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 I hope your Christmas was wonderful. I am sharing a link for a video of the SAR 2010 Elk Grove CanTree Build. Also, if you want to participate in next years CanTree Build or are interested in being on the CanTree Committee click on the “Subscribe” tab and your name and number will be [...]
On December 1, 2010, Fannie Mae announced an update to its selling guide that provides a new option to fund energy-efficient home upgrades while maintaining Fannie Mae’s principles of borrower sustainability. All Fannie Mae loan products are permitted to include the energy improvement feature excluding certain refinance loans. Eligible borrowers will be allowed to [...]  Thank you to all our Members for all your hard work and volunteering your time to help with the 28th Annual SAR Christmas CanTree build. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the amount of work and effort it takes to build the CanTrees, the CanTree stands 16 feet tall, weighs approximately 7,500 pounds, is comprised [...] Throughout 2010, NAR made significant progress educating Congress and the Obama Administration that a stable and sustainable housing market is the primary building block for any economic recovery. NAR had a series of successes in the regulatory and legislative fields, some of which are highlighted below. As we look ahead to 2011, NAR will [...]  There was a buzz in the air as people arrived in their evening wear in November to help raise money for a wonderful cause – the Christmas CanTree, a fundraiser for the Salvation Army. Some came dressed in tuxedos – a few even brought out their capes (for that Phantom of the Opera look) [...]  Dear C.A.R. Member, It’s hard to believe this year is soon coming to a close. We’ve accomplished a lot over the past year, but we still have much to do in 2011. For instance, we know we will have to defend changes to the mortgage interest deduction (MID). In late November, President Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission released its preliminary recommendations, and one of the provisions called for dramatically limiting the MID. Since then, the commission failed to win enough votes to approve the recommendations. However, it is very likely that legislation will be introduced next year to curtail the MID. Few issues are more important to homeownership than the mortgage interest deduction, and while the housing market continues to recover, any change that reduces the ability of the market to heal is misguided and must be rejected. I want to thank everyone who responded to NAR’s Call for Action and urged their member of Congress to preserve the MID. Last week, NAR issued a new Call for Action asking all REALTORS® to call their state senators and ask them to defend the MID. I urge you to contact Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to voice your concerns today about limiting the MID. In my first message to you last month, I mentioned that one of my goals this year as C.A.R. President is to help you, the REALTOR®, earn a living. I know many of us have been having a very difficult time working with lenders on short sales. Please be assured that C.A.R. has been working on several fronts to help you more easily deal with short sales and distressed properties. Continue reading: December Message from C.A.R. President Beth L. Peerce A seasonally accurate trend shows decreased market activity, with sales volume dropping 2.9% from 1,341 units to 1,302 units. Making up these sales were 551 REOs (42.3%), 294 short sales (22.6%) and 457 conventional sales (35.1%). These numbers have changes slightly month to month with REOs up 5.7% and short sales and conventional sales both down by 3.8%. The median home sales price showed little movement, increasing .3% from $179,500 to $180,000. Compared with the same month last year ($187,000), the number is down 3.7%. The $200,000 – $249,999 price range mode still accounts for a majority (17.4% or 227 units) of the 1,302 total sales this month, while homes under $100,000 totaled 185 (14.2%) units. Conventional financing continued as the primary source of all home and condo sales (477, 33.6%) with cash (417, 29.4%) and FHA financing (399, 28.1%) making up the two other large categories. Conventional and FHA financing both decreased, dropping 5.3% and 6.9%, respectively. Cash financing, however, increased 12.6%, possibly accounting for the increase investors during the holiday season. VA loans (42, 3%) and other financing (83, 5.9%) rounded out the remainder. The other category includes CalVet, contract of sale, creative, farm home loan and owner financing. The median amount of days spent on the market (from list date to opening escrow) was 42 – up from the 41 median DOM of sales in November. The Total Listing Inventory has recently been split up to more accurately display the current market. Active Listings numbered 5,225 properties and Active Short Sales Contingent showed 1,704. Active Short Sale Contingent properties are short sale properties on which initial offers have been made and are not entirely “active.” After breaking down Total Listing Inventory, we find that the Housing Market Supply figure is more accurately reflected. The Housing Market Supply figure for November was 4 Months – the same as October. This figure represents the amount of time – in months – it would take to deplete the Active Listing Inventory (5,225) given the current number of closed escrows (1,302). According to MetroList® MLS data, the average home was 1,755 square feet. Of the 1,341 sales this month, 114 (8.7%) had 2 bedrooms or fewer, 684 (52.5%) had 3 bedrooms, 404 (31%) were 4 bedroom properties and 103 properties (7.9%) had 5+ bedrooms. Continue reading: November Closes with Decreased Sales, Increased Cash Buyers  All I can say is WOW! This year has not been boring. Game changing events happened almost every month. We started out the year with total confusion in the mortgage industry due to the new Good Faith Estimate (aka: GFE 2010). It took most mortgage professionals at least a month or two to understand the new form and the impact it would have on the consumers and themselves. Consumers received overinflated GFEs to protect the loan officer from underdisclosing everyone’s fees in the transaction. If certain fees were underdisclosed, the loan officer would have to pay for it out of his/her pocket. One of the mysteries with the new GFE 2010 is that there is no place on the GFE 2010 to sign. There is a separate form for signatures. Now where is the consumer benefit from this change? While struggling with the new GFE 2010, HUD/FHA released a waiver that they will allow “less than 90-day flips” to be financed with FHA loans (another program with a ton of misinterpretation). Oh, did I forget to mention that HUD/FHA decided January 1, 2010 to adopt HVCC (Home Value Code of Conduct) practices for all their FHA loans. The industry thought HUD would have seen the “train wreck” Fannie and Freddie created with HVCC and steered away. But in the spirit of follow the leader, HUD jumped in with both feet. Can you say complexity, when you have HUD’s version of HVCC and the new appraisal requirements for the “less than 90-day flips?” This is just another reason the industry slowed down even more at the beginning of the year. Continue reading: Real Estate Finance Forum – The Year in Review |
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Monday, December 27th, 2010
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