Housing Crises to End in 2012?

The main stream media continues to pump out positive news leaving the negative in the details as seen in this article.  Local real estate is off to a fast start in 2012 so far but the threat of the European debt crisis and the US debt levels cannot be ignored.  If you are considering selling your home now is the time.  Give us a call at 864-621-7900.

 

Capital Economics expects the housing crisis to end this year, according to a report released Tuesday. One of the reasons: loosening credit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Increasing Mortgage Fees

As directed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the mortgage agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are required to increase the guarantee fee charged for all new mortgages financed on or after April 1, 2012.

What does this mean? Rates on all agency loans (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) will start to reflect the extra cost in higher interest rates as soon as February 1st. So if you’ve been waiting on lower rates, now is a great time to “get off the fence.” Waiting could cost you more money.

Personal Struggles to Success in a Changing Economy

Wow, what a week I had. Being a Realtor is a people business. A business that deals with people during emotionally trying times. Let’s face it, buying a house is the largest purchase most people make in their lifetime and often scary along the way.

However as our elected officials turn their backs on the individuals and seek the security of large corporate interests and international banker community life in America gets harder and harder for each of us Americans after each decision they make.

What is my point of writing about this?

I’m saddened by the extra financial stress pushing families over the edge into divorce or just negative change.  Home sellers and buyers are thrust into looking for a new place to live because “materialism just isn’t what tv and the local gossiping mother of 2 perfect little children” told them it was.

Yet, just when bad news after bad news hits, I get an email from a long time friend (almost said old friend!) that documents how she lost her home and business in a foreclosure that was not even hers!

With practically ZERO income and no apparent prospect for work, this 73 year old women decided life was going to be what she made it to be and went on to launch an exciting chapter in her life.  Knowing that others are facing similar hard times she documented a series of lessons that can help all of us overcome what the ultra wealthy are doing to our lives.

Here is an excerpt from her ebook that I recommend:

Homeless @ 73

How one gutsy Senior Citizen faced a year of being homeless and how she overcame obstacles that might put other folk in the hospital.

Unwilling to be crippled by circumstances, Janice Myers not only came back from disaster, she had fun doing it!

Her whole life changed overnight. Instead of staying stuck in the dark, she put a positive spin on a hopeless situation and turned on the lights for the rest of us!

Janice Myers gives you a personal glimpse into a major crisis in her life and her search to find the answers.

With no training in how to deal with the

total devastation of an ‘end-of-the-world event,

Janice brings courage and practical advice to those of us who are facing the point-of-no-return, either emotionally, physically, financially, or spiritually.

Keep Looking Up, for your redemption draws nigh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rob

30 Year Trend of Interest Rates By Year

Here is a chart of 30 year mortgage interest rates for the past 30 years dating back to 1981.  In case you had any doubts about if now was a good time to lock in a low rate this chart should pretty much answer any of those questions.  Even if house prices trend down another 7% or so locking in a low fixed rate at the current 4.31% will still save a homeowner more than a lower price will.

Feel free to call if you have any questions about buying a home.  My lenders have been getting buyers with scores as low as 590 fixed rate 30 year loans!

Search for a Boiling Springs area home

 

Where Should You Invest Tomorrow?

With countries facing debt levels never seen before in modern history things are about to change.  European countries are facing debt problems that are just beginning to become main stream news.  Greece is capturing the headlines today but Italy and Portugal are right behind them with France and others not far behind. We all know that the United States has to keep printing money just to make the debt payments on the money we owe.  Our country is NOT living paycheck to paycheck anymore.  We are borrowing money just to make our next debt payment!

Change is coming. You can count on that.  However with all the turmoil surrounding us in the news some things just don’t seem to change.  Here is a chart showing the return real estate has made over the last 10 years starting from January 1, 2000 to August 1, 2011:

What? I thought real estate was a bad investment you say? The facts speak for themselves. Yet most people hold most of their wealth in paper assets like stocks and bonds.  A good real estate investment provides you monthly cash flow from day one and almost always rises in value over time.  Of course all residential and commercial real estate is NOT created equally so it’s important to follow key principles to maximize your safety and return.  I have been investing in real estate for over 12 years in the Spartanburg and Boiling Springs surrounding areas. If you would like to learn more about investing in real estate feel free to call me.  There are strategies you can choose that puts you as hands on or as hands off as you would like.  Just call me at 864-621-7900 before your stocks drop too much! Read more..

Mortgage Rates Fall To Lowest On RECORD!

WASHINGTON (AP) — The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has fallen to its lowest level on records dating to 1971.

The rate on the most popular mortgage dipped to 4.15 percent from 4.32 percent a week ago, Freddie Mac said Thursday. Its previous low of 4.17 percent was reached in November.

The last time long-term rates were lower was in the 1950s, when 30-year loans weren’t widely available. Most long-term home loans lasted 20 or 25 years.

Few expect even record-low rates to energize the depressed home market. Over the past year, the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage has been below 5 percent for all but two weeks. Yet prices and sales remain unhealthy and are holding back the overall economy.

Five years ago, the average 30-year fixed rate was near 6.5 percent. In 2000, it exceeded 8 percent.

Most homeowners are paying rates more than a full percentage point higher than the current average. The average rate on all outstanding mortgages is 5.3 percent, Freddie Mac said, citing data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Many would-be buyers can’t take advantage of the low rates. The unemployment rate is 9.1 percent, few Americans are getting raises and many are struggling to shrink their debt loads.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage, which is popular for refinancing, fell to 3.36 percent, also a record low. It’s the third straight week of record lows for the popular refinancing option. Freddie Mac’s records date to 1991, but analysts believe the new low on the 15-year mortgage is the lowest ever.

Borrowers who qualify have rushed to refinance and take advantage of the low rates. Refinancing accounted for 70 percent of mortgage applications in the first half of the year, Freddie Mac said. Refinancings tend to provide less benefit to the economy than home purchases do.

Mortgage rates typically track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note. Economic fears have drawn investors to the safety of Treasurys, driving down the yield on the 10-year note to barely above 2 percent. That helped lower mortgage rates.

 

As always,

 

May god bless you and lead you where you need to be in the coming years,

 

Rob

Search For Homes In Boiling Springs

 

Home Owners are in Denial About the Value of Thier Homes

Homeowners, especially those who bought their houses after the real-estate bubble burst, are still having trouble accepting just how much the values of their properties may have fallen, says a new report from the real-estate site Zillow.

Current sellers who bought their homes in 2007 or later, an analysis of the site’s home listings shows, are overpricing their properties by an average of 14 percent.

Sellers who bought their houses before the bubble, and those who bought during the big run-up in home values, also are overpricing their homes, but not by as much. Those who bought before 2002 are pricing their homes roughly 12 percent over market value, while those who bought from 2002-06 price them about 9 percent over market value.

In the analysis, Zillow compared the asking price of one million homes for sale to the homes’ previous purchase price, then factored in the change in the Zillow Home Value Index for the respective ZIP code, to determine an estimate of that home’s current market value. Read more..

Red Fox Farm Home Sells Above 2 Other Realtor Suggested Selling Price

A former mortgage broker who knew many Spartanburg Realtors only considered listing his home with 3 agents.  After interviewing the 3 agents, 2 had suggested he list his home for sale at $139,900 or less.  I suggested $149,900 based on the last 2 comparable sales in the subdivision that coincidentally I had sold.  Within 3 weeks the home was under contract for $146,000 and closed within 4 weeks.

As a result I netted him more dollars than the other 2 top realtors suggest he even ask for!

Please call me when considering selling your home.  It’s just too big an investment to let anybody handle.

 

211 Red Fox Lane sold above what 2 other Realtors gave as a suggested selling price.

 

 

 

Homeowner Foreclosures on Bank of America

In what appears to be a large US financial institution getting a taste of their own medicine, a couple foreclosed on a Bank of America branch in Naples Florida!  Like a former business partner of mine once said, “If the people treated the banks the way the banks treated the people they would have been bankrupted long ago”.

You see, we used to own and run the largest Short Sale bank negotiating company in the state of SC. We have sat down at middle class family’s kitchen tables hearing the same story over and over again. “The bank said that if we sent them $3,000 they would put the remaining balance on the back of our loan and allow our normal payments to proceed.  We sent them everything we had.” said our clients. Only to find the banks collect the $3,000 and then require the remaining delinquent balance ASAP or face foreclosure. Sounds unreal I know. In fact we would tell people about how the banks treated people just like you and me and they could not believe it. They always thought we were exaggerating. We were not, and we have much worse stories we can tell.

Here is the article straight from Yahoo News.

By TARA-NICHOLLE NELSON – Mon Jun 6, 4:50 pm ET

In a modern-day evocation of David’s slingshot triumph over Goliath, a couple of foreclosed homeowners in Naples, Florida reportedly foreclosed on a Bank of America branch last week, their attorney actually having moving trucks pull up in front of a Naples branch to execute a foreclosure judgment against the bank.

What must have seemed to observers like a scene out of a parallel universe – you can see some video here – was actually the fair and logical conclusion to a situation which, the court had ruled, had an unfair and illogical start. In 2009, retired police officer Warren Nyerges and his wife, Maureen Collier, paid $165,000 cash for their 2,700 square foot home in the Golden Gate Estates subdivision, and never took a mortgage out on it. So imagine their surprise when, in Februrary of 2010, Bank of America initiated foreclosure proceedings against them. The Nyerges hired an attorney, Todd Allen, to defend them against the wrongful foreclosure, and the Bank eventually abandoned the matter.

But not before the Nyerges incurred $2,534 in attorney’s fees, which they requested informally from Bank of America multiple times before resorting to the courts, which ordered the bank to make the couple whole. When B of A still had not paid the judgment after five months of phone calls and letter writing by Allen and the Nyerges to the bank insisting that the court order be obeyed, Allen took the next step in the legal collection process, obtaining an order of foreclosure against the bank.
To continue reading the article visit Yahoo News

Inflation is driving up the price of food, real estate prices are going down. Confused?

The price of basic commodities continues to climb.  Corn, wheat, rice, sugar, oil are all going up significantly over the last 2 years and experts say this trend will continue.  Does that mean home prices will go up as well?  Unfortunately the answer is no in the short term.

With the American population aging we are passing our peak spending years of about 46 years old.  This leads to down sizing in homes and an over supply of yet to be absorbed homes by a slow buying rate.

Zillow expects house values to trend down past 2012 without projecting a bottom.  Part of the problem in South Carolina is the freeze on foreclosures.  The amount of homes behind on payments but not yet foreclosed on, called the shadow inventory, is getting enormous.  Add to that the amount of home owners who owe more than their house is worth and it appears there are even more coming down the line.  All this will put downward pressure on home values.

However, like any good investor will tell you, you don’t have to buy at the bottom and sell at the top to make money. Home prices have already come down about 15% in Spartanburg county.  Considering the alternative to buying is renting, an automatic loss, and suddenly buying a home today is not such a bad decision.  Almost always more important than WHEN you buy is HOW MUCH home you buy. Buying a home that fits your income and potential future income in critical to your financial safety.   Plan to be able to make your house payment on only one income and if the corporate hatchet man comes calling you will be financially alive to fight another day!

Here is a comparison of what food costs looked like over the last 30 years courtesy of Yahoo News.  Buy your next home considering what these costs will look like in the future.

 

Inflation has a way of making your everyday purchases look like little luxuries.

If you need proof, look no further than the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest report on consumer prices, which showed prices rose by a seasonally-adjusted 0.5% in March, with food and energy prices accounting for nearly three-quarters of the increase. All six categories of grocery store food groups saw increases during the month — a reading on fresh vegetables, for instance, climbed by 4.7% after jumping 6.7% in February, and a reading on meats, poultry, fish and eggs rose 1.1% after climbing 1.2% in February.

Rising prices may be top of mind for consumers right now, but they’re nothing new. Here’s a look at how the price tags on these 10 basic items have changed over the last three decades.

©Fox Business

1. Bread

What you pay now: $1.41 (average price for a pound of white bread)

What you paid …

Last year: $1.37
5 years ago: $1.08
10 years ago: $1.00
15 years ago: $0.88
20 years ago: $0.71
25 years ago: $0.57
30 years ago: $0.53

©Fox Business

2. Butter

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Keller Williams Spartanburg Continues Growth Compared to Local, National Branded Companies

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