Welcome to the "Z" Team!

“Good News” to share with you! The number of home owners behind on their mortgage payments dropped to the lowest level in three years, according to a report of data from the fourth quarter of 2011 released by the Mortgage Bankers Association. 

“Mortgage performance is also improving faster than the overall economy,” says Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s chief economist. (We’re finding this is not true with some lenders.)

According to MBA, 7.6 percent of residential mortgages were at least 30 days past due on their payments in the fourth quarter of 2011. Last year, the percentage was 8.3, and the peak of 10 percent was reached in early 2010. Mortgage delinquencies usually hover around 5 percent in more stable markets. Let’s hope this trend continues.

Still, while the lower delinquencies serve as an important sign needed for a healing housing market, MBA still cautions that the number of loans in foreclosure remains high. About 4.4 percent of all loans were in foreclosure in the fourth quarter. The peak reached one year earlier was 4.6 percent.

Source: “Mortgage Delinquencies Hit Three-Year Low,” The Wall Street Journal (2/16/12)

Here’s the “good news” from the weekly mortgage market survey. Rates continue to hover at record lows, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage staying at the record low of 3.87 percent since the first week of February, Freddie Mac reports. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the most popular choice among home buyers, has been below 4 percent for the past 11 weeks. 

A closer look at mortgages rates for the week ending Feb. 16: 

30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.87 percent, with an average 0.8 point, matching last week’s average. A year ago at this time, 30-year rates averaged 5 percent. 

15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.16 percent, with an average 0.8 point, also matching last week’s average. Last year at this time, 15-year rates averaged 4.27 percent. 

5-year adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 2.82 percent this week, with an average 0.8 point, dropping slightly from last week’s 2.83 percent average. Last year, 5-year ARMs averaged 3.87 percent. 

Source: Freddie Mac

“Mom and pop investors” are trying to capitalize on a depressed real estate market in the hopes of one day being able to cash in. An article in USA Today highlights this new breed of small-scale investors who like to buy and hold properties, opposed to the high-dollar large investment firms that once dominated the real estate market who preferred to buy and flip their property investments. 

For “mom and pop investors,” the strategy is to buy homes at rock-bottom prices, rent the properties out to cover costs of home ownership for several years, and then one day sell the homes when prices recover. “An unprecedented number of investors are looking into this,” John Burns, CEO OF John Burns Real Estate Consulting, told USA Today. We find some buy for eventual relocation to another area for retirement.

For investors in the rental market, an 8 percent annual return is fairly normal, according to Burns. “That means that someone who buys a $100,000 property — and pays cash for it — makes $8,000 a year after expenses, including maintenance and taxes,” the USA Today article notes. 

The threats of tenant or maintenance issues may be the potential to derail that potential profit, so investors need to be careful. Many of the investors we work with are cautious and seek advice from their real estate agent, property managers or other experts. 

Source: “Mom and Pop Investors Propping Up Home-Buying Market,” USA Today (Feb. 14, 2012)

Thought these points would be of interest to home sellers and their real estate agent to coordinate? We believe, marketing a home is a mutual effort of todays home selling! 

Do you want to increase buyer traffic at an open house? Instead of just a flyer or e-mail blast announcing the event, try to give buyers more reason to come out and tour?

A recent article at RISMedia offers some of the following ideas: 

1. Host a speaker:A guest speaker, such as a general contractor or home stager, may draw more of a crowd. Potential buyers may also be looking to sell their own homes, so a stager can offer tips to spruce up a home for sale. 
2. Offer a gift: Hold a raffle, such as by raffling off a gift certificate. Plus, with a raffle, buyers will have to share their contact information with you, which you can then use to follow up. If there’s ever a price change on the house, be sure to notify them. 
3. Involve the community:Invite the neighbors to come to the open house and share their thoughts about the school system or current events in the community, the RISMedia article suggests. You’ll not only be raising awareness about your listing but also helping “to unite the community on important issues,” the article notes. Just be sure to avoid political issues, which can polarize a crowd.

 Source: “5 Ways to Increase Open House Traffic,” RISMedia (Feb. 14, 2012)

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it will offer nearly $1.8 billion to public housing authorities nationwide, allowing agencies to make large-scale improvements to public housing units. 

The funds also can be used to make energy-efficient upgrades to replace old plumbing and electrical systems, according to HUD. 

 “This funding will help housing authorities address long-standing capital improvements, but it only scratches the surface in addressing the deep backlog we’re seeing across the country,” said Hud’s Shaun Donovan. “Today, we are closer to helping housing authorities and our private sector partners undertake their capital needs over the long haul.”

Source: HUD 

Have you followed this program since it started as a solution to the housing problems? In 2007, 70% of the nations jobs were related to the housing related.  Have the Fed’s programs/ideas since then,  provided economic recovery? Is this just another “Smoke Screen”? Please provide your comments on how or if this may help your region?

A $25 billion mortgage settlement announced between major banks and state and government officials is supposed to bring aid to troubled home owners, but it could also bring a wave of new foreclosures, CNNMoney reports. 

During the year long negotiations, some banks slowed down repossessing homes, and now they may have a backlog of troubled loans on the books — loans that can’t be saved by the deal’s aid on refinancing or mortgage principal reduction. 

“The bottom line is that 2012 will see a lot of foreclosures that should have taken place in 2011 and didn’t,” Rick Sharga, executive vice president for Carrington Holdings, told CNNMoney.

Last year, foreclosure filings dropped 34 percent. This year, Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, estimates that new foreclosure filings will increase to between 2.2 million and 2.5 million compared to last year’s 1.9 million filings in 2011. 

The mortgage deal is aimed at helping home owners avoid foreclosure. One million struggling home owners may see their mortgage principal reduced as part of the deal. But the home owners must be able to afford new, lower payments. The banks will have no choice but to foreclose on home owners who stop making payments altogether or cannot afford a new payment structure on their loan.  

The backlog of foreclosures may not be all bad for the housing market, some experts say. We believe the “Short Sale” trend may come to the rescue? What do you think?

 Source: “Mortgage Deal Means More Foreclosures,” CNNMoney (Feb. 10, 2012)

California’s Gold Rush was more than a century-and-a-half ago, but its Wild West spirit lives on in a dispute between government agencies and a landowner in the Sierra Nevada foothills that some officials describe as one of the most egregious cases of illegal mining they have ever encountered.

The dispute between local and state officials and the owner of the Big Cut Mine is coming to a head after a bureaucratic stalemate that has dragged on for three years, with the county district attorney filing 14 charges, including four felonies, and the state leveling fines approaching $900,000.

Authorities say the land owner has refused to comply with cease-and-desist orders, pay any fines or even to submit to an arrest warrant. He became a fugitive last week after failing to turn him self in as promised.

Full article at source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08…

MY TAKE: Trying to strike Gold buying real estate in El Dorado County, California?

There are a few way you can find gold when buying a home or property. Recently I helped a couple find a home in Placerville, (Old Hangtown). Come to find out though, they wanted to start taking advantage of the recent spike in gold prices they better check on a few things.  After we got into escrow, we reviewed at the preliminary title report. We found out that they did not have the mineral rights to mine for Gold on their property.

Not a big deal for the couple that were buying it as a retirement home. But it could mean something to somebody who wanted to own every aspect of their property. Along with most of the normal things you see, most of the time all you ever see in the prelim is some easement from utility company’s or right of ways for roads. Although most of the time there are no “Big Surprises” you do get from time to time some interesting restriction or small surprises.  Which brings up the dispute of the Wild West gold mining events. Does the owner of the Property have the “Right “to mine on “his” property?  You be the Judge.

Living near Big Cut Road and the mine, I can say it really would not affected my everyday happiness or way of life, But I can see both sides of the issue.  So if you own a home in El Dorado County or thinking of buyer a piece of property , you might want to find out if you have the right to “Strike it Rich” on your Property! 

We would like to share this weekly update! Rates ticked up slightly this week, but still hovered around record lows compared to historical standards, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. Hope this may be of interest to you or a friend.

“A strong January employment report added upward pressure to most mortgage rates this week,” Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent as the economy gained 243,000 jobs last month, the largest gain since April 2011. 

Here’s a closer look at rates for the week ending Feb. 9: 

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.87 percent, with an average 0.8 points. A year ago at this time, 30-year rates averaged 5.05 percent. 
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.16 percent, with an average 0.7 point, rising slightly from last week’s record low of 3.14 percent. But 15-year rates were still far below what they averaged a year ago at this time — 4.29 percent.
• 5-year adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 2.83 percent, with an average 0.7 point, rising from last week’s 2.80 percent average. Last year at this time, 5-year ARMs averaged 3.92 percent. 

Source: Freddie Mac other news at: www.BudZeller.com or zteam4u@gmail.com

Record low mortgage rates are creating more demand for mortgage applications. The Mortgage Bankers Association reports in its most recent weekly mortgage market survey that loan application volume increased 7.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to one week earlier. 

Refinance activity was due to most of that increase last week. Applications for refinancing increased 9.4 percent compared to a week earlier, while applications for purchases only ticked up slightly at 0.1 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage on conforming loans reached its lowest rate in the survey’s history last week — falling from 4.09 percent to 4.05 percent. Freddie Mac was reporting even lower for the week ending Feb. 2, with 30-year rates averaging 3.87 percent nationwide. 

Historically, we’ve found this to be a great time of the year to buy in our region of Placerville, El Dorado County, California. Sellers probably haven’t seen much activity in November and December. Rates generally are at their lowest in January and February?

Source: “Mortgage Applications Surge on Low Interest Rates,” HousingWire (2/ 8/12)

Rising demand and a tightening supply is force both commercial and residential rents upward, and signs point to an increase in prices continuing over the next few years. 

 “The supply side is so constrained because nobody has been building for years” due to the economy and the struggle developers face in getting loans, Mark Stapp, professor of real estate practice at Arizona State University, told MSNBC.com. 

While rents have risen, the cost of home ownership has dropped. In fact, in 74 percent of major U.S. cities, renting may be more expensive than owning a home, a Trulia.com study has found.

In our region of Placerville, El Dorado County, California, residential renting has become more expensive. It’s a matter of few rentals available verses higher than normal tenant demand. Families that that were foreclosed on need to rent for a few years in hope of buying again, or? Let’s keep hoping for change and return to “Home Ownership” .

Source: “Office and Home Rent Will Keep Rising and Rising,” MSNBC.com (Feb. 6, 2012)