FHA’s ‘First Look’ Initiative to Help Communities Stabilize Neighborhoods Hard-Hit by Foreclosure
July 27th, 2010 Categories: Real Estate News
RISMEDIA, July 27, 2010—The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a new initiative that gives state and local governments, and nonprofit organizations participating in HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) preference to acquire homes from the Department’s inventory of foreclosed properties, commonly known as “HUD homes.” The initiative was announced by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan at the National Council of La Raza annual conference in San Antonio, Texas.
A Notice outlining this temporary initiative will be published this week in the Federal Register. This Notice details how the sale of HUD Homes under the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA’s) First Look Sales Method will align NSP and FHA requirements to provide NSP grantees an exclusive option to purchase HUD homes before they are marketed to other purchasers.
“This First Look initiative is a marriage of two programs to accelerate our effort to confront property abandonment in communities struggling to overcome the effects of the foreclosure crisis,” said Secretary Donovan. “By essentially giving our NSP grantees a first bite at the apple, we hope to accelerate the sale of FHA’s foreclosed properties while supporting the Obama Administration’s neighborhood stabilization efforts.”
Through the FHA First Look Sales Method, HUD will offer NSP grantees a preference (“First Look”) to acquire available HUD homes within the defined boundaries of NSP-designated areas. Furthermore, First Look will provide NSP purchasers with the opportunity to purchase FHA properties at a discount of 10% below their appraised value, less the cost of any applicable listing and sales commissions.
The FHA-NSP First Look period will last approximately 14 days from the conveyance of a property to FHA. Properties that remain unpurchased at the expiration of the First Look period will be listed and sold according to standard FHA procedures. Eligible NSP grantees may acquire these properties with the assistance of NSP funds for any eligible use under NSP, including rental or homeownership. This sales method becomes effective today and continues through May 31, 2013.
HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program was created to address the housing crisis, create jobs and grow local economies by providing communities with the resources to purchase and rehabilitate vacant homes. NSP grants are helping state and local governments, as well as non-profit developers acquire land and property; demolish or rehabilitate abandoned properties; and/or offer downpayment and closing cost assistance to low- to middle-income home buyers. Grantees can also stabilize neighborhoods by creating “land banks” to assemble, temporarily manage and dispose of foreclosed homes.
FHA employs a variety of methods to sell its foreclosed properties in a manner that expands homeownership opportunities, strengthens neighborhoods and communities and ensures a maximum return to the mortgage insurance fund.
For more information, visit www.hud.gov.
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Homeowner Confidence Rises Nationally, But Western Homeowners Remain Pessimistic
July 15th, 2010 Categories: Brookside Escondido, Rancho Bernardo, Real Estate News
RISMEDIA, July 5, 2010—As some parts of the U.S. housing market work their way out of the housing recession, while the majority of markets continue to decline, homeowners across the country had mixed opinions of the state of their own homes’ values, according to the Zillow Q1 Homeowner Confidence Survey. Nationally, homeowners were overconfident, with half (50%) believing their own home’s value declined in the past year. In reality, 65% of U.S. homes declined in value, according to Zillow’s Q1 Real Estate Market Reports.
Meanwhile, 7% of homeowners, which translates to 5.3 million homes, said they would be “very likely” to put their home on the market in the next 12 months if they see signs of the housing market improving. By comparison, 5.2 million existing homes were sold during 2009. An additional 8% said they would be “likely” to put their home on the market, and another 14% said they would be “somewhat likely.” These homeowners represent “sidelined sellers,” a component of shadow inventory that if materialized, could significantly delay timing of a market recovery.
The most pessimistic homeowners reside in the West, even as home values in many California and Colorado metros have stabilized over the past year, according to the Zillow Q1 Real Estate Market Reports. Eighteen percent of Western homeowners believe that their home gained value over the past year when in reality 31% of Western homes gained value. That resulted in a Misperception Index of -12 (a Misperception Index of zero would indicate that homeowner perception is in line with reality, and a negative Misperception Index indicates that homeowners are overly cynical about their own homes’ values).
On the other end of the spectrum were Southern homeowners, who were overly optimistic, even as many Southern markets continue to see significant decreases in home values. Thirty-four percent of Southern homeowners said that their home gained value over the past year when in reality 27% of homes gained value. That resulted in a Misperception Index of 14.
Homeowners in the Northeast and Midwest recorded Misperception Indexes of -2 and 4, respectively.
“It is clear that there is a lag between market realities and public perceptions of home values. For quite a while after the market peak, Western homeowners continued to believe their own homes’ values were doing better than they were in reality,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “Conversely, after years of press coverage about declining home values, homeowner perceptions are now in line with market conditions from early last year, although the Western market has improved since then.
“We see the opposite phenomena in the South where home values in most markets – with the exception of Florida – took some time to begin falling. Many markets there have recently joined the housing recession in earnest, with five of the nine Southern states tracked by Zillow hitting their home value peak after 2007, but homeowners there are likely to believe the downturn has not affected them. This could also be a result of the fact that most attention has been on the hardest-hit areas of California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan, and homeowners outside of these markets may have less information about what has happened in their local markets.
“However, when homeowners across the country do start to believe that their home’s value has stopped declining, we can expect to see a lot of new inventory entering the market via sidelined sellers. This added inventory, combined with current elevated inventory levels and continued high rates of foreclosure in many areas, will likely serve to keep home values treading near the bottom for several years. Inventory must come down for home values to go up.”
Homeowner Perception of Future Home Values
Looking forward, homeowners are fairly positive about their own home’s value over the next six months, but like Misperception Index, the degree of optimism varies wildly among regions. In the Northeast, more than half (51%) of homeowners believe their home’s value will increase over the next six months while in the Midwest less than one-third (29%) of homeowners believe their home’s value will increase. Nationally, 39% of homeowners believe their own home’s value will increase during the next six months.
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Brookside Escondido – Lower Rates Mean Increased Purchasing Power
May 21st, 2010 Categories: Brookside Escondido, Escondido, Mortgage News
Great news going into the weekend. We have seen a nice drop in rates over the last week, about 0.50% across the board. This drop equates to an increase in buying power and an increase in buying options.
Increased buying power, four examples with a 30 year fixed:
- A payment of $1,565 at 5.25% equated to a loan amount of $283,400. Same payment but at 4.75% equates to a loan amount of $300,000. Loan amount increase of $16,600.
- A payment of $2,175 at 5.25% equated to a loan amount of $393,875. Same payment but at 4.75% equates to a loan amount of $417,000. Loan amount increase of $23,125.
- A payment of $3,440 at 5.375% equated to a loan amount of $614,300. Same payment but at 4.875% equates to a loan amount of $650,000. Loan amount increase of $35,700.
- A payment of $5,577 at 6.00% equated to a loan amount of $947,000. Same payment but at 5.50% equates to a loan amount of $1mil. Loan amount increase of $53,000.
Increased buying options:
Let’s say the buyer was already going to borrow $417,000 or $650,000. The reduction in interest rates would lower their payments by $127 at $417,000 and almost $200 at $650,000. This loan payment reduction might now allow buyers to look at communities with amenities such as a community pool, tot lot/playground, and common ground landscaping; amenities that many families are looking for but were unable to afford due to the $50 to $200 additional HOA fee. The lower mortgage payment now leaves room to absorb that HOA fee. This gives the buyer more properties from which to choose.
I wrote a very similar email in July of 2008. In that email, the rate decrease for conforming loans was from 6.25% to 5.875%. We are still a full percentage point lower! Please have your buyers contact me as soon as possible to see how much more they can afford at today’s rates.
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