Buyers have an edge during busy spring season

Posted on 3/2/2013 @ 12:19 AM in #Real Estate by Proper03 0 comments

The spring and summer months are traditionally the busiest times of year for that residential housing market. Weather conditions are more cooperative and several families like to move as the children are on their summer break. But in the past few years spring, for a lot of regions, has meant more homes available on the market, but also more buyers, fierce competition plus rise in prices. In case you are looking for a home this spring, there are numerous of things you can do to try and give you the advantage over other home buyers, including: If you're going to work with a Realtor or real estate agent, get going early. Interview three or four, get references and allow the person you select know exactly what you want. Get your loan pre-approved. This will give an edge on several fronts. First, it'll be done and dealt with. Second, you'll know simply how much the financial institution would prefer to loan you which means you know where cost to look. And third, it shows sellers you are serious to buy whenever

Become “Certified Bed Bug Free” Call Tampa Bay Bugs

Posted on 2/8/2013 @ 3:11 PM in #Real Estate by tampabaybugs 0 comments

Prevention is the best first line of defense when becoming certified bed bug free, and this is most efficiently accomplished with a custom program tailored to fit our customers’ specific needs. Tampa Bay Bugs’ Bed Bug experts can create a protocol for all of our commercial customers to continuously. The second phase of prevention is proactively monitoring areas of facility or residence where bed bugs most commonly inhabit. We install discrete, decorative monitoring devices in these rooms, hidden behind headboards, under beds or behind bedroom furnishings. The devices will mimic human hosts producing CO2, a pheromone attractant as well as an irresistible attractant that resembles human sweat. After 90 days of ongoing monitoring and protection, these devices will need to be replaced which gives quarterly bed bug monitoring and very easy inspection techniques. These techniques save customers up 65% over traditional bed bug treatments and the proactive approach allows for ongoing inspection and detection

Mortgage Rates Hit Two Month Low says Freddie Mac

Posted on 1/13/2013 @ 5:52 PM in #Real Estate by mortgages 0 comments

Experts believe that the possibility of Fed asset purchases ending sooner than expected coupled with a semi positive job report were responsible for the jump in 30-year mortgage rates last week, which was reflected in the latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey released by Freddie Mac Thursday. The vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac, Frank Nothaft noted: “Fixed mortgage rates increased slightly following a positive employment report for December. The economy added 155,000 jobs, above the consensus market forecast, and November’s job growth was revised upward by another 24,000 workers. This helped keep the unemployment rate steady at 7.8 percent, the lowest since December 2008. For all of 2012, 1.86 million jobs were created and represented the largest annual gain since 2006.”Most experts are predicting the rise of rates as the job market continues on a path of steady growth and as federal job reports reflect this upward trend. Though speculation is driving these predictions, as no reported job

Home Refinancing Jumps as Mortgage Rates Approach 4 Percent

Posted on 1/12/2013 @ 11:49 PM in #Real Estate by mortgages 0 comments

In anticipation of interest rates rising to cross the 4% threshold, many homebuyers applied for their home refinancing last week, according to the MBA Weekly Application Survey.The previous week’s distinction shows the significant rise in rates:Week ending December 28, 2012 : The 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.52%Week ending January 4, 2013 : The 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.61%High-cost areas may have had an even higher jump over this period, while accompanying discount points rose by a marginal seven basis points. Refinance applications are still occupying the majority of mortgage activity. With the HARP program and the VA IRRRL creating incentive, 82% of applications filed for the week ending January 4th were refinances.HARP activity overall has jumped just in the past few weeks, with the Mortgage Bankers Association predicting a continued trend of popularity for the Obama administration’s revamped program. If passed, HARP 3 (the second renewal of the program) is expected to keep

US Consumers Believe Now is the Time to Buy a Home

Posted on 1/12/2013 @ 11:48 PM in #Real Estate by mortgages 0 comments

Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey of 1,000 households in the U.S. find that consumer housing attitudes are improving. Though many believe the future of the nation’s economy and even their personal finances to be in peril, the survey group looks favorably upon the housing sector, expecting home values to increase in the coming year.The survey showed that 92% of homeowners were expecting mortgage rates to rise, and with them, home prices. This sentiment of urgency drives consumer purchasing, with 7 of 10 surveyed believing now is the time to buy.In addition to low interest rates, job growth has been a defining factor in the housing recovery, creating verifiable income for many prospective homebuyers to leverage against their mortgage application. Nearly 4.8 million jobs have been recovered since 2010.

MarketWatch Reports Alpine, New Jersey as Most Expensive Neighborhood in the U.S.

Posted on 1/12/2013 @ 11:47 PM in #Real Estate by mortgages 0 comments

Most of MarketWatch’s “most expensive neighborhoods” are in California; but the winner, based on criteria culled from REALTOR.com and 24/7 Wall Street, is the NYC suburb of Alpine, New Jersey.Alpine, NJ lies only 15 miles from midtown Manhattan. It’s residents have an annual income double that of the national average, in addition to the highest average home listing prices of any given area. The study’s data took changes in home listing prices over one month and one year into account as well.The Top 10 list of most expensive neighborhoods nationwide is as follows:Alpine, New Jersey (07620)Ross, California (94957)New York City, New York (10013)Woody Creek, Colorado (81656)Atherton, California (94027)Beverly Hills, California (90210)Rancho Santa Fe, California (92067)Santa Barbara, California (93108)Greenwich, Connecticut (06831)Bel Air, California (90077) Click here to check current mortgage rates.

New Mortgage Rules Fail to Address Down Payments

Posted on 1/12/2013 @ 11:45 PM in #Real Estate by mortgages 0 comments

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced new regulations Thursday designed to protect borrowers from the questionable kind of mortgages that created the recent housing bubble. The new rules will take effect in January of 2014, keeping lenders from making loans with deceptively advertised low mortgage rates to those incapable of paying over the mortgage term. These new rules left out a major issue that irresponsible mortgaging hinges on: minimum down payments. Instead, the focus was on keeping lenders conducting thorough underwriting to ensure their consumers can afford their payments. A team of regulatory groups including the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will be drafting more rules that may address down payment requirements, while confronting the issues surrounding lender and borrower incentives for entering into home loans and lender risk.

Federal Reserve Works to Spur The World’s Largest Economy

Posted on 12/14/2012 @ 10:10 AM in #Real Estate by bankofinternetusa 0 comments

The U.S. housing market’s revival is supported by the Federal Reserves impact based on its efforts to help the nation’s economy.Home values, boosted by low mortgage rates are helping to improve the financial situation of both banks and the average household. According to economists and Bank of America Corp., that is boosting the housing market and economy by easing the flow of credit.Much of the credit goes to the Fed according to Michelle Meyer of Bank of America, who believes The Fed has been very influential to the reinforcing cycle that we currently find ourselves in. By the end of 2013, Meyer believes monthly housing starts could be above the one million mark at the annual rate, and for the first time since 2005, residential construction may lend support to economic growth.Economic growth was good except for a healthy contribution from housing; and since recent developments like low interest rates are working to improve that, we may finally be ready for a full economic recovery.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Signs Bill to Speed Up Foreclosure Process

Posted on 12/14/2012 @ 10:07 AM in #Real Estate by bankofinternetusa 0 comments

The foreclosure backlog in New Jersey was bad enough before Hurricane Sandy hit, but now steps are being taken by the state to relieve residents of slow, painful foreclosures.According to HousingWire, the new bill will speed up the foreclosure process on properties that meet certain requirements, for example, a clearly vacant house will not go through the same steps as an occupied house."One important reason why the share of homes in foreclosure in Northern New Jersey has continued to increase is the length of the foreclosure process," Jaison Abel, New York Fed senior economist told the New Jersey Star-Ledger. "We have the same rate of homes entering the process, that's not unique. But then they stay in foreclosure for a longer period of time."Apart from the new bill helping speed up the foreclosure process, low mortgage rates may be able to help some avoid foreclosure altogether. If you are able to, you should think about refinancing as soon as possible to make mortgage payments more affordable.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg Announces New York City Housing Recovery Plan

Posted on 12/14/2012 @ 10:06 AM in #Real Estate by bankofinternetusa 0 comments

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and select officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other real estate industry groups announced their plan for New York City’s recovery after Hurricane Sandy. The initiative will use a group of apartments to house displaced New Yorkers and help families find short or long-term housing.There are thousands of New Yorkers who are unable to live in their homes for lack of heat and electricity or, in some cases, severe structural damage. As work continues on damaged homes, Mayor Bloomberg is working to connect people to housing options that suit their individual needs.Mortgage relief will come to those who are in federally declared “disaster areas” and mortgage payments will be either suspended or reduced for 90 days or more, if the situation calls for it, this may last for up to a year.Foreclosure sales and evictions are also suspended for 90 days, starting from when FEMA declared the area a major disaster site.

Secrets to Obtaining the Lowest Mortgage Rates

Posted on 12/14/2012 @ 10:05 AM in #Real Estate by bankofinternetusa 0 comments

Getting a low interest rate is the goal of every borrower that has ever tried to get a mortgage. The most important aspect of obtaining the lowest rate is having good credit. Without it, you are going to, without a doubt, be offered much higher rates or be disqualified period. To obtain good credit, potential borrowers should lower their debt-to-income ratio, pay all of their bills on time and avoid new lines of credit right before borrowing.While good credit is the best way to get a low mortgage rate, it is not the only way. A large down payment is another way to earn lower rates. Many lenders recommend 20%, but you should not spend all of your money on a down payment just to get low rates or avoid mortgage insurance.Stable job history is another way to get low rates. Lenders love to see people who can keep a job for a long period of time. Changing jobs, despite the situation, does not look good to lenders. Many times this could kill your chance to even qualify for a mortgage. Getting a job then shortly

Increased Homebuilder Lending Disguises Uneven Housing Recovery

Posted on 12/14/2012 @ 9:57 AM in #Real Estate by bankofinternetusa 0 comments

Lending has come to the forefront for some U.S. homebuilders who have put construction on the back-burner for a short time.Mortgage revenue for PulteGroup Inc. jumped 70% in the third quarter, almost six times the profit gained from home sales. According to Susquehanna International Group in New York, wide lending margins on top of low mortgage rates are the reason some homebuilders are experiencing such good revenue streams in the short-term.A Federal Reserve program created for the purpose of lowering borrowing costs by purchasing home-loan bonds cased margins to widen across the lending industry. JPMorgan Chase and Co. described October’s mortgage productions margins as “very high”, with the average gain-on-sale doubling in 2012 thanks to increased demand for the securities. The average gain-on-sale measures the difference between the rate homeowners pay and the rate investors pay.

Best Markets for Buyers and Sellers

Posted on 12/14/2012 @ 9:54 AM in #Real Estate by bankofinternetusa 0 comments

The more momentum the housing market gains, the more local market divergences grow. Since it was faulty and fraudulent mortgage lending that brought the market down, only local and national market drivers like jobs, income growth, consumer confidence, low mortgage rates and increased lending will bring it back. This is what caused some markets remain buyers’ markets while others have quickly reverted to sellers’ markets.A sellers’ market is one where homes sell faster and the final sell price is close to or greater than the list price. Zillow, the online real estate marketplace that standardized this definition, ranked the top 30 markets and determined that, what were once known as the hard hit markets (California, Arizona and Nevada) are now among the top ranked sellers’ markets.Much of this improvement comes from investors who are buying up distressed properties and turning them into rentals. This, and other factors, drive inventory down and increase demand and drives up prices.Topping the list of buyers’

Prediction of Private Builders Going Public Could Swing Ranks of Nations Top Builders

Posted on 12/14/2012 @ 9:47 AM in #Real Estate by bankofinternetusa 0 comments

Home builder Taylor Morrison has announced plans to sell stock in an initial public offering. This latest development may not bode well for the current builders in the nation as competition could quickly escalate.Taylor Morrison was a unit of British conglomerate Taylor Wimpey PLC until 2011, when it was sold to a group of U.S. private-equity funds. As of the week ending December 7th, those funds filed a prospectus to sell $250 million of shares publicly.Investors are hungry for builder stocks, and with low mortgage rates driving new-home sales and prices, this is the perfect time for companies like Taylor Morrison to go public. Although it decreased some in the past month, The Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction index is up 70% so far.According to analysts, this may only be the beginning of private builders entering the public market. According to a builder consultant in Irvine, California, John Burns, at least five other home builders, owned by hedge funds are likely to go public in the next three years.

TransUnion Predicts Mortgage Delinquency Rates will Stay Above 5% through 2013

Posted on 12/14/2012 @ 9:44 AM in #Real Estate by bankofinternetusa 0 comments

On December 12th, TransUnion released its annual forecast on mortgage delinquency rates. The national mortgage loan delinquency rate, or the rate of borrowers 60+ days past due, is predicted to decline to 5.06% by this time next year. The rate will decline in 34 states as well as D.C., but 13 states are projected to increase in delinquency rates.Improving home prices, low mortgage rates, and unemployment is the driver behind the decreasing delinquency rate prediction according to Tim Martin, the VP of U.S. housing in TransUnion’s financial services business unit. While a more substantial decrease would have been ideal, any improvement is welcome in this economy. Martin believes, “If the pace of improvement does not pick up, it will take a very long time to get back to 'normal' delinquency rates."Mortgage delinquency rates peaked in the fourth quarter of 2009 after an unprecedented 12 consecutive quarter increase of 255%. It took till the third quarter of 2012 for the rates to drop only 21%. New borrowers are

CoreLogic Releases December Edition of the MarketPulse Report

Posted on 12/14/2012 @ 9:39 AM in #Real Estate by bankofinternetusa 0 comments

The MarketPulse Report provides an insight to the health of the U.S. economy with special attention to housing and mortgage metrics.The report notes certain key findings. Rental income produced from residential properties increased by 12% year-over-year in September 2012. This is a result of the housing markets’ foundational shifts driven by low interest rates and the affordability of homes compared to the increase in rents. The trend in overall rental income will reflect the struggles of single-family rental market as a continued rise in demand implies the weak wage income as well as poor job growth.The real estate cycle is now producing residential investment that is aiding economic growth according to post-recession history. Lenders too have come back to more sustainable loan products to utilize low mortgage rates. They remain cautious and only extend credit to the most qualified borrowers.Market uncertainty can be improved upon by a reduction on mortgage risk, investment-driven economic recovery and

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to Create Uniform Mortgage Data Sets

Posted on 12/14/2012 @ 9:38 AM in #Real Estate by bankofinternetusa 0 comments

The regulator of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has ordered the government financed institutions to work together to develop industry-wide servicing data standards. The Uniform Mortgage Servicing Dataset, UMSD, is a component of the Uniform Mortgage Data Program® and will define a standard dataset that will facilitate data exchanges between servicers and investors with standardized definitions, formats and valid data values.This will provide long-term benefits to servicers, GSEs and the mortgage industry overall. Operational efficiency will improve, the quality and consistency of data will improve, and disclosure for investors and regulators will be enhanced. The use of codes and derived fields will decrease, reducing miscommunication between stakeholders.

Rates Rise Slightly Right Before Fed Rate Decision

Posted on 12/13/2012 @ 10:46 PM in #Real Estate by mortgages 0 comments

Wednesday, December 12th marks the last “Fed Rate Decision” for 2012. The details of this announcement could have a serious impact on the Treasury yields and a smaller but still significant effect on the MBS and therefore, mortgage rates. The debate over the fiscal cliff is, possibly, what is keeping the markets as steady as seen in early November.While some lenders’ rate sheets are better than yesterday, they still offered slightly weaker rates. Overnight pressure from positive European developments caused interest rates to be higher across the board from the start. Up to the Fed Announcement, overall market activity is small, tight and defensive. Rates remain around 3.375% and 3.25%.The importance of The Fed’s Announcement is that it is likely the time they will extend Operation Twist, in some fashion. Operation Twist was the name given to the policy where the Fed was able to sell shorter term Treasury holdings and reinvest the profits into longer ones. This effectively created long term low mortgage rates

Mortgage Applications Surge During the Holiday Season

Posted on 12/13/2012 @ 10:46 PM in #Real Estate by mortgages 0 comments

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey reported a 6% increase in the first week of December compared to the last week of November, although 84% of this activity was refinancing.Mike Fratantoni, Vice President of research and economics at MBA, believes the fiscal cliff has played a role in the mortgage rates remaining low."Continued uncertainty due to the lack of resolution regarding the fiscal cliff led interest rates lower last week, with mortgage rates reaching a new low in our survey," said Fratantoni. "Refinance activity increased, with the refinance index hitting its highest level in two months, and the refinance share reaching its highest level since January 2009."If a deal is not struck in D.C. by December 31st, a series of automatic spending cuts and tax increases, known as the fiscal cliff, will be set in motion.

Rising Home Prices and Aid for Underwater Homeowners Drive Housing Recovery

Posted on 12/13/2012 @ 10:45 PM in #Real Estate by mortgages 0 comments

Homeowners have received help from lenders who reduced their mortgages as well as from banks who allow them to short-sell their homes rather than face foreclosure. The forgiven debt in both scenarios is not taxable under the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, which expires at the end of the year. The fiscal cliff problem has, so far, overshadowed its extension and, if eliminated, thousands of homeowners could find themselves in foreclosure.A wave of short-sales have been reported in fear of being taxed tens, or hundreds of thousands of dollars after the act expires.The MDR Act allowed Americans to have their debt from a short sale or mortgage reduction to be forgiven and thus not taxed as additional income. This act allowed many borrowers to avoid foreclosure through short sale or mortgage reduction while buyers are incentivised with low mortgage rates. Additionally, home prices will be affected by the expiration of the act as many people will likely enter foreclosure.