have since resumed their eviction processes, and the first quarter will likely show a rebound in foreclosure activity, Sharga said.
Foreclosures are expected to remain elevated through the year as homeowners contend with stubbornly high unemployment, tougher credit standards for refinancing and falling home values. Sharga said he expects prices to dip another 5 percent nationally before finally bottoming out. The decline will push more borrowers underwater on their mortgages. Already, about one in five homeowners with a mortgage owe more than their home is worth.
The pain likely will be the most acute in states that have already been hit hard. That includes former housing boom states Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California, along with states that are suffering most from the economic downturn, including Michigan and Illinois.
Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate in 2010 for the fourth straight year, despite a 5 percent decline in activity from the year before. One in every 11 households received a foreclosure filing last year in the state. In December, foreclosure activity increased 18 percent from November with a 71 percent spike in bank repossessions.
Arizona and California also showed sharp December increases in the number of homes banks took back, at 52 percent and 47 percent, respectively. Arizona, along with Florida, finished the year at No. 2 and No. 3 for the highest foreclosure rates.
One in every 17 Arizona households got a foreclosure filing last year, while one in 18 received a notice in Florida.
California, Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Illinois and Colorado rounded out the top ten states with the highest foreclosure rates.
More than half of the country's foreclosure activity came out of five states in 2010: California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan. Together, these states recorded almost 1.5 million households receiving a filing, despite year-over-year decreases in California, Florida and Arizona.
RealtyTrac tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions -- warnings that can lead up to a home eventually being lost to foreclosure.
American Eagle Realty can help with all of your real estate needs including foreclosure. American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
Whether you want buy, rent, or sell a home we can assist you.
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Homes Get Smaller, More Energy Efficient
What features do buyers want today and in the future? The answer: smaller, more energy efficient homes.
The average size of a new single-family home in 2010 was 2,377 square feet, down from 2,438 square feet in 2009 and down from the peak of 2,520 square feet in 2007 and 2008, according to U.S. Census Bureau data presented by Rose Quint, assistant vice president of survey research for NAHB at the International Builders' Show in Orlando Thursday, Jan. 13.
And the trend will only continue, Quint said, with the 2015 new home size currently projected at 2,150 square feet with fewer bathrooms and smaller garages.
It's hard to say whether home sizes will decline to 1970 levels of 1,500 square feet. But Quint says she believes smaller sizes are here to stay based on demographics.
The U.S. population was 310 million as of April 2010. That's expected to rise to 322 million in 2015 and continue to climb up to 422 million by 2050. The population is also getting older and more diverse. In 2010, 25 percent were over the age of 55, which is expected to grow to 31 percent by 3050.
This rising segment of older home owners will not want to care for huge spaces, Quint said. Then you have Generation Y buyers who are very energy conscious. "People are coming to realize, 'Let's buy what we need,'" said Quint.
The Census Bureau data is congruent with NAHB's findings that builders expect to build smaller homes with more green features in the next five years. Low energy windows, water efficient features, engineered wood beams, joints, or trusses, and energy star ratings are expected to be more revenant.
Builders also expect an increase in living room size as well as more planning for universal design features with homes more easily adaptable for future improvements, said Quint.
Jill Waage, executive editor with Better Homes and Gardens, also presented her magazine's 2011 consumer preferences survey, which was taken the first week of December. According to Waage, the top three improvement priorities for home owners are a laundry room, additional storage, and a home office. "The connection to outdoor living space is also really important," Waage said.
Other trends included in the Better Homes and Gardens study: built-ins, media space for flat screen TVs and gaming systems, and areas of the home wired for technology. Buyers also want combined kitchen, family room, and living room open space. Universal design features, she said, will be incorporated in much more subtle ways. - Erica Christoffer, REALTOR®Magazine
American Eagle Realty can help with all of your real estate needs including foreclosure. American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
Whether you want buy, rent, or sell a home we can assist you.
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
The average size of a new single-family home in 2010 was 2,377 square feet, down from 2,438 square feet in 2009 and down from the peak of 2,520 square feet in 2007 and 2008, according to U.S. Census Bureau data presented by Rose Quint, assistant vice president of survey research for NAHB at the International Builders' Show in Orlando Thursday, Jan. 13.
And the trend will only continue, Quint said, with the 2015 new home size currently projected at 2,150 square feet with fewer bathrooms and smaller garages.
It's hard to say whether home sizes will decline to 1970 levels of 1,500 square feet. But Quint says she believes smaller sizes are here to stay based on demographics.
The U.S. population was 310 million as of April 2010. That's expected to rise to 322 million in 2015 and continue to climb up to 422 million by 2050. The population is also getting older and more diverse. In 2010, 25 percent were over the age of 55, which is expected to grow to 31 percent by 3050.
This rising segment of older home owners will not want to care for huge spaces, Quint said. Then you have Generation Y buyers who are very energy conscious. "People are coming to realize, 'Let's buy what we need,'" said Quint.
The Census Bureau data is congruent with NAHB's findings that builders expect to build smaller homes with more green features in the next five years. Low energy windows, water efficient features, engineered wood beams, joints, or trusses, and energy star ratings are expected to be more revenant.
Builders also expect an increase in living room size as well as more planning for universal design features with homes more easily adaptable for future improvements, said Quint.
Jill Waage, executive editor with Better Homes and Gardens, also presented her magazine's 2011 consumer preferences survey, which was taken the first week of December. According to Waage, the top three improvement priorities for home owners are a laundry room, additional storage, and a home office. "The connection to outdoor living space is also really important," Waage said.
Other trends included in the Better Homes and Gardens study: built-ins, media space for flat screen TVs and gaming systems, and areas of the home wired for technology. Buyers also want combined kitchen, family room, and living room open space. Universal design features, she said, will be incorporated in much more subtle ways. - Erica Christoffer, REALTOR®Magazine
American Eagle Realty can help with all of your real estate needs including foreclosure. American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
Whether you want buy, rent, or sell a home we can assist you.
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Banks Take Back Over 1 Million Homes in 2010
Lenders are poised to take back more homes this year than any other since the U.S. housing meltdown began in 2006. About 5 million borrowers are at least two months behind on their mortgages and more will miss payments as they struggle with job losses and loans worth more than their home's value, industry analysts forecast.
"2011 is going to be the peak," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc.
The outlook comes after banks repossessed more than 1 million homes in 2010, RealtyTrac said Thursday. That marked the highest annual tally of properties lost to foreclosure on records dating back to 2005. One in 45 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last year, or a record high of 2.9 million homes. That's up 1.67 percent from 2009.
For December, 257,747 U.S. homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice. That was the lowest monthly total in 30 months. The number of notices fell 1.8 percent from November and 26.3 percent from December 2009, RealtyTrac said.
The pace slowed in the final two months of 2010 as banks reviewed their foreclosure processes after allegations surfaced in September that evictions were handled improperly. Under increased scrutiny by the government, lenders temporarily halted taking actions against borrowers severely behind on their payments.
However, most banks have since resumed their eviction processes, and the first quarter will likely show a rebound in foreclosure activity, Sharga said.
Foreclosures are expected to remain elevated through the year as homeowners contend with stubbornly high unemployment, tougher credit standards for refinancing and falling home values. Sharga said he expects prices to dip another 5 percent nationally before finally bottoming out. The decline will push more borrowers underwater on their mortgages. Already, about one in five homeowners with a mortgage owe more than their home is worth. The pain likely will be the most acute in states that have already been hit hard. That includes former housing boom states Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California, along with states that are suffering most from the economic downturn, including Michigan and Illinois.
Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate in 2010 for the fourth straight year, despite a 5 percent decline in activity from the year before. One in every 11 households received a foreclosure filing last year in the state. In December, foreclosure activity increased 18 percent from November with a 71 percent spike in bank repossessions.
Arizona and California also showed sharp December increases in the number of homes banks took back, at 52 percent and 47 percent, respectively. Arizona, along with Florida, finished the year at No. 2 and No. 3 for the highest foreclosure rates.
One in every 17 Arizona households got a foreclosure filing last year, while one in 18 received a notice in Florida.
California, Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Illinois and Colorado rounded out the top ten states with the highest foreclosure rates.
More than half of the country's foreclosure activity came out of five states in 2010: California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan. Together, these states recorded almost 1.5 million households receiving a filing, despite year-over-year decreases in California, Florida and Arizona.
RealtyTrac tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions — warnings that can lead up to a home eventually being lost to foreclosure.
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
"2011 is going to be the peak," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc.
The outlook comes after banks repossessed more than 1 million homes in 2010, RealtyTrac said Thursday. That marked the highest annual tally of properties lost to foreclosure on records dating back to 2005. One in 45 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last year, or a record high of 2.9 million homes. That's up 1.67 percent from 2009.
For December, 257,747 U.S. homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice. That was the lowest monthly total in 30 months. The number of notices fell 1.8 percent from November and 26.3 percent from December 2009, RealtyTrac said.
The pace slowed in the final two months of 2010 as banks reviewed their foreclosure processes after allegations surfaced in September that evictions were handled improperly. Under increased scrutiny by the government, lenders temporarily halted taking actions against borrowers severely behind on their payments.
However, most banks have since resumed their eviction processes, and the first quarter will likely show a rebound in foreclosure activity, Sharga said.
Foreclosures are expected to remain elevated through the year as homeowners contend with stubbornly high unemployment, tougher credit standards for refinancing and falling home values. Sharga said he expects prices to dip another 5 percent nationally before finally bottoming out. The decline will push more borrowers underwater on their mortgages. Already, about one in five homeowners with a mortgage owe more than their home is worth. The pain likely will be the most acute in states that have already been hit hard. That includes former housing boom states Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California, along with states that are suffering most from the economic downturn, including Michigan and Illinois.
Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate in 2010 for the fourth straight year, despite a 5 percent decline in activity from the year before. One in every 11 households received a foreclosure filing last year in the state. In December, foreclosure activity increased 18 percent from November with a 71 percent spike in bank repossessions.
Arizona and California also showed sharp December increases in the number of homes banks took back, at 52 percent and 47 percent, respectively. Arizona, along with Florida, finished the year at No. 2 and No. 3 for the highest foreclosure rates.
One in every 17 Arizona households got a foreclosure filing last year, while one in 18 received a notice in Florida.
California, Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Illinois and Colorado rounded out the top ten states with the highest foreclosure rates.
More than half of the country's foreclosure activity came out of five states in 2010: California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan. Together, these states recorded almost 1.5 million households receiving a filing, despite year-over-year decreases in California, Florida and Arizona.
RealtyTrac tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions — warnings that can lead up to a home eventually being lost to foreclosure.
If your worried about foreclosure American Eagle Realty can help you with solid answers about your rights and options before your house is foreclosed on! We are experts in the Short Sale Process and have the experience needed to work with your bank! Loan Mods, too. Contact us we can help, We have helped others we can help you...
American Eagle Realty
www.american-eagle-realty.com
502-969-1801
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