Please take a minute to view this lovely home in the heart of Aliso Viejo, nestled behind the gates of Talavera.
21 Francheshi Place – Aliso Viejo
November 14, 2011 By
Home resales fall 9.6% in February and prices are near 9-year low – LA Times Online
March 26, 2011 By
By Jeffry Bartash – LA Times online – March 21, 2011, 2:33 p.m. view the entire article here
The National Assn. of Realtors data reflect a continued slump in the real estate market. One bright spot is that first-time buyers accounted for 34% of home sales last month, up from 29% in January.
Washington —— Sales of previously owned homes dropped 9.6% in February and prices fell to their lowest level since 2002, reflecting a continued slump in the U.S. real estate market.
The National Assn. of Realtors on Monday said home resales dropped to an annual rate of 4.88 million from an upwardly revised 5.4 million in January. The data is seasonally adjusted.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected sales to drop to a rate of 5.1 million.
Sales of new and used homes have been down in the dumps since a housing market bubble burst during the recession. High unemployment, combined with stricter lending standards, have made it harder for Americans to buy homes despite low interest rates.
Banks Boost Home-Loan Relief
February 12, 2011 By
Direct Talks With Borrowers Get More Results Than Government’s Mortgage-Modification Program
By ROBBIE WHELAN and ANTHONY KLAN
As the federal government’s flagship mortgage-modification program comes under scrutiny for failing to meet its goal of helping three to four million troubled homeowners, state-level efforts to boost modifications appear to be picking up momentum.
The Treasury reported Monday that the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, had provided permanent help to 521,630 homeowners since the program began in spring 2009.
By comparison, over the same period, banks negotiating directly with borrowers have made about two million permanent loan modifications outside the government’s program. These modifications continued to rise in recent months even as the number of HAMP modifications trailed off.
The U.S. housing market may take five or six more years to recover, TrimTabs Investment Research warned recently. Madeline Schnapp, director of macroeconomic research at TrimTabs, talks to MarketWatch’s Alistair Barr about what that means for the world’s largest economy.
Critics of HAMP say the program has made little impact on the housing market and should be ended. Last week, House Republicans introduced a bill to end the effort, calling it a “colossal failure.” The administration defends the program.
“I think we’ve got to remember that HAMP has achieved over a half-million modifications. These are people that make $50,000 a year, so to sort of write it off and say, ‘Well, it’s a failure,’ I think is not really appropriate,” said Tim Massad, an acting assistant Treasury secretary, in a hearing on Capitol Hill last week.
Read the full article here...
5 steps to first-time-buyer happiness
February 5, 2011 By
Finding best home depends on preapproval, agent
By Dian Hymer, Inman News
Posted: 01/27/2011 11:13:51 AM PST
Updated: 01/27/2011 11:43:05 AM PST
The first step in the homebuying process is to find out what you can afford to pay for a house, condo or co-op. This will depend on the amount of cash you have available for a down payment, your credit, income, assets and overall financial situation.
Mortgage qualification is easier for buyers who work as employees whose income can be easily verified. Self-employed individuals or buyers with income from investments may find the qualification process more difficult.
A wrinkle in the financing end of the homebuying process is that it’s not as easy to get a preapproval letter from your mortgage broker or loan agent as it used to be. As of Jan. 1, 2010, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) began requiring lenders and mortgages brokers to issue a binding Good Faith Estimate (GFE) within three days of receiving a loan application.
Before then, buyers shopped around for a mortgage. When they saw a house they wanted to buy, they asked their loan agent or broker to provide a preapproval letter to accompany their purchase offer. The loan person would run a credit check and verify the buyers’ income and assets without, in many cases, taking a formal loan application. On the basis of this information, a preapproval letter was written.
Read the full article here
Additionally; this article fits in well with the Orange County Market Update Video that we shoot weekly, and it’s our tip of the week. Check out our Anaheim Hills Market Update here…
Treasury’s HAFA Revamp Effective Feb. 1
January 31, 2011 By
This is great news just released by the National Mortgage News – Monday, January 31, 2011
The Treasury Department has revamped its short sale program by easing income restrictions and documentation requirements for homeowners facing foreclosure. The changes are effective Tuesday, Feb. 1.
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Changes made under Treasury’s Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) program make incentive payments more attractive for second lien holders and for borrowers completing a short sale, or deed in lieu transaction.
Travis Olsen, chief operating officer at Loan Resolution Corp., expects the changes will lead to a big jump in HAFA enrollment. “A lot more people are going to qualify for the program,” he said. “Elimination of the debt-to-income requirement along with the relaxed non-owner occupancy rule makes it easier for those who do qualify to get their short sale successfully closed.” LRC is a Scottsdale, Ariz., vendor that specializes in short sales.
Delinquent homeowners entering the program only have to prove that they used the house as their primary residence at some point in the last 12 months. Previously, it was the last 90 days. Home owners can qualify for the HAFA short sale program if they have moved across town and the property is vacant or rented to a non-borrower.
Borrowers are entitled to a $3,000 relocation incentive payment when a short sale or DIL is completed. When a deed in lieu transaction is completed, the servicer can make the incentive payment even if the borrower stays as a renter under the HAFA changes.
Servicers will have the option to pay the borrower a relocation incentive either upon a successful surrender of title or when the borrower vacates or re-purchases the property at a future date, according a TARP Inspector General report.
Treasury has retained a $6,000 cap on paying off second lien holders but removed a separate cap on paying more than 6% of the unpaid principal balance.
Olsen noted that second lien holders generally want 10% of the UPB to extinguish a home equity loan. Previously, the HAFA cap limited the payoff to $3,000 on a $50,000 HEL. Now, the servicer can pay the $5,000 to satisfy a 10% demand.
The original article can be found by clicking here…
California home sales hit 7-month high in December
January 30, 2011 By
os Angeles Business from bizjournals – by Elizabeth Kim , the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal
Date: Friday, January 21, 2011, 12:00pm PST
California home sales rose in December to their highest level since May, according to a report Friday from the California Association of Realtors, as the inventory of unsold homes dwindled.
December’s sales were up 5.9 percent from November’s revised figure of 491,590 but were down 6.8 percent from the revised 558,840 of December 2009.
The unsold inventory index for existing, single-family detached homes was 5 months in December, down from 6.2 months in November but up from 3.8 months in December 2009. The index indicates the number of months needed to deplete the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate.
Read more: California home sales hit 7-month high in December | Los Angeles Business from bizjournals – Full Story – Click Here…
CalHFA mortgage aid program for jobless begins
January 28, 2011 By
On Monday, more than two months behind schedule, the California Housing Finance Agency will begin taking applications for a federally funded program that will give some unemployed homeowners up to $18,000 each over six months to pay their mortgage.
To qualify, homeowners must meet income and other restrictions and their loan servicer must participate in the program. As of Friday, only three servicers had signed up, but CalHFA expects to have up to 10 by the end of this week.
A very controversial topic right now… what is the benefit to stay current on your mortgage? What happens if the borrower is unable to get a job thereafter? The challenge that I have is that there are no principle reductions or streamline refinance programs available for those that are in good standing, or those on the edge or becoming late or behind due to job curtailment, loss of income, reduced bonuses, changes in interest rates… etc. Very unique times we are experiencing right now. I’m curious, what are your thoughts?
Home seizures by banks decline in state
January 26, 2011 By
Los Angeles Times
While foreclosures climbed 2% nationally, California saw a 14% drop. But California’s high unemployment rate and resetting loans mean the fall in foreclosure activity could be brief.
Fewer Californians grappled with foreclosure last year, bucking a national trend and giving homeowners fresh hope that the state’s housing market could be on the mend.
Trash litters the front yard of a bank-owned home in Phoenix. Arizona was among the states hardest hit by the housing meltdown. (Joshua Lott, Reuters / January 13, 2011)
Fewer Californians grappled with foreclosure last year, bucking a national trend and giving homeowners fresh hope that the state’s housing market could be on the mend.
The 14% drop in foreclosure activity contrasted with a 2% rise nationally, according to data tracking firm RealtyTrac. Analysts noted that California’s housing market was among the first to falter and may now be among the first to recover. Home prices here hit bottom in April 2009, and have gradually risen since then.
If you follow my blog at all… I have a few questions for you. How can anyone know what media forum is correct? Did you see my post yesterday about 1 million homes foreclosed in 2011? While this article is more geographically specific, I would question how accurate is this data, and is it really an issue or a concern to me?
Rather than have uncertainty in the future market, ask yourself, how long am I going to live in my next home? How comfortable am I with my current job, with my current mortgage or rent payment? We have no control over the market; however we as consumers have full control over our individual plans, thoughts and actions.
1 million homes repossessed in 2010
January 25, 2011 By
CNN Money – recent post:
Foreclosures were at a record high in 2010, and more than 1 million people lost their homes, even as notices started leveling off during the end year.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Foreclosures were at a record high in 2010, and more than 1 million people lost their homes, even as notices started leveling off during the end year.
In total, there were nearly 2.9 million foreclosure notices filed during the year, according to report released Thursday by RealtyTrac. That was a record high, but just 1.7% above 2009.
A few key comments in the article address the temporary hold on foreclosures during the 4th quarter of last year, which will lead to increased foreclosure activity 1st and 2nd quarter this year, along with the challenges the banks are experiencing with squatters moving into the vacant properties. Great information!!!