Welcome to the "Z" Team!

Real estate-related searches on Google.com have grown 253 percent over the past four years, according to a joint study from the National Association of REALTORS® and Google.

“Increasingly, online technologies are driving offline behaviors, and home buying is no exception,” said Google Head of Real Estate Patrick Grandinetti. “With 90 percent of home buyers searching online during their home buying process, the real estate industry is smart to target these people where they look for and consume information—for example through paid search, relevant websites, video environments, and mobile applications.”

The Digital House Hunt: Consumer and Market Trends in Real Estate leverages NAR’s custom research and Google’s proprietary and third-party research. Google’s research focused on consumers who had completed an online “conversion”– taking the next step of contacting an agent or requesting additional information from a real estate company’s website.

The study also uncovered some trends in buyers who search for homes online.

More details of joint study at source: National Association of REALTORS®

We are introducing our updated National Listings Distribution Program (NLDP).

The updated system provides a number of enhanced tracking and statistical data including:

• A new back end system providing robust online buyer search analytics on all our listings

• The list of the 800 national websites are viewable under the marketing choices tab to show our sellers where their property is being displayed

• A summary of the top websites, cities from where online buyers are searching from, number of views, number of inquiries, inventory and properties by price range

• Online marketing summary reports for every listing, which now include property views on most of the 800 national sites, click-through (visits) down to our listing on Homeresearch.com, and the source of the top-cities where buyers are viewing our listings online

• The ability to setup an automated seller report by email

For more information, please click the above tab ”National Listings Distribution”

Under signs of a growing economy and low inflation, fixed-rate mortgages inched down this week and are hovering near their record lows, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey.

Here’s a closer look at average mortgage rates for the week ending Nov. 1:

•30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.39 percent, with an average 0.7 point, dropping from last week’s 3.41 percent average. The record low for the 30-year mortgage, set in recent weeks, was an average of 3.36 percent.

•15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 2.70 %, with an average 0.7 point, dropping from last week’s 2.72 % average. The 15-year rates record low average is 2.66 %, in October.

•5-year adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 2.74 %, with an average 0.6 point, dropping from last week’s 2.75 percent average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 2.96 %.

Source: Freddie Mac

Interesting news to share! Thirty-two percent of Americans surveyed say home owners should be able to strategically default on their mortgages without facing any consequences for doing so, according to data compiled by JZ Analytics.

What’s more alarming, 13 percent say they would likely strategic default. Another 17% say they know others who have already walked away from their mortgage obligations.

“What jumped out is how many Americans feel it is acceptable for home owners to walk away from a mortgage and go into foreclosure,” says John Zogby, a senior analyst at JZ Analytics and creator of the Zogby Poll. “If Americans carry on with that mindset, it will continue to cause problems as the economy undergoes a slow recovery.”

More information at source: “More Americans Consider Strategic Default on Mortgages an Acceptable Option,” Credit.com (Oct. 8, 2012)

The West coast has been one of the epicenters to the foreclosure crisis. But lately, several western states are seeing big drops in distressed properties and foreclosure starts.

Foreclosure starts in California, for example, were down 23.6 percent from July to August and decreased nearly 50 percent from one year ago, according to ForeclosureRadar, which monitors foreclosures in five Western states. In Arizona, foreclosure starts were down 16.1 percent from a year ago.

“We continue to see reports that there will be a wave of foreclosure sales after the election or at the start of the year,” says Sean O’Toole, ForeclosureRadar CEO. “The lack of foreclosure starts this month puts a nail in the coffin of this theory. There will be no wave of foreclosures for at least five months. The good news for investors and first-time buyers is that foreclosure sales have at least remained flat, continuing to provide some opportunities in the meantime.”

Source: ForeclosureRadar and “Western states see decline in foreclosure starts,” Inman News (Sept. 11, 2012)

Americans are increasingly more optimistic about the direction of the housing market, according to a monthly survey of more than 1,000 Americans conducted by Fannie Mae. 

The majority of those surveyed expect home prices to rise 1.6 percent in the next year. Also, about 18 percent of those surveyed say now is a good time to sell, which is the highest percentage since the survey was initiated. 

“Consumer attitudes toward the housing market remain modestly positive, despite signs of increased concern over the direction of the economy,” says Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. “While the latest results showed a pickup in the share of consumers expecting mortgage rates to rise, reflecting the uptrend of long-term interest rates since mid-July, that may soon change.”

About 40 percent of those surveyed expect mortgage rates to rise in the next year. 

While the majority were upbeat about housing, they are increasingly pessimistic about the direction of the economy. Sixty percent of those surveyed say they think the economy is heading in the wrong direction. What are your thoughts about this survey?

Source: “Fannie Mae: Housing Market Attitudes Improve Despite Increased Concern About Economy,” Dow Jones (Sept. 10, 2012)

The “Real World” of this new report reflects our region! Applications for government mortgage refinancing more than doubled last week, soaring 121.3 percent and reaching an all-time high, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports. The Federal Housing Authority lowered its premiums, contributing to last week’s big jump in FHA refinance volume, MBA said. FHA refinance volume was up 410.9 percent from a year ago.

“New, lower FHA premiums on streamlined refinance loans came fully into effect, and borrowers seized the opportunity to lower their mortgage rates without increasing their FHA premiums,” per Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s vice president of reserach .

Meanwhile, conventional applications for refinancing and applications for purchasing dropped 0.8 percent for the week ending June 15, despite continued low mortgage rates, the MBA reported. Loan requests for home purchases dropped 8.5 percent last week.

Source: “U.S. Mortgage Applications Fell Last Week,” Reuters (June 20, 2012)

Shadow inventory dropped nearly 15 percent year-over-year in April and is at about a four-month supply—reaching its lowest level in nearly three years, real estate data provider CoreLogic reports.

Shadow inventory, as defined by CoreLogic, refers to properties that are seriously delinquent by 90 days or more, in the foreclosure process, and properties that have completed the foreclosure process but not yet have been listed for sale.

CoreLogic reports that “the flow of new seriously delinquent (90 days or more) loans into the shadow inventory has been approximately offset by the equal volume of distressed (short and real estate owned) sales.”

“Since peaking at 2.1 million units in January 2010, the shadow inventory has fallen by 28 percent,” Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economists, says. “The decline in the shadow inventory is a positive development because it removes some of the downward pressure on house prices.”

Serious delinquencies are the main driver of shadow inventory, CoreLogic notes. Serious delinquencies declined 28% in California.

More information at source: CoreLogic

More good news to share! Mortgage applications soared 9.2 percent last week, as more Americans sought to take advantage of record low mortgage rates, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly report. 

The surge in mortgage applications last week was attributed to a jump in refinance applications, which rose 13 percent for the week. Refinance applications make up nearly 75 percent of all mortgage applications.

Surprisingly, mortgage applications for home purchases dropped 2.4 percent last week.

“Low rates have convinced many home owners to refinance their mortgages, though tougher lending requirements still keep many prospective home buyers from taking out new debt,” The Wall Street Journal reports. We agree, your thoughts?  

Source: “Mortgage Application Volume Rose 9.2% Last Week: MBA,” The Wall Street Journal (5/16/12)

Many housing experts have been warning a foreclosure wave would soon flood several markets. But was it all a false alarm? We think it was and want to share this with you!

Recent surveys have shown that foreclosure sales have dropped to their lowest point in more than two years. And while according to March data, 8 percent more homes did enter the foreclosure process from the previous month, that number is down more than 30 percent from a year ago, according to Lender Processing Services.

CNBC real estate reporter Diana Olick notes that it could be another delay in the foreclosure system “as banks try to modify more loans to meet some of the terms of the [$25 billion] servicing settlement . The foreclosure sales decline also appears to be exclusively in private and portfolio loans, which again points to the settlement.”

Meanwhile, banks are increasing their number of short-sale transactions, and some surveys have shown that short sales are actually now outpacing foreclosure sales— the first time that’s ever occurred.

“Lenders are increasingly recognizing that short sales may be a better alternative for them than foreclosure,” RealtyTrac’s Daren Blomquist told CNBC. “This trend began in markets with stronger demand and where the distressed inventory tends to be newer homes (Phoenix, Los Angeles, Las Vegas), but the trend appears to be spreading to other markets like Atlanta and Detroit.” Please provide thoughts about your local market.

Source: “Flood of Foreclosures Still Fails to Materialize,” CNBC (May 2, 2012)