U.S. home foreclosures fall but new delinquencies up to 3.5%
Hope you are all having a good summer. I have been enjoying the good weather and relaxing time outdoors.
Things are not looking good while going into fall. Unemployment numbers are at November 2009 levels, people falling behind on their mortgages is rising and the Fed is talking about buying more treasuries in another effort to try and fight the gravitational forces of deflation.
This is impossible, if the buying power and income is not in the system to support the current price levels then they have to fall. If you keep trying to fight gravity then it will only serve to debauch the currency and create real chaos until we get our heads right and get back to fiscal responsibility.
The trend is up for foreclosures in the long run, that is for sure. Too many jobs are going over seas and the ones that are left over will not support buying a home in most major areas. Until we start creating real jobs that create real middle class incomes, this cycle will continue until it corrects itself the hard way.
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First Fidelity Homes expands its offering of Bank REO properties to the NE
PR Web - Primarily focused on buying REO properties in the Midwest and Southeastern U.S., First Fidelity acquires its first REO property in Maine and adds to the assets it has in other Northeastern states such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As foreclosures rise, banks have an urgent need to offload these properties and offer them to investors at a considerable discount. While most investors focus on flipping, First Fidelity Homes offers a socially responsible solution.
Flipping homes can be detrimental to the physical, social, and economic well-being of a community since homes are left vacant during the process. Instead of flipping the REO properties it acquires from banks, First Fidelity offers these homes under selling financing to homeowners and structures the monthly payments to be significantly lower than market rents in the area. As Farouk Sheikh, CEO of First Fidelity Homes added, “Making sure the properties are cheaper to own than to rent is what makes this a win for the homeowner.”
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Bulk REO investing is a great investment in this real estate recession
Bulk REO investing is a saving grace of many real estate inventors desperate to climb out of the recession hole. And with a good reason. Bulk REO is a sure way to bring in millions for pennies. All you need is nerves of steel, good guts, solid strategy and great love for what we all hold dear- money.
Love for money is a given if you take time to read this article. So are the guts if your bank account is on a ready. We will supply the strategy and nerves of steel come with practice so don’t worry about that for now.
After all, bulk REO investing all it is not much different than paying poker. With cards open. Oh yes! In Bulk REO all cards are on the table and your bank account better be on a ready. Rules are simple enough. Keep your cool, don’t expect miracles, don’t bet too high, be good for your money and for god sakes do not try to cheat- you will be caught. Play the right card at the right time and you will clean the table.
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HUD gives non-profits and governments 10% discount on REO properties
Housing Wire - The Department of Housing and Urban and Development (HUD) will give state and local governments and nonprofits participating in the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) preference to buy its REO at 10% below the appraised value.
The new initiative will also give these buyers a 14-day first-look period to consider buying the property ahead of investors. HUD secretary Shaun Donovan announced the new initiative at the National Council of La Raza annual conference in San Antonio, Texas.
In May, HUD announced a third round of NSP grants in addition to the $6bn awarded since September 2008. Grantees, which include nonprofits, state and local governments, use the money to buy and rehabilitate vacant homes in an effort to grow local economies and create jobs. The money is also put toward down payment and closing-cost assistance to low- and middle-income homebuyers.
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U.S. mortgage delinquency rate increases to 9.2% in May
Home mortgage delinquency rates increasing 2.3% from April and a whopping 7.9% from last year is nothing to dismiss. With unemployment benefits expiring and the temporary jobs from the census going away, we should expect this to increase from here as well.
With these trends continuing, there is a growing possibility that we will see a double-dip recession starting this fall. Politicians are aware of this and growing talk of a second stimulus package or a jobs bill to try and prevent this. This will be futile because we will just be creating more debt and the amount of GDP per dollar continues to decline.
I see the recession as a benefit in disguise if we let it takes its course and lets companies and real estate fail so we can get prices to a point where the average wages can support not just the wealthy portion of the population. Like I have said, we need to measure the wealth of our society from the base not the peak.
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Foreclosed homes sell at 27% discount in U.S. as REO supply increases
Almost a 30% discount is nothing to shake a stick at when purchasing a home from foreclosure. Prices are still high for where the economy and market is at in 2010. With unemployment guaranteed to rise higher and the market selling off because of the debt crisis and uncertainty, we should expect more foreclosures in the coming years.
Home prices will continue to fall and will most likely stabilize near the pre-bubble prices of 2002. Too many jobs have been sent over seas and our industrial section has been reduced to a point where the broad portion of the real estate market is priced too high for most people who would be looking to own a home. We should look at this continuing correction as a positive move for the future. The quicker we let the market correct, the faster a durable recovery in the U.S. real estate market will take place.
We must remember that over the life of a 30 year mortgage, you are paying between 2.5-3 times the price of the home through interest charges to the bank. A dollar saved on price will save you an additional $1-2 dollars in interest over the life of the loan and that last thing we need to do is pay more than we have too for borrowing money.
Bloomberg - Homes in the foreclosure process sold at an average 27 percent discount in the first quarter as almost a third of all U.S. transactions involved properties in some stage of mortgage distress, according to RealtyTrac Inc.
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U.S. Real Estate Shadow Inventory May Stall Recovery
Housing Watch - Shadow inventory is real estate to sell that we don’t yet know about. It’s made up of homes that soon will be on the market, but not for the usual reasons.
It includes homes that are usually several months in arrears on their mortgage and about to hit the foreclosure circuit; homes that are 90-plus days delinquent and currently languishing in foreclosure; or bank-owned (REOs) that have not yet been put on the market. But come on the market they will, one way or the other, and at greatly discounted prices – distressed or short sales.
These houses will keep our values flat as long as they exist. How?
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