2 climate conditions may mean fewer storms

For Florida residents, the big question is whether the state can make it through the fourth storm season in a row without a hurricane crossing its shoreline. The 2009 season arrives Monday, and forecasts call for it to be slightly above average with nine to 14 named storms, up to three of which could become major hurricanes with winds of 111 mph or higher. That would be a drop from 2007 and 2008, which brought a total of 32 named storms - nearly as many as typically seen over three seasons. Two climate conditions are behind the lower forecast. Water temperatures in the eastern Atlantic Ocean are slightly below normal, providing less fuel for developing storms. There's also the slight warming of water over much of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, marking the disappearance of a La Nina that helped produce the surge in storms the past two seasons.

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Insurance woes leaves consumers exposed as hurricane season looms

As the 2009 hurricane season arrives, many homeowners are finding insurance is either more expensive, or harder to get. Homeowners from New York to Florida and in the Gulf Coast region are again seeing premiums rise and coverage change. And more are being dropped completely by their carriers as insurers try to limit their exposure in high-risk areas.

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Broker price opinions (BPOs) open controversy

Lenders looking to quickly unload distressed properties are increasingly cutting costs by hiring real estate agents instead of licensed appraisers to value property. The agents, who often have a stake in selling the property, give low-ball price estimates that artificially push down values, some industry experts say. Broker price opinions, or BPOs, are performed by real estate agents who, unlike licensed appraisers, have no regulatory oversight of their valuations. BPOs are attractive for lenders because they cost between $40 and $65, compared with about $350 for an appraisal. Critics say the agents are swayed by a desire to collect a commission for selling the home later.

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Bankruptcy filings in the Tampa-Fort Myers district on pace to set a record

Even though the housing market shows faint glimmers of recovery, tough times are by no means over — bankruptcy filings in the Tampa-Fort Myers district are pouring in at a near-record pace. On Thursday, court clerks logged in the 11,000th case filed since Jan. 1 — a Palm Harbor cleaner who makes $378 a month and has $228,000 in debts, mostly on credit cards. If filings continue at the same rate, the total for 2009 will exceed 27,000, more than at any time except in an unusual year when debtors rushed to file ahead of a new law that made it harder to declare bankruptcy.

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Bond Yields Push Mortgage Rates Higher This Week

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.91 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending May 28, 2009, up from last week when it averaged 4.82 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.08 percent.

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Foreclosure woes mount for those with good credit

A record 12 percent of homeowners with a mortgage are behind on their payments or in foreclosure as the housing crisis spreads to borrowers with good credit. And the wave of foreclosures isn't expected to crest until the end of next year, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday. The foreclosure rate on prime fixed-rate loans doubled in the last year, and now represents the largest share of new foreclosures. Nearly 6 percent of fixed-rate mortgages to borrowers with good credit were in the foreclosure process. At the same time, almost half of all adjustable-rate loans made to borrowers with shaky credit were past due or in foreclosure. The worst of the trouble continues to be centered in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, which accounted for 46 percent of new foreclosures in the country. There were no signs of improvement.

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US April new home sales inch upward

New U.S. home sales were almost flat last month, indicating that the housing market's recovery will likely be a slow and gradual process. The Commerce Department said Thursday that sales rose 0.3 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 352,000. But the increase came from a downwardly revised rate of 351,000 in March. April's results missed the expectations of economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who expected a sales pace of 360,000 units.

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Recent home sales show Tampa Bay prices stabilizing

The seeds of an eventual Tampa Bay area housing recovery could lurk in an April report that showed home sales rising for the eighth consecutive month. After two years of nearly incessant monthly depreciation, home prices have stabilized in the past four months. The January-to-April pricing trend has people wondering if a real estate market bottom is finally solidifying. The median sales price of a single-family home in the Tampa Bay area stood at $135,200 in April. It had been as low as $122,400 in January and as high as $135,800 in March. But the month-by-month price plunges of 2008 appear to have ceased.

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Governor Crist signs $8K homebuyer credit into law

Gov. Charlie Crist signed the budget bill (SB 2600) today that lays out how the state will spend its $65.6 billion in the fiscal year that starts July 1. Included is $30.1 million for the Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program, which will help with downpayment assistance. Beginning July 1, those who quality for the federal $8,000 first-time homebuyers tax credit will be able to apply for downpayment assistance before they close on the purchase of their home, and then repay the amount borrowed when they get their tax refund. The program will operate through local county housing administrators, though details are still being worked out.

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US April existing home sales rise by 2.9 percent

Sales of previously occupied homes rose modestly from March to April as buyers who were brave enough to dive into the market took advantage of prices that were 15.4 percent below year-ago levels. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that home sales rose 2.9 percent to an annual rate of 4.68 million last month, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.55 million in March. The results slightly beat economists' forecasts. Sales had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 4.66 million units, according to Thomson Reuters. The median sales price plunged to $170,200, down from $201,300 in the same month last year. That was the second-largest price drop on record after January, when prices fell 17.5 percent. The number of unsold homes on the market at the end of April rose almost 9 percent from a month earlier to nearly 4 million. That's a 10-month supply at the current sales pace.

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Tampa Area April Home Sales Up 11%; Prices Down 23%

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA reported a total of 2,326 homes sold in April compared to 2,087 homes a year ago for a 11 percent increase. The existing home median sales price was $135,200; a year ago, it was $176,000 for a 23 percent decrease. The April median price is down 43% from the record high of $237,800 in August 2006. The average home price is up 10% from January 2009 and is unchanged from the previous month. In the year-to-year comparison for the existing condo market, a total of 582 units sold in the MSA last month, up 15% from a year ago when 508 condos sold. The market’s existing condo median price was $98,200; a year ago, it was $156,400 for a 37 percent decrease.

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Tampa Bay housing prices down 40.6 percent from peak and still dropping

Since cresting in the summer of 2006, Tampa Bay area home prices have tumbled 40.6 percent and now approximate what they were in August 2003, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller home price index. Case-Shiller's housing report from March offered little encouragement that home prices were stabilizing. Tampa housing values plunged 22.4 percent from March 2008 to March 2009. From February to March, prices dipped 2.7 percent. The Tampa metro area ranked seventh worst for depreciation on the 20-city index. The usual suspects — Phoenix, Las Vegas and Miami — surpassed us in home price decline. Phoenix's devaluation was 36 percent in a single year.

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US Home prices fall by record 19.1 percent in 1Q

Home prices fell at the fastest annual rate ever in the first quarter, but the pace of month-to-month declines continues to slow, a closely watched housing index showed Tuesday. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller National Home Price index reported home prices tumbled by 19.1 percent in the first quarter, the most in its 21-year history. Home prices have fallen 32.2 percent since peaking in the second quarter of 2006 and are at levels not seen since the end of 2002.

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Should You Buy a Home Equity Protection Plan?

EquityLock Financial, based in Austin, Texas, is selling a product promising to put a little more control in homeowners’ hands. Their pitch? That homeowners could spend a little now to hedge against declines in the value of their home later. Here's how it works: For a fee of 1% to 3% of their home’s value, homeowners buy a contract that protects them against the loss of equity in their home if the market takes a turn for the worse. The contract, which should not be confused with an insurance policy, pays the homeowner when he sells his home in a market where average home prices have dropped since their purchase. The amount he receives is tied to the size of the market’s decline, as measured by one of two home price indexes. Say you buy a home in Denver for $300,000. Five years later, after Denver's home price index falls 10%, you sell it for $290,000. At closing, the company you bought the equity protection from pays you $30,000 – your original purchase price times 10%. Even if you sold your home for more than what you paid to buy it, you can still make the claim – as long as the index fell.

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Towers of Channelside buyers lured by wrong listing prices, Realtors say

Buyers were “beating a path” to the Towers of Channelside, according to an April 9 blog posting from the resident brokerage agency at the project, finding sales prices had been “adjusted to as much as 50 percent from preconstruction.” Instead, buyers found prices as low as $130 a square foot were not just fantastic, but actually fantasy, and at least one has filed a complaint for deceptive trade practices with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation after receiving a counteroffer nearly 52 percent above the listed price.

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Florida unemployment drops slightly, to 9.6 percent

Florida stopped shedding jobs in April, helping the state's unemployment rate ease from 9.8 percent to 9.6 percent. Even the Tampa Bay area, which has lost 53,400 jobs the past year, saw unemployment dip from 10.5 percent in March to 10.1 percent in April. Time to declare an end to our recessionary job fears? Don't count on it. Even when the economy starts to grow again, jobs probably won't follow for months.

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$8,000 fast cash for first-time homebuyers

Home prices are cheap. Affordability is at a record high. And the market is littered with distressed properties looking for a buyer. But there is one big obstacle for many first-time house hunters looking to take advantage of the market: cash for down payments. The typical first-time buyer has only saved enough to cover 4% of the purchase price, according to the National Association of Realtors. As part of the stimulus package, Congress created a refundable first-time homebuyers tax credit in hopes of helping on-the-fence buyers to take the home-purchase plunge. But buyers couldn't collect the $8,000 credit until tax time, rather than at closing time - when it's needed. Now the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is planning to change that. The agency is working on a plan that will allow Federal Housing Authority-approved lenders to provide buyers with the tax credit cash up front.

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Chinese drywall poses threat, but danger, prevalence believed to be low

Some low-quality Chinese drywall lets off sulfur-smelling fumes that seem to corrode copper wiring in sockets, air conditioners and other appliances. Some homes, including one in Tarpon Springs, have had the air conditioners replaced three times in a year. Other homeowners have complained about coughs and sore throats from breathing the fumes, which seem to get worse when the drywall is wet.

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Pinellas short sales nearing market price

Based on April home sales, we might be observing a price stabilization trend, particularly in Pinellas county. From February to April, prices of homes sold conventionally — those unencumbered by foreclosure or mortgage defaults — stopped dropping. Prices have actually inched up in some places in those three months. In April, Pinellas short sale homes sold for 89 percent the price of conventional homes.

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Mortgage Rates Remain Flat This Week

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.82 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending May 21, 2009, down from last week when it averaged 4.86 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.98 percent.

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FEMA drops Tampa flood insurance rates

The premium costs for the more than 26,000 households in Tampa with flood insurance policies are now lower. Residents will see a decrease in their standard flood policy rates and that’s attributable to efforts by city officials, a release said. The Community Rating System, which is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, awards points to a community for the activities it undertakes to address flooding and other hazards. Tampa has been awarded a Class 6 rating, which will reduce residents’ premiums by 20 percent off the standard policy rates.

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Investor Buying Fuels Home Sales

One of the reasons home sales have risen this year is the spike in investor groups in troubled markets that are buying up clusters of foreclosed houses from banks. In many cases, investors are prevailing over first-time home buyers and other owner-occupants because they bring cash to the table. For instance, in Phoenix where 38 percent of April sales of single-family homes were all-cash deals, Mark Allen, a former division president at D.R. Horton, the nation’s largest home builder, is working with Gorilla Capital, which specializes in foreclosures, to buy dozens of properties at courthouse auctions. Barclays Capital estimates that banks and loan investors owned 765,500 foreclosed homes as of April 1, up from 629,100 last year. By 2010, Barclays expects them to have acquired about 1.3 million homes. When the market improves, these owners will try to sell. "All this investor buying isn't depleting supply, it's only shifting it around," Allen says.

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Practitioners Say Homes Prices Have Hit Bottom

Real estate professionals are optimistic that home prices will hit bottom in the next six months, according to a survey from listing and home-pricing site HomeGain.com. About half of practitioners surveyed expect home prices to stay the same in the next six months, 29 percent expect them to drop, and 22 percent believe they will increase. More than 84 percent of practitioners believe their clients’ homes lost value in the last year, while 12 percent say values had stayed the same. Only 3 percent believe homes had gained value. Meanwhile, sellers were skeptical of their real estate professional’s analysis, with 69 percent believing their homes were worth more than the practitioner recommended. About 35 percent of home sellers thought their home was worth 10 percent to 20 percent more, and 10 percent thought their home was worth at least 21 percent more than their real estate professional suggested.

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Bank of America Revises Short Sale Policy

Bank of America, one of the country’s largest mortgage lenders, says it is loosening its policies on short sales in response to the U.S. Treasury Department’s announcement last week that it would increase incentives for lenders to work out short sale deals. The government’s plan is a boon to banks, says David Sunline, BofA’s real estate management executive, because it provides guidance when there are multiple liens, a potentially litigious issue for lenders. In the past, the bank followed Fannie Mae’s policy of giving second lien holders about 10 percent of the second mortgage balance in a short sale. Now when it holds the second lien, BofA will accept 5 percent of the net proceeds of the short sale, Sunline says. When it is the first lien holder, it will offer 5 percent to the holder of the second lien. Sunline says home owners considering short sales should contact the bank within five days of getting an offer on the home and expect its cooperation as long as the offer is within the range of other sales in the area and the borrower can demonstrate financial hardship.

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New Appraisal Rules Rankle Appraisers

Critics say new rules from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which force lenders to use appraisal management companies, are raising appraisal costs for home buyers by as much as 20 percent to 30 percent. The new rules also allow for fees like “no show” penalties if the borrower misses an appointment with the appraiser. There also are extra charges for mortgages greater than $500,000. Appraisal costs under these rules must be paid for up-front with a credit or debit card rather than deferred until closing. Meanwhile, experienced appraisers say they are being forced to work for less while appraisal management companies are picking up the lion’s share. Appraisal management companies say that analysis isn’t fair. Rich Kuegler, a vice president at MDA Lending Services Inc., a national appraisal management company, says new fees compensate his and similar firms for "processing and administrative" duties that used to be handled by mortgage brokers and lenders. He also says that appraisers can expect greater volume working for an appraisal management company, which should compensate for lower fees.

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Foreclosures show more Tampa Bay home owners struggle with mortgage

Tampa Bay area home owners are falling behind on their mortgages nearly twice as often as they did a year ago. According to a report from First American Core Logic, 6.7 percent of borrowers received foreclosure notices in March compared with 3.2 percent of home owners in March 2008. A larger number of homeowners were at least 90 days behind on their mortgages. The delinquency rate was 11.9 percent this year versus 6 percent last year. The 12-month running tally of foreclosure filings in Tampa Bay was 66,683. If there's any consolation, defaults are worse in the rest of Florida. The 90-day delinquency rate was 14 percent in March. The foreclosure rate was 7.7 percent.

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Homes May Be Undervalued Today

After dropping for two years, home prices appear to be bottoming out, and any further declines would be an overcorrection, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun told thousands of practitioners at the REALTORS® Midyear Legislative Meetings in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. The median national home price today is about $169,000, down almost 14 percent from a year ago and an estimated 30 percent from its peak. Today’s prices are justified by the fundamentals of the economy and may even represent an undervaluation, Yun said.

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Appraisal Management Companies Causing Increase In Appraisal Fees

Although they've been around for years, appraisal management companies are profiting from efforts to prevent the kind of appraisal-related fraud that contributed to the real estate bust. In 2007, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed suit alleging that Washington Mutual had pressured appraisers to inflate home values so WaMu could make bigger loans. The suit led to a Home Valuation Code of Conduct that took effect May 1. With some exceptions, it bars direct contact between appraisers and loan originators, meaning appraisals must now be arranged by a third party — typically, an appraisal management company. Under the new code, the lender contacts a management company, which then hires the appraiser. The borrower pays the appraisal cost, which is divided between company and appraiser. The new code of conduct is increasing costs to consumers because both the appraiser and the management company are getting paid. However, borrowers don't know that because the closing statement shows only the appraiser.

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Seminar On Condo Problems Will Be Held This Tuesday

Thousands of Bay area condo owners are forking over extra cash each month to cover for neighbors who aren't paying. As the area continues to endure the effects of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, condominium boards are struggling with what to do, said Robert White, managing director of Coral Gables-based KW Property Management & Consulting, which manages several area condos. The firm is holding a free seminar from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater to discuss this and other issues facing condo boards. Condo association fees typically are due monthly and cover water, cable, landscaping and maintenance fees, among other things. An association's bills are based on all the owners paying their dues; when some don't, everyone else has to pay more to cover them. For information on the seminar, call (727) 938-5426.

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More homeowners coming to grips with home prices

More Americans are finally coming to terms with how much their homes are really worth, but homeowners in the south are still unwilling to come to grips with reality. A new survey finds 60 percent believe their homes lost value in the last year, according to Zillow’s first quarter Homeowner Confidence Survey. That’s up from 57 percent in February. Now, the reality check: Eighty percent of homes actually were worth less in the last 12 months, up from 76 percent in February. “While homeowners are now more realistic when looking backward, they are still pretty starry-eyed when looking forward with three out of four homeowners believing that their own homes’ prices will increase or be flat over the next six months,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow’s VP of data and analytics, in a news release. “Unfortunately, there are few markets we expect to perform this well.” However, those living in the South, particularly Florida, where the housing boom realized a bigger bust, are refusing to concede their homes are worth less.

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New appraisal rules costing more for mortgages, refinancing

How about this scenario the next time you refinance or apply for a new mortgage: The real estate appraisal that used to cost $325 now costs $450, even though the appraiser doing the work is only getting $175 or $200. Plus, your appraisal-related charges may now be subject to add-on fees you have never heard of: $50 to $100 in "no show" penalties if you get stuck in traffic and miss your appointment with the appraiser, or an extra $50 to $150 tacked on if the property is worth more than $500,000. On top of all this, your mortgage loan officer requires you to pay for the appraisal up front with a credit or debit card, rather than including the fee with the usual lender origination costs at settlement. In some cases your card may be charged more than the anticipated cost of the appraisal, leaving debit cardholders in a potential overdraft situation. Worse yet, the person now conducting your appraisal may be new to the field — willing to work for a cut-rate fee — and may not be as familiar with local value trends and pricing adjustments as an appraiser with more experience. If your mortgage application is denied by one lender, you could be forced to pay for a second full appraisal since the new lender may not accept the first.

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Mortage Rates Remain At Record Lows In Latest Weekly Survey

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.86 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending May 14, 2009, up from last week when it averaged 4.84 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.01 percent.

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How Mortgage Rates Impact Monthly Housing Payments

The $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit has received a lot of attention lately, but it has also overshadowed another big reason to buy a home now: record-low interest rates. In May, 30-year mortgage rates of 5 percent were widely available. That's down from January's already-low 5.8 percent, and two percentage points less than in August 2008. How important is two points? On a $200,000 home, a buyer could save $257 per month ($3,084 per year) by buying now rather than last August. On a $200,000, 30-year fixed rate mortgage, the monthly payment difference is:

• 7 percent: $1,330 monthly (rates in August 2008)
• 6 percent: $1,199 monthly (rates in December 2008)
• 5 percent: $1,073 monthly (rates in May 2009)

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Home sales surge as Hillsborough hits 22-month high in April

The first quarter of 2009 started out strong for existing home and condominium sales in both the Tampa Bay area and the state. With the sale of 5,721 homes, first quarter sales of existing homes jumped 18 percent in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market while median sales prices were down 27 percent to $130,800, according to numbers released by the Florida Association of Realtors.

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Floridians more upbeat about real estate

Floridians are feeling better about the real estate market, and hopes are rising that government stimulus money will help to unfreeze markets and reinvigorate business, according to a new University of Florida survey. "People believe, in some instances, that a lot of what the government is doing to try to inject capital into the system may actually have some effect," said Timothy Becker, director of UF's Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies, in a media release. "Positive responses to several questions lead us to believe there is light at the end of the tunnel." In December, the survey showed that confidence in real estate markets had sunk to its lowest levels since the survey began in July 2006. After three years of steady decline, respondents’ perception of their own business outlook has improved, according to the survey.

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For-Sale Housing Inventory Getting Smaller

The supply of properties on the market at the end of April declined 3.6 percent from the previous month, according to an analysis compiled by ZipRealty Inc. ZipRealty looked at information from multiple listing services in 29 major markets. Typically, the housing inventory rises in April an average of 4.8 percent, according to Zelman & Associates research firm. The unknown factor that keeps this from being unquestionably good news is the number of foreclosures held by banks that aren’t listing them. For instance, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac list only about 35 percent to 50 percent of the homes they hold. Noted housing economist Thomas Lawler discounts the foreclosure concerns, saying that the decline in listings means "the bottom in home prices is much closer than many pundits believe."

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Tax Credit Can Be Used for Down Payment

Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, on Tuesday said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment. Previously, most buyers wouldn't receive the funds until after they filed their tax return, and that deterred some people from using the credit. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has been calling for the change.

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Florida's Existing Home, Condo Sales Rise in 1Q 2009

Sales of existing single-family homes in Florida rose 25 percent in first quarter 2009 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the latest housing statistics from the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). A total of 31,412 existing homes sold statewide in 1Q 2009; during the same period the year before, a total of 25,071 existing homes sold. It marks the third consecutive quarter that Florida has reported higher existing home sales; sales levels in the third and fourth quarters of 2008 were higher than the corresponding three-month period of the previous year, according to FAR.

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Tampa Falls Out Of Top 10 List Of Cities With Foreclosures

The number of U.S. households faced with losing their homes to foreclosure jumped 32 percent in April compared with the same month last year, with Nevada, Florida and California showing the highest rates, according to data released Wednesday. On a state-by-state basis, Nevada had one in every 68 households receive a foreclosure filing, down 18 percent from March but still the nation's highest rate. In Florida, one in every 135 households received a filing in April. For California, the rate was one in every 138 households. Rounding out the top 10 were Arizona, Idaho, Utah, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado and Ohio. Among large cities, Las Vegas led the way with one in every 56 households receiving a filing. That was a slightly higher rate than the southwest Florida metro area of Cape Coral-Fort Myers, which saw one in 57 housing units receive a filing. Cities in California took the next six spots: Merced, Modesto, Riverside-San Bernardino, Bakersfield, Vallejo-Fairfield and Stockton. The Florida cities of Miami and Orlando were ninth and 10th, respectively.

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U.S. Bill Calls for Probe of Chinese Drywall

The first piece of federal legislation related to defective Chinese drywall has been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Sarasota Tribune reports. The bill calls for an investigation into the effect of defective Chinese drywall on foreclosures. More specifically, legislators want to know how many home foreclosures involve Chinese drywall imported from 2004 to 2007. "Defective Chinese drywall is taking its toll on thousands of home owners," said Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, Fla. The measure also calls for federal agencies to study whether property insurance covers homes with defective drywall. The bill was tacked onto the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act. It must be approved by the Senate.

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Mortgage modifications are happening. Get yours

The Obama administration's housing stabilization plan is underway and starting to have an impact. As of last week, Chase had modified 15,000 home loans.

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Competitive Pricing Called Key to Timely Sales

One of the hardest things for a home seller to do is to agree to drop the price, but in this tough market, realistic pricing is crucial, experts say. Home sale price reports can be behind the curve because these reports are based on property closings that lag the market, says Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats in New York City. He recommends monitoring current sale listings instead. Mollie Carmichael, senior vice president of John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine, Calif., says that setting the initial asking price 15 percent to 20 percent below other listings from the very beginning can get things moving and even trigger a bidding war. "If you close fast and sell fast, you have a better opportunity to retain value," Carmichael says. "Premiums are very, very difficult to achieve in a market like the one we have today."

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Positive Economic News Causes A Rise In Mortgage Rates

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.84 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending May 7, 2009, up from last week when it averaged 4.78 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.05 percent.

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More houses get multiple offers

More homes for sale are attracting multiple offers as buyers pursue lower-price homes and banks low-ball asking prices to attract competing bids on foreclosures. Multiple bids have picked up in recent months in California and other states hit hard by foreclosures and steep price drops, real estate executives say. “If a house is in a good neighborhood, is maintained and is a good value, it’ll get multiple offers,” says Julie Holt, owner of Anclote Title Services in Tarpon Springs, Fla. One in 10 homes now draw multiple offers, up from one in 30 last fall, she says. Holt just handled a closing on a Tarpon Springs home close to schools that was listed at $185,000. It won three bids and sold at $192,000. Three years ago, the home would have sold for $280,000, Holt says. Higher-price homes are also getting more multiple bids. “People who always wanted to live on the water are realizing it is time to buy before prices go up,” Holt says.

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Senate moves toward easing mortgage terms

Trying to curb home foreclosures, the Senate voted on Wednesday to make it easier for homeowners with risky credit to switch to a lower-cost mortgage backed by the government. The bill, passed 91-5, also would give banks a break by encouraging reduced fees they must pay for the government to insure deposits. While both steps put taxpayer money on the line, lawmakers say the legislation is needed to prevent the economy from getting worse.

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HVCC And The End Of The Independant Appraiser

As mortgage brokers, we will be disabled from choosing the appraiser we want, and will not be allowed any contact with he appraiser, with only the lender allowed to do that. If I wanted to use my appraiser because of his accuracy, research tools, professionalism,and speed, I would not be able to provide that value added service to my client. So if your lender chooses an appraiser with that is slow or backed up, you are stuck. You can seeing where the shifting of power is coming into place, with the small business being stepped on. Reminds me of Wal-Mart.

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Home Valuation Code of Conduct

If you want to buy a home or refinance your mortgage, you might not be all that concerned about how your lender selects the appraiser who figures out how much your home is worth. But new rules intended to reduce appraisal fraud and curtail undue pressure on appraisers could have some dramatic repercussions for homebuyers and homeowners. Proponents say the new rules will result in more-reliable appraisals, less fraud, lower costs and minimal disruption. But critics expect less-accurate appraisals, delays in loan processing, higher costs and general misery for all concerned. At issue is the "Home Valuation Code of Conduct," or HVCC, a four-page document that outlines appraisal-related practices to which lenders must adhere with respect to so-called "conventional" or "conforming" loans that they want to sell to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The code became effective May 1.

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FishHawk homes to be auctioned

Builders within the FishHawk development are trying to unload 15 unsold properties - at auction. Fifteen town houses near the development's village square will go on the auction block in mid-June. Five of the properties originally came with a listing price of $390,000 to $469,000. Now the opening offer from the auctioneer for some sites will be $110,000, roughly a 70 percent discount. The connected homes are much bigger than typical town homes and range from 2,158 to 2,716 square feet, with two-car garages, kitchens with granite countertops, front porches and second-story terraces, walk-in closets, and hardwood floors.

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Bargains Hard to Find In Attractive Areas

Potential buyers in areas that were hard hit by the housing downturn have read about bargains, but only find it disappointing when they go shopping. "Every open house I've been to has been a zoo," says first-time homebuyer Sam Rivero, who has looked at 35 properties during the last three months. "If you follow what the media say, you'd think sellers are desperate to sell a house, but when you get there it's totally the opposite." When the real estate bubble burst, it didn’t affect the mid-priced market, said real estate information firm MDA DataQuick. Instead, it created opportunities in troubled neighborhoods and slowed sales in the market of homes priced above $1 million. But in areas where most of the homes sell for $400,000 to $800,000, there are few discounts to be found.

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Home values plunge up to 30 percent in Clearwater coastal areas

It has beautiful powdery beaches, luxury waterfront condo towers and the worst housing devaluation in the Tampa Bay area. What's the matter with Clearwater? In a list of more than 200 bay area neighborhoods compiled by Zillow.com, three expensive enclaves in and around Pinellas County's second city took the biggest price pounding. The online real estate service reported that, overall, Tampa Bay area home values declined 19.8 percent in the first three months of this year compared with the same period in 2008. But in Clearwater Beach, the decline was 29.5 percent. Nearby Sand Key suffered a drop of 28 percent. Down the road in Belleair Beach, values tanked 26 percent.

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More than one in five homeowners underwater: Zillow

Home values in the United States extended their fall in the first quarter, with more than one in five homeowners now owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, real estate website Zillow.com said on Wednesday. U.S. home values posted a year-over-year decline of 14.2 percent to a Zillow Home Value Index of $182,378, resulting in a total 21.8 percent drop since the market peaked in 2006, according to Zillow's first-quarter Real Estate Market Reports, which encompass 161 metropolitan areas and cover the value changes in all homes, not just homes that have recently sold. U.S. homes lost $704 billion in value during the first quarter and have depreciated $3.8 trillion in the past 12 months, according to analysis of the reports. Declining home values left 21.9 percent of all American homeowners with negative equity by the end of the first quarter, Zillow said.

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HUD sees signs of stabilization

The housing market is looking healthier, but U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said Wednesday that it is too early to tell if the recovery has taken hold. “We do have some early signs, I think, that the market is stabilizing. Since January, what we’ve seen is both prices and sales volumes moving up and down around a relatively stable number,” Donovan said. Donovan said he was optimistic that President Obama’s policies are bolstering the market. “I think in particular when you get below the national level what you see is that in markets like California that were the hardest hit, that is where the signs (of recovery) are the strongest,” he said.

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Pending home sales rise

The National Association of Realtors said its index of pending home sales rose 3.2 percent to 84.6 in March, the second monthly increase after it hit a record low in January. The pending sales index also is 1.1 percent above last year's levels. Typically, there is a one- to two-month lag between a contract and a done deal, so the index is a barometer for future home sales.

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Tampa Ranks No. 1 Place For Cats

A survey by CATalyst, a coalition of veterinarians, cat-loving academics, nonprofit groups and industries, as well as animal welfare organizations, has named Tampa the best city for felines. Factors include how many cats are in the community, the number of veterinarians and how many of those vets are feline specialists. The council counted the number of emergency veterinarian hospitals and even the number of feline behaviorists, which are, sort of, cat psychologists. The council also looked at how many American Animal Hospital Association-accredited clinics are in the city, how many cat fancy associations are registered and how many cat shows there are. The top ten cities for cats are:

1. Tampa
2. Phoenix
3. San Francisco
4. Portland, Ore.
5. Denver
6. Boston
7. Seattle
8. San Diego
9. Atlanta
10. Minneapolis

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Senate Defeats Mortgage Cramdown Bill

The proposed law allowing bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages, known as the cramdown bill, was voted down Thursday by the U.S. Senate. The financial industry opposed the bill, arguing that the change would drive up interest rates and make the market less stable. Some senators also were concerned that their constituents who pay their bills on time would resent this measure. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who led the opposition, says the vote "ensures that homeowners who pay their bills and follow the rules won't see an interest-rate hike at the whim of a bankruptcy judge." The reform was a key part of President Obama’s foreclosure prevention plan, leaving some to question ultimate likelihood of its success.

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Tampa No. 9 on Forbe's List of Worst Cities for Jobs

If you're looking for a job, the Tampa area is one of the worst places to live at the moment, according to a new ranking by Forbes magazine of cities and jobs. This week, the business magazine published rankings of its best and worst places for job-seekers, based on job growth data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area ranked ninth worst for jobs among big U.S. cities. The Bay area was dragged down by its high level of "unmanageable" home loans that led to foreclosure problems. Also, the number of construction jobs in the area fell 14.9 percent in 2008. The 10 worst cities for jobs are:

10. Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.
9. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
8. Warren-Troy, Mich.
7. Sacramento, Calif.
6. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton
5. Oakland, Calif.
4. Santa Ana-Anaheim, Calif.
3. Cleveland
2. Providence, R.I.
1. Detroit

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Tampa Bay companies help lenders transfer home loans, foreclose

At a time when one in every 159 American homes is in foreclosure, the seemingly slapdash way in which loans change hands is giving homeowners a tool to delay or even stop the foreclosure process. More and more judges are demanding that the party seeking to foreclose prove that it owns the loan "note'' — the borrower's promise to repay the debt.

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30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Ties Record Low

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.78 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending April 30, 2009, down from last week when it averaged 4.80 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.06 percent. The 30-year FRM now equals the record low that was set the week of April 2, 2009. It has never been recorded lower in Freddie Mac's survey, which goes back to 1970.

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