Everything from a home owners’ energy efficient appliances to solar panels may now get more attention from appraisals with the added form.  

The new form allows appraisers to identify and describe a home’s green features. It will serve as an optional addendum to Fannie Mae Form 1004, which is the appraisal industry’s mostly commonly used form for mortgage purposes, used by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration. 

“We hope lenders, home builders, real estate agents, and home owners will take advantage of this new tool,” Joseph C. Magdziarz, president of the Appraisal Institute, said in a statement. “Mortgage lenders who want to see energy features analyzed should request the green addendum to be included with Form 1004. We also encourage lenders to provide the green addendum to home owners so they can fill it out and provide it to their appraiser. If a new home is being appraised, home builders can use the addendum to provide data to appraisers. Real estate agents also can use the data to help populate the MLS.”

 Source: “Appraisal Institute Issues Form to Help Real Estate Appraisers Analyze ‘Green’ Features,” RISMedia (Sept. 29, 2011)

 Other Placerville, El Dorado County, California information at: www.dougandbudzeller.com

Despite low interest rates, lenders have seen a drop in refinancings that has not been offset by home purchases. In response, some lenders are reducing their staff; while others are closing retail branches, consolidating, cutting costs, or branching into new markets.

Source: “Banks Fearing Prolonged Mortgage Slowdown,” (Login required) American Banker, Kate Berry (June 6, 2011) 

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Nearly 75 percent of all new and existing homes sold in the first quarter of 2011 were affordable to families earning the national median income of $64,400, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index. The previous high was set in the fourth quarter of 2010 with 73.9 percent.

“With interest rates remaining at historically low levels, today’s report indicates that home ownership is within reach of more households than it has been for more than two decades,” says Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders.

Full information at source: “Housing Affordability Rises to Record Level, Tight Financing Continues to Constrain Sales,” National Association of Home Builders (May 25, 2011)

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Even homes without any obvious faults are undergoing price cuts, agents say.

Real estate pros are finding that to find the right price for a home is much more than comparing it to a set of comps. But determining a price to fit a few of a home’s unique limitations isn’t easy. 

Source: “In House Pricing, Own Up to Flaws,” The New York Times (May 19, 2011) 

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A bipartisan group of Congressional leaders claim that HUD’s HOME program has faced constant yearlong delays on housing projects that have postponed hundreds of affordable homes from being completed. The program receives $2 billion a year to help local housing agencies build and renovate affordable homes across the country.

Full article and source at: “Members of Congress Call for Probe of HUD’s HOME Affordable-Housing program,” The Washington Post (May 17, 2011) 

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The average buyer nowadays can expect to spend about 17 percent of her monthly gross income on a mortgage, which compares to a 25 percent average since 1975, Zillow reports.

With affordability high, Americans seem to be getting the message about the value of home ownership. Nearly 70 percent of Americans say now is a good time to buy a home, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Men are about 16 percent more likely to say now is a good time to buy a home than women. And Americans living in the West are most favorable toward buying (75 percent), which compares to 64 percent of Americans who live in the South who say now is a good time to buy.

Americans with higher incomes also expressed more of an interest in home ownership, according to the Gallup poll. Americans who make $75,000 or more a year are 18 percent more likely to say that 2011 is a good time to buy a home than those making $30,000-$75,000.

Source: “Affordability Reaches Generational High,” Realty Times (May 5, 2011) and “Gallup: Time Is Right to Buy,” RISMedia (May 5, 2011) 

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The HomeScores allow buyers a different to size up bank-owned properties by providing information on the foreclosed home’s potential for above average price appreciation and below average costs. For example, properties that receive scores of 35 or above are considered good-to-excellent investments.

“This enables shoppers to get an independent assessment of the long-term value of foreclosures,” says Avi Gupta, SmartZip’s vice president of research and marketing. “Shoppers can also easily compare properties against each other, since HomeScore is a relative rating on a scale of 1 to 100.”

The scores will appear in the listing search results at RealtyTrac, and site visitors will also have the option of even sorting foreclosed property results based on HomeScore ranges.

Source: “RealtyTrac Teams Up With SmartZip,” Inman News (April 25, 2011) 

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Multigenerational housing is particularly targeted to meet the needs of a growing immigrant population.

”Immigrants are a source of growing demand, and their household composition is different in fundamental ways from the domestic-born,” says Kermit Baker, chief economist of the American Institute of Architects.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, the region has seen rapid growth in its multigenerational housing demand from immigrant populations, notes Cheryl O’Conner, government affairs consultant to the Building Industry Association of the Bay Area.

Full article at: “Multigenerational Housing Is a Real Estate Growth Niche,” The New York Times (April 22, 2011) 

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“We’re clearly on a recovery path,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.

Existing home sales rose 3.7 percent in March from February, as distressed sales, such as those in foreclosure, continued to make up a big bulk of home sales (40 percent of all purchases).

“At this point, we’re likely to see a steady improvement in sales,” says economist Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors. 

View what economists have to say about who’s buying and currently driving the market at: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2011042101?OpenDocument

Based on these sources: “Rising home sales point to a recovery; Prices expected to keep falling 5% to 7% this year,” USA Today (April 21, 2011), “U.S. Home Sales Top Forecasts in March,” The New York Times (April 21, 2011), and “Rich People Buying Homes Again–Should You?” AOL Real Estate News (April 20, 2011) 

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MAKING SENSE OF THE STORY:

Last year’s Dodd-Frank financial reform law mandated that appraisers receive fees that are “customary and reasonable” for their local market areas, yet the Appraisal Institute says that is not happening.

While a portion of the difference between what consumers are billed and appraisers are paid goes to the management companies that connect lenders with local appraisers and take a percentage for their services, often times lenders make a profit from the appraisal as well.

Home buyers should care about this for several reasons. For starters, accurate appraisals are a concern for consumers, as appraisals can be deal-breakers if the appraisal comes in too low. When performed competently, appraisals can be accurate measures of the equity in a home when the homeowner refinances or seeks a second mortgage.

Read the full story: http://lat.ms/hIGZUL

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