Welcome to the "Z" Team!

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)

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

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)

Blame it on distressed sales for falling home values, according to CoreLogic’s December Home Price Index. From our analysis here in the Placerville, El Dorado County, California region we concur with this study. What are your thoughts?  

Home prices nationwide dropped nearly 5 percent from 2010 to 2011, but if you exclude distressed sales, prices dropped only by 0.9 percent, according to CoreLogic.

“Until distressed sales in the market recede, we will see continued downward pressure on prices,” Mark Fleming, chief economist of CoreLogic, told AOL Real Estate.

The states that saw home prices decline by the largest amounts since the housing peak are Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Michigan, and California. All five states have a high rate of foreclosures too.

Please read more at source: “Distressed Sales Undercut Home Prices in 2011, Study Says,” AOL Real Estate (Feb. 2, 2012)

As the housing market continues to struggle for stabilization, many homeowners are turning to strategic default.  Almost 11 million homes are now underwater, according to Corelogic.  Around 3.5 million homeowners are behind in their payments and another 1.5 million homes are already in the foreclosure process, according to RealtyTrac.

Aside from the moral quandary of whether strategic default is the right decision, there also are other factors we suggest be considered. Plus, obtain advice from professionals.

The borrowers’ credit scores will take a hit. According to FICO, someone with a 680 credit score would see their score decline anywhere between 85-100 points after a strategic default, and someone with a 780 credit score could lose 140-160 points.

Borrowers who are considering strategically defaulting on a house should look at it as a last resort, not a first option.  Financial troubles could be eliminated by refinancing, especially if the Obama administration’s program is implemented.

Each state has its own rules and regulations regarding foreclosures, which affect both the length of the process and what the borrower could be liable for in the end.

Other news from the “Sierra Foothills” of El Dorado, Placer, Amador and Sacramento Counties of California at: www.sierraproperties.com or email: zteam4u@gmail.com

FICO has launched myFICO en Español, the first Spanish-language website where consumers can obtain their personal credit report, credit report analysis, FICO Score and FICO Score analysis in Spanish.

The new site enables users to toggle between Spanish and English, a format that is preferred by many bilingual speakers. More than 600 pages of Spanish-language consumer financial educational materials are available to visitors.

Si tiene ud. interes en comprar una casa o conseguir un prestamo, llamenos ahora y nuestro equipo que habla espanol le puede ayudar. Este es el primer paso para comprar una casa!

To access the site, visit http://espanol.myfico.com

More information at: http://www.fico.com/en/Company/News/Pages/01-24-2012.aspx

Call us at (530) 409-8351 or email: zeller123@gmail.com for personal assistance.

With Marcus & Millichap’s National Apartment Report showing that the U.S. average for asking rents in 2011 came in at $1,061 a month, housing analysts believe more tenants will look to own. 

Some expect the average monthly rent to rise to as much as $1,101 this year, which Paul Bishop of the National Association of REALTORS® says should prompt more potential home buyers to “think twice before renting.”

Plus, another reason some consider buying is that a limited supply of rentals exist fitting their needs. This has been the case in our Placerville, El Dorado County region of California for the past few years.

 Source: “High Apartment Rents Seen Pushing People to Buy Homes,” Investor’s Business Daily (Jan. 27, 2012

 More news at: www.sierraproperties.com or email: zeller@realtor.com

Many in the real estate industry were concerned that a change announced last year to the maximum seller contributions allowed for Federal Housing Administration-insured loans have made more sales to fall apart. The FHA announced last year that it would cut seller contributions from 6 percent to 3 percent for purchases using FHA-insured loans. Seller concessions, such as seller assistance to buyers in closing costs, can play a big part in FHA-financed home sales and in closing transactions.

We believe the previous higher seller contributions helped a lot of families buy a home. Our suggestion is to reinstate 6 percent for the “Sierra Foothills” region of Placerville, El Dorado County, California. What would you recommend for your area? 

Inman News reports that the FHA may be rethinking its seller contribution cap and will likely announce changes to its policy in April. 

“Rather than an across-the-board 3 percent ceiling on all FHA mortgages, the new policy would permit higher seller contributions, probably between 4 and 5 percent, on smaller loan balances,” Inman News reports. “Meanwhile, the 3 percent cap would be mandatory on all loan amounts above some yet-to-be-specified limit.”

Inman News also speculates that a dollar ceiling on seller concessions might be announced, like a maximum cap of $6,000 instead of a percentage.

Source: “FHA Concessions on Seller Concessions?” Inman News (Jan. 25, 2012)