Home Net 123

The San Francisco Chronicle

Home seizures may jump 25 percent this year
Banks may seize more than 1 million U.S. homes this year after legal scrutiny of their foreclosure practices slowed actions against delinquent property owners in 2011, RealtyTrac said.

Read the full story



The Mercury News

Mortgage rate drop sparks refinancing wave
Historically low interest rates coupled with a strengthening economy are getting the new year off to a fast start, stirring hopes that the housing and mortgage markets may finally come to life in 2012.

Read the full story 

The Wall Street Journal

Five issues for housing in 2012
Just as in 2011, in 2012 many will be trying to figure out where housing is headed.  While the housing market didn’t worsen in 2011, it also didn’t stabilize either.  This year, the story will be about local markets.  While many housing markets rose and fell together, they’re recovering at difference paces so talking about housing on a national level is not beneficial.

Making sense of the story

• Confidence and jobs: Housing is more affordable than it has been in decades, but many would-be buyers are worried about buying today if prices are going to be lower tomorrow.  Still, others don’t want to buy a house until they have more evidence that they’re not going to get laid off or see their hours cut back.
  
  
• Foreclosures: Banks and other mortgage investors own around 440,000 foreclosed properties, but there’s another 3.4 million loans in foreclosure or serious delinquency, according to estimates by Barclays Capital.  Because banks are faster to cut prices to unload inventory than are traditional sellers, home values can fall further as the share of distressed sales rises.
  
  
• Rents: If low mortgage rates aren’t enough to give urgency to would-be buyers, rent hikes could accelerate buyers’ decisions to take the plunge.
  
  
• Mortgage credit and rates: It’s still hard for many buyers to get approved for a mortgage because banks are demanding lots of documentation of borrowers’ incomes.
  
  
• Regulation: Many analysts don’t expect Congress to make major changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the election year, but several major regulatory changes could significantly reshape the future of the lending landscape in 2012.
  
   
• Meanwhile, the regulator that oversees Fannie and Freddie is revamping the way that mortgage companies are paid for collecting loan payments.  This could lead to a broader shakeup in the mortgage industry that ultimately influences how much borrowers are charged for mortgages and how banks handle loans that fall into delinquency.

California house sales up, prices down

California home sales posted an increase both on a monthly and annual basis in November, marking the fifth consecutive month of year-to-year sales increases, according to figures released today from the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.). Meanwhile, the statewide median price of an existing, single-family detached home sold in California rose 1 percent compared with October, but declined 5.2 percent compared with a year earlier.

Making sense of the story

Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California rose to a seasonally adjusted 503,570 units in November, up 2.1 percent from a revised 493,140 in October, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations and MLSs statewide.

November home sales also were up 2.3 percent from the revised 492,040 units sold during the like period a year ago. The statewide sales figure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2011 if sales maintained the November pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales.

The November statewide median price of an existing, single-family detached home sold in California was $280,960, up 1 percent from $278,060 in October but down 5.2 percent from the $296,480 median price recorded for November 2010.

The Unsold Inventory Index for existing, single-family detached homes was 5 months in November, down from 5.3 months in October and down from a 6.2-month supply in November 2010. The index indicates the number of months needed to deplete the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate.

Talking Points

• Traditionally, the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is the slowest time of the year for home shopping.  However, homeowners who must sell in the winter can use staging, the reduced competition and some seasonal opportunities to their advantage.
   
• Remembering the basics is key.  Taking care of needed maintenance and repairs is obligatory in any season.  A thorough cleaning and decluttering are equally essential.  Tidying up the yard and touching up the exterior appearance to improve curb appeal also can make the difference between deal or no deal.
   
• Home staging takes on a new focus in winter.  Rearranging the furniture and applying a fresh coat of paint to any room are just as important.  But to convey a cozy impression in the winter, it may befit homeowners to turn up the thermostat and have a fire in the fireplace for open houses.
  

California REALTORS® win Good Neighbor Awards

California REALTORS® Marta Karpiel of Carmel and Wayne J. Shaffer of Santa Cruz were recently selected by NAR as two of this year’s Good Neighbor Awards winners.

 Marta Karpiel’s personal donations have helped remove more than 350 landmines in Cambodia through the nonprofit, Freedom Fields USA. She developed a successful fundraising tool in the form of a map that lets donors choose the parcels of land that they are funding to clear, which has raised more than $250,000. She also handles all the marketing and promotion for the organization and secured a $50,000 grant from the U.S. State Department. Karpiel raised money to build a school on cleared land and provide backpacks, books and supplies for 200 children.

For more than three decades, Wayne J. Shaffer has been serving the poor and homeless of Santa Cruz, Calif. He is cofounder and president of St. Francis Catholic Kitchen, where he has volunteered since 1982. He went on to cofound Jesus Mary Joseph Home, a shelter for women and children. And in 2000, after meeting a soup kitchen client who was pregnant and living in her car, he founded Siena House Maternity Home, which provides emergency shelter, pre- and post-natal care, parenting skills, training and counseling for women experiencing a crisis pregnancy.

The Good Neighbor Awards have been granted annually since 2000 and are presented by NAR’s REALTOR® Magazine. Winners receive a $10,000 grant for their charity and a $2,000 Lowe’s gift card, and are profiled in the November-December issue of REALTOR® Magazine.

SAVING YOU MONEY

Bundling’s Not Always Best! Earlier this month, Gov. Brown signed AB 771 into law, preventing home buyers in common interest developments (CID), such as condominiums or townhomes, from being charged excess document fees. 

Homeowner associations (HOAs) are required to provide specific documents to prospective purchasers of homes in a CID. Current law requires that this information come from the HOA and prohibits it from charging fees in excess of what is “reasonable,” not to exceed the actual cost of processing and producing these documents.  HOAs generally have provided the documents for approximately $75 to $250. Increasingly, HOAs have been delegating document preparations to third party vendors or contractors who, under a 2007 court decision, are exempt from this fee limitation. This delegation of responsibility by HOAs sometimes resulted in home purchasers being forced to pay additional fees, as much as $1,000, for other documents which were “bundled” with the required documents.

AB 771 addresses this situation by specifying that only fees for the required documents may be charged when such documents are provided, effectively prohibiting any “bundling” of fees for other documents with these fees.

USA Today

Coming loan changes could squeeze high-priced home markets
Starting Oct. 1, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will cut the size of loans they buy from lenders.  That will force many future borrowers into more expensive and harder-to-get jumbo loans.

Home buyer tax credit repayment begins for 2008 buyers

Most home buyers who claimed the federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for buying their first home in 2008 are required to start repaying the credit in 15 annual installments, beginning with their 2010 tax returns.

The credit—some form of which was offered for qualified home purchases in 2008, 2009, and 2010—has different repayment rules depending on when and under what circumstances the home was purchased. As tax season approaches, this may cause confusion among home buyers who received the tax credit.

The IRS is sending a letter to taxpayers who claimed the credit that explains if, when, and how the buyer has to repay the credit. There are different IRS letters for different situations, including a purchase of a home in 2008, 2009, or 2010; a sale of a main home; or a change in the use of the main home.

The IRS website at www.irs.gov contains detailed information about repayment requirements for the federal home buyer tax credit. For information about the tax benefits of homeownership, go to NAHB's website www.SaveMyMortgageInterestDeduction.com.

01/29/11

The Wall Street Journal

JP Morgan admits wrongful military foreclosures
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. admitted that it wrongly foreclosed on 14 active-service military families and overcharged thousands more on their mortgages, a continuing internal bank review has found.

Read the full story

01/21/11

A little-known strategy for cutting mortgage payments

Homeowners looking to lower their monthly mortgage payments and reduce their interest rate may be able to do so without refinancing.  A little-known strategy called recasting or re-amortization is available through some mortgage lenders and servicers, and eliminates the hefty fees and daunting credit requirements of refinancing.

• Re-amortization requires borrowers pay off a lump sum of the principal amount on the mortgage and asking to have the monthly payments reset according to the original interest rate and loan terms.  The lump sum reduces the principal, so the new monthly payments decrease slightly and interest paid over the life of the loan is reduced.
  
  
• Lenders typically charge an administrative fee of $150 or more to re-amortize a mortgage; however, borrowers are not required to pay closing costs or submit to another credit check.
  
  
• Re-amortizing works well for homeowners unable to qualify for refinancing, especially those who are self employed or have low poor credit.
  
  
• Homeowners consider re-amortizing their mortgage should be aware that some lenders require a minimum amount to be paid toward the principal in the lump sum.  JPMorgan Chase, for example, charges a $150 fee and requires a minimum $5,000 payment toward the principal.
  
  
• Another challenge is finding a lender, or loan servicer, that offers re-amortizing.  JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America exclude loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration and Dept. of Veterans Affairs, and loans that were sold off and securitized may also need investor approval.

cool:

http://www.moillusions.com/2006/06/still-life-preformance-by-johan.html

SPAM Email

1)  Any time you see an E-Mail that says forward this on to '10' of your friends, sign this petition, or you'll get bad luck, good luck, or whatever, it  almost always has an E-Mail tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and E-Mails of those folks you forward to. The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of 'active' E-Mails to use in SPAM E-Mails, or sell to other spammers.
 

2)  Almost all E-Mails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. All it was, and all any of this type of E-Mail is, is a way to get names and 'cookie' tracking information for telemarketers and spammers - - to valid date active E-Mail accounts for their own profitable purposes.

The Orange County Register

Calif. house price drop 7th biggest in U.S.
California house prices had the seventh-biggest price drop among U.S. states in November, falling 5.9 percent from year-ago levels, according to data firm CoreLogic

Read the full story



San Francisco Chronicle

Fed to regularly forecast interest-rate changes
In a major shift, the Federal Reserve will start announcing four times a year how long it plans to keep short-term interest rates at existing levels, according to minutes from its December policy meeting.

Read the full story



Talking Points

• In coming weeks, federal policy makers could roll out pilot programs to further test the concept of renting out single-family homes.
  
   
• There are two different types of programs that officials are likely to consider.  Under the first, the Federal Housing Administration could sell properties in bulk to investors who agree to rent them out.
  
   
• A more likely option for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be to set up pools of properties in which third-party investors would take a stake.  Investors could be responsible for handling maintenance and day-to-day operation of the rental pool, with Fannie and Freddie sharing in some of the returns.
  
  
• Read more about the pilot programs at http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2012/01/12/six-questions-on-foreclosure-to-rental-programs/.

Talking Points

• When the new year arrives, promises and resolutions abound, but few include home improvement.  Here are resolutions every homeowner should make.
  
  
• Cut energy use: Sealing and insulating ductwork can improve the efficiency of a heating and cooling system by as much as 20 percent, saving $200 per year or more, according to Energy Star.
  
  
• Budget for home improvements: Creating a yearly budget for home improvement and maintenance helps prevent overspending, and encourages homeowners to put aside money for major replacements — such as new roofing or a kitchen appliance — that come up every few years.
  
  
• Curb water use: The average household uses about 400 gallons of water each day, or almost $700 per year in water and sewer costs. Making a few simple changes, such as installing EPA-certified WaterSense products, could trim up to $200 annually from the water bill. Add to that energy savings from reduced costs to heat water, and the yearly savings could reach $300 or more per year.

alking Points

• Installing home solar panels can cut your electric bill and shrink your carbon footprint. But the upfront costs of buying and installing a system can be considerable, even with government rebates.  the cost and return from adding solar panels, and whether the home's roof is positioned to benefit from them, are some key factors to examine before making the move.
  
  
• Those who have a section of roof that faces south with few obstructions, such as tall buildings or trees will benefit the most from installing solar panels.
  
  
• Once the estimate for how big of a system is needed, an online calculator can be used at to help determine costs and how long it will take to make back the investment. The calculator takes into consideration equipment costs, loan interest rates, tax savings and more.  One example of a calculator is http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/renewables/estimator.
  
  
• Government programs can provide significant financial breaks on the system, but these offers frequently change. The http://www.dsireusa.org site has information on what's currently available in the area.  Homeowners also should check with their local utility company.
  
  
• An average home solar-panel installation can cost $20,000 or more, even after incentives, according to the Department of Energy. An alternative is to have a leasing company, such as SolarCity, install the system at no cost to the homeowner, and bill for the system monthly.  In many cases, the electricity cost will be lower, but the system won’t be owned.
  
  
• Rebates and other incentives are generally available only if the homeowner uses a licensed contractor or does the job themselves. When hiring a contractor, ensure his or her state license is valid by doing an "instant license check" at http://www.cslb.ca.gov.

Talking Points

• Many homeowners considering a renovation think they will retrieve the costs when they sell.  However, unless homeowners keep these projects practical, it is unlikely they will recoup the costs later on.
  
  
• Some renovations are more likely to increase the value of the property, while others are more for the homeowner’s enjoyment.  For example, a steel front door can be a good investment, while a master suite addition generally is not.
  
  
• Each year, Remodeling Magazine looks at the hottest home upgrades and calculates the amount the owners are likely to get back when they sell.  To see the 2011 Remodeling Magazine report, visit http://www.remodeling.hw.net/2011/costvsvalue/national.aspx



 EIGHT SECRETS TO CAREER SUCCESS IN THIS MARKET

Follow these tips and make sure you live up to your career potential:

1. Motivation is everything. The talent you possess in your career can be irrelevant if you’re not motivated to use it. Getting satisfaction from a job well done will result in consistent performance and career longevity.

2. Think it through. Impulsiveness can get in the way of your optimal performance. The first solution you come up with might not always be the best, so bring your full intellectual resources to bear on a problem and translate your thought into action. Avoid becoming hopelessly enmeshed in details and make sure you stay focused on the big picture.

3. Don't give up. Perseverance can be the equivalent of preservation. Spend less time focusing on the problem and direct your energy toward overcoming the issues.

4. Translate thought into action. You come up with great ideas so do something about them!  Initiate that project and don’t depend on others to accomplish what you should be tackling yourself. Avoiding the challenge won’t help you reach your peak performance.

5. You can't take it all on. Spreading yourself too thin by undertaking more than your fair share can result in fewer tasks being completed on time. 

6. Maintain your perspective. Let's face it, life is going to happen. You're going to experience ups and downs, joys and sorrows. It's often difficult, but learning to put your personal difficulties aside will help you focus on the work at hand and maintain a better balance.

7. Procrastination = missed opportunities. If you find yourself unable to act without a certain amount of pressure or in search of minor tasks in order to avoid the big ones, you need to regain your focus. Distractions inevitably lead to reduced levels of accomplishment.

8. Get to know yourself. A lack of self-confidence can gnaw away at your ability to get things done and can ultimately become a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the other side of that coin, know where your strengths lie and be willing to admit when you might be wrong or in need of self-improvement. 

The Wall Street Journal

Tying health problems to rise in home foreclosures
New research by two economists show a direct correlation between foreclosure rates and the health of residents in Arizona, California, Florida, and New Jersey.



The Mercury News

Robo-signed mortgages date back more than a decade, possibly invalidating deeds
Counties across the U.S. are discovering that illegal or questionable mortgage paperwork is far more widespread than first thought, tainting the deeds of tens of thousands of homes dating to the late 1990s.



Americans still view homeownership as part of “American Dream”

Despite the high number of foreclosures and underwater homes in the current housing market, 70 percent of Americans still view homeownership as being part of their American Dream, according to a survey by Trulia.com. Nearly 80 percent of respondents say their homes are the best investment they ever made. Conversely, only 20 percent feel trapped in their “underwater” homes, while 14 percent said they would walk away from their homes in a heartbeat if they could.

Although many of today’s young adults came of age during the decline of housing market, 26 percent say their views on owning a home have become more positive over the past six months. With 88 percent of 18-34 year old renters aspiring to be homeowners, this new generation of buyers will likely play a crucial role in stabilizing today’s uncertain real estate market.

01/29/11

Los Angeles Times

Lenders’ data mining goes deep
Mortgage makers are going beyond tax returns and bank statements to determine whether you’re a good risk.  They’re checking such things as where you have pizza delivered and where you shop online.

To read the full story, please click here.

01/29/11

The New York Times

More transparency for variable-rate loans
Changes to the Truth in Lending Act have helped make loan documents more understandable for many borrowers, but some people with more complicated, fluctuating mortgages may still struggle to grasp all the terms.

Read the full story

01/21/11

CNN Money

Existing home sales jump 12 percent

Sales of existing homes jumped in December, marking the fifth month of gains in the past six months, based on an industry report released Thursday.

01,21,11

Smart people are buying real estate

A prominent hedge-fund manager said in a speech last fall:  “If you don’t own a home, buy one.  If you own a home, buy another one, and if you own two homes, buy a third and lend your relatives the money to buy a home.”  He believes that interest rates and home prices will rise this year, so real estate bargains won’t last much longer.

Interesting pictures - Obama's inauguration

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/the_inauguration_of_president.html

Please take 10 minutes out of your busy schedule and watch this video. It explains that the tires on your vehicle have an expiry date!!

What a cell phone's magnetic field can do.

http://fun.mivzakon.co.il/flash/20534/20534.html 

Food Patterns of our Body Featuring Enya Metamorphosis:

'http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EAn1YHXQUhI'

An Amazing Mother:

 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkrajf-Y7xI&feature=related

Supermarket Secrets:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5774892958354867332&q=&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3486838871531386599&q=&hl=en