Monday, May 30, 2011

Some Wise Quotes

You are brave...when you overcome your fear and help others to do the same.


You are happy...when you see a flower and are thankful for the blessing.

You are loving...when your own pain does not blind you to the pain of others.

You are wise...when you know the limits of your wisdom.

You are true...when you admit there are times you fool yourself.

You are alive...when tomorrow’s hope means more to you than yesterday’s mistake.

You are growing...when you know what you are but not what you will become.

You are free...when you are in control of yourself and do not wish to control others.

You are honorable...when you find your honor is to honor others.

You are generous...when you can take as sweetly as you can give.

You are humble...when you do not know how humble you are.

You are merciful...when you forgive in others the faults you condemn in yourself.

You are beautiful...when you don’t need a mirror to tell you.

You are rich...when you never need more than what you have.

You are you...when you are at peace with who you are and are not.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Investors Will Dominate The Real Estate Market In the Next Two Years


Investors are expected to outnumber traditional home buyers three to one in the next two years, according to a national survey by Move Inc.

These investors also are ready to compete with traditional first-time home buyers to snag the best deals. About two-thirds of investors say they expect the problems that first-time buyers are having with financing and getting mortgages will work in their favor in competing for properties. One in five investors say they plan to purchase properties using cash-only and 80.5 percent expect cash discounts on properties from sellers.

Some additional findings from the Move Investor survey about this growing segment of home buyers are:

--43.5 percent of investors expect it to get more difficult to find housing bargains in the coming months. Twenty-two percent expect prices to rise in the next six to 12 months, while 53 percent expect prices to stay relatively flat.

--Half of the real estate investors surveyed say they plan to hold their properties for five years or more. Only 11 percent expect to sell within 12 months of buying it.

--Nearly half of the investors surveyed expect a profit of 20 percent or more from their investment, 40 percent expect a profit of 10 percent, and 6.5 percent expect a 5 percent or less return on investment.

--Nearly half of investors say they plan to live in their investment property until it's sold or turned into a rental property.

--About 56 percent of investors plan to turn their investments into rental properties. Also, the survey found that 28 percent plan to purchase a vacation property and 30 percent reported an interest in buying retirement property as an investment.

--Nearly 60 percent of investors say they're new to real estate investing. About 33 percent are considering their first investment purchase and 8.5 percent are in the process of buying and selling their first investment property. Of those surveyed, only 36.5 percent had experience in more than one property transaction.

"This data suggests today's climate is hot for investing and is attracting a lot of new people that don't fit the stereotypical deal-driven flippers that buy and sell properties quickly," says Steve Berkowitz, Move Inc. chief executive officer. "They're mostly entrepreneurial individuals that will make vital contributions to local communities by investing their own money and sweat equity to improve and maintain properties. These personal sacrifices made over the long run will help improve housing stocks, home values, property tax bases, and thousands of local communities."

Source: “New Survey Shows Local Real Estate Markets Heat Up With Investors,” Move.com (May 26, 2011)


Thursday, May 26, 2011

Is the Fha Down payment Going To Increase To 5 % ?

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee have drafted legislation that would raise the minimum down payment for FHA mortgages to 5 percent, cut FHA loan limits in most markets, and move the Agriculture Department's rural housing program to FHA's parent agency, HUD.


Though the draft bill has not been introduced, titled or assigned a number, it is expected to be the main subject of a hearing Wednesday before the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity, chaired by Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill. After that, the bill is likely to be formally introduced and sped through subcommittee and committee votes and head for action by the full House.

The text of the draft bill appears to be a partial answer from House Republicans to the Obama administration's call earlier this year for a smaller federal government footprint in housing.

By lowering maximum FHA loan limits in large numbers of local areas -- well below even the limits that are already scheduled to kick in Oct. 1 -- the bill would squeeze down FHA loan volume across the country, cutting a resource for some home purchasers who can't obtain a conventional mortgage.

Here are some examples of current FHA loan ceilings, how they're scheduled to adjust in October, and where they'd end up under the Republican plan:

•In Los Angeles County, the present high-cost area maximum is $729,750, which was set by the federal economic stimulus legislation passed by Congress following the financial crisis of 2008. That ceiling is scheduled to drop to $625,500 Oct. 1. Under the new bill, however, the maximum FHA-insured loan amount allowed in Los Angeles would be $412,500 -- a $317,250 plunge from the current limit and $213,000 below the scheduled reduction this fall.

•Other counties in high-cost California would experience even sharper declines, such as Monterey, where the maximum would decline by $436,000 and Contra Costa, where the drop would be $379,750. Every county in California -- from big urban communities to rural areas -- would be on the losing end of the new FHA equation, and most reductions would be in the six figures.

•The lower limits would be significant in other states as well. Monroe County, Fla., would see maximum FHA loan limits go from $729,750 to $425,000. Under the scheduled Oct. 1 statutory decrease, the county -- which comprises the Florida Keys -- would have a $529,000 maximum. Sarasota, Fla., would see a $261,250 drop under the bill, Miami-Dade a decrease of $161,250, and Orange County (Orlando) limits would decline by $128,750.

•Large counties in the high-cost areas around Washington D.C. would see FHA limits drop by anywhere from $398,500 (Prince George's, Md.) to $366,250 in Baltimore. Most New England and mid-Atlantic states would end up with lower loan ceilings along with major markets in the Midwest and the Rocky Mountain states.

The FHA loan limit formula would be revised to 125 percent of the median home sale price in the local county under the bill, and the current $271,050 floor for loan limits nationwide would disappear.

Though major housing, real estate and lending groups had no comments pending the Wednesday hearing, they are likely to oppose the sharp cuts in loan limits.

Mortgage industry consultant Brian Chappelle, head of Potomac Partners in Washington, D.C., is scheduled to testify at the hearing and told Inman News that the higher loan ceilings are a bad idea.

Audits of FHA loan performance, Chappelle said, repeatedly have shown that higher-balance mortgages default and trigger claims against FHA's insurance funds at lower rates than smaller-balance loans.

"FHA is essentially an insurance company," he said, "and you need those (higher-balance) loans to spread the risk," just as private sector insurers do.

The Republican bill's call for a 5 percent minimum down payment on FHA loans also is likely to draw criticism from industry groups.

The National Association of REALTORS® and the National Association of Home Builders have opposed such a move in the past, arguing that there is no statistical evidence that adding 1.5 percent onto the current 3.5 percent minimum would significantly affect default probabilities of new FHA loans.

However, the higher down payments, along with the bill's prohibition of financing of closing costs, would make home purchases more difficult for substantial numbers of consumers.

Chappelle estimates that "40 percent of FHA borrowers would fall out" -- unable to afford the transaction -- "if they go to 5 percent down."

The bill also proposes shifting the Agriculture Department's rural housing program to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A Republican staff member said "HUD has the housing responsibility and the expertise," so the change is logical.

However, proponents of the rural housing programs may not want to risk being swallowed up in an urban-oriented agency, nor is the Agriculture Department likely to want to lose a chunk of its traditional turf.

Where's the bill headed? Republicans say they are merely seeking to move the agenda they share with the Obama administration -- the smaller footprint concept -- which is, in turn, part of a larger agenda to phase out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Passage of the bill by the full House appears to be a real possibility, as Republicans are in control on that side of Capitol Hill.

But all bets are off in the Senate, where Democratic support for continuing FHA's role in the market is far stronger, and where dramatic cuts in loan limits in places like California, New York, Massachusetts and the East Coast's expensive markets likely won't fly.

Ken Harney writes an award-winning, nationally syndicated column, "The Nation's Housing," and is the author of two books on real estate and mortgage finance.

Alberto Pacheco
Realtor Calbre Lic 01200694
818 481 9211
Keller Williams Porter Ranch
Real Estate Consultant
http://www.granadahills.kwrealty.com  Real Estate News, Mortgages, Trends


Tuesday, May 24, 2011

How do I know when is the best time to invest?

Very often I hear potential homebuyers ask the following questions:


• Is this the best time to buy a home or should I wait?

• I hear home prices are still declining and rates are going to be even lower, should I wait?

• What if I buy a home and prices go down, am I going to lose my home?

When we decide to invest, the first thing that we must accept is the fact that no one really knows when the absolute bottom of the market will be, or exactly when the market trends will change, until after it happens; still not sure? Let’s analyze what happened a few years ago:

1. The largest investment bankers of the country lost hundreds of billions of dollars funding risky loans based on the belief that homes would continue to appreciate in value and they didn’t

2. When the financial crisis started, most “experts” predicted that this was going to be the smallest Real Estate bubble in history and that prices would start appreciating soon, we all know what really happened.

Some of us like to wait until we hear in the News that it is a good time to invest, however we seem to forget that Newscasts only report things that have already happened, they never predict, they only report; still in doubt? Then ask yourself, do you remember hearing any news channel reporting about the financial crisis before it happened? Of course not, we only heard of it until after it was already happening.

A second important aspect about investing is to always remember the golden rule:”buy when prices are low and sell when prices are high”, unfortunately most of us will wait to purchase until we see prices are on the way up instead of when they are down.

Now that we know the basics, let’s review the other costs associated with owning a home, to make sure that we are being responsible; you will pay hazard insurance, property taxes, mortgage insurance (if you are investing less than 20% down payment) and last but not least, the interest that you pay on your mortgage; if we take in consideration the interest, the average homeowner will have paid 3 times the price of their home after the 30 years term, financial costs (interest) is therefore the highest cost of homeownership.

In conclusion, we can safely say that a good time to invest would be the combination of low home values and low interest rates, if we acknowledge that rates are at the lowest they have been in the last 50 years and home values are 40% of the peak of the market, would you agree that we are experiencing one of the best times to invest in a home?

Ruben Romero
Camino Real Mortgage Bankers

Quote of The Day

All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive

ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.



Plato

 
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Saturday, May 21, 2011

Quote of The Day

Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy

but the worst habit you couldpossibly have.

Dale Carnegie


Tuesday, May 17, 2011

New Homes Competing Against Foreclosures

Builders broke ground on fewer homes in April as the new-home sector continues to face competition from a glut of foreclosures that in many markets has brought home values down.

Construction on homes and apartments dropped 10.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 523,000 units, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. In March, housing starts reached a 585,000-unit pace (an upward revised figure). Residential construction is down 23.9 percent compared to April of last year--its largest drop since October 2009.

Considered the “volatile part” of the new-home market at the moment, construction of multifamily homes (buildings with five or more units) particularly hampered housing starts last month, decreasing 28.3 percent. Single-family home construction--which generally makes up 75 percent of all housing starts--dropped 5.1 percent from a month earlier.

Regionally, the results were mixed. In the South, housing starts dropped 23 percent and 4.8 percent in the Northeast. However, the Midwest posted a 15.7 percent gain in housing starts, as well as the West with 3.7 percent.

Permits for future home construction dropped last month, falling 4 percent to a 551,000-unit pace last month, the Commerce Department reports.

The Distressed Sales Impact

New-home construction is being weighed down by an oversupply of existing homes on the market, particularly foreclosures, experts say. Buyers are increasingly choosing bargain-priced foreclosures and previously owned homes over--in general--pricier new homes.

“Builder confidence has hardly budged over the past six months as persistent concerns regarding competition from distressed property sales, lack of production credit, inaccurate appraisals, and proposals to reduce government support of housing," NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen said Monday in statement about the National Association of Home Builder/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, which shows builders’ confidence about the new-home market remains low.

Source: “U.S. Housing Starts, Permits Fall in April,” Reuters News (May 17, 2011

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Granada Hills, Mission Hills and North Hills Homes Sold on 3rd Quarter of 2010

Granada Hills

Homes Sold:  128          Average Sales Price: $ 405,000   Price Change From 3rd Quater 2009: 5.2%

Condos Sold: 12            Average Sales Price: $ 257,000  Price Change From 3rd Quarter 2009: 11.6%

Mission Hills

Homes Sold: 42             Average Sales Price: $ 321,000    Price Change From 3rd Quarter 2009:  7%

Condos Sold: 3             Average Sales Price:  $ 175,000   Price Change From 3rd Quarter 2009: -12.5%

North Hills

Homes Sold: 88            Average Sales Price: $ 375,000       Price Change From 3rd Quarter 2009: 4.5%

Condos Sold: 51           Average Sales Price: $ 185,000       Price Change From 3rd Quarter 2009: 14.6%


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