Home Sales Asking prices up in 86 of 100 largest markets

Asking prices of homes listed for sale on real estate portal Trulia.com in January were up from a year ago in 86 of the 100 largest U.S. metros, including Seattle, according to a monthly report released today.

The report, which covers roughly 4.5 million for-sale and for-rent properties listed on Trulia through Jan. 31, showed asking prices up 5.9 percent from a year ago, and growing by a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent from December to January — the biggest month-over-month gain since March 2012.

In some markets, the strong growth in asking prices doesn’t necessarily indicate that worries are over, said Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist.

“In many local markets today, dramatic price gains can mask serious red flags,”Kolko said in a blog post. “Strong job growth, low vacancy rate, and low foreclosure inventory — not huge price gains — are signs of a healthy housing market.”

Signs of a healthy housing market

Trulia identified San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Denver and Salt Lake city as “booming” markets with strong fundamentals.

Find out just how much your house is worth in today’s market.  No pressure, obiligtion or fine print.  Just good solid information you can trust.

HARP program: Underwater Home Owners Get More Refinancing Help

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that mortgage lenders will be able to offer up to $2,000 to home owners with little or no equity in their homes who are seeking to refinance their mortgage under the government’s Home Affordable Refinance Program.

The lender incentives may be offered to pay down mortgage balances, closing costs, or other expenses usually required of borrowers who are refinancing using the HARP program.

Up to $2,000 to home owners with little or no equity in their homes

The changes may encourage more underwater home owners to refinance — particularly those who had been reluctant to pay loan-origination fees or closing costs, which could total thousands of dollars.

The latest guidance “simply provides a clarification to lenders on benefits that can be passed back to borrowers on a HARP refinance,” says Meg Burns, a senior policy director for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie and Freddie’s regulator.

To date, nearly 1.8 million home owners have refinanced under the HARP program.

Need advice to avoid Foreclosure and Short Sale your property?  Let us help you.

Mortgage servicers have 30 days to make a decision on a short sale

Short sales are getting much shorter, Freddie Mac says. The mortgage giant launched a Freddie Mac Standard Short Sale program on Nov. 1 that sought to speed up the short sale process and make it easier and more transparent.“We estimate that the time to complete a short sale will decrease by approximately 50 percent to 75 percent,” as a result of the changes, writes Tracy Mooney, Freddie Mac’s EVP in a recent blog post.

Among the changes that took effect Nov. 1, 2012:

• Mortgage servicers have 30 days to make a decision on a short sale once they receive an application. If they need to negotiate with a third party, they have 30 additional days. A final decision on the short sale must be made within 60 days.
• Mortgage servicers are required to acknowledge they received the short sale application within three days of submission. Servicers must provide weekly status updates if they end up needing more time to review the application past the initial 30-day period.
• Mortgage servicers have authority now to approve short sales when qualifying financial hardships for home owners who are past due or current on their mortgage payments.
• Mortgage servicers are also now able to approve short sales without seeking a separate review by the mortgage insurance company.
• Following a short sale, home owners may be able to qualify for up to $3,000 in relocation assistance.

Each week, there are things going on that impact the short sale process. Sometimes there are big changes to federal and state policies that impact short sale processing and the distressed property world. Other weeks, there is news about government programs for distressed borrowers.

Call me at (425) 330-0663 if you need good solid information about Short Selling your home instead of waiting for the bank to Foreclose on you.

Seattle ninth-best U.S. market for home sellers: Report

Seattle is the ninth-best market in the country for homeowners selling their home, according to a new report.

This is great news if you are thinking if selling your home anytime soon, and another reason to jump in if you’re buying!

According to Zillow Inc. reports that only home sellers in eight other U.S. cities have more leverage than Seattle home sellers. Zillow describes a seller’s market as one where homes are on the market for a shorter time, price cuts occur less frequently and homes are sold at prices very close to (or greater than) their last listing price.

In markets like Seattle, “sellers … are squarely in the driver’s seat with their homes selling within days of listing, often after bidding wars that increase the sale price above the asking price,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow chief economist, in a statement.

If you’d like to know what’s going on in your neighborhood, on your block for similar homes just like yours, call me for a no-obligation consultation.

Unrealistically Low Appraisal Values in Up Markets Are a Problem

Real estate agents continue to report that unrealistically low appraisal values continue to jeopardize sales. Appraisal values are in some cases affected by REOs which in some cases are reported as being used as comparable properties.

In other cases, appraisals are reported as not keeping up with the market. Also, there continue to be reports of appraisers having poor knowledge of local conditions as they come from outside areas (in some cases as far as 100 miles according to one agent.

• “Appraisals and BPO values are likely low because of the sort of comps that are available on the market. REO properties and lower value sales comprise the bulk of market activity which in turn leads to low appraisal and BPO values.”
• “Appraisals are definitely a problem. We are in a Vacation, second home area and we are getting appraisers from 100′s of miles away to appraise Lake Property. They don’t understand the values.”
• “Buyers are coming in with cash to close the gap between low appraisals and sellers sticking to their house price.”

Nothing Better Than Fresh Produce!

Fresh produce is amazing! Grocery stores try their best to get the produce to us as quickly as they can but you can’t beat fresh cut produce! What is even more fun is picking your own! We have picked our own strawberries, blue berries, green beans, potatoes, etc. It’s a lot of fun, great for the family, and just something different!

If you can I encourage you to support your local farms and buy produce locally. Don’t know where to go? Here is a link to all the farms in the area http://wafarmersmarkets.com/washingtonfarmersmarketdirectory.php

Click on the carrot for more information.

Spring – the long awaited housing recovery!

Five years after the U.S. housing bust sent sales and prices plunging, the spring home-buying season is pointing to a long-awaited recovery.

Reduced prices, record-low mortgage rates, higher rents and an improving job market appear to be emboldening many would-be buyers. Open houses are drawing crowds. A wave of foreclosures is leading investors to grab bargain-priced homes.

Still, few think the housing industry is nearing a return to full health. For that to happen, a robust job market would be needed. More hiring would give more people the money and job security to buy. That would help boost sales and prices.

Confidence is rising along with prices. Among the reasons:

— Hiring has strengthened. Each month from January through March generated a solid average of 212,000 jobs. Unemployment has sunk from 9.1 percent in August to 8.2 percent. More job security tends to embolden more people to invest in a home.

— Loans remain cheap. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 3.88 percent. That’s just above the 3.87 percent reached in February — the lowest since long-term mortgages were first offered in the 1950s.

— Homes are more affordable. Nationwide, home prices are down 34 percent since 2006.

— Americans are more confident. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s survey of consumer confidence rose in March for a seventh straight month to its highest level in 13 months.

520 Rates Set to Increase, Are you ready?

Did you know the 520 Bridge Toll has 4 annual 2.5 percent rate increases? It does and the first increase will start in July! That will bring the rates on the State Route 520 floating bridge up 9 cents on the peak rate of $3.50 and 3 cents on the lowest rate of $1.10.

The rate increase is needed to ensure revenue will meet costs and make debt payments to the bondholders, as required by bond contracts and the project financial plan.

The new SR 520 floating bridge is planned for completion in late 2014.
At the time of the initial rate-setting decision in January 2011, the commission chose to include the 15 percent step increase after project completion, rather than start with a higher initial toll rate, and maintain consistent annual increases of 2.5 percent for the first four years.

The July rate increase affects all rates, whether weekday, weekend, Pay By Plate, or Pay By Mail.

Where is Seattle in the US Job Growth?

Where does Seattle rank in the US Job Growth? Well I’m happy to say we are ranked 5th according to a new study for growth from 2011-2012.  Washington state job growth increased 1.49 percent, improving upon the 0.99 percent job growth a year earlier.

Progress is progress no matter how small!

Just Ask For Forgiveness

Something very important is happening on December 31st of this year – something that might impact your life, or the lives of your friends, family or co-workers.

What am I talking about?

The expiration of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act.  The expiration of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act.  As your real estate expert, I talked about the Act in a previous Coffee Break Newsletter.

Oddly enough, many homeowners (including those affected by the Act) are unaware of its existence, or of its ticking clock.

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act applies to debt relief “forgiven” between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2012. At this point in time, it does not appear the Act will be extended.

What’s really at stake? Money!

Let’s take a step backwards to put this in perspective.

Debt “relief” comes about when a lender “forgives” debt owed by a borrower, as can happen with a short sale, foreclosure, or other type of loan “workout”. Ordinarily, that forgiven amount is taxable. However, under the Act, the borrower’s need to pay taxes on the amount of the forgiven debt is eliminated.

Of course, there are caveats that come along with this tax relief. For example, the debt must be related to a principal residence. In addition, the total amount of the debt can’t exceed the borrower’s original mortgage loan … plus the cost of improvements made to the home.

The implications of this tax relief are huge in dollars and cents! Take a look at an example.

In 2006, Mary Jones bought a home for $375,000 and took out a mortgage of $265,000. This month Mary is relocated across the country for work and must sell her home. Her current mortgage balance is $237,000. Luckily for Mary, her lender is a bank that is willing to work with her on a short sale … and she is lucky enough to find a buyer.
Mary and her buyer agree to a sales price of $218,000. However, that amount falls short of what Mary needs to pay off her mortgage, and pay closing costs – all of which is estimated to come to $227,620. Since Mary does not have enough money to bring to the closing table, Mary’s lender agrees to the short sale, forgiving debt in the amount of $9,260.

Prior to the Act, Mary would have been required to declare the $9,260 as income, and pay taxes on it. Under the current provisions of the Act, taxes on Mary’s $9,260 in relief are forgiven. For individuals in a 20% tax bracket, that’s almost $2,500 in tax savings!

And owners of high-end homes – defaults of which are on the rise — could be looking at very substantial tax breaks, depending on the amount of debt forgiven.

Which leads to several questions my clients have repeatedly raised about the Act:

• What is the maximum amount of debt relief under the Act? Up to $2 million may be forgiven for married couples ($1 million if single or if married but filing separately); of course, this must be for a principal residence. If there is debt forgiven above this amount the borrower is taxed at ordinary income rates.
• Does the Act apply to cars, boats, second homes, investment properties, credit cards, or other debt? Not under this provision. Only debt relief for a principal residence applies under the Act, however, bankruptcy debt relief is non-taxable, and that is sometimes true for insolvency as well.
• Do I have to report the forgiven debt, since I won’t be paying taxes on it? Yes! See the IRS and/or your tax professional for additional details.

I’m not suggesting that you hurry up and default on your mortgage loan so you can take advantage of the Act. However, it is important that you understand the implications of the Act and how it may affect you.

I encourage you to contact qualified professionals (such as attorneys or Certified Public Accountants) who can assist you with this program.  I have names of trusted service providers.  I also suggest you visit the IRS site for information on the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, which can be found on the IRS’s website. I used information from that site, in addition to information provided by NAR in preparing this blog post for you.

Most people are not aware of the Act’s existence, and pending expiration.  Call me at 425-330-0663 for more information on this important and expiring topic. Or just click here!