South Florida Home Prices Decline Slowly

South Florida Real Estate

Miami, Florida – Data through December 2009, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, show that the U.S. National Home Price Index fell in the fourth quarter of 2009, but it has improved in its annual rate of return compared to third quarter reports.

The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which covers all nine U.S. census divisions, recorded a 2.5 percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2009 versus the fourth quarter of 2008. While down, it’s a significant improvement over the annual rates reported in the first, second and third quarters of the year, at -19.0 percent, -14.7 percent and -8.7 percent, respectively.

In December, the 10-City and 20-City Composites recorded annual declines of 2.4 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively. These two indices, which are reported monthly, have seen improvements in their annual rates of return every month since the beginning of the year.

“As measured by prices, the housing market is definitely in better shape than it was this time last year, as the pace of deterioration has stabilized for now. However, the rate of improvement seen during the summer of 2009 has not been sustained,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s.

“In the most recent months, we are seeing fewer and fewer MSAs reporting monthly gains in prices. Only four cities saw month-to-month improvements in December over November when you look at the raw data. We are in a seasonally slow period for home prices, however, so it is not surprising to see better statistics in the seasonally-adjusted data, where 14 of the markets and the two monthly composites all rose in December. Similarly, the National Composite fell by 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter, but rose by 1.6 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis.”

As of the 4th quarter of 2009, average home prices across the United States are at similar levels to what they were in the summer of 2003. The 4th quarter values fell when compared to the 3rd quarter; however, the decline in the annual rate of return has significantly improved.

The 10-City and 20-City Composites continue to show improvement in their annual rates of return. In fact, all 20 metro areas and the two Composites saw improvement in their annual returns compared to November’s data. Only three cities – Detroit, Las Vegas and Tampa – still showed double digit annual rates of decline as of the end of 2009. Miami, Phoenix and Seattle all moved above such rates with December’s report.

Looking at the monthly statistics, 15 of the 20 metro areas showed a decline in December over November, with Chicago posting the sharpest decline, down 1.6 percent. Las Vegas finally posted its first positive print in more than three years, with +0.2 percent. The Southwest continues to be a bright spot, with San Diego posting its eighth consecutive monthly increase, and Los Angeles and Phoenix both posting their seventh. Three of the markets – Charlotte, Seattle and Tampa – posted new low index levels as measured by the past four years.

In other words, any gains they might have seen in recent months have been erased and December is now considered their current trough value, according to the data.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Consumer Confidence Index climbs in Jan. Florida Real Estate

South Florida Real Estate - Dean Isenberg - Realtor - 305-929-DEAN

Americans’ confidence in the economy improved modestly in January for the third straight month, as they begin to feel slightly better about business conditions and the job picture, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index increased to 55.9 – the highest in more than a year but still relatively gloomy. That compares with 53.6 in December.

January’s index was better than the expected 53.5 forecast by economists.

Economists watch confidence numbers closely because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. It takes a reading of 90 to indicate an economy on solid footing and 100 or more to indicate growth.

The new figures still don’t point to an end to the nation’s economic woes any time soon.

“Consumers’ short-term outlook, while moderately more positive, does not suggest any significant pickup in activity in the coming months,” Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center, said in a statement.

Tuesday’s figures are based on a survey of 5,000 households by the private research group.

Capital Economics analyst Paul Dales said Americans’ sentiments are well below the Index’s historic average of 95.

“In other words, despite the fact the economy probably grew at an annualized rate in excess of 5 percent in the fourth quarter, the labor market appears to be on the cusp of generating net employment gains, interest rates are at record lows and the rally in equities remains largely intact, confidence remains incredibly depressed,” Dales wrote in a research note. “This all suggests the legacy of the recession will live long in the mindset of consumers.”

While consumers were less dire about their income prospects, “(the number of) pessimists continues to outnumber the optimists,” Franco said.

Job security is a vital part of how Americans view the economy. Those who feel better about their jobs feel more comfortable spending money, which in turn fuels the nation’s economy. That means without a meaningful and steady increase in Americans’ faith that their paychecks will keep coming, and in turn a pickup in spending, there’s unlikely to be any strong revival in the economy.

“Without a sustained acceleration in consumption growth, the overall economic recovery is doomed to disappoint,” Dales wrote.

The unemployment rate held steady in December at 10 percent, down slightly from a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October. Some analysts worry it will start climbing again in coming months, and could even rise as high as 10.5 percent next summer.

The Consumer Confidence index hit a historic low of 25.3 in February after registering 37.4 last January and enjoyed a three-month climb from March through May, fueled by signs that the economy might be stabilizing.

Since June, it has bounced along anemically between 47 and 55 as rising unemployment has taken a toll.

Also Tuesday, a report showed that The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index rose for in November – its sixth straight month of increases. And 14 of 20 metro areas posted improvements from the month before.

That index is now up 3.4 percent from its bottom in May, but still 30 percent below its peak in May 2006.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Federal Housing Administration to raise fees. Miami real Estate

Miami Florida Real Estate Services

WASHINGTON – Jan. 20, 2010 – The Federal Housing Administration is raising fees and tightening lending standards to shore up its strapped finances and avoid a taxpayer bailout.

The government agency has seen its losses rise with the foreclosure rate. Its reserves have sunk below the minimum level required by Congress. A healthy FHA is vital for the housing market because it insures roughly 30 percent of new loans, and is the largest backer of mortgages to first-time buyers.

The changes, which will go into effect in the first half of the year, “are among the most significant steps to address risk in the agency’s history,” FHA Commissioner David Stevens said in a prepared statement.

The FHA does not make loans, but rather offers insurance against default. Borrowers are willing to pay for the insurance because FHA loans only require down payments of 3.5 percent of the purchase price – and that didn’t change.

The new policies, to be announced Wednesday, are designed to bring more revenue into the agency, while at the same time keeping loans available.

Under the changes, homebuyers will:

• Pay an upfront mortgage insurance premium of 2.25 percent of the total loan amount, up from the current level of 1.75 percent. A borrower taking out a $200,000 mortgage would pay a $4,500 fee, for example, rather than the current fee of $3,500. Borrowers will still be able to wrap these fees into the total amount borrowed. FHA officials also plan to ask Congress to increase the maximum annual premium that FHA can charge.

• Need a credit score of at least 580 to qualify. Many FHA lenders already require a higher score, but there had been no standard requirement across the program. Borrowers with a score lower than 580 will need a down payment of at least 10 percent.

The changes come as borrowers with loans backed by the agency have increasingly been falling into default. More than 18 percent of FHA borrowers are at least one payment behind or in foreclosure, compared with 14 percent for all loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Mortgage lenders “will find the new rules painful but necessary,” said Howard Glaser, a mortgage industry consultant and former housing official during the Clinton administration.

There also have been fears that unscrupulous operators have shifted their business to the FHA after the subprime business went bust. Last week, the agency served subpoenas on 15 mortgage companies with suspiciously high default rates for FHA loans, part of a broad crackdown on dubious lenders.

The agency has already taken action against several problem lenders. One of the nation’s biggest mortgage bankers, Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Co. of Ocala, Fla., was banned from the FHA program in August and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Another mortgage company, Lend America, was kicked out in November.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

New rules curb closing surprises - Miami Real Estate 800-819-5466

Real Estate In Miami - 305-936-2489 - The "I-Team"

McLEAN, Va. – Jan. 19, 2010 – Buying a home should be a joyful experience, but all too often, the mortgage settlement process leaves consumers confused, angry and paying more than they anticipated.

The reason? Closing costs and fees that are significantly higher than the lender’s original estimates. Borrowers find themselves faced with two unappealing choices: Pony up or walk away and start searching for another house.

Now, after years of wrestling with different factions of the mortgage industry, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has adopted rules designed to prevent last-minute closing surprises. The rules, which took effect Jan. 1, will reduce closing shocks and save homebuyers money, says Timothy Dwyer, CEO of Entitle Direct Group, a title insurance company. In addition, he says, “You’ll be better informed and educated.”

The biggest change involves the good faith estimate, the form lenders give consumers when they apply for a mortgage. The good faith estimate isn’t new, but in the past, the document wasn’t particularly helpful to consumers, says Sylvia Alayon, vice president of operations at the Consumer Mortgage Audit Center. What has changed:

Consistency. Lenders are now required to use a uniform three-page document when they give prospective borrowers a good faith estimate, says Vicki Bott, deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing at HUD.

Lenders also are required to provide the document within 72 hours after prospective borrowers apply for a loan.

This will allow consumers to figure out a loan’s total cost, including fees, and compare loan offers on an apples-to-apples basis, Bott says. “We encourage consumers to shop for the best rates and fees, and not just the best rate,” she says.

Transparency. Many borrowers who bought homes during the housing boom later discovered that their loans contained hidden bombs that made their mortgages unaffordable. The new good faith estimate requires lenders to disclose features that could drive up costs. For example, the document requires lenders to disclose whether your interest rate will rise – as would be the case with an adjustable-rate mortgage – and if so, by how much. Lenders will also be asked whether the loan includes balloon payments or imposes penalties for paying the loan off early.

“All of these are really important questions,” says Helene Raynaud, vice president of housing for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. “It will be able to raise red flags for consumers.”

Trade-offs. Some lenders offer borrowers a lower interest rate in exchange for higher upfront costs -- or vice versa. A new table in the good faith estimate (see box) helps borrowers compare how different interest rates and settlement charges will affect monthly payments.

Reliability. Lenders are required by law to give mortgage applicants a copy of their settlement costs, known as a HUD-1, at least one day before closing. In the past, though, many borrowers discovered that the costs shown on the HUD-1 bore little connection to those provided in the good faith estimate.

The new rules will make it much more difficult for lenders to depart from their good faith estimates, Bott says. The new HUD-1 includes a line-by-line comparison to the good faith estimate, making it easy to identify any change in costs.

Lenders are prohibited from increasing costs they control, such as origination and processing fees. Fees for third-party services, such as appraisals and title insurance, can increase no more than 10% from those provided in the good faith estimate, as long as the borrowers use providers selected by the lender. The limit doesn’t apply if borrowers select their own third-party providers.

Other costs that aren’t subject to the 10% limit include the initial deposit for the borrower’s escrow account, daily interest charges and homeowner’s insurance.

HUD has published a guide for homebuyers, Shopping for Your Home Loan: HUD’s Settlement Cost Booklet. You can find it at www.hud.gov

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Outlook for 2009 Miami Real Estate: It’s a buyer’s market !

Miami Real Estate - Now's the time to buy.

What’s the outlook for 2009? Florida Realtors® agree that it’s a buyer’s market! With lower prices and strong pent-up demand, Florida homes are highly attractive – especially to first-time and move-up buyers. Meanwhile, vacation residences continue to be warm-weather bargains to U.S. and international buyers.

Outlook for 2009: It’s a buyer’s market!
“We expect first-time homebuyers will be the largest segment next year,” says Ed Forman, president Watson Realty Corp., Jacksonville. “That includes a high percentage of single women buying their first property.”

The same pricing dynamics benefit working-age families in their 30s and 40s who may be moving into a starter home or looking for a move-up with more space for children, according to Mike Pappas, president and CEO, The Keyes Company, Miami. “For these buyers in particular, lower pricing is making Florida homes very attractive,” he says.

In many Florida markets, affluent buyers are picking up luxury properties as primary residences or second-homes – a trend likely to continue. “The high end of the Florida market has held up quite well,” says Brad Hunter, director, South Florida region, MetroStudy in Boca Raton.

International buyers remain an important component of the state’s market, especially in coastal areas like Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Naples and Sarasota, as well as Orlando/Kissimmee. Florida Association of Realtors research studies show buyers from Canada, United Kingdom, Mexico, South America and Europe generate more than 15 percent of residential transactions.

On the other hand, the traditional flow of retiree buyers to Florida remains uncertain in the year ahead. Slower economic conditions in the Northeast and Midwest – two prime feeder markets for Florida – may make it harder for retirees with modest incomes to make the big move to Florida. Many retirees are also faced with less purchasing power due to declines in their investment portfolio and may opt to stay put. However, the number of Baby Boomers reaching age 65 continues to increase and many of these prospective buyers will be considering Florida when the nation’s economic condition improves.

Market watch perspectives
If the opportunities for great value and investment potential are presented, will buyers hop the fence and buy? Experts weigh in.

Use these Web sites to get local stats and build your own market watch for prospective buyers and sellers.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Florida’s existing home, condo sales up in 2Q 2009

MIAMI, Florida – Sales of existing single-family homes in Florida rose 23 percent in second quarter 2009 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the latest housing statistics from the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). A total of 43,125 existing homes sold statewide in 2Q 2009; during the same period the year before, a total of 35,008 existing homes sold. It marks the fourth consecutive quarter that Florida has seen higher existing year-to-year home sales, according to FAR.

Sales of existing condominiums statewide in the second quarter rose 29 percent compared to the same time the previous year. This marks the third consecutive quarter for increased statewide sales in both the existing home and condo markets compared to year-ago levels.

Statewide sales activity in 2Q 2009 also increased over 1Q 2009’s sales figure in both the existing home and existing condo markets, FAR records show. For 2Q 2009, statewide sales of existing homes rose 37.2 percent over the 1Q 2009 figure; existing condo sales statewide in 2Q 2009 increased 45.3 percent over the 1Q 2009 level.

“In spite of the challenges with the economy, most people – 83 percent – still believe that buying a home is a good financial decision, according to a recent survey from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR),” says 2009 FAR President Cynthia Shelton, CCIM, CRE, a broker and director of investment sales with Colliers Arnold in Orlando. (CCIM stands for Certified Commercial Investment Member and CRE is the Counselor of Real Estate designation). “Many homebuyers are realizing that this is the time to buy – with a good selection of housing inventory, affordable pricing and low mortgage rates.

“In fact, three-fourths of those responding to the 2009 National Housing Pulse Survey said they think now is a good time to purchase a home, a number that has increased steadily the past two years,” she says. “However, providing solid financing options for homebuyers is key to returning stability to the housing market, and buyers also need programs that help with downpayment and closing costs. That’s why the federal $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit and other programs enabling eligible buyers to access that tax credit for downpayment or closing costs are so important – programs like the Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program.”

MIAMI, Florida –

Sixteen of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported increased sales of existing homes in the second quarter compared to the same three-month period a year earlier, while 12 MSAs showed gains in condo sales.

The statewide existing-home median sales price was $143,600 in the second quarter; a year earlier, it was $203,200 for a decrease of 29 percent. The 2Q 2009 statewide existing-home median sales price was 1.8 percent higher than 1Q’s statewide existing-home median sales price of $141,000. According to industry analysts with the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half for less.

In the year-to-year quarterly comparison for condo sales, 14,742 units sold statewide for the quarter compared to 11,459 in 2Q 2008 for a 29 percent increase. The statewide existing-condo median sales price was $111,100 for the three-month period; in 2Q 2008, it was $179,800 for a decrease of 38 percent. The 2Q 2009 statewide existing-condo median sales price was almost 1 percent higher 1Q’s statewide existing-condo median sales price of $110,100.

Continuing low mortgage rates remain another favorable influence on the housing sector. According to Freddie Mac, the national commitment rate for a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.03 percent in 2Q 2009; one year earlier, it averaged 6.09 percent.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Details of FHA’s $8K downpayment advance released

Got Florida .Com South Florida Real Estate

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released more details today about its program to help first-time homebuyers use a tax credit as part of a downpayment.

HUD announced the program on May 12 at the National Association of Realtors® Housing Summit. In the interim, HUD posted an announcement and then immediately took it down, leading to speculation that the program would be pulled. In response, HUD said the rules had simply not been finalized, and the original announcement had been posted in error.

“We’ve been eager for word from the federal government since the new FHA downpayment assistance plan was announced, and even more so after the program details were first published and then quickly pulled,” says John Sebree, FAR vice president of public policy. “Luckily, that turns out to be a minor setback and there will be a federal downpayment program to complement the $30 million we were successful in securing in the Florida budget.”

The most significant change involves the amount of downpayment required by qualified first-time homebuyers. FHA mortgages require a 3.5 percent downpayment, and the $8,000 tax credit cannot be used to override that requirement. Once the 3.5 percent downpayment requirement has been met, however, the tax credit can be applied to additional costs, including a higher downpayment, paying points to lower the mortgage rate, and/or closing costs. Lenders will treat the tax credit money as a second lien on the home until it’s paid back.

“Mortgage industry leaders have indicated that this type of product may not be immediately available to consumers,” says Sebree. Since lenders will oversee the tax credit loan, they must create internal programs to handle the process.

Lenders have some flexibility on payback requirements for the upfront loan of the tax credit, though HUD also created rules to protect homebuyers from onerous terms.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Foreclosures drove up 2008 U.S. home sales

Miami Real Estate – Foreclosures drove U.S. home sales up 7 percent in 2008 after a 40 percent plunge the prior year, with eligible buyers lured by deep discounts and low loan rates, according to real estate data company Radar Logic.

So-called “motivated sales,” or foreclosed houses sold at auctions or by financial institutions, surged 177 percent last year while all other sales in the 25 metro areas tracked by Radar Logic fell by 17 percent.

“The market seems to have migrated to the point where motivated sales have become a far more constant part of the housing sales market,” Michael Feder, chief executive of Radar Logic, told Reuters.

These distressed transactions represented as much as a third of all activity last year, he said.

The housing market has swooned from 2006 record highs, glutted with unsold homes, including foreclosed properties and empty new construction.

“Buyers recognize that those are at significant discounts versus what all other people are asking for homes and are migrating to those first,” Feder said. Ultimately, that could be a positive for housing, suggesting there is a price point that has been reached that is attracting buyers, he added.

Prices sank in all 25 metro areas, pushing the Radar Logic composite index down 22 percent for the year.

The biggest sales gains were in areas with the largest annual price declines: California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida.

In California, motivated sales accounted for 47 percent of total sales in December, up from 23 percent a year earlier, based on Radar Logic data.

Falling mortgage rates bolstered sales, with Freddie Mac’s 5.1 percent average 30-year rate in December the lowest since the home funding company started keeping records in 1971.

Lower mortgage rates curb monthly payments, but do little to help potential owners come up with the increasingly large down payments that lenders require, Feder noted.

There is reason for optimism that President Barack Obama’s $275 billion home stability program will kick-start the worst housing market downturn since the Great Depression, though a dearth of specific details makes it unlikely a turnaround will be swift, Feder said.

The program aims to reduce foreclosures and press mortgage rates down.

In the latest sign of housing sickness, pending sales of existing homes slid sharply in January as the recession deterred buyers, based on a National Association of Realtors index that fell to a record low. The measure, based on contracts signed in January, tumbled 7.7 percent to 80.4, the lowest since the trade group started the series in 2001.

Feder contends that three major problems still darken the picture: the oversupply of unsold homes, restrictive access to mortgage credit and reticence of non-distressed home sellers to slash their asking prices.

“We get a turnaround in all three of those and I think we’ll have a housing recovery,” he said.

Access to mortgage money remains limited, with lenders battered by record foreclosures stemming from years of looser lending practices.

“We hear anecdotally that there are a lot of deals that are cut, but then buyers can’t get mortgages for more than 60 percent of the purchase prices, even though it’s at this ‘motivated’ price level,” Feder said.

“The mortgage money simply isn’t providing the capital necessary,” he added. “If the stimulus package begins to help make mortgage money available at numbers more like 80 to 85 percent loan to value, that’s going top help a lot.”

House prices are unlikely to rise before the supply imbalance improves.

To get that, “We’re going to need to have some balance between the absorption of motivated sales and a capitulation by non-motivated sellers to the new price levels,” Feder said.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

When will Miami Real Estate prices bottom out ?

Miami Real Estate Deals – Housing prices will hit bottom in the fourth quarter of 2009, predicts Moody’s Economy.com in a new report.

“Despite the darkening national economic outlook and the weak conditions in the housing market, some positive signs give hope that a bottom in the housing market is coming into view,” the report says.

On average, home prices will decline 36 percent from the peak in the first quarter of 2006, the report says.

By the end of the housing downturn, nearly 62 percent of the nation’s 381 metropolitan areas will have experienced double-digit-percent declines in house prices, peak-to-trough, says the report.

The declines will exceed 20 percent in about 100 metro areas, according to the report, and the recovery will be “lackluster.”

“A number of uncertainties in both the housing and economic outlooks remain, and the risks tilt to the downside,” says Moody’s Economy.com Chief Economist, Mark Zandi.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

New program allows subprime mortgages to become a fixed-rate FHA. Miami Real Estate 305-936-2489

Miami Real Estate Information

WASHINGTON – Oct. 2, 2008 – A new program rolled out by HUD yesterday could help more homeowners avoid foreclosure. Under the program, the lender of an existing subprime mortgage forgives part of the debt as if it’s a short sale, and the balance of the mortgage is rolled into a fixed-rate FHA mortgage. Unlike earlier programs, however, the HOPE for Homeowners program is aimed more at lenders than homeowners.

“For families struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments, this program will be another resource to refinance into a loan they can afford,” says HUD Secretary Steve Preston. “FHA remains a safe and affordable alternative to the high-priced mortgage loans that threaten homeowners’ ability to retain their homes. We strongly encourage borrowers to work with their lenders to determine if HOPE for Homeowners is the right program for them.”

Miami Real Estate Information

The Economic and Housing Recovery Act of 2008 authorized the HOPE for Homeowners program. The HOPE for Homeowners Board of Directors was charged with establishing underwriting standards to ensure borrowers, after any write-down in principal, have a reasonable ability to repay their new FHA-insured mortgage.

The program began yesterday and ends Sept. 30, 2011. It’s available only to owner- occupants. In many cases, banks will have to write down the existing mortgage to 90 percent of the new appraised value of the home.

Borrower eligibility

Borrowers should contact their lender to determine eligibility. General requirements include:

• The home is their primary residence, and they have no ownership interest in any other residential property, such as second homes.
• Their existing mortgage was originated on or before Jan. 1, 2008, and they have made at least six payments.
• They are not able to pay their existing mortgage without help.
• As of March 2008, their total monthly mortgage payments due were more than 31 percent of their gross monthly income.
• They certify they have not been convicted of fraud in the past 10 years, intentionally defaulted on debts, and did not knowingly or willingly provide material false information to obtain their existing mortgage(s).

Miami Real Estate Information

How the program works

The Board expects homeowners will participate in the program primarily through their current lender. HOPE for Homeowners includes the following provisions:

• The loan amount may not exceed a maximum of $550,440.
• The new mortgage will be no more than 90 percent of the new appraised value including any financed upfront mortgage insurance premium.
• The upfront mortgage insurance premium is 3 percent and the annual mortgage insurance premium is 1.5 percent.
• The holders of existing mortgage liens must waive all prepayment penalties and late payment fees.
• The existing first mortgage must accept the proceeds of the HOPE for Homeowners loan as full settlement of all outstanding indebtedness.
• Existing subordinate lenders must release their outstanding mortgage liens.
• Standard FHA policy regarding closing costs applies.
• The borrower must agree to share with FHA both the equity created at the beginning of this new mortgage and any future appreciation in the value of the home.
• The borrower cannot take out a second mortgage for the first five years of the loan, except under certain circumstances for emergency repairs.

The costs to the homeowner include the upfront and annual insurance premiums, as well as a share of the equity created by the write-down associated with the HOPE for Homeowners mortgage and any future appreciation in the value of the home. If the home is sold or refinanced, the homeowner will share the equity with FHA on a sliding scale ranging from a 100 percent FHA share after the first year to a minimum of 50 percent after five years.

The lien holder that previously held the highest priority will receive payment up to a proportion of its original interest, not to exceed the amount of available appreciation. This type of delayed payoff will take place until all prior lien holders are satisfied or the amount of available appreciation is exhausted. All remaining appreciation is remitted to FHA.

Read more about HOPE for Homeowners at Hope For Home Owners

Miami Real Estate Information

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Short sales: A win-win or a minefield ? Call The Miami Short Sale Exprets 800-819-5466

Miami Real Estate Information

MIAMI, FLORIDA – Short sales are a financial tactic that appears only in real estate downturns. Such sales are supposed to be a win-win that gets the seller out of a tight spot, a buyer a good deal and the bank off the hook.

But what sounds like a logical alternative to the usual outcome of defaults - foreclosure - can be a minefield. Critics charge banks with being shortsighted and a menace to neighborhood home values. Banks say they have obligations to their investors. Some say inexperienced real estate agents forward irrational offers and incomplete paperwork, then expect fast miracles from their inundated staff members.

The result inside this real estate downturn has often been frustration for sellers, buyers and banks. Banks have been resistant, operating in a new financial landscape that requires permission from global investors and other parties. Many real estate agents simply avoid short sales, steering buyers to bank repos. And sellers have become frustrated by complications and 60- to 90-day timetables.

"We did everything we could do, to do the right thing, and we're not getting anywhere," said Chris Britton of Orangevale, Calif. He said he's waited five months for his lender to respond to an offer.

The lender, Bank of America, insists that he pay thousands of dollars in late fees, he said, for accepting a short sale.

Britton's real estate agent, Kathy Gheen of Fair Oaks, Calif., said it's unreasonable. Meanwhile, Britton's buyer waits. All agree the house is headed to foreclosure if nothing changes.

Agents who try short sales often accuse banks of being shortsighted, even harming the market.

Miami Real Estate Information

"If we could get to a point where a quarter of sales ... were short sales, we would see price stabilization more quickly. The neighborhoods would be maintained and the properties would not be invitations to crime," said Scott Thompson, partner in Mortgage Resolution Services in Carmichael, Calif.

Thompson, one of the Sacramento region's most successful short sale specialists, said banks too often ignore short sale offers, then lose $40,000 foreclosing and more selling the home in a declining market.

Bankers agree about foreclosure losses and say it may partly explain rising short sale numbers reported to the state.

But in places like California, where 78 percent of defaults end in foreclosure, according to DataQuick Information Systems, they say short sales are troublesome.

Miami Real Estate Information

"All the lien holders have to release it. It may be palatable to us. It may not be palatable to another lender. That's one of the realities of short sales. It's a practical legal reality that has to be met," said David Bradley, spokesman for Bank of America and its recent Countrywide acquisition.

Banks prefer loan modifications over short sales, said Robert Satnick, president of the California Mortgage Bankers Association. Freezing or lowering interest rates helps people who want to stay with the house. Short sales aim at owners who just want out. He also cited problems with incomplete short sale applications.

"The banks are inundated," he said. "If you give them an incomplete application, it's going to the bottom of the pile."

Pepperdine University finance professor Len Rushfield, a former bank president, said short sales may be rising but are still too much work for most banks.

"It's easier to foreclose. There's a direct process there," he said. "It may be financially a better result if you get it done through a short sale, but getting it done is the blockage."

What's the No. 1 secret to getting a short sale done successfully?

"The first thing is to contact your servicer and let them know you intend to sell," said David Knight, vice president for Wells Fargo & Co.'s default and retention division.

"In this challenging environment, if you let us know early, we can get things ready, go through the financials and get ahead of the offer. Then we can make a decision quickly."

Miami Real Estate Information

He said too often, people submit the entire packet with their first offer. Sometimes it's incomplete.

"If you have done your paperwork, you are significantly better off to benefit from the deal that comes in," he said.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Short sales: A win-win or a minefield ? Call The Miami Short Sale Exprets 800-819-5466

Miami Real Estate Information

MIAMI, FLORIDA – Short sales are a financial tactic that appears only in real estate downturns. Such sales are supposed to be a win-win that gets the seller out of a tight spot, a buyer a good deal and the bank off the hook.

But what sounds like a logical alternative to the usual outcome of defaults - foreclosure - can be a minefield. Critics charge banks with being shortsighted and a menace to neighborhood home values. Banks say they have obligations to their investors. Some say inexperienced real estate agents forward irrational offers and incomplete paperwork, then expect fast miracles from their inundated staff members.

The result inside this real estate downturn has often been frustration for sellers, buyers and banks. Banks have been resistant, operating in a new financial landscape that requires permission from global investors and other parties. Many real estate agents simply avoid short sales, steering buyers to bank repos. And sellers have become frustrated by complications and 60- to 90-day timetables.

"We did everything we could do, to do the right thing, and we're not getting anywhere," said Chris Britton of Orangevale, Calif. He said he's waited five months for his lender to respond to an offer.

The lender, Bank of America, insists that he pay thousands of dollars in late fees, he said, for accepting a short sale.

Britton's real estate agent, Kathy Gheen of Fair Oaks, Calif., said it's unreasonable. Meanwhile, Britton's buyer waits. All agree the house is headed to foreclosure if nothing changes.

Agents who try short sales often accuse banks of being shortsighted, even harming the market.

Miami Real Estate Information

"If we could get to a point where a quarter of sales ... were short sales, we would see price stabilization more quickly. The neighborhoods would be maintained and the properties would not be invitations to crime," said Scott Thompson, partner in Mortgage Resolution Services in Carmichael, Calif.

Thompson, one of the Sacramento region's most successful short sale specialists, said banks too often ignore short sale offers, then lose $40,000 foreclosing and more selling the home in a declining market.

Bankers agree about foreclosure losses and say it may partly explain rising short sale numbers reported to the state.

But in places like California, where 78 percent of defaults end in foreclosure, according to DataQuick Information Systems, they say short sales are troublesome.

Miami Real Estate Information

"All the lien holders have to release it. It may be palatable to us. It may not be palatable to another lender. That's one of the realities of short sales. It's a practical legal reality that has to be met," said David Bradley, spokesman for Bank of America and its recent Countrywide acquisition.

Banks prefer loan modifications over short sales, said Robert Satnick, president of the California Mortgage Bankers Association. Freezing or lowering interest rates helps people who want to stay with the house. Short sales aim at owners who just want out. He also cited problems with incomplete short sale applications.

"The banks are inundated," he said. "If you give them an incomplete application, it's going to the bottom of the pile."

Pepperdine University finance professor Len Rushfield, a former bank president, said short sales may be rising but are still too much work for most banks.

"It's easier to foreclose. There's a direct process there," he said. "It may be financially a better result if you get it done through a short sale, but getting it done is the blockage."

What's the No. 1 secret to getting a short sale done successfully?

"The first thing is to contact your servicer and let them know you intend to sell," said David Knight, vice president for Wells Fargo & Co.'s default and retention division.

"In this challenging environment, if you let us know early, we can get things ready, go through the financials and get ahead of the offer. Then we can make a decision quickly."

Miami Real Estate Information

He said too often, people submit the entire packet with their first offer. Sometimes it's incomplete.

"If you have done your paperwork, you are significantly better off to benefit from the deal that comes in," he said.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Vulture funds may lift real-estate market in South Florida 305-936-2489

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

MIAMI – For about a year, so-called vulture funds have circled South Florida’s besieged real-estate market, waiting for enough carnage to force deep discounts on large blocks of unsold condominiums. Some think last week’s meltdown on Wall Street may herald the arrival of that moment.

As many as 100 investment funds are shopping for South Florida real estate, hoping to buy extremely low during the current crisis. Their main target: condominium towers where developers and their lenders can’t sell enough units to pay off the loans used to build them.

“The bottom fishers, if you will, have been standing around the sidelines,” said Victor Lopez, a former Hyatt development executive now assembling commercial deals. ‘A lot of people out there are saying: ‘This is our time to get in.’”

If he’s right, it would be one of the clearest signs yet that South Florida’s beleaguered real-estate market had bottomed, bringing the region closer to a recovery. If vulture investors are buying, the view goes, it’s safer for others to start buying as well.

The funds come to the table with cash, but also a catch: a demand that the developers and banks accept a deep discount, typically between 40 and 50 cents on the dollar.

Despite all the attention these funds receive in the media and in real-estate circles, only one or two significant bulk condo deals have actually closed, according to several people involved in the market.

“Literally, a day doesn’t go by that I don’t get a call from potential investors,” said Ramiro Ortiz, president of Coral Gables-based BankUnited Financial. “The problem is that the price is 50 cents on the dollar. I’ve got enough clarity to know that’s not what I want to do.”

Real-estate analyst Michael Cannon sees the fund industry overstating the crisis facing developers and their lenders. So far, he is seeing enough condo buyers closing on their units to let most developers pay off their construction loans as well as some of the secondary loans needed to build the projects.

“Nobody is panicking,” Cannon said. “It’s not there.”

But after concluding the most dangerous week for the U.S. financial system since the Great Depression, fund managers think they are left with more leverage.

“Two very large hedge funds called me yesterday. Literally, they’re flying into Miami,” said Gregory Rumpel, a hotel broker at Jones Lang LaSalle, the day after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. “These guys are saying, ‘Well, that’s probably the shock to the market – with Lehman and all the other jitters out there – we need to see some stuff released.’”

Vulture in lipstick

One senior lending executive at a major South Florida bank that wanted to keep anonymous said his staff so far has refused offers from the so-called vulture funds. But he predicts that resistance won’t last much longer.

“The market conditions don’t seem to be improving. At some point, you’ve got to cut and run,” said the executive, who spoke on the condition that his name not be published. “That vulture is starting to look a little bit like it has some lipstick on it.”

Some think Wall Street’s grim news will prove a wake-up call to the fund managers themselves, prompting them to decide that the debacle has climaxed and that it’s time to deal.

“When you talk to most of these vulture-type investors, they all say they want to buy when there’s blood on the streets,” said Peter Zalewski, a partner at Condo Vultures, which brokers sales of distressed condominium towers. “This is really the sign they’ve been looking for.”

Turning point

An actual turning point wouldn’t reveal itself for months as the complicated deals, involving dozens of condominiums, get finalized.

“We’ve been active in this market for almost two years now,” said Matthew Martinez, whose Coral Gables firm, Pangea Select, is helping funds shop for South Florida real estate. “We’ve made about 32 offers. And we’re closing on the first one as we speak.”

Fluctuating currency markets add to the urgency for many of the funds with investment dollars from overseas. “Israel’s here in a big way,” said Adam Greenberg, managing director of BayBridge Real Estate Group, which is representing about a dozen funds.

Peter Wells wants to spend about $600 million in investor dollars and borrowed money on Miami-area real estate, but so far, he can’t find a motivated seller. He’s a partner in Condo Capital Solutions, a Denver-based fund that is looking for bulk deals in Florida and Arizona.

“We’re starting to see a few deals that are starting to make sense,” he said. Banks “are now starting to get a little bit more realistic.”


For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Miami Real Estate Information Hot Line 1-800-819-5466

For more information regarding the above web blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit us on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Pre-Construction Property .COMmission Free

Thank You !

NAR: Pending home sales indicate market stabilization - Miami Real Estate

Miami Real Estate / Miami Realtor

WASHINGTON – Pending home sales are hovering in a narrow range, another indication that a stabilization is occurring in the housing sector, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).


The Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in October, slipped 1.7 percent to a reading of 107.2 and is 13.2 percent lower than October 2005. The index had trended up from a cyclical low of 105.6 in July, and a decline from year-ago levels is narrowing. In September, the index was 13.6 percent below a year earlier, while in August the decline was 14.0 percent.


David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, says a fairly steady pace of home sales can be expected for the next two months. “It’s important to focus on where the housing market is now – it appears to be stabilizing, and comparisons with an unsustainable boom mask the fact that home sales remain historically high – they’ll stay that way through 2007,” he says. “In addition, a temporary correction in prices distracts from the fact that it is primarily the number of home sales that affects the economy, and the number for this year will be the third highest on record.”


The index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed and the transaction has not closed, but the sale usually is finalized within one or two months of signing.

Miami Real Estate

An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, the first year to be examined and the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales. There is a closer relationship between annual changes in the index and year-ago changes in sales performance than with month-to-month comparisons.


Regionally, the PHSI in the Midwest slipped 0.6 percent in October to 95.8 and was 15.4 percent below a year ago. The index in the South declined 1.7 percent to 122.9 and was 9.3 percent below October 2005. In the Northeast, the index eased 2.1 percent in October to 88.0 and was 13.5 percent lower than a year earlier. The index in the West fell 2.7 percent to 109.5 and was 17.4 percent below October 2005.

For more information regarding the above web blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit us on-line at A-Realtor.Com



Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”



Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog



South-Florida-Realtor.Com

Got Miami.Com ?

Sell Your PreConstruction.COMmission Free



Thank You !