US housing starts rise

March 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

By Christopher S. Rugaber THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON —  U.S. builders started more homes in February and permits for future construction rose at the fastest pace in 4-1/2 years. The increases point to a housing recovery that is gaining strength.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that builders broke ground on houses and apartments last month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 917,000. That’s up from 910,000 in January. And it’s the second-fastest pace since June 2008, behind December’s rate of 982,000.

Single-family home construction increased to an annual rate of 618,000, the most in 4-1/2 years. Apartment construction also ticked up, to 285,000.

The gains are likely to grow even faster in the coming months. Building permits, a sign of future construction, increased 4.6 percent to 946,000. That was also the most since June 2008, just a few months into the Great Recession.

And the figures for January and December were also revised higher. Overall housing starts have risen 28 percent higher over the past 12 months.

Separately, a private report showed the number of Americans with equity in their homes increased last year. That suggests one of the biggest drags from the housing crisis is easing and could clear the way for more people to put homes on the market.

“The road ahead for housing is still, so far, looking promising,” Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note to clients.

The pair of positive housing reports helped drive early gains on Wall Street. But stocks edged lower later in the day as investors awaited the outcome of a vote on an unpopular bailout plan in the European nation of Cyprus. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 35 points in afternoon trading.

Housing starts jumped in the Northeast and Midwest, while they fell in the South and West. Permits rose in the South, West and Midwest, falling only in the Northeast.

The U.S. housing market is recovering after stagnating for roughly five years. Steady job gains and near-record-low mortgage rates have encouraged more people to buy.

In addition, more people are seeking their own homes after doubling up with friends and relatives in the recession. That’s leading to greater demand for apartments and single-family homes to rent.

Still, the supply of available homes for sale remains low. That has helped push up home prices. They rose nearly 10 percent in January compared with 12 months earlier, according to CoreLogic, the biggest increase in nearly seven years.

Higher prices mean that more Americans have equity in their homes. Last year, about 1.7 million Americans went from owing more on their mortgages than their homes were worth to having some ownership stake, CoreLogic reported Tuesday. That benefits both home owners and the broader economy.

When homeowners have some equity stake, it makes it easier for them to sell or borrow against their homes. Still, 10.4 million households, or 21.5 percent of those with a mortgage, remain “under water,” or owe more on their home than it is worth.

The number of previously occupied homes for sale has fallen to its lowest level in 13 years. And the pace of foreclosures, while still rising in some states, has slowed sharply on a national basis. That means fewer low-priced foreclosed homes are being dumped on the market.

Those trends, and the likelihood of further price gains, have led builders to step up construction. Last year, builders broke ground on the most homes in four years.

Homebuilders have become much more confident over the past year.

Courtesy of your Arcadia Real Estate Agent

Filed Under: Brettany Harrison, Brian Peralez, Bussiness, Market, Mortgage Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Short sales: taxes, 1099s, and relocation assistance

February 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

by Melissa Zavala in Housing News -   

taxes money Short sales: taxes, 1099s, and relocation assistance

It’s Tax Season

I always know when tax season is just around the corner because I see Lady Liberty or Uncle Sam spinning signs that invite me into a local tax preparer’s office. Now is also a time when lots of questions arise about short sales and income taxes. If you or any of your clients participated in a short sale in 2012, then there are a number of things you will want to know about short sales and tax return preparation.

Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007

I received a 1099-MISC from the short sale lender. Is the income noted on the 1099-MISC taxable?

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 provides tax forgiveness for certain short sale sellers, and such forgiveness depends on the taxpayer’s specific situation. Taxpayers who sold their home in a short sale during 2012 should seek the advice of an accountant in order to learn whether this Relief Act applies to their unique tax position.

What if the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act doesn’t apply to my short sale?

Because the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 does not apply to everyone (e.g. if the home sold is not a qualified principal residence or due to bankruptcy), it is vital that taxpayers seek the advice of an accountant in order to learn about any other tax laws that may come into play in order to provide tax relief.

Is Relocation Assistance Money Taxable?

I received an incentive from the short sale lender? Do I have to pay taxes on the incentive?

According to the Internal Revenue Service, “Cash for Keys Program income, which is taxable, is income from a financial institution, offered to taxpayers to expedite the foreclosure process. Report this as ‘other income’ on Form 1040, line 21. The taxpayer should receive Form 1099-MISC with the income in box 3.”

I received an incentive from the short sale lender, but I did not receive a 1099-MISC. How should I proceed?

I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that short sale sellers often don’t receive the 1099-MISC because the short sale lender doesn’t have a record of the taxpayer’s new address. Speak with an accountant about how to proceed in this situation.

Common Problems with Relocation Assistance

My real estate agent told me that I was supposed to get relocation assistance money. We closed, and I received a 1099-MISC. However, I never got any relocation assistance money. What should I do?

All relocation assistance money is documented on the final settlement statement (also called a HUD-1) and payable to short sale sellers through the settlement agent at closing. If there is no line item for relocation assistance on the settlement statement and no notation on the short sale approval letter from the lender, then the bank did not approve the short sale assistance.

If there is a line item for relocation assistance and the seller did not receive the funds, contact the settlement agent for more information. In many cases, with prior written authorization of the short sale seller and the short sale lender, relocation assistance money is used in order to pay off non-institutional liens and clear the title for closing.

On the settlement statement, it shows that the buyer is paying the relocation assistance and not the short sale lender. Why would I receive a 1099-MISC from the short sale lender if the buyer paid the money?

Since any real estate sale requires that buyer funds be used to pay seller costs, the relocation assistance shows as a debit to the buyer and a credit to the seller. Of course, this is a credit to the seller from the short sale lender who retains all of the remaining funds at closing.

Short Sale Documentation

No matter when the short sale closes, all short sale sellers should retain copies of the short sale approval letters from the lenders and a final settlement statement from the closing agent. In this way, any questions that come up (no matter how far in the future) can be addressed quickly and efficiently.

Courtesy of your Arcadia Real Estate Agent

Filed Under: Brian Peralez, For Sale, Lending, Market, Mortgage Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Should You Pay Your Mortgage With Plastic?

February 12, 2013 By 2 Comments

Fixed-rate mortgage loans are low, but is no-interest credit card debt better?

Q. I realize mortgage interest rates are at historic lows, but I just got a come-on for a new credit card with 0% interest for more than a year on transferred balances. Should I transfer all or part of the balance of my mortgage ($22,500) to one of these cards? The one I just got in the mail offers cash-back rewards.

–Chicago

A. In prior years, some banks would encourage homeowners to pay off mortgages with credit cards they issued to get rebates or other rewards, but they haven’t done this since the housing bubble burst. The 0% interest rates offered now are really teasers to try to get consumers to transfer their balances from competitor’s high-rate credit cards. Letting borrowers replace low-interest fixed mortgages—or even variable-rate home equity lines of credit—with higher interest, compounding credit card debt is too risky in our still-shaky economy. A borrower without the resources to pay off the balance in full each month could quickly wind up with a ballooning debt and no means to repay it. Eventually, the lender would be stuck with another foreclosure to maintain and sell.

That said, if you have the excellent credit and paid-off credit card balance necessary to qualify for a 0% rate, it is possible to transfer money from your card into your checking account, and then pay the mortgage out of those funds. Or you could use a third-party company that charges your mortgage payment to your credit card each month (thus preserving any rebates or rewards that are only given to new purchases) in exchange for a fee.

But I wouldn’t recommend these strategies unless you are disciplined about paying your bill in full each month. You also should have the means to pay off or refinance the loan completely before the 0% rate expires, even if you lost your job, had a health-care crisis or experienced some other financial emergency.

There are two upsides to paying with plastic: First, if you borrow enough to pay off the balance of your mortgage, all of the money goes towards principal. And second, by borrowing the money from your credit-card company to pay off your mortgage, you free up your savings for other potentially lucrative investments.

But there are also some serious potential pitfalls. Putting a large amount of money on your credit card can hurt your credit. Many credit card companies only give cash back and other incentives for new purchases, not transferred balances. Plus, there are often hefty fees for transferring balances or taking cash advances that cancel out any benefit you get for the 0% interest rate. Worse, if you skip a payment, the card issuer may have the right to raise the interest rates from zero to the double-digits. So it’s important to read the card’s fine print before you make a commitment.

The bottom line: Don’t take this “free” money unless you don’t really need it. Otherwise the risk—potentially losing your home—is not worth a few rebates and rewards.

—Email fletcher.june@gmail.com

Courtesy of your Arcadia Real Estate Agent

Filed Under: Mortgage Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Conforming Loan Limits For 2013

February 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment

By  on February 5, 2013

 

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has announced that the conforming loan limit will remain at $417,000 for single family homes for 2013 for most areas of the U.S. The conforming limit is the maximum size mortgage that is eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.  The maximum loan sizes for multi-unit properties are as follows:

  • 1-unit: $417,000
  • 2-unit: $533,850
  • 3-unit: $645,300
  • 4-unit: $801,950

In certain “high-cost” areas (e.g. Bergen County, NJ, Montgomery County, MD,  Nassau County, NY, etc.) where the median home price exceeds the standard conforming limit, the conforming loan limit is increased.  The loans are referred to variously as “high-balance,” “super-conforming,” and “high-balance jumbo” mortgages.  The conforming limit in high cost areas ranges up to $625,500 for 2013.  This is down from the previous high-balance limit of $729,750.  The maximum loan sizes for multi-unit homes in high balance areas are as follows:

  • 1-unit: $625,500
  • 2-unit: $800,775
  • 3-unit: $967,950
  • 4-unit: $1,202,925

Courtesy of your Arcadia Real Estate Agent

Filed Under: Bussiness, Market, Mortgage Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Fed missed the housing bust

January 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

By

JILL SCHLESINGER /

MONEYWATCH/ January 20, 2013, 5:52 PM

CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

(MoneyWatch) Who would want a detailed, public record of our business decisions? Unfortunately, if you are an esteemed Fed governor, you must confront your exact words from meetings that occurred 5 years ago. The central bank released 1,566 pages of transcripts from each of the Fed’s eight monetary policy meetings in 2007, which is customary. What is not customary, of course, is that 2007 was the year that one would have hoped that our most esteemed bankers would have gotten the drift that there was something rotten in the nation’s housing market.

Clearly Chairman Ben Bernanke would like to take back this January 2007 comment: “The housing market has looked a bit more solid, and the worst outcomes have been made less likely.” Or his June remarks, which may have been a “bit” of an understatement: “A bit of cooling in the financial markets might not be an entirely bad thing.” Bernanke is not alone in his misjudgment of the economic and financial industry landscape. Outgoing Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who in 2007 was the NY Fed president, said “Direct exposure of the counterparties to Bear Stearns is very, very small compared with other things.” Oops!

 

There was one Fed governor who nailed the situation. Janet Yellen, who at the time served as the San Francisco Fed president, expressed the danger that loomed in June 2007: “I still feel the presence of a 600-pound gorilla in the room, and that is the housing sector. The risk for further significant deterioration in the housing market, with house prices falling and mortgage delinquencies rising further, causes me appreciable angst.”

 

Yellen’s prescience is reminiscent of Brooksley Born, the late 1990s chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who was the only regulator who saw the danger of over-the-counter derivatives, the vehicles that a decade later would contribute to the financial crisis. The big difference in 2007 was that Yellen was not the lone voice and she was not bullied by her colleagues.

 

Still, Yellen could not rally the other central bankers to her cause. In September 2007, she reiterated her concerns: “A big worry is that a significant drop in house prices might occur in the context of job losses, and this could lead to a vicious spiral of foreclosures, further weakness in housing markets, and further reductions in consumer spending. … at this point I am concerned that the potential effects of the developing credit crunch could be substantial.” Yellen is currently the Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and if she was seen as a potential successor to Ben Bernanke prior to this release, these comments beef up her chances in a big way.

 

Eventually, the Fed did recognize the magnitude of the problem, but as is often the case, the governors were late in their diagnosis and remedies. That’s why so many economists are worried about the central bank’s ability to withdraw its easy monetary policy when the U.S. economy improves. With the current low level of inflation (running below the Fed’s target of 2 percent on a year-over-year basis) and the high level of unemployment, the Fed will keep buying bonds and pushing money into the system until further notice. But will the Fed be able to predict when its time to stop?

 

Right now, economic growth is stuck in a low gear of about 2 percent annually, but when it reaccelerates, perhaps due to an uptick in global growth or a housing sector that perks up, the Fed could once again be behind the curve. When that happens, inflation will re-emerge; bonds will finally see the much-predicted sell-off; and the Fed will likely cringe when future transcripts are released.

 

This week, evidence of housing’s recovery will continue to trickle in. There’s little doubt that 2012 was the year that housing bottomed nationally. Prices were up about 6 percent; existing and new home sales rose by about 15 percent each; and housing starts increased 28.1 percent.

 

While this is good news, the housing crash created quite a hole. Prices are still down about 30 percent from the peak and even with the big jump in starts, 2012 ranks as the fourth lowest year since the Census Bureau started tracking starts in 1959 (the three lowest years were 2009 through 2011).

 

Meanwhile, the third straight week of gains brought two of the three U.S. stock indexes to their highest levels since December 2007. As the nation prepares for Inauguration Day, here’s a tidbit: President Obama’s first term was good for investors, with stocks up over 70 percent.

 

– DJIA: 13,649 up 1.2 percent on week, up 4.1 percent on year (4 percent below all-time high of 14,164, reached in 10/07)

– S&P 500: 1,485, up 1 percent on week, up 4.2 percent on year (5 percent below all-time high of 1,565, reached in 10/07)

– NASDAQ: 3,134, up 0.3 percent on week, up 3.8 percent on year (still a whopping 38 percent below all-time high of 5,048, reached in 03/00)

– February Crude Oil: $95.56, up 2.1 percent on week

– February Gold: $1,687, up 1.6 percent on week

– AAA nat’l average price for gallon of regular gas: $3.31

Courtesy of your Arcadia Real Estate Agent

Filed Under: Market, Mortgage Tagged With: , , , , ,

Fannie, Freddie short sales hit record high

January 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment

REO inventories down 36 percent from 2010 peak

BY INMAN NEWS, MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2013.

Inman News®

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=50051371" target="_blank">Short sale sign</a> image via Shutterstock.
Short sale sign image via Shutterstock.

Loan servicers working on behalf of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac signed off on a record number of short sales in the third quarter of 2012, according to a report from the mortgage giants’ regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

Short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure totaled 37,966 for the three months ending Sept. 30, 2012, up 4 percent from the previous quarter and 23 percent from a year ago. Fannie and Freddie implemented accelerated timelines in June 2012 for reviewing and approving short-sale transactions.

Fannie and Freddie short sales and deeds-in-lieu


Right-click graph to enlarge. Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The mortgage giants’ inventories of “real estate owned” (REO) homes also continued to decline, as Fannie and Freddie got rid of homes faster than they acquired them through foreclosures.

During the first nine months of the year, Fannie and Freddie acquired 197,507 homes through foreclosure, and sold 218,321 REOs and foreclosed homes.

Fannie and Freddie REO inventories (thousands of homes)


Right-click graph to enlarge. Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

All told, Fannie and Freddie had 158,138 homes in their REO inventories as of Sept. 30, 2012, down 13 percent from a year ago and a drop of nearly 36 percent from a Sept. 30, 2010, peak of 241,684.

Fannie and Freddie were placed under government control, or conservatorship, in September 2008. Since then, loan servicers working on their behalf have approved 2.1 million home retention actions, including 1.26 million permanent loan modifications.

During the same period, Fannie and Freddie acquired more than 1.1 million homes through foreclosure, and signed off on 413,436 short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure.

There have been about 4 million completed foreclosures nationwide since September 2008, according to data aggregator CoreLogic.

Of the 62,561 loan modifications completed in the third quarter, about 45 percent of borrowers saw their monthly payments decrease by more than 30 percent. More than a third of loan mods included principal forbearance. Less than 15 percent of loans modified in fourth-quarter 2011 had missed two or more payments as of Sept. 30, 2012, nine months after modification, the report said.

Since the beginning of the Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) in April 2009, just over 1 million borrowers have been offered a trial loan modification, and more than half had been granted a permanent modification. Of those, 21.2 percent had defaulted as of the third quarter. The vast majority of the remainder, 428,946 borrowers, were in active permanent modifications as of the third quarter.

Since October 2009, Fannie and Freddie have offered 564,822 non-HAMP permanent loan modifications. Non-HAMP modifications made up two-thirds of all permanent loan mods in the third quarter, the report said.

The share of mortgage loans 30-59 days delinquent rose slightly to 2.08 percent of all loans serviced in the third quarter, but the share of seriously delinquent loans fell slightly to 3.39 percent. Seriously delinquent loans are those that are 90 days or more delinquent or in the process of foreclosure. More than half of seriously delinquent borrowers had missed more than a year of mortgage payments as of the end of the third quarter, the report said.

Nearly 3 in 10 of these deeply delinquent borrowers are located in Florida.

 

Courtesy of your Arcadia Real Estate Agent

Filed Under: Market, Mortgage Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Sales of New U.S. Homes Hover Near a Two-Year High

September 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Purchases of new U.S. homes hovered in August near a two-year high, adding to signs that the housing market is on the way to recovery.

Ty Wright/Bloomberg
New home construction in Lancaster, Ohio.

Sales of New U.S. Homes Hovered in August Near Two-Year High

Sales of new homes, tabulated when contracts are signed, are considered a timelier barometer than purchases of previously owned dwellings, which are calculated when a contract closes. Photographer: Ty Wright/Bloomberg

Sales fell 0.3 percent to a 373,000 annual pace following a revised 374,000 rate in July that was higher than previously estimated and the strongest since April 2010, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The median estimate of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a rise to 380,000.

Record-low borrowing costs continue to attract buyers, lifting demand for homebuilders, while a drop in the supply of foreclosed homes is easing downward pressure on prices. Federal Reserve policy makers have targeted the housing market with further accommodation measures in order to spur growth and reduce unemployment.

“Builders are a little more optimistic about future sales and buyer traffic and the mortgage environment is favorable,” said Anika Khan, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC inCharlotte, North Carolina. “New homes sales will continue to improve over the next few months and in the coming year.”

Stocks held earlier losses after the report. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.3 percent to 1,437.17 at 10:15 a.m. in New York amid concern Europe’s debt crisis is worsening. Treasury securities rose, sending the yield on the benchmark 10- year note down to 1.63 percent from 1.67 percent late yesterday.

Estimates of economists surveyed ranged from 360,000 to 400,000. July’s reading was previously reported as 372,000.

Regional Breakdown

Purchases fell in only one of four regions as demand in the South dropped 4.9 percent. Sales jumped 20 percent in the Northeast, rose 1.8 percent in the Midwest and 0.9 percent in the West.

The drop in sales in the South, where median prices are generally lower, paired with the surge in the Northeast, where property values tend to be higher, caused the median costs nationally to jump. The median price of all sales last month was $256,900, up 17 percent from August 2011. The 12-month advance was the biggest since December 2004. The 11 percent gain from July was the largest one-month increase in records going back to 1963.

Sales of new houses were up 28 percent from a year ago, today’s report from the Commerce Department showed

The supply of homes at the current sales rate held at 4.5 months. There were 141,000 new houses on the market at the end of August, matching July’s record low.

Record Low

A lack of supply may also be playing a role in limiting sales. The number of completed houses on the market dropped to a record-low 38,000 last month, today’s report showed.

Sales of new homes, tabulated when contracts are signed, are considered a timelier barometer than purchases of previously owned dwellings, which are calculated when a contract closes. Newly constructed houses accounted for 6.7 percent of the residential market in 2011, down from a high of 15 percent during the boom of the past decade.

Existing home sales rose more than forecast to a 4.82 million annual rate in August, a two-year high, from a 4.47 million pace the prior month, the National Association of Realtors reported last week.

The NAR figures also showed distressed sales, comprised of foreclosures and short sales, in which the lender agrees to a transaction for less than the balance of the mortgage, accounted for 22 percent of the total, the lowest since at least October 2008 when record keeping began.

Builder Outlook

Improving demand is bolstering homebuilders such as Miami- based Lennar Corp. (LEN) and allowing for longer-term construction strategies.

“Simply put, the housing market is recovering, not only are our sales margins and backlogs improving, but the beginnings of a sense of visibility are coming back to underwriting land acquisition and planning for the future,” Chief Executive Officer Stuart Miller said on a Sept. 24 earnings call.

“The home building business is beginning to revert to normal and that’s positive for the U.S. economy in general, which is in turn good for a sustained recovery in the housing market,” Miller said.

Toll Brothers Inc. (TOL), the largest U.S. luxury-home builder, reported a better-than-estimated profit and an increase in revenue for its third quarter ended July 31. The average price of the homes that the Horsham, Pennsylvania-based company delivered in the quarter climbed to $576,000 from $557,000 in the previous three months.

Revenue Climbs

KB Home (KBH) of Los Angeles reported on a Sept. 21 earnings call that third-quarter revenues increased 16 percent over the same period last year.

Borrowing costs continue to boost housing demand. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 3.49 percent in the week ended Sept. 20, matching a reading two months ago as the lowest in records dating to 1972, according to McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac.

Among other signs of progress, builders began work in August on the most one-family homes since April 2010, figures from the Commerce Department showed last week. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence climbed in September to the highest level since June 2006.

Home prices in 20 U.S. cities climbed more than forecast in July from a year earlier, a report from S&P/Case-Shiller showed yesterday.

The Fed has committed to purchasing $40 billion of mortgage debt a month to lower borrowing costs, helping the housing market that Chairman Ben S. Bernanke called “one of the missing pistons in the engine.”

“Our mortgage-backed securities purchases ought to drive down mortgage rates and put downward pressure on mortgage rates and create more demand for homes and more refinancing,” Bernanke said in a Sept. 13 press conference after the central bank announced the debt-buying plans.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michelle Jamrisko in Washington at mjamrisko@bloomberg.net

By Michelle Jamrisko - Sep 26, 2012 7:11 AM PT

COURTESY OF YOUR NUMBER ONE ARCADIA REAL ESTATE AGENT

Filed Under: Bussiness, Buyers, Lending, Mortgage Tagged With: , , , ,

Can You Afford to Buy a Second Home?

September 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By Jeff Brown
With more and more signs that the housing market is inching off the bottom, homeowners with good credit and lots of resourcesare once again asking the question: Can I afford a second home?There’s something irresistible about the dream of a vacation place at the beach, lake or in the mountains. Summer vacations, the clan gathering for holidays, a place to pass down through the generations… It’s the American Dream, Act II.

The problem, of course, is coming up with the money. If you don’t have a trunk full of cash, the next easiest option is to borrow against your primary residence, thus avoiding the complex issues raised by a loan application specifically to buy a second home. But to borrow against your main home, it must be worth substantially more than you owe on a mortgage or home equity loan.

To take out a new loan to buy a second home you will have to convince the lender you are an especially good risk. That’s because lenders know that people are more likely to default on payments for a second home than a primary residence, or to skimp on maintenance or fall behind on property taxes or insurance.

So the first issue is your debt-to-income ratio, figured by dividing your total monthly debt payments for everything — existing mortgage, the new mortgage, car and credit card payments, and so on — by your gross monthly income. If the figure is less than 36 percent, you have a fair shot at a loan, if your payment history and credit rating are good. Some lenders will approve applicants with higher ratios; you’ll have to shop around.

Also expect lenders to demand a down payment of at least 20 percent, possibly twice that much, or even more. A large down payment reduces the loan-to-value ratio, figured by dividing the loan amount by the property’s current value, estimated by an appraiser approved by the lender. The smaller the loan relative to the value, the more likely the lender would recover what it is owed if you default and the lender must foreclose and sell the property.

You’re also likely to pay a higher interest rate on a mortgage for a second home — again, to offset the greater risk to the lender.

Discouraged yet? Don’t be. After all, even if lenders are more conservative these days, they make money only if they approve loans.

To make all this easier, try this calculator from The Mortgage Professor website. In the Occupancy Type window click Second Home. Note that in the Monthly Debt Payments window you should include your current mortgage payment if you will add a new mortgage for the second home.

Also play with this calculator from SmartMoney.

Before going too far down the road, check with some lenders for down payment requirementsand interest rates on second-home loans. Until then, experiment with down payments of 20 percent, 30 percent and 40 percent, and add 0.5 to 1 percentage points to the mortgage rates from the Bankingmyway.com survey.

For a sense of how lenders approach second-home applications, look at this site from Wells Fargo. It shows, for example, that it is difficult to get potential rental income included in the loan qualification calculation, a key consideration if you plan to rent out your second home part of the time.

Even if a lender will approve your loan, think about how comfortable you would be with this new financial obligation. You’ll need a healthy financial cushion for unexpected repairs and upkeep, a drop in your pay, a shortfall in rental income or a jump in taxes or insurance fees.

Finally, give your dream a reality check. Many people find, for example, that they lose interest in vacationing at the same place all the time. And a second home can someday become a bone of contention among the buyer’s children or grandchildren.

COURTESY OF YOUR NUMBER ONE ARCADIA REAL ESTATE AGENT

Filed Under: For Sale, Market, Mortgage Tagged With: , , , ,

Regulator Vows New Rules to Repair Mortgage Markets

September 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In a move aimed at making it easier for consumers to get mortgages, the federal regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FMCC -2.12% said Monday the mortgage giants would address a big controversy of the housing bust: who gets stuck with bad loans.

Fannie and Freddie have forced banks to repurchase billions of mortgages that have defaulted over the past few years. To protect themselves from facing similar demands, banks have raised their lending standards beyond what the two mortgage companies require, scrutinized appraisals, and demanded extensive documentation of a borrower’s income and assets.

image

ReutersA bank-owned home for sale in Encinitas, Calif., in a file photo from 2009.

To ease lenders’ concerns, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said on Monday it would issue guidance that would detail steps that could limit their risk of having to buy back defaulted mortgages in costly loan “put-backs.”

For example, banks will be released from having to buy back a loan under certain conditions if the mortgage has a record of on-time payments for the first 36 months, or for the first 12 months on loans that are part of an existing refinancing initiative. Those changes will take effect next year.

It isn’t clear how far the latest guidance will go toward making it easier for consumers to get a mortgage. While mortgage rates have fallen by a full percentage point over the last 18 months, demand for new loans remains nearly unchanged from one year ago.

“For the market to reclaim the strength it once had—and to provide a cornerstone for the mortgage market of the future—it is vital we consider ways to improve” the loan review process, Edward DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, told an industry conference Monday.

Fannie and Freddie don’t make loans, but instead acquire or guarantee those made by banks and other lenders. Those banks make certain “representations and warranties” to Fannie and Freddie when they sell loans, and the mortgage giants can force banks to take back any loans found to run afoul of those standards. Over the past year, banks have charged that Fannie and Freddie are putting back more loans that defaulted for reasons that had nothing to do with an underwriting defect.

Fannie and Freddie have asked that banks buy back nearly $75 billion in loans that lenders sold to the mortgage giants since 2005, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, an industry newsletter.

The new rules won’t have any impact on the current battle over who winds up with the bad loans made during the boom years.

In exchange for shielding banks against put-backs on certain loans, Fannie and Freddie will step up screening for potential loan defects of new mortgages. Officials said Monday that a more robust data-collection system implemented in recent years has made it possible to increasingly review loans as they are acquired, as opposed to reviewing them after they default.

Because buying back one bad loan can wipe out the profit on 30 or 40 good loans, lenders have become extremely cautious in approving mortgages. “If there’s a question at some point, it’s the safer move to deny” the loan, said Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans.

An April survey of senior loan officers by the Federal Reserve showed that the risk of put-backs had become a leading factor preventing banks from easing credit standards for mortgages, even as they have eased standards for other loans, such as cars and credit cards.

“Lenders have pulled back because they don’t know what their future exposure around repurchases is going to be…. Ultimately that has limited the availability of mortgage credit,” said Maria Fernandez, associate director for housing and regulatory policy at the FHFA.

The agency’s goal, she added, “is to be very clear with lenders what our expectations are so we can help facilitate more liquidity.”

Industry analysts said the impact of the new rules would rest largely on the details of the rules issued by Fannie and Freddie, and how they enforce those rules. “If you have written guidance from these quasi-government agencies what their terms are, they can’t really walk away from that,” said Laurence Platt, a banking-industry lawyer at K&L Gates in Washington.

At the same time, banks face new regulation in the coming year that could keep them in a defensive position. One provision of the Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law, for example, carries potentially steep penalties if banks don’t properly ensure a borrower has the capacity to repay a loan.

Some large banks are also facing subpoenas from federal prosecutors as part of an effort by the FHFA’s inspector general to determine whether the U.S. could recoup money from banks that sold defaulted loans to Fannie and Freddie, according to people familiar with the investigation.

“It’s one step forward, two steps back,” said Mr. Platt. “You have a bunch of different legs that aren’t walking in unison.”

By NICK TIMIRAOS

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FHA’s Mortgage Delinquencies Soar

July 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Closer to a bailout? FHA’s mortgage delinquencies soar

By Tami Luhby @CNNMoney July 9, 2012: 12:38 PM ET

Delinquencies and foreclosures of FHA-backed mortgages are soaring, putting further strain on the housing agency's finances and making a taxpayer bailout more likely.Delinquencies and foreclosures of FHA-backed mortgages are soaring, putting further strain on the housing agency’s finances and making a taxpayer bailout more likely.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The mortgage market appears to finally be stabilizing — as long as you ignore loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration.

Increasingly, FHA-insured loans are falling into foreclosure or serious delinquency, moving in the opposite direction of loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or those held by banks, which are all showing signs of improvement.

And taxpayers could ultimately be on the hook for FHA’s growing number of troubled mortgages. The agency’s finances are already on shaky ground, and additional losses from loans going sour could prompt the need for a federal bailout, experts said.

“We can’t escape this one,” said Joseph Gyourko, a real estate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “This is an arm of the U.S. government.”

The share of government-guaranteed loans, a majority of which are backed by FHA, that were 90 days or more delinquent soared nearly 27% during the year ending March 31. Foreclosures jumped nearly 17%, according to a report published recently by federal regulators.

At the same time, bank loans saw a dramatic improvement, with delinquencies shrinking by 39% and foreclosures declining by nearly 10%. Fannie and Freddie’s portfolio also improved as delinquencies dropped by nearly 15% and foreclosures slid by more than 6%, the quarterly report issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said.

FHA has also had a tougher time successfully modifying loans. More than 48% of government-guaranteed mortgages re-defaulted 12 months after modification, compared to 36.2% of loans overall, the report said.

FHA’s risky borrowers: FHA doesn’t make loans, but it backstops lenders if borrowers stop paying. With this guarantee in place, banks are more likely to offer mortgages to borrowers with lower credit scores or incomes.

FHA-backed loans made up more than 29% of the market for home purchases in the first quarter of 2012, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, an industry publication.

Housing experts have been warning for years that many FHA-insured loans are not sustainable, especially in these troubled times. That’s particularly concerning because FHA’s share of the market has swelled in recent years as lenders pulled back on providing mortgages that weren’t backed by the government.

One of the main critiques of FHA loans is that they require very low downpayments — a minimum of 3.5%. In an environment where home prices are declining, borrowers can quickly slip underwater and owe more than their property is worth.

“These are very risky loans,” said Ed Pinto, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. And loans made in the past three years are “moving into the beginning of the peak delinquency period and they are very big books of business.”

Unless the economy improves significantly over the next few years, FHA will experience even more delinquencies, said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance.

Little room for failure: The dramatic jump in delinquencies comes despite the agency’s efforts to improve the quality of the loans it insures.

Over the past several years, soaring defaults have been eating away atFHA’s emergency reserves, which cover losses on the mortgages it insures. In fiscal 2009, the reserve fund dropped to 0.53% of FHA’s insurance guarantees, well below the 2% ratio mandated by Congress. By late last year, it had fallen to 0.24%.

FHA pledged to shore up its standards and its finances in 2009. The agency has since increased its insurance premiums, established minimum credit scores for borrowers, required larger downpayments from those with credit scores below 580 and banned sellers from assisting borrowers with the downpayment. It also created an office of risk management and cracked down on lenders with questionable underwriting processes.

Despite the emergency fund’s diminishing reserves, FHA maintains that its efforts are working. The loans insured starting in 2009 are much higher quality and should lower delinquency levels over time, an FHA official said.

“We expect the new books will continue with their better performance, primarily because of the steps that were put in place,” he said. “And we are benefiting from having more high-credit borrowers.”

Still, FHA watchers warn that the agency doesn’t have much of a cushion against these rising delinquencies and foreclosures. And if the losses grow too great, the agency could need a taxpayer-funded bailout.

The FHA says that its reserves should be restored by 2014 barring a second recession, but outside experts aren’t so sure.

“They are doing very badly … there’s no two ways about it,” said Andrew Caplin, a New York University economics professor who has studied the agency. “Over the next five years, there won’t be enough of an economic recovery to fix FHA’s finances. Not a chance.” To top of page

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