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Affordability returns to California real estate

By Inman News, Monday, August 17, 2009.

The housing market in California gave a boost to first-time homebuyers, as more households in the state could afford an entry-level house in the second quarter compared to the same quarter last year, according to the latest affordability index released by the California Association of Realtors.

The Realtor group's First-time Buyer Housing Affordability Index stood at 67 percent in the second quarter this year, up from 49 percent from the same time last year and down slightly from 69 percent in first-quarter 2009, according to a report released by California Association of Realtors.  more...

Shrinking the real estate listings universe

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, August 17, 2009.
<a href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050428.html" target=blank>Credit: NASA and European Space Agency</a>.

I recently heard cable culinary commentator Alton Brown quote Miss Piggy as having said that "(a)fter all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual 'food' out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking 30 or 40 postage stamps." I'm rapidly coming to feel the same way about all the trouble my clients go to house hunting on the Web.

Now, don't get me wrong -- I am not one of those brokers who thinks that putting listings on the Web was the final nail in the coffin of the professional real estate service industry. Rather to the contrary, actually; I'm a buyer's broker, and grew up in the Internet era. So I've always seen having listing data freely available online as an empowerment issue.  more...

Shift your real estate game plan  Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Monday, August 17, 2009.

Have you ever been certain an event would turn out one way and then were devastated when it didn't? If so, you know what it's like to be "slain by an expectation."

In the last few weeks, my closest friend and mentor "died" five times due to heart failure en route by helicopter for what ultimately turned out to be successful heart bypass surgery. Two weeks later, I had a problem that put me in the emergency room. Days later, our beloved chief operating officer was diagnosed with breast cancer. While my mentor has had ongoing health problems, I wasn't prepared to have a personal health issue nor was I prepared for our COO's problem. I was slain by the expectation that "it can't happen to me."  more...

Multiple offers: the new norm Premium Content

By Inman News, Monday, August 17, 2009.

Up-market homes consistently sell above asking in a New Jersey suburb. Bidding wars break out in hot neighborhoods in Cape Cod, Chicago and Seattle. Short sales in some Florida and California markets draw as many as 40 bids.

It's a far cry from 2006, but brokers and agents across the country say multiple offers are once again the norm in specific corners of the market.

"The banks are purposely putting them on the market under value and creating a frenzy," says Kristi Townsend ...  more...

Upside down with options aplenty

By Benny Kass, Monday, August 17, 2009.

DEAR BENNY: My wife and I purchased a four-unit rental property for $935,000 in 2006 and put 10 percent down. The lender split our loan into 80/20 and we have a loan balance of $650,000 and a HELOC balance of $192,000. We have an ARM payment on our first mortgage and our monthly mortgage increases annually. It's now getting to a point where we can't pay anymore.

Currently, the property value is $625,000, so we pretty much are upside down. The bank doesn't want to adjust our loan because it is a rental property and they won't refinance. We also have a problem with a tenant who could not pay rent because she lost her job, and it is hard to find tenants due to the economic downturn. I would like your honest advice on what I should do. Should I just walk away? --Julius  more...

Many refis offer right of rescission

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, August 17, 2009.

Borrowers who refinance loans on their primary residences with lenders other than their current lender have a "right of rescission." They can cancel the deal at no cost to themselves within three days of closing. Following a rescission, the closed loan ceases to exist.

What Is the Purpose? The right of rescission is designed to protect borrowers who have been deceptively sweet-talked into a transaction that is not in their financial interest. It gives them an opportunity to think it over, solicit advice from others, and back out, while recovering any monies they have paid out.  more...