Market Trends and Condition

These are short excerpts from the week’s real estate news.

Home Buying Most Affordable in Decades

CNNMoney article says that buying a home now is more affordable than it has been in the last twenty years. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index hit a record level of affordability due to low home prices and rock-bottom mortgage rates.

Home affordability at this extremely high level isn’t translating into sales though. The tough mortgage market and people’s inability to afford down payments make it impossible for a large portion of potential home buyers to purchase even if they are inclined to do so.

30-Year Mortgage Rate Holds at Record Low

When the bubble burst in 2008; property values plummeted and homeowners thought their taxes would go down as well, but there are several reasons for this, such as, property tax assessment limits and reappraisal cycles, but one is able to appeal to get the property taxes down. Sometimes the property taxes are not even correct in the first place for who knows why, such as having extra rooms or facilities that you do not even have. To see more go to this link

http://nationalreihomes.com/real-estate-news-blog.html

It appears that the percentage of loans that fell into delinquency the last quarter of 2011 is slowly returning to normal levels, with fewer loans falling into foreclosure. On a seasonally adjusted basis, 7.58% of mortgage borrowers were late on their loan payments during the last three months of 2011. This was down 0.67 percent from 12 months earlier, and 2.5 percent off the peak set in the first quarter of 2010.

The $26 billion mortgage abuse settlement seems to be over and done. Since many lenders were slowing their pace of foreclosures during the negotiations, it’s now expected that there will be a resurgence in foreclosure activity.

RealtyTrac.com states that last year’s 34% decline in foreclosures wasn’t about a better housing market. Instead, it was a slowing of foreclosure filings due to the problems lingering from the robo-signing scandal and the negotiations with the government about restitution to homeowners abused in the process. RealtyTrac.com estimates that foreclosure filings will climb from 1.9 million in 2011 to somewhere near 2.5 million in 2012.

http://nationalreihomes.com/real-estate-news-blog.html

Nothing, except the underlying theme of BE CAREFUL OUT THERE as even the gurus don't know what is going on. Each market is different and each investor should determine how much risk they are willing to bear.

Here is a story from CNBC.com:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46425342

Here is a story from CNBC.com:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46396717

Here is a story from CNBC.com:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46413058

Big States Ready to Make Deal

The ongoing state negotiations with major lenders has been stalled for a while but may be about to move forward. The negotiations are about financial relief for more than a million homeowners allegedly abused by lenders in their foreclosure processes.

New York and California have been holdouts, but have now indicated that they are willing to join the other states in a settlement that could be in the neighborhood of $26 billion. These negotiations have been going on for more than a year, mostly centered around the “robo-signing” scandal when lenders foreclosed with improper paperwork.

As of Wednesday night, 42 states had signed onto the settlement deal.

Fannie Mae Rolls Out Online Purchase Offers