It was the fifth month in a [...]]]> Home sales in the Sacramento region rose yet again last month, beating the rest of the state (which also rose with us, only not as much). Over 2,400 homes sold across the region in November, up just shy of 12% year over year.

It was the fifth month in a row of over 10% gains in sales volume, with sales in Sacramento County up just shy of 13% in November alone. Placer County, less hardly hit by the downturn had been leading the way in previous months saw homes sale increase by only half a percent. A small bump but a continuing trend upward.

Most of the demand across the board was for moderately priced homes with volume being in the $200,000 and under range. Homes in the $200-300,000 range stayed about the same while sales of homes costing over $300,000 actually slowed a bit.

Foreclosure rates are still higher than we want them to be (I’d like it to be at 0) however you’ll remember in previous posts that the number today is not what matters, it’s actually almost meaningless when it comes to predicting future distressed sales, the number we need to look at is actually how many homeowners are defaulting on their mortgage payments, a number that is dropping more and more every month.

The “news” knows that what sells is fear, scary doom and gloom is what gets the most readers and hits to their website. And, while the picture is not the prettiest, it’s a lot prettier than it was in the not to distant past and much prettier still than the pictures the promoters of fear want to sell you.

In just January of this year that number was closer to [...]]]> At the end of October there were 6.3 million homeowners currently behind on their mortgage in the US. A big number, right? However the data shows that this number has been on a steady decline for the last two years.

In just January of this year that number was closer to 6.9 million. The January before (2010) the number was 8.1 million!

We’ve talked about this before (here are a few links: 3.18.11, 7.29.11, 9.6.11)  but I like to share the real data whenever I can. All we hear in the media is doom and gloom, how there are so many foreclosures and no one can pay their mortgage, etc. As a reminder, the most accurate way to predict foreclosures in the future is people missing payments today. Likewise as less and less people are missing mortgage payments (to the tune of 2 MILLION less in the last two years) the future foreclosure number is going to go down.

We’re seeing the benefits of this already in the Sacramento/Placer markets as housing inventory is at about a 2 month supply. A more “normal” or healthy market has about a 4 month supply of homes at any given time. I’m also seeing the home values of many of my clients, from midtown Sacramento to Roseville, see the values of homes they bought in the last year or so RISE (not a huge rise, but that is better than declining or even being just flat).

This doesn’t mean a reversal of fortune, that people who bought in 2006 are going to see the value of their homes rise to the level it was back then any time soon, but it’s a start.

Bringing you the good news, with real numbers, that you don’t get anywhere else!

Greg Cowart

Currently the MMI Fund’s capital reserve ratio is 0.24% [...]]]> This month the FHA has reported to Congress that the MMI Fund (Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund), the backbone of its mortgage programs and what makes FHA mortgages possible, is going to return to its mandated capital reserve level faster than previously expected.

Currently the MMI Fund’s capital reserve ratio is 0.24% but that it would return to its mandated sooner than actuaries last predicted. “As was the case last year, the new actuarial study shows that FHA is expected to sustain significant losses from loans insured prior to 2009, and thus its capital reserve remains below the congressionally mandated threshold of 2% of total insurance-in-force,” an FHA official said. “However, the actuaries’ report concludes that, barring a further significant downturn in home prices, the MMI Fund will start to rebuild capital in 2012, and return to a level of 2% by 2014; outpacing last year’s prediction.”

“In the midst of a tough housing market the FHA MMI Fund continues to be actuarial sound.

“Because of the Obama administration’s strategy to protect the FHA Fund – tightening of risk controls, increased premiums to stabilize near-term finances and expanded loss mitigation assistance to avoid unnecessary claims – this past year’s endorsements had the highest credit quality ever recorded and will yield historically high levels of net receipts in the years ahead.”

The availability of FHA loans is a high part of our housing market and economy, both nationally and locally, and the health of the MMI Fund is also an important part of the housing market and greater economy. This is good news for both of those thing as well and, while we won’t see a more normal real estate market or economy for a while still, more and more news like this tells us the tide is turning!

~Greg

P.S. The FHA has never received any sort of taxpayer bailout! The MMI Fund keeps it solvent and without the need for any sort of congressional assistance. Truly an American success story…

The program has not only relaxed some restrictions on who qualifies but has extended the length of time currently unemployed homeowners can receive [...]]]> The Keep Your Home California program has increased benefits and expanded eligibility in order to help more homeowners having trouble making their mortgage payments keep their homes.

The program has not only relaxed some restrictions on who qualifies but has extended the length of time currently unemployed homeowners can receive assistance on their home loans to 9 months, from 6 (the program is intended to help people stay in their homes if they are temporarily unemployed by subsidizing some or all of their monthly payment for a period of months).

Claudia Cappio, Executive director of the California Housing Finance Agency said, “this expanded eligibility will allow more families to qualify and receive greater assistance.”

Program officials have also increased the cap on the mortgage reinstatement program from $15,000 to $20,000. The reinstatement program provides a one time assistance grant for homeowners that have fallen behind their payments due to financial hardship.

According to the agency Keep Your Home California has already helped more than 7,000 homeowners statewide and has provided more than $128 million in benefits since launching in February. The funds come from $2 billion in 2008 Federal Stimulus money and the state has until 2017 to use it for this purpose or the remainder is returned.

Keep Your Home California’s website: www.keepyourhomecalifornia.org

&

Phone (888) 954.5337.

1,746 homes were sold in [...]]]> A quarter of monthly double digit sales increases? Might be hard to believe with all the bad news we’re bombarded with every day, but it is 100% true. It’s been three straight months of at least 10% sales increases, that’s monthly, for the greater Sacramento area.

1,746 homes were sold in Sacramento County in September, a 13% increase from a year ago. Volume in Placer and Yolo Counties both increased by 22% while closings in El Dorado County beat them all at 23%.

This is great news for our local housing market and overall economy, but it doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet. Prices in many areas are still not appreciating yet and things probably won’t change for a while still. However the simple fact that more people are buying homes is going to change that sooner than later. Supply and demand is the rule and with local inventories as low as they are (less than two months in some local areas) prices simply have to start inching up in the not-too-distant future.

If you answered anything with a “how long after”, you’re probably right. The question we hear almost every day is asking how long after a foreclosure, short sale, bankruptcy, or deed-in-liu, [...]]]> The big question these days, the one people in my profession get on a near daily basis, what is it? 

If you answered anything with a “how long after”, you’re probably right. The question we hear almost every day is asking how long after a foreclosure, short sale, bankruptcy, or deed-in-liu, etc, can someone be qualified to buy another house, and the question is becoming more common as people with legitimate issues that lost their home or filed BK in 2007-2009 are wanting to take advantage of today’s real estate opportunities and historically low interest rates. The good news is; a lot of them already can. 

The thing is, there isn’t just one answer. There are many answers that depend on factors like; how did one lose their home (foreclosure or short sale, ect), what have they done since then, and what kind of loan are they looking for now? The answers to these questions can make a big difference. I’ll try and break it down and make it as simple as possible for everyone below… 

Conventional

•      2 Years after short sale, pre-foreclosure sale, or deed in liu with a 20% down payment on the new home
•      4 Years after short sale, pre-foreclosure sale, or deed in liu with a 10% down payment on the new home
•      7 Years after foreclosure in most other circumstances
•      4 Years after Bankruptcy, regardless of if it is a Chapter 7 or 13 

FHA 

•      3 Years after Foreclosure (after the actual deed transfer date)
•      3 Years after short sale or pre-foreclosure sale
•      1 Year into a Chapter 13 bankruptcy (there is actually no waiting period after a CH13, only that 12 on-time payments to the trustee have been made, can be verified, and the purchase is approved by the court)
•      2 Years after Chapter 7 bankruptcy has been discharged 

VA 

•      2 Years for all, foreclosure, short sale, or bankruptcy 

(There are a few exceptions to these rules, call me with any specific scenarios)

Of course all of these loans would require reestablishing credit and qualifying for the loan program applied for, these are just the general timelines. Please give me a call if you have any questions… 

Greg
Your Roseville Loan Guy