As most of us are already familiar, distressed real estate–foreclosures, bank-owned or real estate owned (REO) properties and short sales–is taking over many neighborhoods, weighing down home prices and making it harder for homeowners to sell.
However, this very same distressed real estate can come at a steep discount, and pending the condition of the home, could be a great buy for you and your family.
The results of RealtyTrac’s “Q1 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report“ are taking up a lot of headlines across the web. The report, providing little encouraging news to a housing market desperate for a recovery, should however, open the eyes of some prospective homebuyers sitting on the sidelines.
In the first quarter of 2011, distressed real estate–foreclosed homes, short sales and bank-owned properties (REOs)–made up 28 percent of all the existing home sales, a slight increase from the previous quarter. Also, the discount at which foreclosed homes sold at remained unchanged from the previous quarter at 27 percent (the foreclosure discount was 26 percent in the first quarter of 2010). Read the rest of this entry »
If you’re looking at today’s mortgage rates you know that loans never really come with one price. Instead, there are different prices depending on how you structure your loan and how you qualify.
One factor that will influence your mortgage rate is your credit score. The higher your credit score, the greater the chance you’ll qualify for a lower rate. For example, on a scale between 300 and 850, someone with a score of 700 might qualify for a 5 percent mortgage rate while someone with a score of 630 might pay 6.25 percent for the same loan.
Last year was a record-setting year, one of highs and lows. Mortgage rates bottomed out to multi-generational lows, and foreclosures soared to a new record high. RealtyTrac — the leading online marketplace of foreclosure properties — reports today that 3,825,637 foreclosure filings were sent to 2,871,891 properties, an increase of nearly 2 percent from 2009.
It could have been worse
The National Association of Realtors released their Existing-home sales report for October this morning. Reversing two months of positive gains, October’s numbers registered a decline of 2.2 percent. Existing sales are down 2.9 percent from October of last year.
Poor sales figures and erratic reports are expected to continue for quite some time, noted the NAR’s chief economist Lawrence Yun: Read the rest of this entry »
When you read the results of the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance Monthly Survey of Real Estate Market Conditions, it’s easier to understand why September’s Pending Home Sales Index recorded its first decline since June.
For the first time in the Campbell/IMF survey’s history, cash became the number one source of financing for homebuyers. Recently, the FHA has been the predominant source of funding for buyers: Read the rest of this entry »
Any seasoned investor gauges the current state of the market(s) they are in and makes the necessary adjustments to stay at the head of the pack. Real estate investors are no different.
A novice real estate investor would look at the current state of the housing market and say, “Since prices are cheap, I’ll buy a house and sell it as soon as prices increase enough for me to make a reasonable profit.” Even some house flippers are saying to themselves, “I’ll continue to flip, but my profits aren’t going to be as high as they used to be. I’ll just have to work a little harder.”
On the flip side, the real estate investors who really know the pulse and the behaviors of the current market — beyond cheap prices, tight credit and low rates – realize that it’s time to change focus. Goodbye short-term perspective, hello long-term.
Number of permanent loan modifications: 299,000.
Number of trial modifications canceled: 278,000.
Number of “active trials”: 637,353.
Number of trial modifications started over the last seven months: 660,000.
“That suggests that the HAMP trial period is about 7 months!” writes Calculated Risk (CR), a financial blog. CR’s observation does seem to coincide with the feedback we’ve received from some readers of this blog: the trial portion of the loan mod process is taking far longer than the three-month period it’s designed to last; and more often than not, borrowers aren’t surviving this trial stage.
Update2: When we first published this story back in February, long-time blog.HSH.com reader Mitch left us a comment asking if we knew exactly how the states — Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada — planned on spending this money:
I don’t understand how any of this will work, Tim. I get its overall purpose, but I have no idea how or what they’ll do with the money. And based on what you wrote, no one else knows either.
As we do at the end of every week, let’s spend a few minutes reviewing the latest content from HSH.
This week’s posts showcased how the White House’s “reactionary policies” can be unproductive, some important developments to keep your eyes on, as well as our continued focus on mortgage rates and mortgage assistance.
Thursday: Read the rest of this entry »
HSH.com's daily blog focuses on the latest developments in the mortgage and housing markets. Our mission is to relate how changes in mortgage rates and housing policy, as well as the latest financial news, impacts consumers, homebuyers and industry insiders alike. Our 30-plus years of experience in the mortgage industry gives us an edge as we break down the latest changes in an ever-changing market.
