Jeffrey Tung's Real Estate Blog » counselling

Fair Practices?

Jeff Tung — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:24:36 +0000

Here we are again. It seems like every governmental agency has it’s favorites. Remember the huge governmental bail outs, well here’s another example of government unfairness. RESPA seems to also have favorites too. Is this really going to help consumers?

HUD Accepting Complaints About Mortgage Lenders (bucks.blogs.nytimes.com)
Fair employment practices ‘vital for business insurance holders’ (premierlinedirect.co.uk)
AT&T says FCC didn’t give it fair look in T-Mobile deal [Update] (intomobile.com)

Keep Your Home California

Jeff Tung — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:23:13 +0000

The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) is administering $2 billion in federal funds for borrowers who are at risk of losing their homes. Borrowers who took out loans after January 1, 2009 are eligible for 4 different programs as long as the property is a primary resident, meet income requirements, and face a documented financial hardship.

The four programs are the following:

The Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program (UMA) which will help homeowners with their mortgage payments.
The Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program (MRAP) which provides funds for homeowners who have fallen behind in their payments
The Transition Assistance Program which provides relocation assistance
The Principal Reduction Program (PRP) which provides funds to reduce the outstanding principal balance.

GMAC, Guild Mortgage, CalHFA, and California Dept. of Veterans Affairs are the organization that offers all 4 programs.

Keep Your Home California Program Now Offers Mortgage Aid to Those Who Took Equity Out(mklenahan.wordpress.com)
#Mortgage aid offered to those who cashed out equity in #CA(visionaryrealtynews.com)
California lets equity strippers into mortgage-aid programs(sfgate.com)
Mortgage aid offered to those who cashed out equity(sfgate.com)
Mortgage aid offered to those who cashed out equity(sfgate.com)
Calif. starts $2 billion homeowner rescue plan(lansner.ocregister.com)
Emergency mortgage assistance for Fresno homeowners(fresnobeehive.com)
Bank payment policy keeps some from mortgage aid(sfgate.com)
Bank payment policy keeps some from mortgage aid(sfgate.com)
Housing Market Blues: The Bleeding Continues(redantliberationarmy.wordpress.com)

Tax benefits for homeowners

Jeff Tung — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:31:33 +0000

Home prices declined 3.8% in February compared to last year, however they are up 4.2% from two years ago. Could this be a sign of our recovery or maybe the double dip is about to happen? It’s hard to say but it is a great time to purchase a property. Interest rates are still at all time lows, prices have gone down, there are a lot of properties to choose from, and you still have some tax benefits. When you’re ready, there are a lot of things to consider.

Tax Benefits Help Homeowners(cumminggarealestate.wordpress.com)
5 Tips for Homeowners Filing Taxes(jmetzgerhomes.com)
A Pleasant Tax Surprise for Long-Time Homeowners(turbotax.intuit.com)
Video: Learn About The First-Time Homebuyer’s Credit(turbotax.intuit.com)
5 Tax Tips, Tricks and Traps for Homeowners(thomasperrella.wordpress.com)
Video: Save Taxes by Saving Energy(turbotax.intuit.com)

Foreclosures are up

Jeff Tung — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 01:28:14 +0000

Lenders have foreclosed on 78,133 properties in January, which is up by 12% from the previous month but it is 11% less then a year ago. Although there has been an increase in default notices, auctions, and bank repossessions in January, it is encouraging to know that the increase is 17% less then a year ago.

5 states are responsible for more then 50% of the nation’s total foreclosure activity; California, Florida, Michigan, Arizona and Illinois. Nevada was the hardest hit state with the highest foreclosure rate in the nation. Bank repossessions increased 16% from December which is more then 5 times the national average. Even though we are seeing more foreclosures, they are less then what it was a year ago. Let’s hope that this is a good sign that we might be on the right track to recovery.

U.S. home foreclosures rise in January – Reuters (news.google.com)
Pace of some foreclosures slows in January (usatoday.com)
Mortgage default notices slow sharply in January (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
U.S. home foreclosures rise in January (reuters.com)
Foreclosure sales activity back up in Fresno (fresnobeehive.com)
U.S. home foreclosures rise in Jan, more seen (reuters.com)
Risk of foreclosure dips, but remains elevated (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
US DATA: MBA Q4 mtgs in foreclosure were 4.63%, vs… (forexlive.com)
U.S. foreclosures still rising (theglobeandmail.com)
January Foreclosure Notices Drop to 3 Year Low (cbsnews.com)
Foreclosure Volume SOARS 50% In California And Arizona, As The Moratorium Ends (businessinsider.com)
Housing Seizures Rise (theatlantic.com)
Monthly foreclosures start climbing again (ftalphaville.ft.com)

What’s ahead for 2011???

Jeff Tung — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 01:57:50 +0000

Wow!! It’s almost the end of January and boy did it fly by. Since the beginning of the year, the rates have been going up. In November of 2010, the 30 year fixed loans were at a 40 year low of 4.17% the 15 year rate was 3.57%. Now it’s at 4.8% and the 15 year rate is 4.09%. I don’t think we will ever see the November rates ever again. There will probably be less borrowing, in 2011, due to the economic conditions.

So what do you think prices of homes will do? Well, most of the country will continue to see declines or stablize in prices except for 10 cities. Unfortunately, Florida and parts of the Western parts of the US will see the largest drops in home values.

Foreclosures Poised to Rise in 2011 (time.com)
2011 to top 2010 record of 1 million foreclosures (thenewstribune.com)
Over 1 million Americans seen losing homes in 2011 (boston.com)
Happy 2011! (penn-olson.com)
Tough Times Ahead for Florida (unreasonablefaith.com)
1 million homes repossessed in 2010 — 2011 will be worse (thegrio.com)
What’s Ahead in B2B Selling for 2011? (davesteinsblog.esresearch.com)
House prices continue to drop (lv.com)

Calm before the storm?

Jeff Tung — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 04:27:30 +0000

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! Foreclosures are down 21% of the previous month and 14% below November of last year. This is great news but I think we will see another wave of foreclosures and short sales in 2011. It could be as early as January 2011. We probably will see another wave of distressed properties on the market in the coming year.

If you remember in 2008-2009, the market was flooded with the first wave of distress properties for sale. There are still a lot of people having problems with their loan payments and the banks will have to follow through with their right to foreclose to recuperate the losses.

Distressed Homeowners Beware: Foreclosures Have Slowed, But Not For Long(prweb.com)

HUD’s One Stop Website for Economic & Housing Data

Jeff Tung — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:28:36 +0000

HUD has created a website for the public to be able to research a wide variety of economic and housing market data at the regional, state, metropolitan area and county levels. This information is being provided by the Census Bureau, Labor Dept., state and local government, housing industry sources, as well as HUD’s own economist. You’ll be able to look at “Market at a glance” reports, Regional Housing Market profiles, regional Narratives, and a Comprehensive housing market analysis.

HUD and VA Make Strides to Help Homeless Vets (vabenefitblog.com)

Long Short Sale process

Jeff Tung — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:08:20 +0000

Ever wonder why it takes so long to finish a short sale transaction? It could take 3 to 4 times longer then a regular sale and there is no guarantee that the sale will be completed. This process is really between the buyer and seller, however there is another party, a lender of record, that has to cooperate with the purchase. They have their own proceedures to approve the purchase and could take a long time.

Short sales – recognizing seller motivation (agentgenius.com)
California Department of Real Estate Issues Consumer Alert (eon.businesswire.com)
Bank of America Offers Tips To Successfully Buy A “Short Sale” Home (prweb.com)
Short Sales 101: Back to the Basics (agentgenius.com)
The Short Sale Approval Letter (findwell.com)
Short Sales, a Juggling Act (agentgenius.com)
Defining a Quick or Short Sale in Real Estate (brighthub.com)
Local Agent Provides Resource on Foreclosure Alternatives, Short Sales (pr.com)
Short Sales, When the Bank BPO Is Out of the Ballpark (agentgenius.com)

Improve your credit scores

Jeff Tung — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:56:03 +0000

Thinking of taking the pludge and make one of the biggest purchase in your life? Unless you have lots of cash, you’re probably going to finance the purchase. A big part of procuring a loan at the lowest interest rate posible is to have a good credit score. There are some things that you can do to improve your scores.

1/3 of americans can not qualify for a mortgage because of their credit scores.

25.5% Drop in Home Sales Coincides with Drop in Credit Score Awareness (prweb.com)
Get a good mortgage (money.cnn.com)
How Credit Repair Scams Work and How to Avoid Them (creditrepair.org)
25,000 Reasons to Pamper Your Credit (wisebread.com)
What Does ‘Piggybacking’ Mean for Credit Card Users? (applyforacreditcard.com)
How Do I Know If My Credit Is Good? (creditscore.net)
One-third ‘highly unlikely’ to get mortgage (money.blogs.time.com)

$3 Billion more to help homeowners

Jeff Tung — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:36:08 +0000

Our government has said they would spend another $3 billion to help homeowners keep their home if they lost their job or have a medical condition that reduces their ability to work. Eligible homeowners could receive a no-interest loan up to $50,000 for as long as 24 months and stay in the home. This program is to prevent further home foreclosures, but will it help and make a difference? According to RealtyTrac, foreclosures have increased 8% to $1.65 million in the first 6 months of this year with the current programs, so will this help or are we digging a bigger hole in the money pit for the next generation to cover? I hope it does help and get us out of this mess. However, it’s going to take some time to see if the extra money spent will make a difference, but at least, the government is trying to help people keep their homes.

HUD offers interest-free $50K loans to unemployed homeowners to stem foreclosures (hotair.com)
Foreclosures are up and foreclosures are down – learn why (agentgenius.com)
U.S. home foreclosures surge (theglobeandmail.com)
July foreclosures surge 15% in Washington state (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Foreclosures surge (capitolhillblue.com)
Government to spend $3 billion to help homeowners (marketwatch.com)
Homes lost to foreclosure up 6 pct from last year (sfgate.com)
Homes lost to foreclosure up 6% from last year (usatoday.com)
Billions to fund more programs to help homeowners – helpful? (agentgenius.com)
$3 billion more for jobless homeowners (money.cnn.com)
U.S. Treasury expands homeowner aid for jobless (reuters.com)
HUD Just Announced A Homeowner Bailout (businessinsider.com)
“Obama Administration (Via Taxpayers) To Provide $3 Billion In Housing Aid To Unemployed Homeowners” and related posts (bookerrising.net)

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Fair Practices?

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