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Displaying blog entries 411-420 of 623

Home prices up 1.6 percent 7/20/2009

Monday, July 20, 2009
by The Schaller Family

Hinting at another small victory for the housing market, Denver-based Integrated Asset Services, LLC (IAS) has reported a gain in national home prices of 1.6 percent during the month of May. The company released its IAS360 House Price Index (HPI) recently, which showed an increase in property values in all four U.S. census regions.
 
Following a small gain in April, May represents the largest one-month increase in the IAS360 HPI since July of 2005. The index had previously fallen more than 19 percent from its high-water mark in June of 2007, and is still down 10.5 percent compared to May 2008.  Regionally, the Northeast led the way with a jump in home prices of 3.2 percent. The Midwest reported a positive return of 1.9 percent, the South gained 1.1 percent, and in the West home prices rose 0.9 percent.
 
Source: DSnews

California foreclosure prevention act has unexpected impact - 7/17/2009

Saturday, July 18, 2009
by The Schaller Family
      For the third consecutive month, California foreclosure sales jumped significantly as lenders come off the moratorium, according to ForeclosureRadar.com. Foreclosure sales increased by 24.7 percent following a 31.9 percent increase in May, and a 35 percent April increase.  Notices of Trustee Sale dropped by an unexpected 28.7 percent, with the timing of the drop indicating that it was in response to the California Foreclosure Prevention Act. The California Foreclosure Prevention Act adds an additional 90 days to the time before which a lender can file a Notice of Trustee Sale. This law was widely believed to have little or no impact on foreclosure filings, as it exempted the majority of large lenders that operate in the state.  A number of lenders appear to have self-imposed California's latest foreclosure moratorium on themselves, despite having received an exemption from it. Given the number of exempt lenders it was quite surprising to see Notice of Trustee Sale filings drop by nearly 50 percent the day the new law went into effect.

Buyers motivated by affordability, interest rates 7/16/2009

Thursday, July 16, 2009
by The Schaller Family
Price declines and low interest rates are motivating millions of home buyers to shop for bargains in the most affordable housing market in 28 years, yet at the same time only one-in-ten of today's home owners say they have delayed selling their home due to those same market conditions, according to the new national Realtor.com® Homeownership Survey. Based on the Realtor.com survey, affordability is clearly driving more than two-thirds (65.2%) of potential buyers back into today's housing market.  Nearly one of five prospective buyers (19.6%) say foreclosure bargains in their communities would motivate them to purchase a home, the most important reason they're interested in buying in the near future.  An additional 15.5 percent said they're motivated to buy soon because they think prices are as low as they will go, and another 15.5 percent said they're motivated to buy before interest rates rise. For 14.6 percent of first time homebuyers, the Federal $8,000 tax credit is the impetus to purchase a new home in the future.
                                                              Donner Lake
 
Distressed sales of foreclosures and short sales, which constitute nearly half of all existing home sales today, are not universally popular with buyers. Two-thirds of those surveyed (66.3%) said they are not likely to consider buying a foreclosure in the future. However, if sellers were willing to pay closing costs, 23.9 percent would be motivated to purchase foreclosures, and 19.5 percent said they would buy a foreclosure if there was a higher level of certainty related to home repairs required to make the home "move-in" ready.
 
Current fear of foreclosure has lessened since the last Realtor.com Homeownership Survey in March 2009, when 52.5 percent of respondents expressed concern that they or someone they know may face foreclosure in the next 6-12 months.  In this latest survey, the number of home owners concerned about foreclosure dropped 8.7 percent compared to March 2009, and the number of owners feeling "not very concerned" or "not concerned at all" increased by 8.4 percent combined in the past three months.

Todays mortgage rates 7/16/2009

Thursday, July 16, 2009
by The Schaller Family

Current Mortgage Rates as of Jul 16, 2009 *
 
Type of Mortgage Program
Rate
APR
 Lock

30 Year Fixed Conventional

4.750%

4.963%

30

15 Year Fixed Conventional

4.250%

4.615%

30

30 Year Fixed FHA

5.000%

5.911%

30

30 Year Fixed Jumbo Mortgage

5.750%

5.969%

30

15 Year Fixed Jumbo Mortgage

4.375%

4.731%

30

5/1 ARM Conforming

3.500%

3.856%

30

5/1 ARM Jumbo

4.000%

3.906%

30

Several other mortgage products and low mortgage rate

Frank proposes home loan plan for unemployed 7/15/2009

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
by The Schaller Family

                                Northstar

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) wants to ensure the growing population of jobless Americans don't fall victim to foreclosure. At a House Financial Services Committee hearing-a committee which Frank chairs-he pushed for another $6.5 billion stimulus program he's calling "TARP for Main Street." The proposal includes a $2 billion loan program for unemployed homeowners who do not qualify for other mortgage aid since they no longer have a steady income stream to claim. The initiative would essentially bring back a 1975 program that provides credit to Americans who've lost their jobs so they don't also lose their home, however borrowers would have to secure the loan with their property.  One billion dollars would also be earmarked to build and maintain affordable housing, $1.5 billion to revitalize foreclosed and vacant homes, and $2 billion to help apartment tenants keep their residence if the management company defaults on the mortgage.  The program would reportedly be funded with the dividends banks are paying the Treasury for the taxpayer dollars they received as part of Congress' $700 billion bailout.
 
Source: DSNews.com 
 

California homebuyers are motivated 7/14/2009

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
by The Schaller Family
Favorable home prices, record-low interest rates, and the belief that rates will rise in the near future were the primary motivators leading homebuyers to purchase in 2009 compared with last year, according to the California Association of Realtor (C.A.R.) "2009 Survey of California Home Buyers."  Sixty-eight percent of buyers said price decreases motivated them to buy a home, while 39 percent reported low interest rates helped them move to a better location.  Twenty-three percent claimed the likelihood that rates will move up as the motivating factor.  
 

Homebuyers who purchased a REO or bank-owned property experienced the highest level of difficulty in obtaining financing, compared with a more traditional transaction.  They rated the level of difficulty as 8.9 (on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 representing the greatest level of difficulty in obtaining financing) compared with a 7.7 for homebuyers with a traditional market sale and 7.6 for short-sale homebuyers.  According to the survey, the large number of distressed properties on the market provided more choices for homebuyers in 2009 than in recent years. 
 
On average, homebuyers spent 8.4 weeks considering buying a home in 2009, compared with 7.2 weeks in 2008. Buyers spent an average of 10.3 weeks searching for a home with their REALTOR®, compared with 8.7 weeks in 2008.  Of those who reported using the Internet as a tool in the home-buying process, Realtor.com continued to be the most popular real estate Web site at 89 percent, followed by individual real estate company Web sites at 81 percent; individual real estate agents, 66 percent; Zillow, 55 percent; Yahoo! Real Estate, 53 percent; and Craigslist, 49 percent.

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS 7/13/2009

Monday, July 13, 2009
by The Schaller Family

 

 

The road to success has three ingredients:

1.   Where you want to be by a certain date. 

2.  The plan, including all the steps. 

3.  Doggedly executing the plan.

 

If you find yourself thinking differently and doing things you have never done before, you’re probably on the right track.    

REO’S SHORT SALES – CURRENT LIST FREE 7/11/2009

Saturday, July 11, 2009
by The Schaller Family

 

Complete list of all Distressed properties in the Lake Tahoe/Truckee/Donner Summit/Sierra Valley  regions compiled daily.   Just email us and we’ll email the information right back.     Updates will be published weekly.  don@schallers.net

Investor survey projects U.S. recovery by mid-2010 7/10/2009

Friday, July 10, 2009
by The Schaller Family
Foreign real estate investors say they expect to see a recovery in the U.S. real estate market by the end of the second quarter of 2010, according to a survey by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE). 
 
Respondents projected their investments for the remainder of 2009 will substantially out-strip investments completed year-to-date. On the debt side, respondents say they expect to invest three times more than current investment levels year-to-date; equity investors expect they will place seven times more than current year-to-date investments. Overall, three quarters of the survey respondents had not yet invested in 2009; however, more than two-thirds of them plan to invest some debt or equity in U.S. real estate before the end of the year.  Survey respondents continue to be optimistic in their investment projections. Thirty-one percent say they were more optimistic than at the beginning of the year; 16 percent said they were more pessimistic; and 53 percent said they felt about the same as at the beginning of the year.  Washington, D.C., New York and San Francisco were named as the top three cities for their investment dollars. Boston, which has not appeared among investors' top five cities since 2001, was selected as the fourth city and Los Angeles, fifth.

SUMMERS IN LAKE TAHOE 7/8/2009

Thursday, July 09, 2009
by The Schaller Family

   

 

It’s said that people come to Lake Tahoe and it's surroundings for the winters but, stay for the summers.  I know that is true for me.  Skiing was my first love, next to my wife of course, but once we moved here, warm days and cool summer nights captivated me.   While I’m used to opening a car door now and not smelling that first breath of pine scented pines and firs, I still marvel at the clear water, numerous brightly colored birds migrating through, the mountains and shear glacier polished granite.

 

It is interesting to note that when temperatures in Sacramento reach 3 digits, we have an increase in population of smiling Sacramentans.   Tensions seem to evaporate while relief is apparent when the car door opens in the mountains.  The temperature seldom exceeds 85 degrees while the evening temperature hovers around 40.  Sleep comes easy and deep.   Hiking, bike riding, kayaking, boating, and fishing in the numerous lakes and streams, take up the days while evenings over the Bar BQ with family, brings the day to a close.

 

          Yes, it’s a special place with lasting memories.

Displaying blog entries 411-420 of 623