Archive for the 'States' Category

A lot of investors can now get back in the housing market with the good news that Fannie Mae has increased their four-financed property limit to ten. The said limit has been lifted last March, from when it was first imposed in September last year. With this, investors can now start buying or refinancing properties including those in bank foreclosure home listings.

The said limit was imposed on investors due to the fact that a lot of those who profited in the housing boom were the ones who created the current foreclosure crisis that has wreaked havoc to the nation’s housing market.

A lot of investors are being seen as the culprit for making speculative investment decisions that were outright risky and irresponsible. As a result, the collapse in the housing market has triggered a wave of economic problems that include bankrupt companies, job losses and of course, millions of homes in bank foreclosure listings.

Since the beginning of this year, the Obama administration has tried to come up with various housing stimulus programs that will help put a stop to the growing number of foreclosures and keep Americans in their homes. Unfortunately, there is very little positive result being seen as more and more homeowners find themselves facing foreclosure.

The Florida Association of Realtors certainly welcomed the lifting of the limit especially considering the slugging foreclosure home market in Florida. Previously, brokers and agents were turning away interested investors because of the imposed limit involving the purchase or refinance of properties especially after finding out that the investor already met the four-financed property limit.

Agents and brokers who feel that their hands are tied because of the limit have even called Fannie Mae and informing the government-owned agency that the limit was actually preventing the housing market from recovering. With the state struggling with thousands of homes in bank foreclosure listings, it is certainly frustrating to know that there are buyers but they were not allowed to buy.

The continuous increase in the number of properties in repo home listing in Oregon is pressuring down home prices. The unabated foreclosure in the state may cause anxiety to thousands of homeowners but the resulting drop in home prices may mean bargains for price-conscious homebuyers and investors.

And potential homebuyers are observed to be exploring the foreclosure market, lured by a federal tax credit of $8,000 and low interest rates. In Portland, median home price last month was $249,000, representing a 17 percent decline from figures during the housing market boom. Meanwhile, the number of real estate sales until last month declined by almost 30 percent compared with the previous year figures.

And the bad news is, homeowners who purchased their properties after January 2006 experienced a significant decline in the market value of their houses. This value decline is acutely felt in luxury homes and condominium towers in downtown Portland. Meanwhile, sales of houses priced above $1 million declined nearly two-thirds in value compared with the previous year.

And things are not looking up for Oregon residents who have been experiencing the impact of the housing crash caused by bad mortgages for several years now. Adding to their woes is the significant rise in the unemployment rate in the state. The state’s jobless rate was the second highest in March and this means more problems for homeowners who are struggling to meet their monthly mortgage payments.

Compounding the foreclosure problem also is the increasing number of people who lost significant amount of money on short sales. A short sale deal involves selling distressed properties for a price lower than what owners owe for their mortgages.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) data showed that first-time homebuyers accounted for 50 percent of all property sales in the first three months of this year. However, majority of first-time homebuyers were seeking big discounts from repo home listing and short sales which caused home prices to plummet.

Additionally, NAR said that distressed sales contributed for almost 50 percent of the total sales in the first three months of the year.

In Portland, short sales and foreclosures accounted for one in every five of the total 14,300 repo home listing. Statewide, foreclosure filings increase by 29 percent or 10,547 properties in the first quarter of this year.

Both apartment vacancies and rents across Colorado, particularly outside the Denver metro area, increased in the first quarter compared to last year’s first quarter, according to a study from the Colorado Housing Division. The increase occurred despite a decline in foreclosed homes sale lists compared to last year’s first quarter lists.

The vacancy rate across the state increased to 8.5 percent in comparison to last year’s first quarter level of 6.1 percent.

Gordon Von Stroh, the University of Denver business professor who wrote the vacancy and rent report, said high vacancy rates correlate strongly to high jobless rates.

Meanwhile, foreclosure filings dropped by eight percent to 10,745, compared to the 11,634 filings in last year’s first quarter. The number of homes added to foreclosed homes sale lists also dropped to 4,354, a decline of 26 percent from the 5,899 units added to foreclosed homes sale inventories in last year’s first three months.

The average rental rate per month for apartments in Colorado also increased to $844.39, compared to the average rent in last year’s first quarter.

Median rent rose to $796.13 from the median of $784.22 in last year’s first quarter. Median rent refers to the middle point between the highest and lowest rates and is preferred by real estate analysts over average rent because they say it is a more accurate representation of rates.

The Housing Division also reported that there is negligible new apartment construction across the state because of lack of financing for apartment construction. The effects of foreclosed homes sale inventories are also undermining construction projects.

In contrast to the statewide trend, the vacancy rate in the area covered by Fort Collins and Loveland declined from 5.2 percent in last year’s first quarter to 4.4 percent in this year’s first quarter. The vacancy rate decline was driven by the progress of Colorado State University and increases in jobs in the medical and renewable energy sectors.

Average rent for apartments in Fort Collins and Loveland rose to $860.81, compared to the $760.21 average in last year’s first quarter.

The Housing Division study also indicated that apartment vacancies increased in most Front Range metro areas, with Colorado Springs having the highest rate at 11.7 percent. Vacancies in Pueblo and Greeley increased by 7.4 and 8.4 percent respectively.

With regards to foreclosures, Housing Division Director Kathi Williams said that unemployment continues to have negative effects on housing, but she says that the pace of foreclosed homes sale inventories in Colorado is stabilizing.

Families living in manufactured-home parks in Columbus, Ohio are upset they were not notified that the parks they have called their home for many years are in the process of becoming forclosures for sale.

Distressed South Carolinian homeowners have been given another lifeline. Their state Supreme Court has just issued a ruling ordering judges to temporarily suspend foreclosure approvals on mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or any of the mortgage lenders that have signed to participate in the government home foreclosures program.

Arizona residents who could not afford to buy homes a year ago now have the chance to buy foreclosure houses from listings following the state’s implementation of its new housing programs funded by $121 million from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

Rural homes, usually immune to the problems of urban and suburban homes, are now following their city counterparts to foreclosure listings.

Neighborhoods in Minnesota battered by repo homes will be rejuvenated by the $10 million funding given by the McKnight Foundation to buy abandoned repo homes, repair them and sell them to responsible low-income families.

Nonprofit housing counselors in Minnesota are discovering that more and more homeowners approaching them to save their homes from becoming foreclosed properties for sale are middle class families.

Troubled homeowners in Maine can thank their state legislators for their efforts to set up state government foreclosures programs that would help them.