Workouts let thousands keep their homes

Real estate roundup
By Inman News, Thursday, July 31, 2008.
Inman News

Loan servicers report record workouts
The HOPE NOW coalition of mortgage loan servicers engaged in a record number of workouts with borrowers facing foreclosure in June and the second quarter of 2008, the group said Wednesday. Servicers completed more than 181,000 workouts in June and 522,000 in the second quarter -- loans that otherwise would have gone into foreclosure, the group said.

State and federal regulators have questioned the adequacy of the group's reporting methods and efforts to prevent foreclosures (see story). HOPE NOW reported that 58 percent of the workouts conducted in June involved repayment plans, which critics say may only delay a borrower's day of reckoning. The remaining 42 percent involved loan modifications such as an interest-rate freeze, HOPE NOW said.

Study: Standards loosened after Fannie, Freddie reined in
The diminished role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at the height of the housing boom was a bigger factor than subprime lending in the drastic run-up in home prices, according to a study by researchers at UC Irvine. An accounting and management scandal that forced Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to cut back on purchases and guarantees of mortgages beginning in 2003 cleared the way for "aggressive" private-label issuers of mortgage-backed securities to enter the market, the study concluded.

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Excavation's the first step in deck building

Before digging, know where utilities are located
By Paul Bianchina, Friday, July 25, 2008.
Inman News

Summer is a great time to add a new deck to your outdoor living space. And large or small, attached to the house or standing alone, it's a sure bet that before you starting cutting lumber and laying deck boards, you'll need to do some excavating to get the site ready.

Underground locates: No matter how minor the excavation work may seem, the very first thing you need to do before digging is to locate your underground utilities -- and it couldn't be easier. No matter where in the country you are, all you need to do is call 811 and request a locate. Within just a couple of days, someone will be out to clearly mark the location of underground electrical cables, pipes, phone wires and other things lurking under the dirt. The service is free, the peace of mind is priceless -- and if you don't do it, you could be held liable for the cost of fixing anything you cut into!

Lay out your digging: To ensure accurate placement of your framing, and to keep from having to do any more digging than necessary, after the utilities have been located you will next want to get everything laid out according to your plans for the deck. Carefully measure each pier hole or footing trench, and mark its location on the ground with paint, stakes or strings. For a curved deck, you can use a garden hose to help make the layout of the curve easier.

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Foreclosure crisis 'is like Hurricane Katrina'

Panelists discuss how homeowners, lenders can reduce losses
By Inman News, Thursday, July 24, 2008.
Inman News

SAN FRANCISCO -- The massive waves of foreclosures have bogged down the nation like a natural disaster and require a large-scale response, said Frances Flynn Thorsen, managing editor for the RealTown.com online community.

"This crisis is like Hurricane Katrina, and in order to save it, we all have to come together like people came together for Katrina," said Thorsen, a panelist during a Foreclosure Workshop session on Wednesday at the Real Estate Connect conference.

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Next foreclosure wave sparked by walkaway homeowners?

By Tom Kelly, Wednesday, July 23, 2008.
Inman News

Where's the bottom? Are Phoenix, Denver, Sacramento, South Florida and Las Vegas still in a tailspin? Is it time to make a run at a second home you felt you could never afford?
Perhaps we have been too driven and proud of the fact that 70 percent of all families in this country own their homes. In order to get there, lenders, real estate agents and consumers dipped into a "too easy" bucket where the value of ownership sunk to the same level of the cost of getting in the door -- zero.

Sadly, greed became confused with privilege. We are now feeling the results of too much credit being offered to poor or borderline borrowers, overeager investors betting on dreams of continued double-digit appreciation, and impassioned move-ups wanting more housing than they could realistically afford.

The housing specialist first to label and predict a "foreclosure tsunami" for several areas of the country now predicts another round of foreclosures by homeowners who can afford to make their payments yet choose to walk away from their homes. When and if they do in any significant volume, it could lead to a housing meltdown.

"Virtually everyone missed the fact that housing appreciation is far more powerful to keep people paying than the legal consequences of default," said Tom DiMercurio, a veteran of 38 years in the foreclosure business and former president of Fidelity National Asset Management Solutions. "For many folks in different states and different stages in their life, defaulting on their home loan makes economic sense."

Top obstacles for first-time buyers

Real estate roundup
By Inman News, Wednesday, July 16, 2008.
Inman News

Poll: Most see housing downturn worsening
About three out of four Americans think the housing crisis has not reached its worst point, but nearly half think conditions will improve once a new president is elected, according to a Harris Interactive poll commissioned by Move Inc. Among prospective home buyers, 81 percent said they face barriers to buying in the current market. High home prices, money for a down payment and lack of confidence in the economy were the most often cited barriers. Only one in 100 current homeowners plans to buy a home in the next six months, compared with 2 percent of renters. About 4 percent of current homeowners say they plan to buy a home in the next 12 months, and 7 percent of renters.

The greatest barrier to home ownership, cited by 31 percent of the 2,462 adults surveyed, was high home prices. That concern was higher in the West (39 percent) than in the South (27 percent) or Midwest (26 percent). The second-greatest barrier keeping buyers out of the current market is coming up with the money for a down payment (28 percent), with lack of confidence in the economy (26 percent) ranking third. The most important characteristics in choosing a place to live were crime rates (56 percent), proximity to daily conveniences like stores and services (47 percent), and property taxes (46 percent).

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Foreclosure-related filings dip 3.4% in June

Report: Despite improvement, activity up 53% from a year ago
By Inman News, Thursday, July 10, 2008.
Inman News

The number of homes subjected to foreclosure-related filings fell 3.4 percent nationwide from May to June, data aggregator RealtyTrac reported today, thanks in part to improvements in the two states with the highest rate of foreclosure filings -- Nevada and California.

The 253,363 properties subjected to filings in June represented a 53.3 percent increase from a year ago, RealtyTrac said, with bank repossessions increasing at a much faster clip than default notices or auction notices. Bank repossessions were up 171 percent from a year ago, to 71,563, compared with a 38 percent gain in default notices and a 22 percent increase in auction notices from a year ago.

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Sell me yours, I'll sell you mine

House-swapping sites link consumers in different markets

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Thursday, July 3, 2008. Inman News

Michelle Wulfe and her husband had plans to move from their home in Big Bear City in Southern California to retire in Arizona.

They bought a home in Kingman, Ariz., and the real estate market there tanked soon after. They found that they liked it better back in Big Bear, and so they moved back home and kept their Kingman property on the market.

"The minute we moved the market fell ... so we moved right back into our old house. Now we have two homes."

That was about a year ago. The Kingman home is still for sale. Wulfe said she decided to try a different approach to marketing and she advertised the home on Pad4Pad.com, a Web site that is intended to facilitate house swaps.

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