No. 1: ‘5 cities poised for a housing pop’
HSH.com’s most popular article of 2011 is, “5 cities poised for a housing pop.”
Publish date: June 14, 2011
Written by: Robert McGarvey
Elected officials seek weakened lending standards
Are tighter mortgage standards causing a slow-down in real estate sales?
That’s the essential claim made by the National Association of Realtors earlier this week. The NAR says that May’s existing-home sales were down 15.3 percent when compared with a year ago and part of the reason is that lenders are requiring more of borrowers: Read the rest of this entry »
Think you have what it takes to flip houses?
I know at least some of you are seeing these dreadful housing reports on falling home prices and bloated housing inventories and saying to yourself, “Maybe I can cash in on a great deal. Maybe I’ll buy a home for cheap, fix it up and sell it for a profit.”
While I can’t blame you for recognizing an opportunity to snatch up even one of the great deals this county’s real estate market has to offer, I have to warn you that flipping houses isn’t easy and it isn’t a way to make a quick buck. Sure, prices certainly make the opportunity more enticing, but buying, fixing, managing and reselling a property for profit is not for everyone.
Mortgage rates have become a wait and see scenario
Mortgage rates have been pretty erratic throughout the month of January. Last week, mortgage rates mostly made up for the subtle decline we saw the week before:
HSH.com’s overall mortgage tracker — our weekly Fixed-Rate Mortgage Indicator (FRMI) — found that the overall average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased by a mild six basis points, landing at an average 5.11% during a holiday-shortened week. FHA-backed 30-year FRMs, a considerable and crucial part of the first-time homebuying market, ticked just three basis points upward to 4.75% for the week. Borrowers looking to alternatives to the benchmark 30-year FRM might consider a 5/1 Hybrid ARM, which is available at an attractive 3.82%, up just a lone basis point from the week prior. The gap between long-term fixed rates and the most common hybrid ARM should makes them at least a consideration for homebuyers and refinancers with short time horizons. HSH.com’s FRMI and other public data series includes rates for conforming, jumbo, and most recently the GSE’s “high-limit” conforming products and so cover much of the mortgage-borrowing public.
Will we eventually recover, or is this the new normal?
A new survey suggests that a growing number of Americans believe that the economy won’t return to pre-recession levels for years to come:
Fifty-nine percent of Americans feel “not good” or “bad” about the direction the economy is headed, up from 49% in May. And 76% don’t expect their quality of life, including their spending levels, to return to pre-recession levels until 2012 at the earliest, up from 63% who said that in May. That’s according to the findings of a survey released today by AlixPartners LLP, the global business-advisory firm.
Mortgage rates can’t do all the heavy lifting
Back on July 19, we wrote a post titled “It takes more than just low mortgage rates.” Despite mortgage rates falling even further, mortgage activity was the lowest it has been in over a decade:
It takes a lot more than just low mortgage rates to spin the wheels of the housing market; and that couldn’t be more apparent than it is right now. Mortgage rates continue to fall week after week — according to HSH.com the weekly average for the 30-year Conforming fixed rate fell to 4.69% (week ending 7/16/10) — and yet the Mortgage Bankers Association reported the lowest level of mortgage application activity since 1996.
Weekly Recap (9/20/10 – 9/25/10)
Here’s just a taste of every blog post we published this week (click on the titles to read the entire post):
Saturday
“Fannie Mae: HAMP harder to qualify, foreclosures speed up“:
Beginning on November 1, 2010, Fannie Mae will no longer consider unemployment benefits as income for borrowers applying for HAMP. Fannie hopes that the new restriction will serve to curb the large number of HAMP redefaults. This will also mean that fewer borrowers will qualify for the federal modification effort.
Home sales remain dismal: Bring back the homebuyer tax credit
Homebuyer tax credit: Third time’s the charm?
According to the most recent numbers, since it was first introduced in 2008, the homebuyer tax credit helped 3.3 million homeowners and cost the country $23.5 billion.
After President Obama extended the closing deadline to the second portion of the homebuyer tax credit back on July 2, 2010, most of us thought that was it for the credit. However, the homebuyer tax credit has been back in the news ever since HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan failed to give a reporter a straight answer when asked whether the administration was considering a third tax credit.
Mortgage rates find some consistency as summer ends
This summer was quite an interesting time for mortgage rates. Mortgage rates fell a little more than one-third of a percentage point during the summer, seemingly reaching all-new lows every week. Yet as summer has begun to wind down, so have the declines.
For the last six weeks or so, rates have wandered in a very narrow range and seem to be finding some consistency. According to our latest Market Trends Newsletter, “Provided the economy gets no worse, and there is no return of financial panic, mortgage rates don’t really have much place to go.”
Homebuyer tax credit: Third time’s the charm?
According to the most recent numbers, since it was first introduced in 2008, the homebuyer tax credit helped 3.3 million homeowners and cost the country $23.5 billion.
After President Obama extended the closing deadline to the second portion of the homebuyer tax credit back on July 2, 2010, most of us thought that was it for the credit. However, the homebuyer tax credit has been back in the news ever since HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan failed to give a reporter a straight answer when asked whether the administration was considering a third tax credit.
