Home Sweet Home, Insider-Tips on Minnesota real estate.

How is the real estate business?

A question I'm often asked.  There are so many great 'deals' out there you're foolish not to buy right now!

You can make a difference.

If you think you are too small to make a difference, you've never had a mosquito in your bedroom.

A Passion for Excellence

We're living in a world in which the spirit of the day seems to be, "Do just enough to get by." That's why those with passion stand out like a shining beacon.

Update: Foreclosure Alternatives and Home Price Decline Protection Incentives

Update: Foreclosure Alternatives and Home Price Decline Protection Incentive

 

On Feb.18th the Obama Administration announced the Making Home Affordable (MHA) Program, a comprehensive plan to stabilize the US housing market and offer assistance to up to 7 to 9 million homeowners by reducing mortgage payments to affordable levels and preventing avoidable foreclosures.

As promised, two weeks later on March 4

th, the Administration published detailed program guidelines and authorized servicers to begin modifications and refinancings under the plan immediately. On April 28th, the Administration announced additional details related to the Second Lien Program and strengthening Hope for Homeowners. Fourteen servicers, including the five largest, have now signed contracts and begun modifications and refinancings under MHA. Between loans covered by these servicers and loans owned or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, more than 75 percent of all loans in the country are now covered by the MHA program.

Today we are providing a program update, including additional details on Foreclosure Alternatives and Home Price Decline Protection Incentives. Foreclosure Alternatives will help to prevent costly foreclosures by providing incentives for servicers and borrowers to pursue short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure in cases where a borrower is eligible for a MHA modification but unable to complete the modification process. This program will assist homeowners who cannot afford to stay in their homes by helping them to avoid foreclosure and relocate to a home they can afford. Building on insights developed by the FDIC, Home Price Decline Protection Incentives will provide additional payments based on recent home price declines, and therefore will incentivize additional modifications in areas where home prices have been falling. By increasing MHA modifications and the use of alternatives to foreclosure, we will reduce the negative impact of foreclosure, minimizing damaging costs for financial institutions, borrowers and communities.

Home Price Decline Protection Incentives and Foreclosure Alternatives, together with the other comprehensive elements of the Making Home Affordable program, will help to stabilize property values for homeowners in neighborhoods hardest hit by foreclosures. Based on estimates of the relationship between foreclosures and home prices, the Home Affordable Modification program could help to bolster home values for the average homeowner by as much as $6,000.

For complete article click on the link below . . .

Home Price Decline Protection Incentives and Foreclosure Alternatives

To learn more about these options visit MakingHomeAffordable.gov

Making Home Affordable

Learn About Making Home Affordable

Refinancing
Many homeowners pay their mortgages on time but are not able to refinance to take advantage of today’s lower mortgage rates perhaps due to a decrease in the value of their home.

Modification
Many homeowners are struggling to make their monthly mortgage payments perhaps because their interest rate has increased or they have less income.

Have We Reached Bottom? 10 Factors to Consider

RISMEDIA, June 24, 2009-Historically, the value of real estate goes through cycles. Many factors affect the value of homes including the laws of “supply and demand.” From the Appraisal Institute, here’s a quick reference guide to some of the factors involved and advice on how to spot a turning point in the market:

1. A spike in local sales activity. A spike refers to a significant rise in the number of home sales (or values) in a local market area, which generally is measured month to month. A spike does not necessarily mean continued growth, i.e. it could be a one month phenomenon.

2. Higher asking and selling prices vs. appraisal value opinions for residential properties. Appraisers study the markets; they do not make the markets. When the data shows higher sale prices in comparable properties market value opinions will increase proportionally. Appraisers seek evidence of value but do not create the value. In time periods with low activity, evidence of any kind is difficult to find.

3. More activity at open houses. Open houses with five to eight attendees is considered average, so a dozen or more people attending an open house means buyer interest is picking up. Also, the mood of the attendees is important. Are they optimist and upbeat? Buyers interest alone does not always translate to effective purchasing power. If the number of buyers in the market increases but they do not have requisite down payments, the sales may still not occur.

4. Shorter marketing times. In some markets, houses have been up for sale for more than a year. In most balanced residential markets, properties that are priced competitively will typically sell in less than six months. If the Days On Market (DOM) is shortening, many practitioners will read an improvement in the market.

5. Reduced number of foreclosures and short sales. A reduction in these transactions commonly signals a more balanced market. If lenders are reluctant to foreclose because of an oversupply of inventory, they may choose to wait to repossess the properties, which could allow a spike in the number of foreclosures later despite a better market condition.

6. Stabilized employment. Stable or increasing employment rates provide the necessary confidence for potential buyers to invest in a home. Since most buyers rely on borrowed funds to make real estate purchases and borrowing money usually requires a source of repayment and that usually means jobs, an increase in this basic need, will . . . . .

Read more: http://rismedia.com/2009-06-23/have-we-reached-bottom-10-factors-to-consider/#ixzz0JLvEGcI2&C

Video, Right time to buy a home

Click here, Right Time to Buy a Home

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-Bank Gives Cities, States First Shot at REOs

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-Bank Gives Cities, States First Shot at REOs Shared via AddThis

The State of the Nation's Housing Market 2009

Not all national housing research comes from NAR. Sometimes other research outlets have a thing or two to say, and we tend to listen up if it's an outlet as prestigious as the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

They have released their annual report, The State of the Nation's Housing 2009. It's a beautiful piece of work: elegant and complete.
| CHECK IT OUT

 

 

Monthly Skinny Video for June 2009

The June 2009 Monthly Skinny Video is online now! This month's edition is another quickfire update on the Twin Cities housing market, this time narrated by our President-Elect, Brad Fisher