Median single-family existing-home prices rose on a yearly basis in just over half of 146 markets tracked by the National Association of REALTORS® in the first quarter, indicating prices are stabilizing, the trade group said today.

Nationally, the U.S. median single-family existing-home price dipped 0.4 percent from a year ago in the [read more ...]]]>

Median single-family existing-home prices rose on a yearly basis in just over half of 146 markets tracked by the National Association of REALTORS® in the first quarter, indicating prices are stabilizing, the trade group said today.

Nationally, the U.S. median single-family existing-home price dipped 0.4 percent from a year ago in the first quarter, to $158,100. Real estate owned (REO) and short-sale properties, typically sold at a discount, accounted for 32 percent of sales in the first quarter, down from 38 percent a year ago.

“Home prices lag sales activity because the transactions were negotiated mostly in the previous quarter,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, in a statement. “Given the steadily dwindling supply of inventory and notably higher listing prices that are being negotiated today, prices are expected to show further improvements in the near future.”

At the end of the first quarter, for-sale inventory stood at 2.37 million existing homes, down 21.8 percent year over year. Inventories have been declining since a record 4.04 million in the summer of 2007, NAR said.

“We now have broad shortages of lower-priced homes in much of the country, with very tight supply in Western states for homes through the middle price ranges. This is good news for many sellers who wish to list now, or for those waiting for prices to improve,” Yun said.

Total sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums in the U.S. rose 5.3 percent on an annual basis in the first quarter to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million.

“This is the highest first-quarter sales pace since 2007. With strong market fundamentals, total home sales this year should rise 7 to 10 percent,” Yun said.

Regionally, sales rose the most in the Midwest, 11.7 percent year over year, to 1.02 million. The region posted a slight annual increase in median sale price, 0.8 percent, to $125,300.

In the Northeast, sales increased 6.6 percent to 590,000. The region’s median sales price dropped 3.2 percent from a year ago to $226,300.

The South saw a 4.1 percent jump in sales, to 1.76 million, and 1.2 percent rise in median price, to $143,600.

The West saw the smallest sales increase, 1.4 percent, to 1.2 million. Median price in the region fell slightly, 0.9 percent, to $196,200.

First-time buyers accounted for a third of sales nationwide in the first quarter, a slight year-over-year increase. Cash buyers, mostly investors, made up 32 percent of sales last quarter, while investors made up 22 percent.

Of 146 metro areas, 74 saw median sales prices increase year over year in the first quarter, compared to only 29 in the fourth quarter. Of the 20 metro areas to see the highest year-over-year jumps in sales prices in the first quarter, five were in Florida. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., saw the biggest price jump, 28.1 percent, to $117,600.

Nonetheless, half of the 20 metros were in the Midwest, with Grand Rapids, Mich., posting the biggest increase in that region, 19 percent, to $96,500.

Metropolitan Area Q1 2012 Pct. Chg.
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. $117,600 28.1%
Grand Rapids, Mich. $96,500 19.0%
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla. $104,600 16.9%
Erie, Pa. $110,200 16.6%
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. $131,900 16.1%
Ft. Wayne, Ind. $94,600 14.8%
Peoria, Ill. $122,100 13.6%
Bismarck, N.D. $179,300 12.4%
Elmira, N.Y. $98,900 12.0%
Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, Fla. $163,400 11.1%
Dayton, Ohio $86,600 11.0%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, Fla.. $182,000 9.6%
Akron, Ohio $81,600 8.9%
Oklahoma City $140,500 8.7%
Charleston, W.Va. $131,500 7.6%
Florence, S.C. $115,700 7.5%
Honolulu $616,700 6.5%
Decatur, Ill. $86,100 6.4%
Lansing-E.Lansing, Mich. $65,500 6.2%
Gary-Hammond, Ind. $107,300 5.9%
Source: National Association of Realtors.

Among the top 20 metros with the sharpest annual price decreases, eight were in the Northeast, five were in the South, four were in the Midwest, and three were in the West.

Kingston, N.Y., saw the biggest decline, 22 percent, to $156,800, followed by Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn., down 18 percent to $334,000. While only four of the 20 metros that saw the biggest price increases had median sales prices above the national median in the first quarter, eight among those with the sharpest declines had medians above the national level.

Metropolitan Area Q1 2012 Pct. Chg.
Kingston, N.Y. $156,800 -22.0%
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. $334,000 -18.0%
Mobile, Ala. $91,200 -14.7%
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. $87,800 -12.0%
Rockford, Ill. $79,500 -11.7%
Reno-Sparks, Nev. $147,800 -11.1%
Jacksonville, Fla. $113,800 -10.7%
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Fla. $98,400 -10.6%
Salem, Ore. $137,200 -10.6%
Newark-Union, N.J.-Pa. $326,000 -9.6%
Burlington-South Burlington, Vt. $246,200 -9.2%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. $265,400 -7.6%
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn. $202,000 -7.6%
Appleton, Wis. $107,700 -6.8%
New York-Wayne-White Plains, N.Y.-N.J. $411,700 -6.3%
Trenton-Ewing, N.J. $205,500 -6.0%
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis. $170,600 -6.0%
Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss. $93,500 -5.9%
Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y. $111,300 -5.8%
Wichita, Kan. $99,900 -5.5%
Source: National Association of Realtors.

With today’s report, NAR also released a new metro-by-metro analysis on the qualifying incomes to purchase a median-priced existing single-family home, assuming 5, 10 or 20 percent down payments and a mortgage interest rate of 4 percent with 25 percent of gross income devoted to mortgage principal and interest.

Nationally, median family income was $61,000 in the first quarter, NAR reported. At the national median home price, a buyer making a 5 percent down payment would need a $34,700 income; that drops to $32,900 and $29,300, respectively, for those making 10 or 20 percent down payments, the association said.

“Qualifying incomes are well below median incomes in most of the country, which means homebuyers generally can stay well within their means,” Yun said.

“For example, a buyer in Indianapolis making a 10 percent down payment would need an annual income of $24,004 to purchase a median-priced home, while in Seattle it would be $55,300. For now, buyers are facing an extraordinarily advantageous situation if they can obtain a mortgage.”

Most markets tracked by NAR post annual gains

By Inman News

Sales of U.S. homes in the foreclosure process, typically short sales, rose 33 percent year over year, to 35,000, in January. A [read more ...]]]> 2012 is on track to become a record year for short sales, according to a report from foreclosure data aggregator RealtyTrac.

2012 will be the record year for short sale foreclosures

Sales of U.S. homes in the foreclosure process, typically short sales, rose 33 percent year over year, to 35,000, in January. A total of 32 states saw annual increases in short sales, and 12 states saw more short sales than REO (real estate owned) sales.

The short-sale increase comes after three years of declines following the inauguration of “a new presidential administration with a new approach to the foreclosure problem,” wrote Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac’s vice president and author of the report.

“Short sales have long held great promise as a market-based solution to the nation’s foreclosure problem, but short sales transactions over the past three years have actually declined after peaking in the first quarter of 2009,” Blomquist said in a statement.

“January foreclosure sales numbers, along with first-quarter foreclosure activity, strongly indicate that downward trend is ending, and we believe 2012 could be a record year for short sales.”

Several states saw triple- or double-digit yearly jumps in short sales in January, including:
Georgia (up 113 percent)
Michigan (90 percent)
California (52 percent)
Texas (48 percent)
Arizona (44 percent)
Nevada (36 percent)
Florida (20 percent).

Although REOs continue to outnumber short sales nationwide, there were only 2,600 more REO sales than short sales in January. Nearly a quarter of states had more short sales than REO sales, including Utah, California, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Colorado, New York and New Jersey, according to the report.

Six out of the 10 states with the highest share of short sales in January were in the West.

Of the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, nine out of the 10 metros with the highest share of short sales in January were in the West, six of them in California.

Even as short sales increase, the prices buyers pay for them have decreased. In fourth-quarter 2011, a pre-foreclosure property sold for an average $184,221, down 11.3 percent from fourth-quarter 2010. In January, such a property sold for $174,120, down 10 percent year over year.

Short sales are also selling for bigger discounts when compared to the average sales prices of nondistressed homes. Short-sale buyers received an average 21 percent discount in January, up from an average discount of 17 percent the year before. RealtyTrac does not take into account property condition or size when calculating discounts for distressed properties.

Short sales in Massachusetts, Missouri and California saw the biggest discounts in January.

Short-sale timelines appear to be getting shorter. After peaking at 318 days in third-quarter 2011, the average number of days it took for a property to go from the start of the foreclosure process to its sale as a pre-foreclosure was 306 days in the first quarter, slightly down from 308 days in the fourth quarter.’

Although foreclosure starts — either default notices or scheduled foreclosure auctions, depending on the state — were down 11 percent from the previous year in March, last month also saw the third straight monthly rise in foreclosure starts.

There are nearly 3.5 million delinquent borrowers nationwide; 41 percent of those borrowers are seriously delinquent and therefore at high risk for entering the foreclosure process and becoming short sales, RealtyTrac said.

Another, bigger potential pool of short-sellers are borrowers with underwater mortgages. More than 12.5 million borrowers owe at least 25 percent more on their mortgage than their home is worth.

“Even if these homeowners aren’t struggling to make mortgage payments and therefore are at low risk for foreclosure, if they need to sell sometime in the next five years it’s likely they’ll need to sell via short sale,” the report said.

Among lenders and loan servicers, Bank of America had the highest short-sale volume in January, followed by Chase and Wells Fargo.

PNC Financial saw the biggest annual jump in short sales, followed by the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac combined.

Those three government-backed entities also had the lowest average short-sale prices in January, the biggest declines in average sales price for short sales, the lowest number of average days to sale, and the biggest decrease in time to sell.

Pending-home sales in March hit their highest level since April 2010, spurring the return of real-estate bidding wars. Nick Timiraos reports on The News Hub. Photo: Peter Earl McCollough for The Wall Street [read more ...]]]>

Pending-home sales in March hit their highest level since April 2010, spurring the return of real-estate bidding wars. Nick Timiraos reports on The News Hub. Photo: Peter Earl McCollough for The Wall Street Journal.

Real Estate Blog : Residential Commercial Income Investment [read more ...]]]> HAFA Explained in video!
How HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative) program can help home owners on a tough foreclosure situation.

Real Estate Blog : Residential Commercial Income Investment Property

Real Estate Blog : Residential Commercial Income Investment Property

San Pedro bluff is disappearing slowly sliding into the sea. While the IRS do not consider ‘Land’ to be a depreciative item in their book, but not in this case. When nature decided to ‘foreclosure’ and taking the land back, we can only do so much to fight against it. I had seen [read more ...]]]>

San Pedro bluff is disappearing slowly sliding into the sea. While the IRS do not consider ‘Land’ to be a depreciative item in their book, but not in this case. When nature decided to ‘foreclosure’ and taking the land back, we can only do so much to fight against it. I had seen similar case in another part of California along Highway 1 in Pacifica (Nor Cal). It quite a scene. There is/was a sizable apartment building hanging on the cliff, some residents’ balcony is overhanging straight over the Pacific Ocean. Very scary sight and many residents in that apartment complex were evacuated.

In this case in San Pedro, many coastal residents are also worried the coastline is getting to close and make their land disappeared.

Click to Read Full Article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-san-pedro-slide-20111102,0,3671163.story?track=icymi

While we already know technology is advancing mankind since the birth of the Internet, it is also making many industries become obsolete. A few of you may know my IT background, even 10+ years ago, we were already migrating everything to web base = aka Cloud computing in today’s term. In this article, [read more ...]]]>

While we already know technology is advancing mankind since the birth of the Internet, it is also making many industries become obsolete. A few of you may know my IT background, even 10+ years ago, we were already migrating everything to web base = aka Cloud computing in today’s term. In this article, commercial office space property managers panic due to less and less butts are on office chairs in the office. Yeah, seriously, who GO TO the office anymore. After all, why would anyone want to spend extra few hours a day driving to the office just to get the same or less things done while they could manage it at their HOME office.

I personally will stay out of a few segments of commercial real estate including office building, small retail space, stand alone retail (unless you already find a tenant for it) due to the current economic instability. However, we are hunting for multi-family apartment buildings that cashflow. After all, food and shelters are our basic needs. And I am very proud to help my investors, clients, and myself to be one of the contributors to today’s economy by providing quality affordable housing.

Read full Article:
Why Property Managers Have Panic In Their Eyes – Forbes.

If the Federal Reserve don’t even have to report to Congress, the President, or any Government entity, why would the Fed report to us!!! They are GOD on their own, and ‘Friends’ with Wall Street and the [read more ...]]]> The Federal Reserve is rotten to the core.

Real Estate Blog : Residential Commercial Income Investment Property

If the Federal Reserve don’t even have to report to Congress, the President, or any Government entity, why would the Fed report to us!!! They are GOD on their own, and ‘Friends’ with Wall Street and the Super Riches. Of coz they need to take care of their own at the Taxpayers expense. So the answer to the Title Question is YES!

Read Full Article by Gary D. Barnett
via Are the Federal Reserve and Its Primary Dealer Banks Manipulating the Stock Market? by Gary D. Barnett.