Welcome to the "Z" Team!

Encouraging news to share! As part of a settlement with state attorneys general, the five largest mortgage servicers are adopting new requirements for short sales, which is expected to speed-up what has been known as a lengthy process.

Here are some of the new requirements for servicers under the settlement:

Servicers must provide borrowers with a decision within 30 days after receiving a short sale package request.

Servicers will be required to notify a borrower, also within 30 days, if any necessary documents are missing to process the short sale request.

Servicers must notify a borrower immediately if a deficiency payment is needed to approve the short sale. They also must provide an estimated amount for the deficiency payment needed for the short sale.

Servicers are also required to form an internal group to review all short sale requests.

Banks will be considered in violation of the settlement requirements if they take longer than 30 days on more than 10 percent of the short sale requests. Violations can carry fines of up to $1 million and $5 million for repeat offenses.

“If a real estate broker can get a checklist from the bank detailing what documentation is needed, everything can be provided up front, and the bank will be required to give a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down within 30 days,” short sale specialist Chris Hanson with the Hanson Law Firm told HousingWire. “That’s not a bad deal.”

Source: “AG Settlement Starts the Clock on Short Sales,” HousingWire (March 14, 2012)

This ‘Mega Force’ is becoming a growing force in the housing market, with this demographic’s purchasing power more than doubling over the past decade, according to a new report by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals called “The State of Hispanic Home Ownership 2011.”

Reconizing the purchasing power of Latinos grew to $1.1 trillion in 2011 and is projected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2016, according to NAHREP. We assist in helping Hispanic Clients!  Hablamos Espanol, www.dougandbudzeller.com or zeller123@gmail.com

Rapid population growth (the Hispanic population more than tripled between 1980 and 2010), the population’s relatively young age, dramatic employment growth, and growing incomes are all triggering a higher rate of Hispanic home buyers, according to NAHREP. Fifty-three percent of the total U.S. population’s 545,000 new owner-occupants in the third quarter of 2011 were Hispanic home owners, according to Census Bureau data.

What’s more, about two-thirds of Hispanic renters have said they plan to purchase a home, according to a 2011 Fannie Mae survey.

“Despite recent losses suffered by Hispanics during the housing crisis, young Latino families that were unaffected by foreclosure or lost home values are ready to enter the market,” says NAHREP President Carmen Mercado. “When they do, they will have an exponential impact on housing sales.”

New household growth is projected to be greater for the Hispanic population than any other demographic, says David Stevens, president of the Mortgage Banker’s Association. “The need to recognize the most critical variables in housing type, price range, affordability, and mortgage product terms will be critical for all housing stakeholders — from lenders and [real estate professionals] to policy makers — in order to ensure that the home ownership needs of Hispanics and other Americans are met,” he says.

Source: National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals 

Information we’d like to share! Fifty-one percent of Americans in a recent poll say that if their financial situation were to improve, they’d buy a home. Coming in second on the list of wishes, they’d make repairs or improvements to the home they already have, according to the poll of more than 1,400 Americans conducted by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling Web site, www.DebtAdvice.org 

Meanwhile, 17 percent of Americans polled said they’d upgrade their car and 9 percent said they’d take a vacation. Please comment on what would be your decision?  

“Home ownership has traditionally been a part of sound financial planning,” says Gail Cunningham, spokesperson for the NFCC, a nonprofit credit counseling organization. “With a combined total of 74 percent of respondents selecting a home-oriented option, the poll results strongly suggests that people continue to place value in owning a home, and are anxious to buy a house or improve their existing one.”

Based on data from Melissa Dittmann Tracey for REALTOR Magazine Daily News

California median home price: January 2012: $268,280 (Source: California Association of Realtors, C.A.R.)

Highest median home price by region/county January 2012: Marin, $694,440 (Source: C.A.R.)

Lowest median home price by region/county January 2012: Tehama, $110,000 (Source: C.A.R.)

Pending Home Sales Index: January 2012: 102.4, an increase from the revised 93.1 recorded in January 2011

Traditional Housing Affordability Index: Fourth quarter 2011: 55 percent (Source: C.A.R.)

Mortgage rates: Week ending 3/1/2012 30-yr. fixed: 3.90% fees/points: 0.8% 15-yr. fixed: 3.17 fees/points: 0.8% 1-yr. adjustable: 2.72% Fees/points: 0.6% (Source: Freddie Mac)

Here’s some interesting news to share with you! California’s attorney general has requested that the Federal Housing Finance Agency suspend foreclosure sales in the state for home owners with government-backed mortgages. 

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has requested that home owners with loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac get a temporary reprieve from foreclosures while housing regulators conduct reviews of whether at-risk home owners are eligible to have the amount they owe on their mortgage reduced. 

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have stated in the past that they’re opposed to mortgage principal reductions. The FHFA, which regulates Fannie and Freddie, has said that any such program would cost taxpayers $100 billion. 

More than half a million Californians have lost their home to foreclosure since 2008. What’s more, another half a million are in foreclosure or at “imminent” risk this year. Fannie and Freddie guarantee or own more than 60 percent of mortgages in California. 

Source: “California Seeks Suspension of Foreclosures,” Associated Press (Feb. 27, 2012) and “California AG Seeks Foreclosure Suspension,” MarketWatch (Feb. 27, 2012)

We get these questions and would like to share our thoughts about this dilemma.  Some home owners who are underwater may not know their alternatives.

The “Cash for Keys” is a program that banks do for some home owners. The “new twist” you’ll be hearing more about is “Cash to Short Sale”. Lenders are figuring out that if there is anything they can do to make a deal happen, they need to do it. This apparently is what is starting to take place with people that are trying to “short sale” their homes. Instead of “Cash for Keys” to homeowners that lose their homes to foreclosure. This was not offered to home owners who were trying to short sale their home. Often the banks would basically give them a certain time to complete the short sale until they foreclosed.

Now because of tight lending practices, new buyers would take so long to qualify, it is often “too little, too late” to close escrow before foreclosure.  When that happens it seems everybody loses. The lenders lost a willing & able buyer and the seller because, now, not only did they lose their home to a foreclosure, but also because a foreclosure was now on their credit report instead of a short sale. (It may be better to have a short sale than a foreclosure on a credit report?) Plus, the buyer may or may not wait until the home came back on the market at a later date.

Other information at: www.dougandbudzeller.com or zteam4u@gmail.com

A study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition has found that for every 100 families considered “extremely low income,” there are only 30 affordable units available to rent nationwide. “Extremely low income” renters are considered those who earn less than 30 percent of the median income in the metro area which they live. 

The NLIHC has called for more affordable rentals to meet the growing demands of low-income families. It will be interesting to see what happens! Please provide comments?  

The number of extremely low income renters has grown in recent years. In 2010, the number swelled to 9.8 million — nearly a quarter of all renters nationwide.  

“What we’ve seen is a decline in the home ownership rate since 2008, and we’ve seen rent being pushed up,” pushing rent out of each for more low income people, says Sheila Crowley, NHLIHC chief executive. (For nearly a quarter of all renters nationwide)  

The problem appears to be the most evident where the largest gaps exist between the rich and poor, such as in states like Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Nevada and Oregon according to the study. Our “Northern California” region is near the top!

“There’s no doubt that there’s a gap, and it’s significant, and it’s getting worse,” said Becky Koepnick, an adviser to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. (As many of us know)

Source: “Lowest-Income Renters Left Behind in Housing Crisis,” The Wall Street Journal (Feb. 15, 2012)

“Mom and pop investors” are trying to capitalize on a depressed real estate market in the hopes of one day being able to cash in. An article in USA Today highlights this new breed of small-scale investors who like to buy and hold properties, opposed to the high-dollar large investment firms that once dominated the real estate market who preferred to buy and flip their property investments. 

For “mom and pop investors,” the strategy is to buy homes at rock-bottom prices, rent the properties out to cover costs of home ownership for several years, and then one day sell the homes when prices recover. “An unprecedented number of investors are looking into this,” John Burns, CEO OF John Burns Real Estate Consulting, told USA Today. We find some buy for eventual relocation to another area for retirement.

For investors in the rental market, an 8 percent annual return is fairly normal, according to Burns. “That means that someone who buys a $100,000 property — and pays cash for it — makes $8,000 a year after expenses, including maintenance and taxes,” the USA Today article notes. 

The threats of tenant or maintenance issues may be the potential to derail that potential profit, so investors need to be careful. Many of the investors we work with are cautious and seek advice from their real estate agent, property managers or other experts. 

Source: “Mom and Pop Investors Propping Up Home-Buying Market,” USA Today (Feb. 14, 2012)

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it will offer nearly $1.8 billion to public housing authorities nationwide, allowing agencies to make large-scale improvements to public housing units. 

The funds also can be used to make energy-efficient upgrades to replace old plumbing and electrical systems, according to HUD. 

 “This funding will help housing authorities address long-standing capital improvements, but it only scratches the surface in addressing the deep backlog we’re seeing across the country,” said Hud’s Shaun Donovan. “Today, we are closer to helping housing authorities and our private sector partners undertake their capital needs over the long haul.”

Source: HUD 

Have you followed this program since it started as a solution to the housing problems? In 2007, 70% of the nations jobs were related to the housing related.  Have the Fed’s programs/ideas since then,  provided economic recovery? Is this just another “Smoke Screen”? Please provide your comments on how or if this may help your region?

California’s Gold Rush was more than a century-and-a-half ago, but its Wild West spirit lives on in a dispute between government agencies and a landowner in the Sierra Nevada foothills that some officials describe as one of the most egregious cases of illegal mining they have ever encountered.

The dispute between local and state officials and the owner of the Big Cut Mine is coming to a head after a bureaucratic stalemate that has dragged on for three years, with the county district attorney filing 14 charges, including four felonies, and the state leveling fines approaching $900,000.

Authorities say the land owner has refused to comply with cease-and-desist orders, pay any fines or even to submit to an arrest warrant. He became a fugitive last week after failing to turn him self in as promised.

Full article at source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08…

MY TAKE: Trying to strike Gold buying real estate in El Dorado County, California?

There are a few way you can find gold when buying a home or property. Recently I helped a couple find a home in Placerville, (Old Hangtown). Come to find out though, they wanted to start taking advantage of the recent spike in gold prices they better check on a few things.  After we got into escrow, we reviewed at the preliminary title report. We found out that they did not have the mineral rights to mine for Gold on their property.

Not a big deal for the couple that were buying it as a retirement home. But it could mean something to somebody who wanted to own every aspect of their property. Along with most of the normal things you see, most of the time all you ever see in the prelim is some easement from utility company’s or right of ways for roads. Although most of the time there are no “Big Surprises” you do get from time to time some interesting restriction or small surprises.  Which brings up the dispute of the Wild West gold mining events. Does the owner of the Property have the “Right “to mine on “his” property?  You be the Judge.

Living near Big Cut Road and the mine, I can say it really would not affected my everyday happiness or way of life, But I can see both sides of the issue.  So if you own a home in El Dorado County or thinking of buyer a piece of property , you might want to find out if you have the right to “Strike it Rich” on your Property!