WALNUT

Pent-up demand from rebound buyers may not materialize

Nov 232012
 
Pent-up demand from rebound buyers may not materialize

A big part of the bullish sentiment toward real estate is the believe that former owners who lost their houses in foreclosure will return in droves to mop up the supply of shadow inventory and push prices higher. But what if they don’t come back? What if they were so burned by the experience that they choose a lifetime of renting instead? A recent study from the federal reserve suggests this may be the case. Almost 75% of those who lost their homes to foreclosure may never return, and if they don’t the so-called recovery may be much weaker than the bulls expect. Credit Access Following a Mortgage Default By William Hedberg and John Krainer — October 29, 2012 Borrowers [Read More...]

Low-priced home inventories may not recover for years

Oct 252012
 
Low-priced home inventories may not recover for years

For home inventories to recover, sellers must come back to the market. Since so many loanowners are underwater, particularly at lower price points, very few organic sales occur on below-median properties. Further, since below-median loanowners have a strong incentive to squat until foreclosure, few of these properties are coming to market as short sales. That leaves us with a depleted market that is only be replenished by foreclosures. And as I noted on Monday’s post MLS inventory is NOT coming as foreclosure filings dry up, banks are in no hurry to process foreclosures and bring these properties to the MLS. To make matters worse for would-be buyers at these price points, about half of the foreclosures that are processed are [Read More...]

Say goodbye to the debt forgiveness tax break

Oct 082012
 
Say goodbye to the debt forgiveness tax break

Ordinarily, if a borrower has debts forgiven outside of a bankruptcy, the amount of the forgiven debt is taxable income. This makes perfect sense if you think about it. If one party gives another money, it is either a gift or it’s income. Even if it’s a gift, if it’s over a certain threshold, the government taxes it as income, largely to prevent wealthy people from avoiding inheritance taxes. When a borrower gets a large amount of money from a lender, it’s not income because the money is repaid. If it isn’t repaid, it’s either a gift or it’s income. Anyone who received debt relief from a lender between 2007 and 2012 was able to treat the money as a [Read More...]

Lenders slow foreclosure processing and allow delinquent borrowers to squat

Aug 212012
 
Lenders slow foreclosure processing and allow delinquent borrowers to squat

Foreclosure rates are declining across the Southwest. Lenders are slowing foreclosures because they want house prices to bottom and start going up due to a lack of distressed supply on the MLS. This would be a natural occurrence once shadow inventory is eliminated, but right now, this slowing of foreclosures is a contrived policy of a cartel desperately hoping they can force prices to move higher. If foreclosures were declining because lenders were out of delinquent mortgages to foreclose on, we would all be celebrating the housing market recovery. However, lenders are not out of delinquent mortgage squatters to boot out of the houses they are not paying for. In fact, lenders have slowed their foreclosure rates so much, they [Read More...]

Fannie and Freddie will not forgive principal balances

Aug 132012
 
Fannie and Freddie will not forgive principal balances

In what can only be described as the best decision of the housing bust a from regulator, Federal Housing Finance Agency’s head Edward DeMarco said there will be no principal reduction on Fannie and Freddie loans. He will be loudly criticized, particularly from left-wing panderers, but Mr. DeMarco understands that Moral hazard is the central issue in housing bust, and giving away free money to loan owners is never a good idea. Millions of loanowners will be crushed by this news. Everyone who doesn’t want to see their tax dollars squandered to bail them out will rejoice. Regulator says no to Obama mortgage write-down plan By Rachelle Younglai — WASHINGTON | Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:41pm EDT (Reuters) – The top [Read More...]

Short sales are held up by second mortgage holders

Aug 012012
 
Short sales are held up by second mortgage holders

Second mortgages hold short sellers hostage Why do short sales take so long? Basically, banks don’t want to take a loss, and short sales cause them to lose money — a lot of money. Short sales come in two basic varieties; properties with second mortgages and properties without. If a property does not have a second mortgage, short sales are generally quicker and easier to approve. The first mortgage is often covered by mortgage insurance, and as a percentage of the total loan amount, any losses are generally small. If a property has a second mortgage — and millions do — then the situation becomes much more complicated. In lien priority, when a property sells in a short sale, the [Read More...]

Walnut prices unchanged in last six months

Jul 132012
 
Walnut prices unchanged in last six months

Irvine: Walnut Overview Median home price is $497,000. Based on a rental parity value of $636,000, this market is fairly valued. Monthly payment affordability has been improving over the last 2 month(s). Momentum suggests improving affordability. Resale prices on a $/SF basis declined from $292/SF to $289/SF. Resale prices have been falling for 12 month(s). Price momentum suggests falling prices over the next three months. Median rental rates increased $32 last month from $2,566 to $2,599. Rents have been slowly rising for 12 month(s). Price momentum suggests slowly rising rents over the next three months. Market rating = 3 Proprietary Irvine Housing News home purchase analysis 21 GEORGIA Irvine, CA 92606 $699,000 …….. Asking Price $323,500 ………. Purchase Price 3/17/1999 [Read More...]

Walnut bottoming out, supply very limited

Jul 022012
 
Walnut bottoming out, supply very limited

Irvine: Walnut Overview Median home price is $512,000. Based on a rental parity value of $618,000, this market is fairly valued. Monthly payment affordability has been improving over the last 1 month(s). Momentum suggests unchanging affordability. Resale prices on a $/SF basis increased from $290/SF to $292/SF. Resale prices have been falling for 12 month(s). Price momentum suggests falling prices over the next three months. Median rental rates increased $186 last month from $2,380 to $2,566. Rents have been slowly rising for 12 month(s). Price momentum suggests slowly rising rents over the next three months. Market rating = 3 Proprietary Irvine Housing News home purchase analysis 3972 BANYAN St Irvine, CA 92606 $624,500 …….. Asking Price Cost of Home Ownership [Read More...]

Walnut home values firming, nearly 20% undervalued

May 072012
 
Walnut home values firming, nearly 20% undervalued

Irvine: Walnut Overview Median home price is $428,000. Based on a rental parity value of $596,000, this market is under valued. Monthly payment affordability has been improving over the last 2 month(s). Momentum suggests improving affordability. Resale prices on a $/SF basis increased to $285/SF to $296/SF. Resale prices have been falling for 12 month(s). Price momentum suggests falling prices over the next three months. Median rental rates increased $0 last month from $2,500 to $2,500. Rents have been slowly rising for 12 month(s). Price momentum suggests slowly rising rents over the next three months. Market rating = 5 Proprietary Irvine Housing News home purchase analysis 3932 ASPEN St Irvine, CA 92606 $549,000 …….. Asking Price $250,000 ………. Purchase Price [Read More...]

Walnut rents are weakening, value falling

Apr 192012
 
Walnut rents are weakening, value falling

Irvine: Walnut Overview Median home price is $433,000. Based on a rental parity value of $592,000, this market is fairly valued. Monthly payment affordability has been improving over the last 1 month(s). Momentum suggests unchanging affordability. Resale prices on a $/SF basis increased to $285/SF to $285/SF. Resale prices have been falling for 11 month(s). Price momentum suggests falling prices over the next three months. Median rental rates increased $240 last month from $2,260 to $2,500. Rents have been slowly rising for 12 month(s). Price momentum suggests slowly rising rents over the next three months. Market rating = 3 Proprietary Irvine Housing News home purchase analysis 4651 LOCKHAVEN Cir Irvine, CA 92604 $530,000 …….. Asking Price $199,000 ………. Purchase Price [Read More...]

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