Click the link and listen to NAR 2011 Treasurer Bill Armstrong's podcast about the recent NAR advocacy "Wins" in the Commercial Real Estate Industry.
It's good to see that someone is still working to make things better for our clients and us.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
CoStar and LoopNet To Join Forces
I wonder if this means the fees double? Paying for our own data
always make me happy. How much do you pay for Commercial Real Estate listing information? Tell me about it... Industry's Leading Information Service To Combine With Leading Online
CRE Marketplace To Serve $11 Trillion Commercial Real Estate Industry
By Tim Trainor CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) announced Wednesday that it has
entered into an agreement to acquire LoopNet, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOOP), the
leading online commercial real estate marketplace, in a transaction
valued at approximately $860 million. CoStar said it believes the combined company will be the premier
online resource for researching, analyzing, and marketing commercial
real estate properties, and the combination of the two companies'
complementary services will position the combined firm to provide even
more comprehensive market coverage, deliver enhanced research,
analysis and marketing options, and offer greater efficiencies for
customers throughout the $11 trillion commercial real estate industry,
ranging from large, national brokerage and institutional market
players to small, local brokers and owners. The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved
the transaction, which is expected to close by the end of 2011. "We are combining two very innovative companies that have transformed
the commercial real estate industry," Andrew C. Florance, CoStar
Group's Founder and CEO, said in a conference call announcing the
agreement. "CoStar revolutionized how the industry researches
commercial real estate and LoopNet revolutionized the way the industry
markets commercial real estate. We believe that the combination of our
two outstanding and complementary companies will lead to even more
innovation and greater efficiencies by creating the premier Internet
solution for the commercial real estate industry. We expect the
benefits to our customers and ultimately our shareholders to be very
significant." "CoStar and LoopNet have been at the cutting edge of innovation in
their respective businesses, and we believe the two companies will be
even stronger together," said Richard Boyle, Chairman and CEO of
LoopNet. "This transaction combines the capabilities and best
practices of two successful and very complementary companies. We are
excited about the possibilities that can be created together." The full announcement can be viewed here. Florance noted how the two firms developed completely different
business models to address the challenges of aggregating content
across the massive, complex and constantly changing commercial real
estate market, an asset class in which an estimated nearly $3 trillion
dollars in transactions occur annually. "Each model excels at tracking a differing major segment of the
industry, but neither comes close to covering the entire industry,"
Florance said. "Once the combination of LoopNet and CoStar is
complete, we believe that we will deliver a higher quality marketing
solution to LoopNet’s customers and a higher quality information
solution to CoStar’s customers." With the addition of LoopNet’s complementary listings, CoStar will
have a database with approximately 2 million active listings. "We believe that this more complete coverage will significantly reduce
our customers’ total costs, save them time, and help them to better
serve their customers. In turn, we believe that will help us win many
more new customers," Florance added. "One of the things that I learned in exploring this deal that really
amazed me was just how little overlap there is between LoopNet’s
subscribers and ours," said Florance. "We have nearly 160,000 paid
subscribers between us, yet since LoopNet sells mostly to individuals,
and CoStar typically sells to companies, we estimate the overlap to be
relatively low. This is a significant opportunity for us to deliver a
higher quality and more efficient service to our customers, and also
grow our approximately $320 million dollar combined-revenue company
into something much bigger."
always make me happy. How much do you pay for Commercial Real Estate listing information? Tell me about it... Industry's Leading Information Service To Combine With Leading Online
CRE Marketplace To Serve $11 Trillion Commercial Real Estate Industry
By Tim Trainor CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) announced Wednesday that it has
entered into an agreement to acquire LoopNet, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOOP), the
leading online commercial real estate marketplace, in a transaction
valued at approximately $860 million. CoStar said it believes the combined company will be the premier
online resource for researching, analyzing, and marketing commercial
real estate properties, and the combination of the two companies'
complementary services will position the combined firm to provide even
more comprehensive market coverage, deliver enhanced research,
analysis and marketing options, and offer greater efficiencies for
customers throughout the $11 trillion commercial real estate industry,
ranging from large, national brokerage and institutional market
players to small, local brokers and owners. The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved
the transaction, which is expected to close by the end of 2011. "We are combining two very innovative companies that have transformed
the commercial real estate industry," Andrew C. Florance, CoStar
Group's Founder and CEO, said in a conference call announcing the
agreement. "CoStar revolutionized how the industry researches
commercial real estate and LoopNet revolutionized the way the industry
markets commercial real estate. We believe that the combination of our
two outstanding and complementary companies will lead to even more
innovation and greater efficiencies by creating the premier Internet
solution for the commercial real estate industry. We expect the
benefits to our customers and ultimately our shareholders to be very
significant." "CoStar and LoopNet have been at the cutting edge of innovation in
their respective businesses, and we believe the two companies will be
even stronger together," said Richard Boyle, Chairman and CEO of
LoopNet. "This transaction combines the capabilities and best
practices of two successful and very complementary companies. We are
excited about the possibilities that can be created together." The full announcement can be viewed here. Florance noted how the two firms developed completely different
business models to address the challenges of aggregating content
across the massive, complex and constantly changing commercial real
estate market, an asset class in which an estimated nearly $3 trillion
dollars in transactions occur annually. "Each model excels at tracking a differing major segment of the
industry, but neither comes close to covering the entire industry,"
Florance said. "Once the combination of LoopNet and CoStar is
complete, we believe that we will deliver a higher quality marketing
solution to LoopNet’s customers and a higher quality information
solution to CoStar’s customers." With the addition of LoopNet’s complementary listings, CoStar will
have a database with approximately 2 million active listings. "We believe that this more complete coverage will significantly reduce
our customers’ total costs, save them time, and help them to better
serve their customers. In turn, we believe that will help us win many
more new customers," Florance added. "One of the things that I learned in exploring this deal that really
amazed me was just how little overlap there is between LoopNet’s
subscribers and ours," said Florance. "We have nearly 160,000 paid
subscribers between us, yet since LoopNet sells mostly to individuals,
and CoStar typically sells to companies, we estimate the overlap to be
relatively low. This is a significant opportunity for us to deliver a
higher quality and more efficient service to our customers, and also
grow our approximately $320 million dollar combined-revenue company
into something much bigger."
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Bernanke Says Ending Bond Buying Won’t Have Major Impact. What do you think?
At a rare FED press conference today Bernanke says the FED bond buying
stops later this year. He also says that there will be no major
effect to the economy. Check out this article from Bloomberg about the details. I'm just a
little curious as to why we were buying the bonds in the first place
if not buying them will have no major impact to the stimulus and the
economy. There I go again.. April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said
the end of the Fed’s $600 billion bond-buying program in June probably
won’t have a “significant” effect on financial markets or the economy,
and the central bank will likely continue reinvesting maturing debt
after June. “We are going to complete the program at the end of the second
quarter,” he said at his first press conference following a policy
meeting. “The end of the program is unlikely to have a significant
effect on financial markets or the economy.” Bernanke spoke after the central bank today reiterated its view that
surging commodity prices are likely to have a transitory effect on
inflation and agreed to finish its program of large-scale asset
purchases on schedule. U.S. stocks rose, sending benchmark indexes to
almost three-year highs, and Treasuries fell after the Fed renewed its
pledge to keep rates low for an “extended period.” In his press conference, Bernanke said the central bank is likely to
continue reinvesting its securities holdings, including
mortgage-backed securities, as they mature even after June. “We are going to continue to reinvest maturing securities, both
Treasuries and MBS, so the amount of securities that we hold will
remain” approximately constant, he said. “The amount of monetary
policy easing should remain constant going forward from June.” Monetary Stimulus When the Fed begins unwinding its record monetary stimulus, “it’s very
likely that an early step would be to stop reinvesting all or part of
the securities which are maturing,” he said. “That step, though a
relatively modest step, does constitute a policy tightening,” Bernanke
said. Bernanke has signaled he’ll maintain record stimulus until job growth
accelerates and the recovery is robust enough to withstand tighter
credit. The Fed chief has said he expects that a surge this year in
fuel and food costs will have only a passing inflationary impact,
differing with Fed regional bank presidents who say low borrowing
costs may push up prices. The Fed left its benchmark interest rate in a range of zero to 0.25
percent, where it’s been since December 2008. The central bank will
keep reinvesting proceeds of maturing mortgage debt purchased in the
first round of large-scale asset purchases that lasted from December
2008 to March 2010. Forecasts Changed Policy makers, in a release after the statement, lowered their
forecasts for economic growth this year and raised estimates for a key
gauge of inflation that excludes volatile food and energy prices. The
projections of governors and regional bank presidents were released
three weeks sooner than prior practice. The range of estimates for growth this year was cut to 3.1 percent to
3.3 percent, from 3.4 percent to 3.9 percent in January. Estimates for
the personal consumption expenditures index, minus food and energy,
ranged from 1.3 percent to 1.6 percent, up from a prior range of 1
percent to 1.3 percent. Fed officials’ central tendency forecast for the average unemployment
rate in the final three months of 2011 fell to 8.4 percent to 8.7
percent versus 8.8 percent to 9.0 percent in January. Their estimate
for unemployment at the end of 2012 was in a range of 7.6 percent to
7.9 percent versus 7.6 percent to 8.1 percent in January. “The labor market is improving gradually,” Bernanke said at the press
conference. “The longer it goes on, the more confident we are.” ‘Deep Hole’ “We are digging ourselves out of a deep hole,” Bernanke said,
referring to the jobs lost during the recession. The Fed’s commitment to record stimulus contrasts with the
interest-rate increase this month by the European Central Bank and
tightening this year by the biggest emerging-market economies,
including China, Brazil and India, which face faster inflation. Bernanke became the first Fed chairman to conduct a press briefing
following an FOMC decision when he took the microphone at the Fed’s
headquarters. His counterparts in Europe, Japan, the U.K. and Canada
already hold regular news conferences. The press conference, broadcast on television and the central bank’s
website, marks one of Bernanke’s biggest efforts to improve the Fed’s
connections with the public and demystify the institution, which as
recently as 1993 didn’t announce its monetary-policy decisions.
Bernanke said in February that the central bank was weighing benefits
of more transparency against the risk that his remarks would trigger
unwanted fluctuations in financial markets. Tighten Credit Increases in employment and inflation are helping drive calls to
tighten credit. Payrolls have increased by an average 149,000 a month
for the past six months, while the unemployment rate has dropped by 1
percentage point since November to 8.8 percent, a two-year low. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley, the
FOMC’s vice chairman, reiterated in a speech April 1 that a faster
pace of job growth is “sorely needed” and that even with 300,000 new
jobs per month, the labor market would still have “considerable slack”
at the end of 2012. Janet Yellen, vice chairman of the Fed’s Board of Governors, said
April 11 that the increase in food and fuel costs will have only a
temporary impact on prices and consumer spending, and warrants no
reversal of monetary stimulus. Gas Price Rose Food and beverage prices rose in the first quarter by the most since
2008, based on the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, while the
cost of regular-unleaded gasoline has increased by 26 percent this
year to $3.88 a gallon as of yesterday. The increases helped slow U.S. growth to a 2 percent pace in the first
quarter, according to the median estimate of analysts surveyed by
Bloomberg News, from 3.1 percent in the prior period. The government
releases preliminary figures tomorrow. The Commerce Department’s personal consumption expenditures price
index, excluding food and energy, rose 0.9 percent in February from a
year earlier. Policy makers have a long-run goal for total inflation
of about 1.6 percent to 2 percent annually. Economists say the Fed is at least a few months away from starting to
reverse the stimulus. Most of the 44 economists surveyed by Bloomberg
News from April 20 to April 25 said the central bank this year will
probably halt its policy of replacing maturing mortgage debt with
Treasuries. The majority of respondents also said the Fed will
announce a plan next year of selling mortgage bonds and Treasuries
among its assets. --Editors: Christopher Wellisz, James Tyson To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Lanman in Washington at
slanman@bloomberg.net; Joshua Zumbrun in Washington at
jzumbrun@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz
at cwellisz@bloomberg.net.
stops later this year. He also says that there will be no major
effect to the economy. Check out this article from Bloomberg about the details. I'm just a
little curious as to why we were buying the bonds in the first place
if not buying them will have no major impact to the stimulus and the
economy. There I go again.. April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said
the end of the Fed’s $600 billion bond-buying program in June probably
won’t have a “significant” effect on financial markets or the economy,
and the central bank will likely continue reinvesting maturing debt
after June. “We are going to complete the program at the end of the second
quarter,” he said at his first press conference following a policy
meeting. “The end of the program is unlikely to have a significant
effect on financial markets or the economy.” Bernanke spoke after the central bank today reiterated its view that
surging commodity prices are likely to have a transitory effect on
inflation and agreed to finish its program of large-scale asset
purchases on schedule. U.S. stocks rose, sending benchmark indexes to
almost three-year highs, and Treasuries fell after the Fed renewed its
pledge to keep rates low for an “extended period.” In his press conference, Bernanke said the central bank is likely to
continue reinvesting its securities holdings, including
mortgage-backed securities, as they mature even after June. “We are going to continue to reinvest maturing securities, both
Treasuries and MBS, so the amount of securities that we hold will
remain” approximately constant, he said. “The amount of monetary
policy easing should remain constant going forward from June.” Monetary Stimulus When the Fed begins unwinding its record monetary stimulus, “it’s very
likely that an early step would be to stop reinvesting all or part of
the securities which are maturing,” he said. “That step, though a
relatively modest step, does constitute a policy tightening,” Bernanke
said. Bernanke has signaled he’ll maintain record stimulus until job growth
accelerates and the recovery is robust enough to withstand tighter
credit. The Fed chief has said he expects that a surge this year in
fuel and food costs will have only a passing inflationary impact,
differing with Fed regional bank presidents who say low borrowing
costs may push up prices. The Fed left its benchmark interest rate in a range of zero to 0.25
percent, where it’s been since December 2008. The central bank will
keep reinvesting proceeds of maturing mortgage debt purchased in the
first round of large-scale asset purchases that lasted from December
2008 to March 2010. Forecasts Changed Policy makers, in a release after the statement, lowered their
forecasts for economic growth this year and raised estimates for a key
gauge of inflation that excludes volatile food and energy prices. The
projections of governors and regional bank presidents were released
three weeks sooner than prior practice. The range of estimates for growth this year was cut to 3.1 percent to
3.3 percent, from 3.4 percent to 3.9 percent in January. Estimates for
the personal consumption expenditures index, minus food and energy,
ranged from 1.3 percent to 1.6 percent, up from a prior range of 1
percent to 1.3 percent. Fed officials’ central tendency forecast for the average unemployment
rate in the final three months of 2011 fell to 8.4 percent to 8.7
percent versus 8.8 percent to 9.0 percent in January. Their estimate
for unemployment at the end of 2012 was in a range of 7.6 percent to
7.9 percent versus 7.6 percent to 8.1 percent in January. “The labor market is improving gradually,” Bernanke said at the press
conference. “The longer it goes on, the more confident we are.” ‘Deep Hole’ “We are digging ourselves out of a deep hole,” Bernanke said,
referring to the jobs lost during the recession. The Fed’s commitment to record stimulus contrasts with the
interest-rate increase this month by the European Central Bank and
tightening this year by the biggest emerging-market economies,
including China, Brazil and India, which face faster inflation. Bernanke became the first Fed chairman to conduct a press briefing
following an FOMC decision when he took the microphone at the Fed’s
headquarters. His counterparts in Europe, Japan, the U.K. and Canada
already hold regular news conferences. The press conference, broadcast on television and the central bank’s
website, marks one of Bernanke’s biggest efforts to improve the Fed’s
connections with the public and demystify the institution, which as
recently as 1993 didn’t announce its monetary-policy decisions.
Bernanke said in February that the central bank was weighing benefits
of more transparency against the risk that his remarks would trigger
unwanted fluctuations in financial markets. Tighten Credit Increases in employment and inflation are helping drive calls to
tighten credit. Payrolls have increased by an average 149,000 a month
for the past six months, while the unemployment rate has dropped by 1
percentage point since November to 8.8 percent, a two-year low. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley, the
FOMC’s vice chairman, reiterated in a speech April 1 that a faster
pace of job growth is “sorely needed” and that even with 300,000 new
jobs per month, the labor market would still have “considerable slack”
at the end of 2012. Janet Yellen, vice chairman of the Fed’s Board of Governors, said
April 11 that the increase in food and fuel costs will have only a
temporary impact on prices and consumer spending, and warrants no
reversal of monetary stimulus. Gas Price Rose Food and beverage prices rose in the first quarter by the most since
2008, based on the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, while the
cost of regular-unleaded gasoline has increased by 26 percent this
year to $3.88 a gallon as of yesterday. The increases helped slow U.S. growth to a 2 percent pace in the first
quarter, according to the median estimate of analysts surveyed by
Bloomberg News, from 3.1 percent in the prior period. The government
releases preliminary figures tomorrow. The Commerce Department’s personal consumption expenditures price
index, excluding food and energy, rose 0.9 percent in February from a
year earlier. Policy makers have a long-run goal for total inflation
of about 1.6 percent to 2 percent annually. Economists say the Fed is at least a few months away from starting to
reverse the stimulus. Most of the 44 economists surveyed by Bloomberg
News from April 20 to April 25 said the central bank this year will
probably halt its policy of replacing maturing mortgage debt with
Treasuries. The majority of respondents also said the Fed will
announce a plan next year of selling mortgage bonds and Treasuries
among its assets. --Editors: Christopher Wellisz, James Tyson To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Lanman in Washington at
slanman@bloomberg.net; Joshua Zumbrun in Washington at
jzumbrun@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz
at cwellisz@bloomberg.net.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
California real estate: 'Distressed sales' are 51% of market in March
Hi everyone. Check out this article By Frank Michael Russell at
Mercury News. It discusses the "distressed" component of the current
real estate market. The bad news is that our market, and more so the
people, is/are effected in this way. The good news is that our
inventory levels are very low and demand is now out distancing supply. Read on and let me know what you think... The real estate market in the Golden State was less dominated by
"distressed sales" in March than the month before, the California
Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. Foreclosures and short sales -- transactions for less than the value
of the mortgage on a home -- accounted for 51 percent of the market
last month, down from 56 percent in February and flat from March 2010. "Consistent with the state as a whole, nearly all the counties for
which we have data also experienced an improvement in distressed
sales," association President Beth L. Peerce noted in an email. "However, distressed sales in most of the counties were higher than a
year ago, as the market continues to work through large numbers of
troubled mortgages," Peerce said. Meanwhile, the number of pending home sales -- deals with signed
contracts but which haven't closed -- was up 15.2 percent from the
month before, but dropped 0.3 percent from March 2010, when
California's real estate market was still benefiting from tax credits
for many homebuyers.. The association's reports are based on information from local chapters
and multiple listing services. Also Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors reported a 3.7
percent seasonally adjusted increase in existing-home sales in March
from the month before. However, sales volume nationwide was down 6.3 percent from March 2010.
The median home price dropped 5.9 percent year over year to $159,600.
Mercury News. It discusses the "distressed" component of the current
real estate market. The bad news is that our market, and more so the
people, is/are effected in this way. The good news is that our
inventory levels are very low and demand is now out distancing supply. Read on and let me know what you think... The real estate market in the Golden State was less dominated by
"distressed sales" in March than the month before, the California
Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. Foreclosures and short sales -- transactions for less than the value
of the mortgage on a home -- accounted for 51 percent of the market
last month, down from 56 percent in February and flat from March 2010. "Consistent with the state as a whole, nearly all the counties for
which we have data also experienced an improvement in distressed
sales," association President Beth L. Peerce noted in an email. "However, distressed sales in most of the counties were higher than a
year ago, as the market continues to work through large numbers of
troubled mortgages," Peerce said. Meanwhile, the number of pending home sales -- deals with signed
contracts but which haven't closed -- was up 15.2 percent from the
month before, but dropped 0.3 percent from March 2010, when
California's real estate market was still benefiting from tax credits
for many homebuyers.. The association's reports are based on information from local chapters
and multiple listing services. Also Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors reported a 3.7
percent seasonally adjusted increase in existing-home sales in March
from the month before. However, sales volume nationwide was down 6.3 percent from March 2010.
The median home price dropped 5.9 percent year over year to $159,600.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Several economists say economic recovery is picking up momentum because the housing market...
I normally don't get to excited with what economists say about the state of the economy. They are good at analyzing data and making comparisons not forecasting (like an appraiser vs real estate agent). Check out the following article from USA Today. It seems to make a case for the economic recovery gaining some traction. NAR economist says...
Saturday, April 16, 2011
My old home town Altoona, PA
ALTOONA, Pa. -- On April 27, there will still be a city with roughly 31,000 residents in the Alleghenies.
What there won't be is a city named Altoona. That's because the city has sold its name to make some money -- and to help independent filmmaker Morgan Spurlock make a point.
City council on Wednesday approved a deal to change the city's name to "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold."
Spurlock will pay the city an unspecified sum that will benefit its police department as part of a movie meant to skewer the proliferation of paid product placements in American life.
POM Wonderful is a Los Angeles juice company that paid to be the movie's title sponsor. The film premiers April 20 in Los Angeles and will screen in Altoona on April 27, the day the name change takes effect.
by The Associated Press.
I can see the down side to all this... think how long it will take to address an envelope?
Maybe this is a good thing. I think I could sell my name too and become... ________ the Realtor formally known as bigmark....
Fill in the blank,
Saturday, April 9, 2011
SFGate: Mortgage aid offered to those who cashed out equity
Check out this SF Gate article about aid for people who cashed out on equity...
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, April 6, 2011 (SF Chronicle) California has decided that people who stripped equity out of their homes
deserve taxpayer help after all.
The California Housing Finance Agency said Tuesday that people will no
longer be excluded from three of the four Keep Your Home California
programs just because they took out a home equity line of credit or did a
cash-out refinance.
Keep Your Home California is a state-run program getting $2 billion from
the U.S. Treasury's Hardest Hit Fund. It is designed to help low- and
moderate-income people who are unemployed or owe more than their home is
worth pay their mortgage.
There are four individual programs under the umbrella program. Eligible
homeowners can get up to $50,000 in assistance from one or more of the
four programs combined.
When Keep Your Home started taking applications in early February, it
barred people from all four programs if they had tapped the equity in
their homes.
"We knew we didn't have enough money to serve everyone," says Diane
Richardson, CalHFA's director of legislation. "We wanted to help people
who were in some kind of trouble through no fault of their own, who
weren't upside down because they had taken out equity."
Of the roughly 28,000 people who have called the program seeking
assistance, about 10,000 were found ineligible. Of those, about 40 percent
or 4,000 were turned down because they had taken equity out of their
homes.
CalHFA has now decided that people who can't pay their mortgage because
they are unemployed or suffered a financial hardship shouldn't be
penalized just because they robbed their homes of equity.
Under the new rules, people who took equity out of their homes will be
eligible for the unemployment mortgage assistance, mortgage reinstatement
assistance and transition assistance programs if they meet all the other
program requirements.
These same programs have also been expanded to include mortgages that were
originated after Jan. 1, 2009.
The program originally excluded mortgages originated after that date
because they also are excluded under the federal Home Affordable
Modification Program. "We wanted to be consistent with HAMP," Richardson
says.
But CalHFA found that a lot of homeowners in trouble had refinanced after
that date and it did not want to exclude them.
Homeowners who took cash out of their homes or whose mortgage was
originated after Jan. 1, 2009, remain ineligible for the fourth program,
which offers principal reduction.
To qualify for any of the four programs, homeowners must fall below
certain income limits ($119,300 in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin
counties; $108,350 in Contra Costa and Alameda counties).
They also must be living in the home and cannot own a second home, but
there are no other asset limits. Applicants will not be asked how they
spent any cash they took out of their homes or how much they have in bank
or investment accounts.
For other requirements, see
www.keepyourhomecalifornia.org/eligibility.htm.
Richardson says that "a couple hundred" people have received help from the
program and that about 2,000 more are in the final stage of confirming
their eligibility.
CalHFA is contacting people who were previously disqualified but would
qualify under the new rules. These homeowners can also contact the program
at (888) 954-5337.
Some people have been turned down because their loan servicer is not
participating in one or more of the programs.
All of the major private-sector servicers - Bank of America, Wells Fargo,
Chase, CitiMortgage and GMAC - are participating in the unemployment
mortgage assistance plan, which makes mortgage payments on behalf of
unemployed homeowners in imminent danger of foreclosure. The plan will pay
100 percent of the borrower's payment, up to $3,000 a month, for six
months.
None of those servicers are participating in the principal reduction
program, but BofA has agreed to join a pilot program that will start in a
few weeks, Richardson says.
This program will provide capital to reduce the principal balances of
qualifying borrowers who are underwater, or owe more than their homes are
worth. For every dollar the program contributes, BofA will also reduce the
borrower's principal by a dollar, Richardson says.
For borrowers who have received no other assistance from Keep Your Home
California, this program could reduce their balance by up to $100,000 -
$50,000 from the program and $50,000 from BofA.
However, the program cannot reduce loan balances to less than 115 percent
of the home's market value and it won't reduce the borrower's
debt-to-income ratio to less than 31 percent, Richardson says.
California is one of 18 states receiving money from the Hardest Hit Fund.
Each state could set up its own program, within limits. Many never
prevented homeowners from receiving assistance because they had withdrawn
equity from their homes. However, many also have much less generous
payouts than California.
To learn more, go to www.keepyourhomecalifornia.org, then click on
Programs. Net Worth runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. E-mail Kathleen
Pender at kpender@sfchronicle.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2011 SF Chronicle
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, April 6, 2011 (SF Chronicle) California has decided that people who stripped equity out of their homes
deserve taxpayer help after all.
The California Housing Finance Agency said Tuesday that people will no
longer be excluded from three of the four Keep Your Home California
programs just because they took out a home equity line of credit or did a
cash-out refinance.
Keep Your Home California is a state-run program getting $2 billion from
the U.S. Treasury's Hardest Hit Fund. It is designed to help low- and
moderate-income people who are unemployed or owe more than their home is
worth pay their mortgage.
There are four individual programs under the umbrella program. Eligible
homeowners can get up to $50,000 in assistance from one or more of the
four programs combined.
When Keep Your Home started taking applications in early February, it
barred people from all four programs if they had tapped the equity in
their homes.
"We knew we didn't have enough money to serve everyone," says Diane
Richardson, CalHFA's director of legislation. "We wanted to help people
who were in some kind of trouble through no fault of their own, who
weren't upside down because they had taken out equity."
Of the roughly 28,000 people who have called the program seeking
assistance, about 10,000 were found ineligible. Of those, about 40 percent
or 4,000 were turned down because they had taken equity out of their
homes.
CalHFA has now decided that people who can't pay their mortgage because
they are unemployed or suffered a financial hardship shouldn't be
penalized just because they robbed their homes of equity.
Under the new rules, people who took equity out of their homes will be
eligible for the unemployment mortgage assistance, mortgage reinstatement
assistance and transition assistance programs if they meet all the other
program requirements.
These same programs have also been expanded to include mortgages that were
originated after Jan. 1, 2009.
The program originally excluded mortgages originated after that date
because they also are excluded under the federal Home Affordable
Modification Program. "We wanted to be consistent with HAMP," Richardson
says.
But CalHFA found that a lot of homeowners in trouble had refinanced after
that date and it did not want to exclude them.
Homeowners who took cash out of their homes or whose mortgage was
originated after Jan. 1, 2009, remain ineligible for the fourth program,
which offers principal reduction.
To qualify for any of the four programs, homeowners must fall below
certain income limits ($119,300 in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin
counties; $108,350 in Contra Costa and Alameda counties).
They also must be living in the home and cannot own a second home, but
there are no other asset limits. Applicants will not be asked how they
spent any cash they took out of their homes or how much they have in bank
or investment accounts.
For other requirements, see
www.keepyourhomecalifornia.org/eligibility.htm.
Richardson says that "a couple hundred" people have received help from the
program and that about 2,000 more are in the final stage of confirming
their eligibility.
CalHFA is contacting people who were previously disqualified but would
qualify under the new rules. These homeowners can also contact the program
at (888) 954-5337.
Some people have been turned down because their loan servicer is not
participating in one or more of the programs.
All of the major private-sector servicers - Bank of America, Wells Fargo,
Chase, CitiMortgage and GMAC - are participating in the unemployment
mortgage assistance plan, which makes mortgage payments on behalf of
unemployed homeowners in imminent danger of foreclosure. The plan will pay
100 percent of the borrower's payment, up to $3,000 a month, for six
months.
None of those servicers are participating in the principal reduction
program, but BofA has agreed to join a pilot program that will start in a
few weeks, Richardson says.
This program will provide capital to reduce the principal balances of
qualifying borrowers who are underwater, or owe more than their homes are
worth. For every dollar the program contributes, BofA will also reduce the
borrower's principal by a dollar, Richardson says.
For borrowers who have received no other assistance from Keep Your Home
California, this program could reduce their balance by up to $100,000 -
$50,000 from the program and $50,000 from BofA.
However, the program cannot reduce loan balances to less than 115 percent
of the home's market value and it won't reduce the borrower's
debt-to-income ratio to less than 31 percent, Richardson says.
California is one of 18 states receiving money from the Hardest Hit Fund.
Each state could set up its own program, within limits. Many never
prevented homeowners from receiving assistance because they had withdrawn
equity from their homes. However, many also have much less generous
payouts than California.
To learn more, go to www.keepyourhomecalifornia.org, then click on
Programs. Net Worth runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. E-mail Kathleen
Pender at kpender@sfchronicle.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2011 SF Chronicle
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Foreclosure Scandal
Did you see the story on 60 Minutes last Sunday about the Foreclosure
scandal? Check out this article to see what the lenders are preparing
to do about the fallout of their practices... San Francisco Business Times
Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 6:52am PDT Wells Fargo, Bank of America may skip $20B foreclosure fines Deals by federal agencies may help Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America
Corp. and other major mortgage servicers avoid a threatened $20
billion in penalties for faulty foreclosures, Bloomberg reports. U.S. agencies are cutting ahead of states in signing deals, which ease
pressure on the banks and cut the leverage held by states. The first of the banks signed deals this week promising to improve
internal foreclosure controls and communications with borrowers, among
other processes. These are the first agreements to stem from last year's investigations
into the banks' "robo-signing," in which mortgage servicers OK'd
foreclosure documents without proper verification. A task force of 50 states' attorneys general had suggested penalties
of $20 billion as part of any deal.
scandal? Check out this article to see what the lenders are preparing
to do about the fallout of their practices... San Francisco Business Times
Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 6:52am PDT Wells Fargo, Bank of America may skip $20B foreclosure fines Deals by federal agencies may help Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America
Corp. and other major mortgage servicers avoid a threatened $20
billion in penalties for faulty foreclosures, Bloomberg reports. U.S. agencies are cutting ahead of states in signing deals, which ease
pressure on the banks and cut the leverage held by states. The first of the banks signed deals this week promising to improve
internal foreclosure controls and communications with borrowers, among
other processes. These are the first agreements to stem from last year's investigations
into the banks' "robo-signing," in which mortgage servicers OK'd
foreclosure documents without proper verification. A task force of 50 states' attorneys general had suggested penalties
of $20 billion as part of any deal.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
first post
● Contra Costa Sales Figures Leap Over National Stats
Many of you may have caught the news from NAR yesterday that pending home sales in February rose 2.1% year to year in February. That´s good news nationally, but we have even better news locally… Pending home sales in February for the Contra Costa region showed a whopping 27.4% increase year to year. For condos, the better news was even better: 42.46% increase year−to−year.
Click here for more Contra Costa stats.
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