Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Refi applications continue their rebound

Refi applications continue their rebound
Interest rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgage falls below 5%, MBA data show
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch

Last update: 7:03 a.m. EST Jan. 23, 2008Print E-mail RSS Disable Live Quotes
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- The volume of mortgage applications filed last week rose a seasonally adjusted 8.3% compared to the prior week as mortgage interest rates continued their decline, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported on Wednesday.
Refinance applications drove the increase: Applications to line up new financing on an existing loan rose 16.9% during the week ended Jan. 18, compared with the previous week, according to the MBA's weekly survey.

"Refinance applications are up 92% since the beginning of November and purchase applications are up 7%," said Jay Brinkmann, the MBA's vice president of research and economics.

"With tighter credit conditions, we do not know how many of these applications will become loans, but it is clear that borrowers are responding to the 40- to 80-basis-point drop in rates we have seen since Nov. 2," he said in a news release.
Week-to-week applications for mortgages to purchase a home decreased a seasonally adjusted 4.6%, the MBA said.

Total applications were up 63.7%, compared with the same week in 2007. The four-week moving average for all loans was up 13.7%.

Fully 66% of all applications were for refinance loans in the latest week, an increase from 62.7% the previous week. Applications for adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 9.3%, up from 9.2% the previous week.

The average interest rate for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, a popular option for homeowners seeking to refinance, was 4.96% last week, down from 5.07% the previous week. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.49% last week, down from 5.62% the previous week.

The rate on a one-year ARM averaged 5.51%, down from 5.77%.
The MBA survey covers about half of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.

Amy Hoak is a MarketWatch reporter based in Chicago

Refi applications continue their rebound

Refi applications continue their rebound
Interest rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgage falls below 5%, MBA data show
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch

Last update: 7:03 a.m. EST Jan. 23, 2008Print E-mail RSS Disable Live Quotes
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- The volume of mortgage applications filed last week rose a seasonally adjusted 8.3% compared to the prior week as mortgage interest rates continued their decline, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported on Wednesday.
Refinance applications drove the increase: Applications to line up new financing on an existing loan rose 16.9% during the week ended Jan. 18, compared with the previous week, according to the MBA's weekly survey.

"Refinance applications are up 92% since the beginning of November and purchase applications are up 7%," said Jay Brinkmann, the MBA's vice president of research and economics.

"With tighter credit conditions, we do not know how many of these applications will become loans, but it is clear that borrowers are responding to the 40- to 80-basis-point drop in rates we have seen since Nov. 2," he said in a news release.
Week-to-week applications for mortgages to purchase a home decreased a seasonally adjusted 4.6%, the MBA said.

Total applications were up 63.7%, compared with the same week in 2007. The four-week moving average for all loans was up 13.7%.

Fully 66% of all applications were for refinance loans in the latest week, an increase from 62.7% the previous week. Applications for adjustable-rate mortgages accounted for 9.3%, up from 9.2% the previous week.

The average interest rate for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, a popular option for homeowners seeking to refinance, was 4.96% last week, down from 5.07% the previous week. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.49% last week, down from 5.62% the previous week.

The rate on a one-year ARM averaged 5.51%, down from 5.77%.
The MBA survey covers about half of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.

Amy Hoak is a MarketWatch reporter based in Chicago

Friday, January 18, 2008

Mortgage Demand Reaches 4-Year High

Daily Real Estate News | January 16, 2008
Mortgage Demand Reaches 4-Year High
Demand for mortgages surged last week, hitting its highest level in nearly four years as interest rates fell, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

Mortgage application volume reached 906.4, an increase of 28.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 706 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 64.8 percent compared with the previous week, which was shortened by the New Year holiday and was up 39 percent compared with the same week a year ago.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 62.7 percent of total applications, up from 57.7 percent the previous week.

Adjustable-rate mortgages were only 9.2 percent of total applications.

Meanwhile, mortgage rates slipped during the week. They were:

30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.62 percent from 5.73 percent.
15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.07 percent from 5.21 percent.
1-year ARMs decreased to 5.77 percent from 6.04 percent

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association (01/16/08)

Just A Thought.

I have a couple who are looking to buy and they really like this
neighborhood, it is older but still with many nice homes with bigger
lots. The homes are not that modern they are built around mid 90s.
Some homes are upgraded, some are mostly just original but with
fresh paint, new carpet, new kitchen counter and or cabinets.
Prices are reasonable around $490,000 to $550,000.

We drove around the neighborhood of 250+ homes and we only found
about 4-5 homes for sale. The buyers also noticed that too.

Well, guess what, the neighborhood is well established, people
bought long time ago and they have accumulated enough equities
in their homes to stay put or perhaps move up.
(One neighbor moved to the wine country, they built their own home
plus inlaw's home on 5 acres lot, it is approx. $1.6 mil now).
In this neighborhood, most of the home owners probbly have steady
jobs and older kids perhaps with part time jobs.

In the meantime I have a listing in a new neighborhood, it was built
by Lennar in 2005. The homes are all beautiful and all upscale with
granite tops, travertine tiles or wood floor, mostly 5 or 6 bedrooms
with 4 to 4.5 baths. Some homes are truly gorgeous with upgrade in
the front yards as well as backyard.

Guess what, people bought in 2005 with Adjustable Rate Mortgage,
low down payment, low interest rate. Now it's 2008 many mortgage
interests for these home owners became much, much higher. For
example some payment increases anywhere from $500 to $1500 more
per month. No wonder, there are at least 30 homes for sale in this
area. People got into a bad loan and now they are either stuck or
needs to get out. I hate to tell you how much some of these
gorgeous homes are sold for. One of the problem is that since your
home is worth what the market will bear and the appraisers also look
at the neighborhood to see how much homes are sold for in the last 3-
6 months and it does not matter how much you bought it for.

It is not a pretty picture and believe me, the realtors who listed
these homes will spend tons of money for advertising and expenses
out of their own pockets TO HELP the SELLERS!! Some bank owned or
short sale properties are taking long time to sell and must be
priced competitively otherwise forget it. The buyers / investers are
looking for the cheapest house in the neighborhood. That is driving
the price down as well. Forget the existing lenders, they are
horrendously slow in the approval process when working with them.
For shortsale home, if we are lucky and have a buyer, the lender
might just approve 1% commission to the Realtors. What a joke.

I was on the phone for 4 hours one morning trying to talk to them
about processing the home for sale, they transferred me all over the
company. I had to put the phone on the speaker so I can do something
while I waited for someone to answer. Besides all the paperworks
they asked you to fill. All these work just to help the sellers.

In this market, all we can do is to work harder to help the sellers
sell their homes, without even thinking about how much we are going
to make. Some agent will not touch the shortsale, they think that it
just wasting their time.
Jeri

Here are the states with the highest and lowest percentage of ARMs.

Here are the states with the highest
and lowest percentage of ARMs.

10 States with the Highest Percentage of ARMs

Nevada: 40.3 percent
California: 38.2 percent
District of Columbia: 33.2 percent
Arizona: 32.1 percent
Florida: 29.5 percent
Colorado: 27.2 percent
Washington: 24.5 percent
Virginia: 23.6 percent
Hawaii: 23.3 percent
Illinois: 23.1 percent

10 States with the Lowest Percentage of ARMs

Oklahoma: 9.6 percent
South Dakota: 10.2 percent
Arkansas: 10.4 percent
North Dakota: 10.7 percent
Nebraska: 11 percent
Iowa: 11.6 percent
Louisiana: 11.8 percent
Wyoming: 12.1 percent
Texas: 12.4 percent
West Virginia: 12.5 percent

Source: BusinessWeek, Prashant Gopal (01/11/08)

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Toronto's Smallest House Is Up For Sale.

Toronto's Smallest House is Up for Sale!

If....
a.. You live alone or with one other person (or an extremely small dog!!!)
b.. You don't have much stuff (barely more than a homeless person!!)
c.. You miss that cute little apartment you lived in while teaching English in Japan, then this is the place for you!


This house, located near the intersection of Dufferin Street and Rogers
Road is believed to be Toronto's smallest house. Occupying what used to be
a driveway, it's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom house that sits on a parcel of
land 7.25 feet (2.2 metres) wide and 113.67 feet (34.6 metres) long and has
an interior area of just under 300 square feet (under 28 square metres).
The asking price is $179,900.!!!!




Here's another look at the front:



Here's the living room, looking towards the front of the house:



Here's the living room again, looking towards the back of the house.



Here's the kitchen looking towards the back of the house.

Note that despite the small space, they've managed to fit a washer and dryer into the place:



Here's the bedroom, looking towards the back of the house.

It comes with a Murphy bed, which is a necessity in such a space.

This is what it looks like with the Murphy bed down:



...and here's the bedroom (looking towards the front of the house) with the Murphy bed retracted:



You also get some patio space out back. Here it is, looking towards the front of the house.



...and here it is looking towards the back:



Here are the house's listed features:

a.. "Completely Re-Done Top-To-Bottom, Front-To-Back!"
b.. Tumbled stone entrance walk
c.. Renovated Bath
d.. Renovated kitchen with newer stove, new cabinets and new stacked washer/dryer
e.. Bedroom with Murphy bed + "Built-Ins" - doubles as den!
f.. Walk-out to fenced patio
g.. 100-amp service
h.. 2 satellite dishes and receiver
i.. "Window A/C Available"

See photos on this BLOG:
http://www.joeydevilla.com/2007/10/21/torontos-smallest-house-is-up-for-sale/

Saturday, January 5, 2008

$50,000 Fine for Tossing Borrowers' Credit Reports in Dumpster

$50,000 Fine for Tossing Borrowers' Credit Reports in Dumpster
Wednesday, January 02, 2008 -

CHICAGO, IL - A mortgage company that left loan documents with consumers’ sensitive personal and financial information in and around an unsecured dumpster has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated federal regulations. The FTC’s complaint alleges that Northbrook, Illinois-based American United Mortgage Company violated the Disposal, Safeguards, and Privacy rules by failing to properly dispose of credit reports or information taken from credit reports, failing to develop or implement reasonable safeguards to protect customer information, and not providing customers with privacy notices.

“Every business, whether large or small, must take reasonable and appropriate measures to protect sensitive consumer information, from acquisition to disposal,” FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras said. “This agency will continue to prosecute companies that fail to fulfill their legal responsibility to protect consumers’ personal information

http://originatortimes.com/content/templates/standard.aspx?articleid=2728&zoneid=1

Calling Leads Lands Mortgage Company in Hot Water

The Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice has settled another case involving Do Not Call violations by a mortgage company. The settlement includes a $426,782 civil penalty against USA Home Loans Inc. and its owner, David Vach.

FTC Alleges Ads For “Free” Credit Report Violate Federal Court Order

Consumerinfo.com, doing business as Experian Consumer Direct, will pay $300,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that ads for its "free credit report" offer failed to disclose adequately that consumers who signed up would be automatically enrolled in a credit- monitoring program and charged $79.95. The FTC alleged that the failure to clearly disclose the enrollment and charges violated a previous settlement.

Defunct Ameriquest and Global Mortgage Funding Part of Seven Million DNC Settlement

The Federal Trade Commission announced a law enforcement crackdown on companies and individuals accused of violating the requirements of the National Do Not Call Registry, resulting in six settlements collectively imposing nearly $7.7 million in civil penalties, along with an additional complaint that will be filed in federal district court.

Friday, January 4, 2008

The Worst Is Over.

According to the California Building Industry Association's forecast released on Thursday Jan 3, 2008, the trade group is predicting that the state's house slump is near the bottom and business will be increasing steadily in the near future.
Below is the article from National Realtors Association's newsletter.

Daily Real Estate News | January 4, 2008
California Builders: The Worst is Over
A California trade group is predicting that the state's housing slump is near bottom and business will rise steadily.

In a forecast released Thursday, the California Building Industry Association said developers will secure permits for 128,400 single-family and multifamily units this year, up from an estimated 116,250 in 2007. The 10 percent gain is in contrast to the 29 and 21 percent drops in housing permits in 2007 and 2006, respectively.

"We believe that California has weathered the subprime storm of 2007, the market has almost corrected and that 2008 represents an opportunity to move forward," said Alan Nevin, the Sacramento association's chief economist, on a conference call.

Some expert observers were critical of this analysis. Esmael Adibi, director of the Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University in Orange, says the number of new homes on the market will remain the same or increase this year as foreclosure and default levels climb. He predicts housing production will fall 8.8 percent to 102,000 units as resale home prices drop by 8 to 9 percent.

"I will not be surprised to see that this cycle will bottom sometime in 2009 or early 2010," says Adibi, citing past patterns.

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle, James Temple (01/04/07)

http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008010402?OpenDocument