2012 Might Be Year of the Short Sale
Posted by debr3073 on Mar 10, 2012 in Cancellation of Debt, Foreclosure, Our Home Market, Short Sale, Underwater | 0 comments
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – March 5, 2012 – More than a quarter of all home sales in Palm Beach County last year were of bank-owned properties or homes purchased in a short sale, a sign of continued stress on a market where traditionally less than 1 percent of sales are of distressed homes.
According to a year-end report released last week by Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, about 22 percent of sales statewide in 2011 were of homes in foreclosure or short sale. The report measured all deed transactions, not just Realtor sales, said company spokesman Daren Blomquist.
Nationwide, distressed sales made up 23 percent of all home purchases.
Interesting trend
What piqued analysts’ interest was not the sheer number of distressed sales, but a shift nationwide and in Florida at the end of last year toward more short sales and fewer sales of bank-owned homes. A short sale is when a lender agrees to take less for a home than what is owed on the mortgage, while a bank-owned sale is of a foreclosed home that has been reclaimed by the lender.
Statewide, short sales were up 3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with the same time in 2010, while bank-owned sales were down 32 percent.
“The banks know they lose less money through a short sale then a foreclosure,” said Jack McCabe, chief executive of McCabe Research & Consulting in Deerfield Beach. “They don’t have to take ownership, they are not responsible for maintenance, and right now there’s no positive profit involved in this. It’s all about cutting losses.”
In a scenario becoming more commonplace, Realtors said banks are dangling incentives in front of homeowners to make a clean getaway, rather than drag out a long foreclosure.
Realtor Jared Dalto, of the Palm Beach Group at Seawinds Realty in West Palm Beach, said he was about to list a short sale recently when the bank called the owner and offered $10,000 for the deed.
“It was just hand us the deed and we’ll give you $10,000 to get out of the house,” said Dalto, who didn’t know which bank made the offer.
Dalto, who estimates about 90 percent of his sales are short sales or foreclosures, said wait times to conduct a short sale are getting shorter, but that “horror stories” still exist.
“I just closed a sale today that I had for two years,” he said. “But some are getting fast-tracked, which is extremely helpful.”
The short-sale trend was reversed in Palm Beach County.
For all of 2011, RealtyTrac measured a 4 percent decrease in short sales in Palm Beach County compared with 2010.
Sales of bank-owned homes, however, were up 82.5 percent during the same time period.
Blomquist attributed the spike in bank-owned sales to a rush of home repossessions that happened in 2010 before the robo-signing scandal stalled the foreclosure process nationwide. Those repossessions were then resold in 2011 to new owners.
“We expect to see foreclosure-related sales increase in 2012, particularly (short sales), as lenders start to more aggressively dispose of distressed assets held up by the mortgage servicing gridlock, over the past 18 months,” said Brandon Moore, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
McCabe agreed, calling 2012 “the year of the short sale.”
“And next year may be the second year of the short sale,” he added.
© 2012 The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Fla.), Kimberly Miller. Distributed by MCT Information Services.
Google’s New Privacy Information
Posted by debr3073 on Mar 5, 2012 in Just For You, Newsworthy, Real Estate | 0 comments
Protect Your Passwords, Accounts, Searches and Emails
Search engines make life easier. We’ve become so accustom to simply typing in a few words and hitting “search” th at we don’t even realize how much data is being generated with every clickor what that data says about us. Last week, however, this topic was forced front and center.
What Happened Last Week?
Google’s new privacy policy went into effect last week. Based on the new policy, all data collected about you – including search queries, sites visited, age, gender and location – will be gathered and assigned to your online identity represented by your Gmail, Google Plus, and YouTube accounts.
Prior to that, information about your Google searches and sites visited was kept separate from Google’s other products. The wall between those products has now been removed and more of your information than ever is potentially floating around in cyberspace.
All of this provides a good reason to revisit your privacy settings and your own habits when searching information or conducting business online.
Why Does It Matter?
The history stored in a browser can contain sensitive information, such as your phone number, account numbers, passwords, emails, and so on.
In addition, your search queries can also reveal information about you, including private information like health concerns. In fact, privacy experts have raised concerns about that type of information being gathered in the event that it may be used when you apply for credit, a new job, car or life insurance, and even health care coverage.
Finally, if you work in a business where you help people with private financial matters (such as purchasing a home, improving their credit score, and so on), the need for privacy is even greater.
The Good News Is
The first piece of good news is that major companies such as Microsoft, Google, and AOL recently agreed to install a do-not-track button in Web browsers to make sure that you can browse the Internet with more privacy. But it’ll take a while before this button actually arrives in a browser near you.
The second piece of good news is that you already have a simple step that you can use in the meantime to help keep sensitive information from being recorded.
Tell Your Clients, Business Partners, and Friends
Most browsers already feature a privacy setting that can be turned on. When you activate the private browsing setting, the actions you take are kept private – which means caches, browser history, forms, passwords and other temporary files are not permanently recorded. Instead, once the window is closed, the data is erased. So you can feel more comfortable working online without worrying that bank balances, emails, or passwords are being captured.
This is especially important if you use a shared computer in a business setting or a public computer (such as a computer at a public library or Internet caf).
PCWorld recently provided the following quick instructions for setting your browser to privacy mode:
• Internet Explorer 9: Ctrl-Shift-P
• Chrome: Ctrl-Shift-N
• Firefox: Ctrl-Shift-P
• Safari: Go to the “Edit” menu and choose “Private Browsing”
But Don’t Forget!
Even if you use a privacy setting, you’ll need to quit a browser when you’re done. That’s because the “back” button still works in privacy mode, so someone else could easily click back to previously viewed pages, such as an email or financial account if you step away.
Finally, remind your clients and friends that social media sites may ask for a lot of information, but that doesn’t mean you should share it. Phone numbers, your full date of birth, and social security numbers should never be part of your profile.
Following those simple steps can help you feel more comfortable about working online, especially when sensitive information is on the line.
The Mortgage Market Guide
Real Estate Recovery or Not ?
Posted by debr3073 on Feb 25, 2012 in Our Home Market, Real Estate | 0 comments
a>2012 Predictions By the Pro’s Infographic
Data, data everywhere, but what should you believe? Are we on, in the middle, or at the tail of a deflating real estate bubble? Is there a Florida real estate bubble?
There is A LOT of conflicting data emerging about the 2012 real estate market and 2012 real estate transactions. Case-Shiller has emerged as the leading index of real estate values. The Q4 2011 S&P/Case-Shiller index (1) shows continuing declines in real estate values with quarter over quarter declines of 1.1-1.2% and annual declines of 3.0-3.4%. RealtyTrac is the leading source of foreclosure data. On January 12, 2012, RealtyTrac published (2) surprisingly good news showing a 33% decline in the number of homes in foreclosure from 2010 to 2011. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) Chief Economist Lawrence is projecting a modest 4.7% increase in real estate transactions with a 2.0% increase in real estate values in 2012 vs. 2011. But, on December 19, 2011, NAR was forced to re-state historical homes sold data (3) due to “upward drift” of their core homes sold benchmarks, which historically have been based on feeds from the multiple listing service (MLS).
So what should you believe? Nearly all data on real estate transactions and real estate values is historical; it does not forecast the future and may not reflect the situation in your local market. Real estate is inherently local, so if the national real estate market is in decline or on the mend, what does that say about your local market? Does a national real estate bubble portend a Florida real estate bubble? Or a bubble in Fort Myers, or Sanibel Island specifically.
The largest real estate social network ActiveRain Corp surveyed 1,835 real estate agents and real estate brokers in the US and Canada to understand if the real estate market and economy are poised for recovery in 2012, both nationwide and in local markets.
What’s The Problem? The Banks!
Posted by debr3073 on Feb 22, 2012 in Broward County, Cancellation of Debt, Homestead Property, Just For You, Odds and Ends, Our Home Market, Real Estate, Short Sale, Uncategorized, Underwater | 0 comments
What’s the Problem? The Banks, Stupid!
When polled about the biggest challenges facing the real estate market and economy, real estate agents rated bank related issues the highest. The biggest challenges were: 1) short sales, 2) ability to finance a new home purchase / loan qualifications, and 3) foreclosures. The significant shadow inventory caused by short sales and foreclosures continues to drag on real estate values. Though interest rates are at historical lows, increased loan qualifications are preventing first time home buyers from purchasing homes and current home owners from trading up into new homes.
We would have expected unemployment to be a greater concern to real estate agents. Persistently high unemployment was ONLY the fourth concern to real estate agents, which was surprising given how the poor economy and lack of jobs has dominated the news headlines for the past 24 months.
Are You Looking To Move To Georgia?
Posted by debr3073 on Feb 22, 2012 in Our Home Market, Out of Area, Real Estate, Second Home Market, Uncategorized | 1 comment
73 Allison Lane Sharpsburg, GA 30277
4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Bathrooms
Ranch style home on 2 Acres situated in Coweta County. Two Separate Living Quarters under 1 roof. 3 Bedroom 2 Bath main living house + In-Law Apartment complete with Living room, Kitchen, Bedroom and Bath. Each with private entrances. Double car garage separates each residence. Also on property a double wide covered parking carport. Newer siding, plumbing, roof and a/c. Fenced yard. Can have your own animals and stalls or plant your garden. Enjoy the peace and quiet of this country neighborhood!
Schools:
Willis Road (elementary)
Lee (middle)
East Coweta (high)
Easy access to I85. Minutes to Peachtree City and Historical Newnan.
Call me if you or anyone you know are interested.
Phone Apps Lose Appeal
Posted by debr3073 on Feb 10, 2012 in Just For You, Odds and Ends | 0 comments
Faster data networks and fancier phones have steered more Americans to embrace the apps software craze born of our fondness for the computer-in-my-pocket. But like other shopping experiences done impulsively, the appeal of instantly downloading the latest apps – prompted by recommendations from neighbors, cousins, blogs and news stories – loses its luster quickly, industry data show.
Of smartphone owners, 68 percent open only five or fewer apps at least once a week, finds a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Seventeen percent don’t use any apps. About 42 percent of all U.S. adults have phones with apps, Pew estimates.
“The novelty wears off,” Pew researcher Kristen Purcell says. “Most apps don’t have sticking power.”
But the ones that do really engage users. Android phone users spend about 90 minutes a day on their phones, about two-thirds of that on apps, says Monica Bannan, a vice president at media research firm Nielsen. “We see a very familiar behavior with (iPhone users).”
An app that’s retained by 30 percent of downloaders is considered “sticky,” says Anindya Datta, founder of Mobilewalla, an app analytic firm.
“We are constantly deleting them. That’s why the number of downloads is a very poor measure of how popular an app is,” he says, estimating 80 percent to 90 percent of apps are eventually deleted.
Ghada Elnajjar, a newsletter writer in Atlanta, has downloaded 26 apps since she bought an iPhone 4 in June. She now uses only two regularly: Facebook and MyFitnessPal. “After a while, the fun is not there anymore, and you go back to your phone, e-mail and the browser.”
Many of Elnajjar’s apps are for her two sons, ages 3 and 5. They’ve got app burnout, too. “They went back to their toys.”
Datta says there are about 1 million apps for the four most-popular mobile operating systems – Android, Apple, BlackBerry and Microsoft – and only 10 percent have been discovered.
Consumers’ fickle habits aren’t all bad for the industry. Of the top 50 apps, one in five is new every month, Nielsen says.
© Copyright 2012 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc., Roger Yu
Second Home Market
Posted by debr3073 on Feb 9, 2012 in Broward County, Davie, Real Estate, Second Home Market | 0 comments
Real estate drops but second home market may see increase
WASHINGTON – Feb. 6, 2012 – Despite the fact that 30-year mortgage rates are under 4 percent and home prices have remained low, many people can’t to take advantage of increased housing affordability.
Recovery will be slow, according to Karl Case, co-founder of the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, with many homeowners struggling not to lose their property. Rather than relocate, many homeowners are improving their existing residences, with the National Association of the Remodeling Industry expecting $113.6 billion to be spent on remodeling through the third quarter.
However, experts predict a growing number of baby boomers will snap up vacation and rental properties in the coming years, with many planning to retire in these homes.
Second-home buyers tend to purchase distressed properties at a discount, but experts say the dwellings are vacant for 90 percent of the year and that buyers could be earning rental income. Second-home buyers should work with a professional to learn the opportunities available to them with regard to renting, as those who use the property for no more than 14 days per year can deduct as much as $25,000 for maintenance and other expenses.
Source: Realty Times (02/03/12) Chongchua, Phoebe
