With the Federal Tax Credit deadline passing, April 30th there has been a very noticeable slow down. For example combined South Bay properties pending (reported start of Escrow April vs. May) were down to 799 in May compared to 1009 in April. Inventory, however has continued to climb from 2674 listed in April, 2845 in May and 3084 reported listed in June. Average price per square foot for South Bay, as a whole is at the lowest level since February however that covers a wide range of prices and demographics. As I continue to say, interest rates (whether buying or refinancing) are the highlight. Falling or level pricing and increased inventory is another.
Please contact me for numbers and prices on specific areas, if you’re considering buying, selling or leasing and especially if you believe you’re upside-down on your loan and fear you may lose your home as there are alternatives to foreclosure.
Southland home sales edge up, prices level off
July 13, 2010
Southern California’s housing market continued its slow crawl toward normalcy in June as sales volume rose and the median price slipped back a notch from May, but remained 13 percent higher than a year ago. Red-hot, fire-sale deals continued to give way to mere bargains in the lower- cost inland markets where first-time buyers and investors have competed fiercely, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 23,871 new and resale homes were sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 7.2 percent from 22,270 in May, and up 2.6 percent from 23,262 for June 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.
The sales count was the highest since July last year when 24,104 homes were sold. It was the strongest month of June since 2006 when 31,602 homes sold. The average June since 1988 has had 28,086 sales.
“The market was wildly out of kilter a year ago, now it’s just somewhat out of kilter. We’re still seeing lots of bargain hunting, and we’re not seeing much discretionary buying. The single-biggest issue is still mortgage financing. Rates may be at record lows, but that doesn’t mean much if the lender won’t qualify you,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
“Still, more money was spent last month buying homes in Southern California than in the past two years, and more money was loaned. The tax credits had something to do with that, though it’s not clear exactly how much. With the impact of the credits fading fast, the next few months will tell us a lot.”
The median price paid for a Southland home was $300,000 last month. That was down 1.6 percent from $305,000 in May, and up 13.2 percent from $265,000 for June 2009. The low point of the current cycle was $247,000 in April 2009, the high point was $505,000 in mid 2007. The median’s peak-to-trough drop was due to a decline in home values as well as a shift in sales toward low-cost homes, especially foreclosures.
Foreclosure resales accounted for 33.0 percent of the resale market last month, down from 33.9 percent in May, and down from 45.3 percent a year ago. The all-time high was February 2009 at 56.7 percent, DataQuick reported.
Government-insured FHA loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 39.0 percent of all mortgages used to purchase homes in June.
Last month 20.8 percent of all sales were for $500,000 or more, compared with 22.2 percent in May and 19.3 percent a year ago. Zip codes in the top one-third of the Southland housing market, based on historical prices, accounted for 29.6 percent of existing single-family house sales last month, down from 31.0 percent in May but up from 27.8 percent a year ago. Over the last decade those high-end areas have contributed a monthly average of 33.3 percent of regional sales. Their contribution to overall sales hit a low of 21.0 percent in January 2009.
High-end sales would be stronger, and the overall market recovery more robust, if adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) and “jumbo” loans were more available. Both have become much more difficult to obtain since the August 2007 credit crisis.
While 43.9 percent of all Southland purchase mortgages since 2000 have been ARMs, it was 6.6 percent last month, up from 6.5 percent in May and up from 2.7 percent in June last year.
Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 17.3 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from 17.2 percent in May and from 14.9 percent in June 2009. Before the credit crisis, jumbos accounted for 40 percent of the market.
Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 19.7 percent of the homes sold in June, paying a median of $220,000. Buyers who appeared to have paid all cash – meaning there was no indication that a corresponding purchase loan was recorded – accounted for 23.5 percent of June sales, paying a median $213,000. In February this year cash sales peaked at 30.1 percent. The 22-year monthly average for Southland homes purchased with cash is 14.1 percent.
The “flipping” of homes has also trended higher over the past year. Last month the percentage of Southland homes flipped – bought and re-sold – within a six-month period was 3.4 percent, while a year ago it was 1.9 percent. Last month it varied from as little as 3.0 percent in Orange and San Diego counties to as much as 3.8 percent in Los Angeles County.
MDA DataQuick, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.
The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,251 last month, down from $1,293 for May, and up from $1,193 for June a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 44.3 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They were 54.4 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.
Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but is lower than peak levels reached over the last two years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and non-owner occupied buying is above- average, MDA DataQuick reported.
Source: DataQuick
For more information regarding this post or other real estate information contact Robert Dixon at RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty (310) 703-1848 or email info@robertdixon.net. Content of this or any other post is presumed to be accurate but not guaranteed.
Showing posts with label sales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sales. Show all posts
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
SOLD June, Palos Verdes - South Bay Beach Cities
SOLD during the month of JUNE 2010
61 The number of residential properties sold on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, 90274 and 90275.
120 The number of residential properties sold in the South Bay Beach Cities, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo and Torrance Beach.
Residential properties SOLD during the month of MAY 2010
For more information regarding this post or other real estate information contact Robert Dixon at RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty (310) 703-1848 or email info@robertdixon.net. Content of this or any other post is presumed to be accurate but not guaranteed.
61 The number of residential properties sold on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, 90274 and 90275.
120 The number of residential properties sold in the South Bay Beach Cities, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo and Torrance Beach.
Residential properties SOLD during the month of MAY 2010
For more information regarding this post or other real estate information contact Robert Dixon at RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty (310) 703-1848 or email info@robertdixon.net. Content of this or any other post is presumed to be accurate but not guaranteed.
Monday, June 14, 2010
South Bay Home Sales/Prices April 2009 to 2010
No doubt it is difficult to be too serious about the percentage of loss/gain when looking at such a limited number of sales (per city), as one high or low number can dramatically influence the overall. The devil, as they say is in the details…
Below are numbers (from DataQuick) on April 2010 home sales as compared to April 2009. Data includes homes sold and the percentage of change based on median price 2009 vs 2010. Unfortunately there were no numbers in the report for Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills or Rolling Hills Estates.
Entire report at DQNews - California Home Sale Price Medians by County and City, Home Sales Recorded in April 2010
Los Angeles County 6,334 +9.00%
El Segundo 15 +12.46%
Gardena 31 +10.29%
Harbor City 18 +21.20%
Hawthorne 37 +15.24%
Hermosa Bch 18 -26.54%
Lomita 11 -3.87%
Manhattan Bch 40 +11.72%
Rancho PV 39 +4.38%
Redondo Bch 77 +1.98%
Torrance 106 +18.41%
For more information regarding this post or other real estate information contact Robert Dixon at RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty (310) 703-1848 or email info@robertdixon.net. Content of this or any other post is presumed to be accurate but not guaranteed.
Below are numbers (from DataQuick) on April 2010 home sales as compared to April 2009. Data includes homes sold and the percentage of change based on median price 2009 vs 2010. Unfortunately there were no numbers in the report for Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills or Rolling Hills Estates.
Entire report at DQNews - California Home Sale Price Medians by County and City, Home Sales Recorded in April 2010
Los Angeles County 6,334 +9.00%
El Segundo 15 +12.46%
Gardena 31 +10.29%
Harbor City 18 +21.20%
Hawthorne 37 +15.24%
Hermosa Bch 18 -26.54%
Lomita 11 -3.87%
Manhattan Bch 40 +11.72%
Rancho PV 39 +4.38%
Redondo Bch 77 +1.98%
Torrance 106 +18.41%
For more information regarding this post or other real estate information contact Robert Dixon at RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty (310) 703-1848 or email info@robertdixon.net. Content of this or any other post is presumed to be accurate but not guaranteed.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
SOLD in May, Palos Verdes - South Bay Beach Cities
During the month of May 2010
76 The number of residential properties sold on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, 90274 and 90275.
156 The number of residential properties sold in the South Bay Beach Cities, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo and Torrance Beach.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Southern California Home Sales for March 2010
More Incremental Gains for Southland Real Estate Market
April 13, 2010
Home sales and prices continued their steady but pokey climb up from the bottom in Southern California last month as buyers scrambled to take advantage of low prices and low mortgage interest rates. The market is still tilted toward low-cost distress sales, but not by as much as previously, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 20,476 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 33.3 percent from 15,359 in February, and up 5.0 percent from 19,506 in March 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.
Sales always go up from February to March. Last month was the 21st in a row with a year-over-year sales increase. The March sales average is 24,936 going back to 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.
“It’s a reflection of just how grim things got, that we’ve now had almost two years of sales gains and we’re still 18 percent below the sales average. The market won’t rebalance until mortgage lending patterns normalize, and that’s just not happening yet. Some of the best deals out there right now are happening when the buyer comes in with cash,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
The median price paid for a Southland home was $285,000 last month, up 3.6 percent from $275,000 in February, and up 14.0 percent from $250,000 for March 2009.
The median peaked at $505,000 in mid 2007 and appears, so far, to have bottomed out at $247,000 in April last year. The peak-to-trough drop in the median was due to a decline in home values as well as a shift in sales toward low-cost homes, especially foreclosures.
Foreclosure resales accounted for 38.4 percent of the resale market last month, down from 42.3 percent in February, and down from 54.8 percent a year ago. The all-time high was in February 2009 at 56.7 percent.
As sales of lower-cost foreclosure properties have waned over the past year, activity has picked up from very low levels in many high-end areas. Last month sales of homes priced at $500,000 or more made up 19.4 percent of all Southland transactions, compared with 18.5 percent in February and 14.9 percent in March 2009. Over the past five years, $500,000-plus deals averaged 35 percent of monthly sales, while over the past 10 years they averaged 26 percent of all transactions.
Higher-end sales are still hampered by the troubled jumbo loan market, which has improved only modestly over the past year. Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 15.7 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from 14.8 percent in February and from 10.5 percent in March 2009. However, before the credit crisis in the fall of 2007, jumbos accounted for 40 percent of the market.
Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) haven’t come close to recovering from the credit crunch, either. While 44.6 percent of all Southland purchase mortgages since 2000 have been ARMs, last month they represented just 4.8 percent, up from 4.0 percent in February and 2.1 percent in March last year.
Meanwhile, Uncle Sam continues to prop up lending for many low-to mid-priced homes. Government-insured FHA loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 38.6 percent of all mortgages used to purchase Southland homes in March.
Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 21.3 percent of the homes sold in March.
Buyers who appeared to have paid all cash – meaning there was no indication that a corresponding purchase loan was recorded – accounted for 27.1 percent of March sales. In February it was a revised 30.0 percent – an all-time high. The 22-year monthly average for Southland homes purchased with cash is 13.8 percent.
The “flipping” of homes has also trended higher the past year, though it eased a bit in March. Last month the percentage of Southland homes flipped – bought and re-sold – within a three-week to six-month period was 3.2 percent of total sales, down from 3.5 percent in February but up from 1.6 percent a year ago. Last month flipping varied from as little as 2.6 percent of total sales in Riverside County to as much as 3.9 percent in Los Angeles County.
MDA DataQuick, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.
The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,220 last month, up from $1,180 for February, and up from $1,074 for March a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 45.2 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They were 55.1 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.
Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but is lower than peak levels reached over the last two years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and non-owner occupied buying is above-average, MDA DataQuick reported.
Source: DQNews.com (DataQuick Information Systems)
April 13, 2010
Home sales and prices continued their steady but pokey climb up from the bottom in Southern California last month as buyers scrambled to take advantage of low prices and low mortgage interest rates. The market is still tilted toward low-cost distress sales, but not by as much as previously, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 20,476 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. That was up 33.3 percent from 15,359 in February, and up 5.0 percent from 19,506 in March 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.Sales always go up from February to March. Last month was the 21st in a row with a year-over-year sales increase. The March sales average is 24,936 going back to 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.
“It’s a reflection of just how grim things got, that we’ve now had almost two years of sales gains and we’re still 18 percent below the sales average. The market won’t rebalance until mortgage lending patterns normalize, and that’s just not happening yet. Some of the best deals out there right now are happening when the buyer comes in with cash,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
The median price paid for a Southland home was $285,000 last month, up 3.6 percent from $275,000 in February, and up 14.0 percent from $250,000 for March 2009.
The median peaked at $505,000 in mid 2007 and appears, so far, to have bottomed out at $247,000 in April last year. The peak-to-trough drop in the median was due to a decline in home values as well as a shift in sales toward low-cost homes, especially foreclosures.
Foreclosure resales accounted for 38.4 percent of the resale market last month, down from 42.3 percent in February, and down from 54.8 percent a year ago. The all-time high was in February 2009 at 56.7 percent.
As sales of lower-cost foreclosure properties have waned over the past year, activity has picked up from very low levels in many high-end areas. Last month sales of homes priced at $500,000 or more made up 19.4 percent of all Southland transactions, compared with 18.5 percent in February and 14.9 percent in March 2009. Over the past five years, $500,000-plus deals averaged 35 percent of monthly sales, while over the past 10 years they averaged 26 percent of all transactions.
Higher-end sales are still hampered by the troubled jumbo loan market, which has improved only modestly over the past year. Jumbo loans, mortgages above the old conforming limit of $417,000, accounted for 15.7 percent of last month’s purchase lending, up from 14.8 percent in February and from 10.5 percent in March 2009. However, before the credit crisis in the fall of 2007, jumbos accounted for 40 percent of the market.
Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) haven’t come close to recovering from the credit crunch, either. While 44.6 percent of all Southland purchase mortgages since 2000 have been ARMs, last month they represented just 4.8 percent, up from 4.0 percent in February and 2.1 percent in March last year.
Meanwhile, Uncle Sam continues to prop up lending for many low-to mid-priced homes. Government-insured FHA loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, accounted for 38.6 percent of all mortgages used to purchase Southland homes in March.
Absentee buyers – mostly investors and some second-home purchasers – bought 21.3 percent of the homes sold in March.
Buyers who appeared to have paid all cash – meaning there was no indication that a corresponding purchase loan was recorded – accounted for 27.1 percent of March sales. In February it was a revised 30.0 percent – an all-time high. The 22-year monthly average for Southland homes purchased with cash is 13.8 percent.
The “flipping” of homes has also trended higher the past year, though it eased a bit in March. Last month the percentage of Southland homes flipped – bought and re-sold – within a three-week to six-month period was 3.2 percent of total sales, down from 3.5 percent in February but up from 1.6 percent a year ago. Last month flipping varied from as little as 2.6 percent of total sales in Riverside County to as much as 3.9 percent in Los Angeles County.
MDA DataQuick, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.
The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southland buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,220 last month, up from $1,180 for February, and up from $1,074 for March a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 45.2 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They were 55.1 percent below the current cycle’s peak in July 2007.
Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but is lower than peak levels reached over the last two years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and non-owner occupied buying is above-average, MDA DataQuick reported.
Source: DQNews.com (DataQuick Information Systems)
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Foreclosure activity for Q1 in 2010
"Foreclosure activity in California fell 6.4 percent from the same time last year, but rose 4.7 percent from the fourth quarter, giving the state the fourth-highest foreclosure rate. One in every 62 units got a filing."
I realize that this is not what a lot of you what to see... however I post these reports for several reasons not the least of which is that there are those who choose to fan the flames stating this is a recovery. Isn’t that the approach that got us into this mess? I tend to want to paint a clearer picture. I want my clients, whether buying or selling to be thoroughly aware of the environment in which they venture. Yes, there’s been a spike in activity and this activity can potentially continue, providing that financing remains available. It’s predicted, however that roughly 50% of the real estate sales volume in 2010 will involve distressed property and the numbers indicate that there will be plenty of inventory available.
An estimated 3.2% of all loans are in foreclosure with an additional 10% being more than 60 days late. With the more recent activity involving prime loan (as opposed to the wave of sub-prime failures last year) this is not just a matter of irresponsible buyers and lenders.
Where the topic of California’s part is concerned, it’s common to hear that we’re not really touched in the South Bay. A quick search of Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and the Palos Verdes Peninsula produces 603 properties in some stage of foreclosure.
For many homeowners foreclosure is not the only option. Losing a home is a devastating reality; however a loan modification or short sale, when possible is far better than allowing a home to go back to the bank and new government guidelines through HAFA (part of HAMP) seek to streamline the process. If you are a homeowner with a legitimate hardship you need to understand your options and act immediately.
If you or someone you know is concerned about whether they will be able to keep their home or have already received a notice of default do not wait.
Call for additional information and guidance at (310) 750-5751
Foreclosure activity escalates in Q1
Utah's foreclosure rate soars
By Inman News, Thursday, April 15, 2010.
Properties receiving foreclosure filings jumped 16 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, according to a quarterly report by foreclosure data site RealtyTrac.
Filings -- default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions -- went to 932,234 properties, a 7 percent surge from the fourth quarter. That means 1 in every 138 housing units in the country received a foreclosure filing, the report said.
March saw the biggest monthly total since RealtyTrac's first U.S. Foreclosure Market Report in January 2005: 367,056 properties posted filings in March -- 39.4 percent of total for the first quarter.
"Foreclosure activity in the first quarter of 2010 followed a very similar pattern to what we saw in the first quarter of 2009: a shallow trough in January and February followed by a substantial spike in March," said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's CEO.
"One difference, however, is that the increases were more tilted toward the final stage of foreclosure, with REOs increasing 9 percent on a quarterly basis in the first quarter of 2010 compared to a 13 percent quarterly decrease in REOs in the first quarter of 2009."
With a total of 257,944 properties repossessed by the lender during the quarter, REOs hit a record-high total, the report said, and REOs soared 35 percent compared to the same period last year.
"This subtle shift in the numbers ... may be further evidence that lenders are starting to make a dent in the backlog of distressed inventory that has built up over the last year as foreclosure prevention programs and processing delays slowed down the normal foreclosure timeline," Saccacio said.
At 369,491, scheduled auctions during the first quarter also hit a record high, rising 21 percent quarter-over-quarter and 12 percent from the fourth quarter.
The number of properties receiving default notices was mostly flat, rising 1 percent to 304,799 quarter-over-quarter and falling 1 percent from the previous quarter. They peaked in the third quarter of last year at more than 342,000, the report said.
More than 70 percent of the nation's first-quarter foreclosure activity was concentrated 10 states, the report said. California had the nation's highest total of properties receiving foreclosure filings: 216,263, or 23 percent of all activity.
Next came Florida, with 153,540 properties receiving a filing, followed by Arizona (55,686), Illinois (45,780), Michigan (45,732), Georgia (39,911), Texas (37,354), Nevada (34,557), Ohio (33,221) and Colorado (16,023), the report said.
The number of properties in Nevada receiving a foreclosure filing fell 16 percent from 2009's first quarter, but rose 15 percent from the fourth quarter.
According to RealtyTrac, Nevada has been contending with the nation's highest foreclosure rate for the past 13 quarters. A staggering 1 in 33 housing units received a foreclosure filing in the first quarter, four times the national average, the report said.
For the third straight quarter, Arizona posted the nation's second-highest rate with one in every 49 properties receiving a foreclosure filing, the report said. The state's foreclosure rate rose 13.8 percent quarter-over-quarter and 22.4 percent from the previous quarter.
Florida registered the third-highest foreclosure rate in the nation for the second straight month. One in every 57 properties got a filing, increasing 28.8 percent quarter-over-quarter and 7 percent from the previous quarter.
Foreclosure activity in California fell 6.4 percent from the same time last year, but rose 4.7 percent from the fourth quarter, giving the state the fourth-highest foreclosure rate. One in every 62 units got a filing.
Utah had the fifth-highest rate -- 1 in every 88 housing units had a foreclosure filing. There, foreclosure activity skyrocketed a whopping 75.1 percent from the same quarter last year and 21.2 percent from the fourth quarter.
Michigan, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois and Colorado rounded out the states with the top 10 foreclosure rates.
RealtyTrac bases its foreclosure reports on foreclosure filing data from 2,200 counties across the country, accounting for more than 90 percent of the American population.
Source: Inman News
I realize that this is not what a lot of you what to see... however I post these reports for several reasons not the least of which is that there are those who choose to fan the flames stating this is a recovery. Isn’t that the approach that got us into this mess? I tend to want to paint a clearer picture. I want my clients, whether buying or selling to be thoroughly aware of the environment in which they venture. Yes, there’s been a spike in activity and this activity can potentially continue, providing that financing remains available. It’s predicted, however that roughly 50% of the real estate sales volume in 2010 will involve distressed property and the numbers indicate that there will be plenty of inventory available.
An estimated 3.2% of all loans are in foreclosure with an additional 10% being more than 60 days late. With the more recent activity involving prime loan (as opposed to the wave of sub-prime failures last year) this is not just a matter of irresponsible buyers and lenders.
Where the topic of California’s part is concerned, it’s common to hear that we’re not really touched in the South Bay. A quick search of Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and the Palos Verdes Peninsula produces 603 properties in some stage of foreclosure.
For many homeowners foreclosure is not the only option. Losing a home is a devastating reality; however a loan modification or short sale, when possible is far better than allowing a home to go back to the bank and new government guidelines through HAFA (part of HAMP) seek to streamline the process. If you are a homeowner with a legitimate hardship you need to understand your options and act immediately.
If you or someone you know is concerned about whether they will be able to keep their home or have already received a notice of default do not wait.
Call for additional information and guidance at (310) 750-5751
Foreclosure activity escalates in Q1
Utah's foreclosure rate soars
By Inman News, Thursday, April 15, 2010.
Properties receiving foreclosure filings jumped 16 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, according to a quarterly report by foreclosure data site RealtyTrac.
Filings -- default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions -- went to 932,234 properties, a 7 percent surge from the fourth quarter. That means 1 in every 138 housing units in the country received a foreclosure filing, the report said.
March saw the biggest monthly total since RealtyTrac's first U.S. Foreclosure Market Report in January 2005: 367,056 properties posted filings in March -- 39.4 percent of total for the first quarter.
"Foreclosure activity in the first quarter of 2010 followed a very similar pattern to what we saw in the first quarter of 2009: a shallow trough in January and February followed by a substantial spike in March," said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's CEO.
"One difference, however, is that the increases were more tilted toward the final stage of foreclosure, with REOs increasing 9 percent on a quarterly basis in the first quarter of 2010 compared to a 13 percent quarterly decrease in REOs in the first quarter of 2009."
With a total of 257,944 properties repossessed by the lender during the quarter, REOs hit a record-high total, the report said, and REOs soared 35 percent compared to the same period last year.
"This subtle shift in the numbers ... may be further evidence that lenders are starting to make a dent in the backlog of distressed inventory that has built up over the last year as foreclosure prevention programs and processing delays slowed down the normal foreclosure timeline," Saccacio said.
At 369,491, scheduled auctions during the first quarter also hit a record high, rising 21 percent quarter-over-quarter and 12 percent from the fourth quarter.
The number of properties receiving default notices was mostly flat, rising 1 percent to 304,799 quarter-over-quarter and falling 1 percent from the previous quarter. They peaked in the third quarter of last year at more than 342,000, the report said.
More than 70 percent of the nation's first-quarter foreclosure activity was concentrated 10 states, the report said. California had the nation's highest total of properties receiving foreclosure filings: 216,263, or 23 percent of all activity.
Next came Florida, with 153,540 properties receiving a filing, followed by Arizona (55,686), Illinois (45,780), Michigan (45,732), Georgia (39,911), Texas (37,354), Nevada (34,557), Ohio (33,221) and Colorado (16,023), the report said.
The number of properties in Nevada receiving a foreclosure filing fell 16 percent from 2009's first quarter, but rose 15 percent from the fourth quarter.
According to RealtyTrac, Nevada has been contending with the nation's highest foreclosure rate for the past 13 quarters. A staggering 1 in 33 housing units received a foreclosure filing in the first quarter, four times the national average, the report said.
For the third straight quarter, Arizona posted the nation's second-highest rate with one in every 49 properties receiving a foreclosure filing, the report said. The state's foreclosure rate rose 13.8 percent quarter-over-quarter and 22.4 percent from the previous quarter.
Florida registered the third-highest foreclosure rate in the nation for the second straight month. One in every 57 properties got a filing, increasing 28.8 percent quarter-over-quarter and 7 percent from the previous quarter.
Foreclosure activity in California fell 6.4 percent from the same time last year, but rose 4.7 percent from the fourth quarter, giving the state the fourth-highest foreclosure rate. One in every 62 units got a filing.
Utah had the fifth-highest rate -- 1 in every 88 housing units had a foreclosure filing. There, foreclosure activity skyrocketed a whopping 75.1 percent from the same quarter last year and 21.2 percent from the fourth quarter.
Michigan, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois and Colorado rounded out the states with the top 10 foreclosure rates.
RealtyTrac bases its foreclosure reports on foreclosure filing data from 2,200 counties across the country, accounting for more than 90 percent of the American population.
Source: Inman News
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Affordably prepping your home for sale
Happy New Year to all…
I could have picked a lot of topics for my first post of 2010 and ultimately chose to go with something not directly related to the financial goings-on in real estate current events.
Preparing your home to sell, affordably works for any market and the link to Barbara Ballinger’s ‘10 Affordable Home Redos’ on Realtor.org provides some interesting, budget-friendly ideas that could help encourage a quicker sale.
There are also additional links to related topics that are a must-read for anyone looking to market their home.
I could have picked a lot of topics for my first post of 2010 and ultimately chose to go with something not directly related to the financial goings-on in real estate current events.
Preparing your home to sell, affordably works for any market and the link to Barbara Ballinger’s ‘10 Affordable Home Redos’ on Realtor.org provides some interesting, budget-friendly ideas that could help encourage a quicker sale.
There are also additional links to related topics that are a must-read for anyone looking to market their home.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Short-Sale standards could help troubled homeowners
Bravo! Standardizing the short sale process is a fantastic move…
What’s missing from this proposal is requiring that agents be qualified to work in the Short Sale arena. These transactions are much more problematic and time consuming then a standard sale and require an entirely new skill set.
There are agents, with short sale listing who probably shouldn’t have a real estate license and yet they are representing owners in dire straits, where time is of the essence and they (the agent) are all that stands between a successful short sale and foreclosure.
When one or the other is the only option, there’s a big difference. The credit score hit alone is at least a couple hundred points higher, foreclosure verses short sale and a foreclosure stays on your record for a minimum of 7 years verses just a couple with a short sale. There are other issues as well.
If you’ve followed the content I’ve posted recently, you’ll probably agree that we need to assure that more of this “pre-foreclosure” property is successfully marketed. Perhaps the holders of these second liens will need to decide between $3,000 guarantee and the prospect of pursuing more money, over time by legal means. We all know who end up with the lion share in that scenario.
In the end, if we can cut the number of foreclosures then it’s a win. The banks do not need more property and the short sale process needs to be less of a hassle with a higher rate of success. As someone focusing more and more on short sales, parameters and timeline are welcomed.
Obama's standardized short-sale plan could help troubled homeowners
The Los Angeles Times
By Kenneth R. Harney
December 13, 2009
Reporting from Washington - If you're in trouble on your mortgage and can't get a loan modification, check out the Obama administration's standardized short-sale plan that's scheduled to roll out in the next several months.
The program, outlined Dec. 1 by the Treasury Department, is an attempt to streamline what has traditionally been a contentious, time-consuming process by requiring lenders and others to use nationally uniform documents, timelines and financial incentives.
A short sale involves a lender or investor agreeing to collect less than the balance owed on a mortgage debt out of the proceeds of a negotiated sale of the property. Often a short sale is the last alternative to foreclosure available to distressed homeowners and banks. Say you've lost your job and fallen behind on mortgage payments. With little or no income, you can't qualify for a modification program.
In this situation -- grim as it is -- your best move may be to see whether your lender will accept a short sale. Though the idea sounds straightforward, in practice it is not. First, the bank needs to be convinced that a short sale would yield it more money at the bottom line than a foreclosure would.
This usually means you need to bring in a real estate agent who knows the ropes and can pull together the key information needed by the bank: recent comparables on closed sales, local market trends and the likely selling price of your house.
You'll also need a buyer for the house -- one who'll pay a price acceptable to the bank and has financing to close the deal. If you happen to have a second mortgage or home equity credit line on the property, you'll also need to negotiate how much that lender will receive from the sale proceeds.
That can be tricky. In depressed real estate markets, the second-lien lender may be holding a note that's worthless in a foreclosure because plummeting property values have wiped out the collateral. Yet that same bank is in a pivotal position: It has the legal power to block the short sale by refusing to sign on to the deal.
Equally troublesome in short sales is the fact that banks, mortgage servicers and bond investors often have conflicting requirements for documentation and financial yields that can complicate and drag out the haggling for months.
Enter the Obama administration's new streamlining plan. Besides requiring lenders and servicers to use uniform documentation, pre-approved short-sale terms and accelerated turnaround times, the plan provides financial incentives for key players:
* Homeowners who successfully complete a short sale under the program receive $1,500 to defray relocation costs.
* Mortgage servicers can receive $1,000 per case.
* Investors get $1,000.
* Second-lien holders receive up to $3,000 from the sale proceeds.
Even real estate agents get something: The rules prohibit banks from forcing them to cut their commissions from the listing agreement as part of the final deal.
Sounds like a formula for encouraging a lot more short sales, right? The jury will be out on that for months, and most major lenders are still studying the fine print of the Obama program. But early reactions from big banks appear to be positive.
Dave Sunlin, a senior vice president for Bank of America Corp., said: "We're very pleased. We welcome any effort to reach standardization for all parties" involved in short sales.
Faith Schwartz, executive director of Hope Now -- a Washington-based group representing the country's largest banks, mortgage servicers, bond investors and consumer counseling organizations -- said the plan should bring "uniformity and standards" to a process usually characterized by "mayhem" among the negotiating parties.
Scott Brinkley, a senior vice president for First American Corp., a firm that provides market data for banks, said, "You're going to see a lot of cooperation" by lenders and investors.
But there could be a major pothole: The Obama plan tilts to consumers by requiring second-lien holders to drop all financial claims against short-selling borrowers beyond the $3,000 they take out of the deal.
Travis Hamel Olsen, chief operating officer of Loan Resolution Corp., a Scottsdale, Ariz., consulting firm, says the $3,000 payment won't be enough for many second-mortgage lenders. Today they frequently obtain additional short-sale compensation from sellers as the price of their participation -- in cash or through promissory notes -- far beyond $3,000.
"I'm concerned that that could limit participation" by second-lien holders, Olsen said.
Bottom line for homeowners who might benefit: Don't have wild expectations, but definitely ask your servicer whether it plans to participate and whether the forthcoming standardized plan for short sales might work for you.
Source: Los Angeles Times
What’s missing from this proposal is requiring that agents be qualified to work in the Short Sale arena. These transactions are much more problematic and time consuming then a standard sale and require an entirely new skill set.
There are agents, with short sale listing who probably shouldn’t have a real estate license and yet they are representing owners in dire straits, where time is of the essence and they (the agent) are all that stands between a successful short sale and foreclosure.
When one or the other is the only option, there’s a big difference. The credit score hit alone is at least a couple hundred points higher, foreclosure verses short sale and a foreclosure stays on your record for a minimum of 7 years verses just a couple with a short sale. There are other issues as well.
If you’ve followed the content I’ve posted recently, you’ll probably agree that we need to assure that more of this “pre-foreclosure” property is successfully marketed. Perhaps the holders of these second liens will need to decide between $3,000 guarantee and the prospect of pursuing more money, over time by legal means. We all know who end up with the lion share in that scenario.
In the end, if we can cut the number of foreclosures then it’s a win. The banks do not need more property and the short sale process needs to be less of a hassle with a higher rate of success. As someone focusing more and more on short sales, parameters and timeline are welcomed.
Obama's standardized short-sale plan could help troubled homeowners
The Los Angeles Times
By Kenneth R. Harney
December 13, 2009
Reporting from Washington - If you're in trouble on your mortgage and can't get a loan modification, check out the Obama administration's standardized short-sale plan that's scheduled to roll out in the next several months.
The program, outlined Dec. 1 by the Treasury Department, is an attempt to streamline what has traditionally been a contentious, time-consuming process by requiring lenders and others to use nationally uniform documents, timelines and financial incentives.
A short sale involves a lender or investor agreeing to collect less than the balance owed on a mortgage debt out of the proceeds of a negotiated sale of the property. Often a short sale is the last alternative to foreclosure available to distressed homeowners and banks. Say you've lost your job and fallen behind on mortgage payments. With little or no income, you can't qualify for a modification program.
In this situation -- grim as it is -- your best move may be to see whether your lender will accept a short sale. Though the idea sounds straightforward, in practice it is not. First, the bank needs to be convinced that a short sale would yield it more money at the bottom line than a foreclosure would.
This usually means you need to bring in a real estate agent who knows the ropes and can pull together the key information needed by the bank: recent comparables on closed sales, local market trends and the likely selling price of your house.
You'll also need a buyer for the house -- one who'll pay a price acceptable to the bank and has financing to close the deal. If you happen to have a second mortgage or home equity credit line on the property, you'll also need to negotiate how much that lender will receive from the sale proceeds.
That can be tricky. In depressed real estate markets, the second-lien lender may be holding a note that's worthless in a foreclosure because plummeting property values have wiped out the collateral. Yet that same bank is in a pivotal position: It has the legal power to block the short sale by refusing to sign on to the deal.
Equally troublesome in short sales is the fact that banks, mortgage servicers and bond investors often have conflicting requirements for documentation and financial yields that can complicate and drag out the haggling for months.
Enter the Obama administration's new streamlining plan. Besides requiring lenders and servicers to use uniform documentation, pre-approved short-sale terms and accelerated turnaround times, the plan provides financial incentives for key players:
* Homeowners who successfully complete a short sale under the program receive $1,500 to defray relocation costs.
* Mortgage servicers can receive $1,000 per case.
* Investors get $1,000.
* Second-lien holders receive up to $3,000 from the sale proceeds.
Even real estate agents get something: The rules prohibit banks from forcing them to cut their commissions from the listing agreement as part of the final deal.
Sounds like a formula for encouraging a lot more short sales, right? The jury will be out on that for months, and most major lenders are still studying the fine print of the Obama program. But early reactions from big banks appear to be positive.
Dave Sunlin, a senior vice president for Bank of America Corp., said: "We're very pleased. We welcome any effort to reach standardization for all parties" involved in short sales.
Faith Schwartz, executive director of Hope Now -- a Washington-based group representing the country's largest banks, mortgage servicers, bond investors and consumer counseling organizations -- said the plan should bring "uniformity and standards" to a process usually characterized by "mayhem" among the negotiating parties.
Scott Brinkley, a senior vice president for First American Corp., a firm that provides market data for banks, said, "You're going to see a lot of cooperation" by lenders and investors.
But there could be a major pothole: The Obama plan tilts to consumers by requiring second-lien holders to drop all financial claims against short-selling borrowers beyond the $3,000 they take out of the deal.
Travis Hamel Olsen, chief operating officer of Loan Resolution Corp., a Scottsdale, Ariz., consulting firm, says the $3,000 payment won't be enough for many second-mortgage lenders. Today they frequently obtain additional short-sale compensation from sellers as the price of their participation -- in cash or through promissory notes -- far beyond $3,000.
"I'm concerned that that could limit participation" by second-lien holders, Olsen said.
Bottom line for homeowners who might benefit: Don't have wild expectations, but definitely ask your servicer whether it plans to participate and whether the forthcoming standardized plan for short sales might work for you.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Home prices rise for 4th month in a row
Although this is great news, it does not give a complete picture. Most current sellers need to sell or the property being marketed is bank owned (REO). For those in a position to buy, this is a great opportunity and there certainly will be no shortage of inventory (Short Sales and REOs) during the coming year… Plus the value of standard sales is influenced by the distressed market.
A piece today in the WSJ “One in Four Borrowers Is Underwater“ states that nearly 10.7 million households , or about 23% of homeowners with mortgages had negative equity in the third quarter. It is estimated that more than 520,000 of these borrowers have received a notice of default.
On the bright side, the article goes on to say “Most U.S. homeowners still have some equity, and nearly 24 million owner-occupied homes don't have any mortgage…” Some experts expect values to drop again in the coming year and it’s likely they will. We should definitely see values flat-line or drop over the next month and into Q-1 of 2010 due to the holidays and extension of tax credits to April 30th. My guidance is, if you’re buying a home and you plan to live there for 5 years or more, it’s hard to go wrong at 5% interest. If you don’t need to sell, don’t. Or consider leasing the property if you can. Speculators’ (flippers’) must understand that smart money is buying at a percentage of replacement cost and has the cash to carry if necessary. RD
PS - Also at WSJ.com, check out "Negative Equity by State" chart. California is actually slightly better off than Florida, Nevada and Arizona.
Home prices rise for 4th month in a row
WASHINGTON – The summer's trend of rising home prices is flattening as the traditional home shopping season ends, two reports Tuesday showed.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major cities rose 0.3 percent to 144.96 in September, the fourth monthly increase in a row. The seasonally adjusted index is now up more than 3 percent from its bottom in May, but still 30 percent below its peak in April 2006.
Another reading of home prices published by the Federal Housing Finance Agency held steady from August to September. Analysts expect prices to dip again this winter as foreclosures increase.
"As long as the unemployment rate stays elevated, you're going to see pressure on the pace of foreclosures, which are going to find their way back onto the market, depressing prices," said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist with Miller Tabak & Co.
Home prices are a key ingredient to rebuilding the economy. Homeowners feel wealthier when their property appreciates in value and are more likely to spend money. Rising prices also help millions of homeowners who owe more to the bank than their homes are worth.
Currently, roughly one in four homeowners are in that situation, according to First American CoreLogic.
While prices nationally are likely to keep rising through November, "we are very worried about the potential for a huge wave of supply next year, both from private sellers and banks," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. "Prices could easily reverse their recent gains."
Home prices rose in 11 major cities with the strongest gains in San Francisco and Minneapolis, according to the Case Shiller report. Prices fell by the most in Las Vegas and Cleveland.
Compared with a year earlier, the 20-city index was down 9.4 percent, the smallest year over year decline since January 2008.
"With housing remaining an albatross around the economy's neck, nothing would perk things up more than some increases in home prices," wrote Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors. "That seems to be happening."
The price reports came a day after the National Association of Realtors said home resales surged by more than 10 percent in October as buyers took advantage of a special tax credit for first-time owners.
Source: Yahoo! News by ALAN ZIBEL, Associated Press Real Estate Writer
A piece today in the WSJ “One in Four Borrowers Is Underwater“ states that nearly 10.7 million households , or about 23% of homeowners with mortgages had negative equity in the third quarter. It is estimated that more than 520,000 of these borrowers have received a notice of default.
On the bright side, the article goes on to say “Most U.S. homeowners still have some equity, and nearly 24 million owner-occupied homes don't have any mortgage…” Some experts expect values to drop again in the coming year and it’s likely they will. We should definitely see values flat-line or drop over the next month and into Q-1 of 2010 due to the holidays and extension of tax credits to April 30th. My guidance is, if you’re buying a home and you plan to live there for 5 years or more, it’s hard to go wrong at 5% interest. If you don’t need to sell, don’t. Or consider leasing the property if you can. Speculators’ (flippers’) must understand that smart money is buying at a percentage of replacement cost and has the cash to carry if necessary. RD
PS - Also at WSJ.com, check out "Negative Equity by State" chart. California is actually slightly better off than Florida, Nevada and Arizona.
Home prices rise for 4th month in a row
WASHINGTON – The summer's trend of rising home prices is flattening as the traditional home shopping season ends, two reports Tuesday showed.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major cities rose 0.3 percent to 144.96 in September, the fourth monthly increase in a row. The seasonally adjusted index is now up more than 3 percent from its bottom in May, but still 30 percent below its peak in April 2006.
Another reading of home prices published by the Federal Housing Finance Agency held steady from August to September. Analysts expect prices to dip again this winter as foreclosures increase.
"As long as the unemployment rate stays elevated, you're going to see pressure on the pace of foreclosures, which are going to find their way back onto the market, depressing prices," said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist with Miller Tabak & Co.
Home prices are a key ingredient to rebuilding the economy. Homeowners feel wealthier when their property appreciates in value and are more likely to spend money. Rising prices also help millions of homeowners who owe more to the bank than their homes are worth.
Currently, roughly one in four homeowners are in that situation, according to First American CoreLogic.
While prices nationally are likely to keep rising through November, "we are very worried about the potential for a huge wave of supply next year, both from private sellers and banks," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. "Prices could easily reverse their recent gains."
Home prices rose in 11 major cities with the strongest gains in San Francisco and Minneapolis, according to the Case Shiller report. Prices fell by the most in Las Vegas and Cleveland.
Compared with a year earlier, the 20-city index was down 9.4 percent, the smallest year over year decline since January 2008.
"With housing remaining an albatross around the economy's neck, nothing would perk things up more than some increases in home prices," wrote Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors. "That seems to be happening."
The price reports came a day after the National Association of Realtors said home resales surged by more than 10 percent in October as buyers took advantage of a special tax credit for first-time owners.
Source: Yahoo! News by ALAN ZIBEL, Associated Press Real Estate Writer
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Greater South Bay Real Estate: Third Quarter 2009
The bar chart above represents 15 months of Real Estate activity in the Greater South Bay area from July 2008 through September 2009. This is a great representation (in our unique market) of our journey through the leading edge of the sub-prime fiasco, election 2008 and the challenging economy of the first three quarters of 2009.
Inventory is down nearly 57%, however sales and sales pending are up for the period. Granted this is the entire South Bay region and the micro views tell a more accurate tale for individual property owners. There are various factors that have contributed to the recent stabilization of the real estate market. The first-time buyers’ tax credit, low interest rates, depreciation in general and the frenzy to snap up short sales and REOs have fueled the increase in sales and price per square foot in some areas.
Well priced properties are attracting multiple offers while those sellers’ looking to set or guess the upper end of the market sit for months or until the price drops significantly or they retreat from the market. One of the tactics being employed on some sales (especially short sales and REOs) is to list a price well below the median market to encourage a bidding war and drive the upward. In a true eBay auction fashion, if enough buyers are attracted it works. Higher prices are achieved and in certain areas you can see where the price per square foot has inched up over the past few months.
In an effort to control the length of this post I only ran reports on a couple of neighborhoods (below). If you’d like a full report on these or other areas (a full report includes additional metrics not posted, average DOM, PPSF etc.) please contact me with your specific needs.
We are so fortunate to live in this region of the country... As I prepare this blog post, Saturday October 24th most of the country is into or moving rapidly toward cold weather. Here in Southern California the skies are clear, the temperate is predicted to be 80 degrees and so at 2:00 this afternoon I'll be in shorts and a t-shirt at my son's soccer game.
Although I'm a third generation Californian, I've had an opportunity to live in all four corners of the US. Although they all have charm and appeal of one sort or another, I always came back (and consequently wonder why I left). Married now, with two small children my traveling days are over and I now live a stones throw from my parents, who’ve lived in the same house for over 33 years and in the South Bay since JFK was in office.
Although this blog site is new, I’ve been posting elsewhere since early this year and the relative success of that site prompted me to pursue a more mainstream venue. As it does not seem possible to export that content click various posts and links to articles to view past postings. I may eventually re-post some of that content here…
Thanks for reading my blog. MLS Information used to generate charts is deemed to be reliable but not guaranteed.
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