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NEW YORK FINANCIAL INVESTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO BID RIGGING AT MUNICIPAL TAX LIEN AUCTIONS IN NEW JERSEY

A financial investor who purchased municipal tax liens at auctions in New Jersey pleaded guilty today for his role in a conspiracy to rig bids for the sale of tax liens auctioned by municipalities throughout the state, the Department of Justice announced.

A felony charge was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the [...]

Vacation home sales hit four-year high

According to a report just released by Homeaway, sales of vacation homes in 2011 reached a four-year high, fueled by the lowest median sales price in eight years, cheap mortgage rates, and the desire for a family retreat. The research found 33 percent of vacation home buyers purchased a vacation property last year primarily because of low real estate prices, while another 30 percent cited the desire for a family retreat. According to data from a National Association of REALTORS survey, the median sales prices for vacation properties at $121,300, putting ownership within greater reach of more consumers. [...]

Lower Foreclosure Rates than a Year Ago for Sixty-One of the Top 100 Major Markets

The U.S. foreclosure rate in February was 3.4 percent of all homes with a mortgage, the same rate as the month before and down slightly from a year before when the rate was 3.6 percent. The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate in February was 7.3 percent, up slightly from the month before when the rate was 7.2 percent but down significantly from a year before when the rate was 7.8 percent. [...]

Mortgage Rate Update; Do I need to sell my home to buy another?

Do I Have To Sell? No you do not have to sell if you are in a financial position where you qualify, i.e. Debt-to-Income Ratio is satisfactory and on paper you can afford both your current residence and the proposed payment on the new home. However, the borrower in this case must give consideration to other or additional expenses when maintaining multiple properties…increased property taxes, insurance costs, maintenance, un-expected repairs when making that decision. [...]

Case-Shiller report says 2012 home prices off to rocky start

This morning, the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for January was released which showed both the 10-city and 20-city composites, after both hitting record low levels in December, fell further in January. The 10-city and 20-city composites saw annual price decline of 3.9 percent and 3.8 percent respectively and both saw price declines of 0.8 percent in January from December. [...]

Home sales slip slightly in February but still up over 9 percent from year ago

The National Association of REALTORS released it’s Pending Home Sales Index for February today showing a slight decrease of 0.5 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and an 9.2 percent increase from a year ago. [...]

New home sales slip in February; still up double digits from a year ago though

Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for February 2012 showing a decrease of 1.6 percent from the month before, and an increase of 11.4 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for February was 313,000 homes, down from an adjusted rate of 318,000 homes the month before. This is the second consecutive month new home sales have declined. [...]

Home sales slip slightly in February but up almost 9 percent from a year ago; home prices increase slightly

Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in February were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.59 million units which is a decrease of 0.8 percent from the month before and an increase of 8.8 percent from a year ago. The actual number of homes sold in February was 286,000 which is an increase of 10.0 percent from the month before and an increase of 13.0 percent from a year ago when there were 253,000 homes sold. [...]

Mortgage delinquencies continue to decline; good news for the real estate market!

The U.S. mortgage loan delinquency rate was 7.57 percent of all home loans in February, down 5.0 percent from the month before and down 14.0 percent from a year ago, according to the “First-Look” report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data. The foreclosure presale inventory rate was 4.13 percent in February, a 0.5 percent decrease from the month before and a 0.3 percent decrease from a year ago [...]

Report shows For Every Two Homes Available for Sale, There Is One in the "Shadow"

st-louis-realtor-dennis-norman-shadow-inventory-corelogicA report released this morning by CoreLogic shows that the current residential “shadow” inventory as of January 2012 was 1.6 million units, equivalent to a 6-months’ supply, and approximately the same level last reported in October 2011. The shadow inventory is down from a year ago though, when it was at 1.8 million units, or an 8-months’ supply. Currently, the flow of new seriously delinquent (90 days or more) loans into the shadow inventory has been offset by the roughly equal flow of distressed sales (short and real estate owned), according to the report. “Almost half of the shadow inventory is not yet in the foreclosure process,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Shadow inventory also remains concentrated in states impacted by sharp price declines and states with long foreclosure timelines.” [...]

New home construction on the increase

The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for February 2012 showing an increase in single-family home building permits from the month before of 4.9 percent and a 9.9 percent decrease in new home starts compared to the month before. [...]

Report Says Realtors’ Existing Home Supply Understated by "Millions of Homes"

A report just released by RadarLogic states the obvious by saying “housing is a buyer’s market” which, I think by now, we all know. However the report goes on to dig into the driving forces behind this buyer’s market and makes some interesting (and concerning) observations including the fact that, while the National Association of REALTOR’s reported that the inventory of homes for sale in January dropped to 2.31 million homes (a 6.1 month supply and the lowest level since 2006) this does not take into account vacant homes that have been held off the market, homes that have delinquent mortgages on them and are headed to foreclosure or in the foreclosure process, nor homes with underwater mortgages. This is a large pool of homes that while they are not “on the market” now, a large percentage of them likely will be in the coming months and years thereby increasing the inventory of homes for sale. [...]

Where are the best places to buy rental property?

Now that the real estate is showing signs of prices stabilizing in many parts of the country, investors are investing in rental property more and more. However, for many, the $64 question is “where should I invest”? Well, according to a survey of the “Best 100 U.S. Markets to Invest in Rental Property”, developed by [...]

Foreclosure report shows mixed signals; rate down in U.S. but half of large metros up from a year ago

This morning, RealtyTrac released their U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for February 2012 which shows that foreclosure filings (default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions) we’re reported on 206,900 properties in the U.S. during the month, a 2 percent decrease from the previous month and a decrease of 8 percent from the year before. During the month, 1 out of every 637 homes in the U.S. had a foreclosure filing. [...]

American’s much more optimistic about homeownership than they were a year ago

According to a national survey released today by Prudential Real Estate, Americans are significantly more optimistic about homeownership than they were a year ago. According to the survey, 60 percent of Americans have favorable views toward the real estate market. That’s up from 52 percent last year. The survey shows other signs of increased consumer optimism as well: [...]

“The flourishing rental market is the silver lining to the nation’s housing downturn

A report released today by Zillow shows that median rents rose 3 percent from January 2011 to January 2012 while, during the same period, home prices fell 4.6 percent. According to the report, over two-thirds (69.2 percent) of the metro areas covered saw year-over-year gains in rents but only 7.3 percent of the metros saw home values rise during the same period. [...]

Bank of America, J.P. MOrgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial reach $25 Billion Agreement with Fed & State Government over Foreclosure Abuses

The Justice Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and 49 state attorneys general announced today the filing of their landmark $25 billion agreement with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. [...]

Real estate investor pleads guilty to bid rigging at foreclosure auctions

Last week, Wiley C. Chandler, plead guilty to one count of participating in a conspiracy to suppress and restrain competition by rigging bids to obtain selected properties at nonjudicial public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Joaquin County, California. [...]

Home buyers more motivated by updated kitchens than media rooms

A survey conducted by Coldwell Banker of it’s real estate agents across North America revealed that home buyers are motivated by lifestyle needs and are more willing to buy homes with updated kitchens and open floor plans than homes with “trendy” media rooms. [...]

Report shows optimism for real estate market; home prices up in one of every 4 markets

Today, CoreLogic, a leading provider of real estate market information, released its March CoreLogic MarketPulse report which had a fairly optimistic outlook on the market including the fact that today 25 percent of all markets are experiencing increases in home prices which is in stark contrast to the height of the housing bust when 96 percent of all markets saw home prices fall. [...]

Home prices decline in January; sixth consecutive month of decline

A report released this morning by CoreLogic, one of the nations leading providers of property information shows that home prices in the U.S. fell in January 3.1 percent from the year before and declined by 1.0 percent from the month before marking the sixth consecutive monthly decline in home prices. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 0.9 percent in January 2012 compared to January 2011 and month-over-month home prices increased 0.7 percent in January. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions. [...]

The 15 Best and 15 Worst Performing Real Estate Markets

At the top of the list for best performing markets is the metro area of Providence, RI – New Bedford, MA – FallRiver, MA with a 7.3 percent price increase in quarter over quarter and a 7.6 percent price increase in year over year. At the top of the list for the worst performing metro market is Cleveland, OH – Elyria, OH – Mentor, OH with a 9.4 percent price decline in quarter over quarter and a 7.3 percent price decline in year over year. See the complete lists below: [...]

How not to evict a tenant

After 33 years in the real estate business I pretty much thought I had heard, or seen it all until this story came along. It seems that a landlord, Paul Fagerlie Finman back in 2010 resorted to using a tractor to begin disassembling an occupied home in Idaho in an effort to evict the tenant. [...]

Homeowners with negative equity increases in fourth quarter

A report released today by CoreLogic shows that nationally 11.1 million, or 22. 8 percent , of homeowners with a mortgage were in a negative equity position at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011. This was an increase from 22.1 percent for the prior quarter. Negative equity is also referred to as being “underwater” or “upside down” and refers to homeowners that owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. [...]

Top Ten Cities to Buy REO’s and Pre-Foreclosures

This morning, RealtyTrac released their U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for fourth quarter 2011 which showed that pre-foreclosure and REO home sales accounted for nearly one of every 4 home sales (24 percent) during the quarter which is an increase from 20 percent in the prior quarter, however down from 26 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010. [...]

Mortgage Rate Update; Mortgage Insurance Premiums Increase for FHA Loans

Acting FHA Commissioner Carol Galante recently announced a new premium structure for FHA-insured single family mortgage loans. FHA will increase its annual mortgage insurance premium (MIP) by 0.10 percent . Upfront premiums (UFMIP) will also increase by 0.75 percent. [...]

Case-Shiller Home Price Index Falls to New Low in December; Maybe sign of new period of decline

This morning, the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for December was released showing all three of the home price composites ended the year at new index lows. The national composite fell by 3.8 percent during the fourth quarter of 2011 and was down 4.0 percent from the year before. Both the 10-city and 20-city composites fell by 1.1 percent in December from the month before and the home price indexes were down 3.9 percent and 4.0 percent respectively from the year before. All three composites are at their lowest levels sine the housing crisis began in mid-2006. [...]

Pending home sales index hits highest level since April 2010

The National Association of REALTORS released it’s Pending Home Sales Index for January today showing an increase of 2.0 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and an 8.0 percent increase from a year ago. This marks the highest level the pending home sales index has been at since April 2010 when it hit 111.3 as a result of buyers racing to buy before the homebuyer tax credit expired. [...]

CALIFORNIA INVESTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO BID RIGGING AND FRAUD AT PUBLIC REAL ESTATE FORECLOSURE AUCTIONS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A real estate investor pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Sacramento to conspiring to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions held in San Joaquin County, Calif., Sharis A. Pozen, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, and Benjamin B. Wagner, [...]

New home sales decline slightly in January; Inventory of new homes to lowest level in over a year

Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for January 2012 showing a decrease of 0.9 percent from the month before, and an increase of 3.5 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for January was 321,000 homes, down from an adjusted rate of 324,000 homes the month before. This is the first month new home sales have declined after four consecutive months of increases. [...]