Housing Shortage Being Felt…Especially In The West

Posted in Foreclosures, Real Estate by Jake on October 22, 2012 No Comments yet

“It’s hard to imagine, given that the nation’s housing market is still digging itself out of an epic foreclosure crisis, that there just are not enough homes available to buy.  But that, apparently,  is the case, according to the National Association of Realtors, who blame a drop in home sales on an ‘acute lack of supply’ in certain formerly hot markets.  ‘Recent price increases are not deterring buyer interest,’ notes Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.  ‘Rather, inventory shortages are limiting sales,  notably in parts of the West.’  A little perspective is called for here.  The housing recovery has largely been driven by investors on the low end of the market.  Cities like Phoenix,  Las Vegas and Sacramento, CA, where the foreclosure crisis hit hardest and where home prices fell the most, were swarmed by these investors, who were looking to take advantage of the situation and convert this distress into long-term rental rewards and shorter term resale profits.  Witness, sales of homes priced under $100,000 in the West are down 47 percent from a year ago, according to the NAR,  after investors drove prices notably higher.  Distressed sales made up just 24 percent of total home sales in September, while they had been making up over one third of sales for the past two years.

Where’s The Beef?

So where is all this distressed supply, given that there are still 5.45 million homes with mortgages that are either delinquent or in the foreclosure process (per LPS Applied Analytics)?  Banks are doing more foreclosure alternatives, like short sales, but they are also making more aggressive loans.  Bank of America this week announced that in the past five months it has reduced principal on 30,000 troubled loans, with an average reduction of $145,000.  This as part of the mortgage servicing settlement signed early this year.  However, banks have also finally come around to the fact that loan modifications with reduced principal have a much lower re-default rate.  Yun suggests that builders need to really ramp up production in order for home sales to recover more.  Housing starts for single family homes in September were up 43 percent from a year ago and building permits were up 27%, but the real volumes are still about half the normal level.  New homes are popular with first-time home buyers, who are only making up 32 percent of the market, whereas they normally represent about 45 percent. That is due to still tight credit conditions. The biggest problem affecting inventories is that regular home sellers are not putting their homes on the market at a high enough rate to offset the drop in distressed volumes.  Why?  Part of it is still a lack of confidence in the market, but most of it is that, as of August, about 15 million homeowners still owed more on their mortgages than their homes were worth, according to Zillow.  That’s 31 percent of homes with a mortgage.  Negative equity and near negative equity is largely what is holding the market back now, even as distressed homes slowly move out of the system.  Given the huge drops in sales and inventory out West, which had been driving much of the gains in the overall market,  some analysts predict deeper sales drops in the coming months.  While sales of higher priced homes are up considerably from a year ago, they still make up a very small share of the total market.  About 65 percent of the market is made up of homes priced lower than $250,000.  These are a lot of numbers to digest, but they add up to a still bumpy recovery ahead for housing.”

Excerpts contributed by Diana Olick

Home Sales Will Hit A 5 Year High…Maybe!

Posted in Real Estate by Jake on September 22, 2012 No Comments yet

“Sales of existing single family homes and condominiums beat expectations for August, rising to the highest level since May of 2010, when the government’s home buyer tax credit juiced sales temporarily. This time it could be argued that the government stimulus behind sales is record low mortgage rates, but that may not be all of it. Close to one third of the homes that sold in August went to buyers using all cash, despite average rates on the 30-year fixed sitting around 3.6%. Rates appear to have less of an impact than hoped. Witness mortgage applications to purchase a home fell 4% last week, even as rates fell to record lows on the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey. ‘The strengthening housing market is occurring even with difficult mortgage qualifying conditions, which is testament to the sizable stored-up housing demand that accumulated in the past five years,’ said the National Association of Realtors’ chief e conomist Lawrence Yun. With the August jump of 7.8% from July, Realtors now say they are confident that home sales for all of 2012 will hit their highest level in five years. They do warn that there are still ‘frictions’ in the market, not the least of which are about 12 million borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. These so-called ‘underwater’ borrowers are largely stuck in place, unable to cover their debt and unable to move up. ‘Bottom line, housing continues to recover, but the bounce still has to be put into the perspective of how much damage was done,’ notes Peter Boockvar at Miller Tabak. ‘Looking specifically at single family homes, at a sales level of 4.30mm, it’s back to where it was in 1998 and of course still well below the bubble high of 6.34mm in Sept ’05.’

Still More Distressed Property On The Horizon

As positive data begin to outnumber negative, analysts warn of a large pipeline of distressed properties that are still weighing down a potentially more robust recovery. Foreclosure activity increased in August, and states that had all but halted the process on thousands of properties, due to judicial challenges to paperwork, are now ramping up again. This will add lower-priced properties to an already low volume of homes for sale. The question is, will that distress be absorbed quickly by investors and cease to have the negative impact on surrounding properties and consumer sentiment that foreclosures have had in years past? Investors, big and small, continue to move into this market, unafraid that rent prices will fall any time soon. ‘The demand for rental housing is incredible,’ said former GE CEO and author Jack Welch on CNBC Wednesday. ‘The home rental idea is moving strongly.’ As for the latest news on housing starts? ‘We’re going nowhere in housing,’ Welch replied. Home sales usually get a slight boost in early fall before tapering off to the slowest season around the holidays. Regardless of seasonality, the numbers are improving, while the barriers to entry, like credit and nega tive equity, remain. The two will duke it out slowly in these next few months, until a stronger improvement in jobs and more certainty over regulatory changes in the mortgage market finally let the bulls run free.”

Obama Will Kill Us With Taxes…

Posted in Politics by Jake on September 5, 2012 No Comments yet

FOR ALL POLITICAL PARTIES…………..

Do not let the Democratic National Convention fool you into believing that Obama has your best interest at heart!  He cares only about himself and his re-election.  He has an agenda for this country that will forever change our way of life,  our ability to compete in the world and our security throughout the world.  The philosophy is simple…make the majority of the masses dependent on government welfare programs and income redistribution and you control the political process and the social fabric of our nation.

Progressive liberals have already invaded every sacred and respectable moral position that this country was founded on with devastating results.  There is no respect for work ethic or faith in God.  Children’s rights have trumped  consent for parental oversight and disciplinary discretion at home and school resulting in lower academic achievement and a complete lack of respect for adult authority.  Our society is being dumbed down right before our eyes!  Abortion has become the acceptable cure all for a generation of people that place more importance on being tatooed and sexually promiscuous than striving to create a better society… with the exception of the welfare mother who has children to increase her welfare check and enrich her lifestyle at the taxpayers expense.  It’s a mess out there and Obama wants to make it even messier by expanding the revenue needed to support his liberal agenda and increase dependency on the government…all the while increasing the long term debt of our country.  HE NEEDS TO GO AWAY FOR GOOD!  Like…back to his pot smoking, ecstasy snorting life that we never hear anything about from the Obama loving media!  I don’t even want to see his face in politics at any level.  He is a deceitful, phoney destroyer of all things good in this country… all things that defined us as nation and gave reason for people to come here and create a better life.   If you want to create a better life for yourself and family now,  you have to hand over (through taxation) a larger amount of your money to the government, who will give it to those who are content riding the gravy train…because, you know,  it’s only fair!  OK  OK…  I’m done with that.  But you need to really think about what you are doing to the USA if you vote for that pompous Marxist!

 On another note…

Dick Morris is the man that helped get Clinton elected President twice, Governor of Arkansas three times and worked in the Clinton administration!  He is a respected news contributor and author… and he investigates before reporting and knows what he is talking about. He  has released a short,  must see” video… that you have to watch!  He is NOT a “phony” but rather a man who has been on both sides of the aisle and understands the course that we are on as a nation under Barrack Obama.  Barrack Obama is going to affect everyone in the worst possible way!  I only hope he can be stopped before The United States of America becomes the social sister to Greece and other European countries.

    Click here

 

 

Obama Speaks Rhetoric, a Tycoon Says

Posted in Generally Speaking, Politics by mrdublin on December 9, 2011 No Comments yet

Last week created a buzz as business tycoon and Wall Street veteran, Lean Cooperman, initiated an open letter to Obama criticizing his tone as he urge the wealthy to pay higher taxes. The letter became viral (what do you expect) and made many concerned and now-only concerned to think about how the President has been speaking in front of the public for the last year. Here is a news from SmartRealEstateNews.com about the issue:


“Leon Cooperman, a 68-year-old Wall Street veteran, says he is for higher taxes on the wealthy. He would happily give up his Social Security checks. He voted for Al Gore in 2000. He says the special treatment of investment gains, or so-called carried interest, for private equity and hedge fund managers is “ridiculous.” He says he even sympathizes, at least to some extent, with the Occupy Wall Street protesters.  And yet, Mr. Cooperman, a man with a rags-to-riches background who worked at Goldman Sachs for more than 25 years in the 1970s and 1980s before starting his own hedge fund, Omega Advisors, which has minted him an estimated $1.8 billion fortune, is waging a campaign against President Obama.

Last week, in a widely circulated “open letter” to President Obama that whizzed around e-mail inboxes of Wall Street and corporate America, Mr. Cooperman argued that “the divisive, polarizing tone of your rhetoric is cleaving a widening gulf, at this point as much visceral as philosophical, between the downtrodden and those best positioned to help them.”

He went on to say, “To frame the debate as one of rich-and-entitled versus poor-and-dispossessed is to both miss the point and further inflame an already incendiary environment.”

The letter comes as President Obama is planning to give a speech on Tuesday in Osawatomie, Kan., about the economy and the middle class, following in the path of President Theodore Roosevelt, who campaigned a century ago in that very city against the wealthy and big business.

Mr. Cooperman’s complaint has less to do with the substance of taxing the wealthy than it does the president’s choice of words in promoting it, an emphasis that he says is “villainizing the American Dream.”

While many executives have complained about what they perceive as the president’s antibusiness bent, Mr. Cooperman’s letter has gained credibility and attention in political and business circles because of his own seemingly liberal stances on taxes and the like.  He said, in an interview, that he had been deluged with hundreds of e-mails and phone calls about the letter, “99.9 percent of it positive.”

Mr. Cooperman, who recently signed the Giving Pledge, Bill Gates’s and Warren Buffett’s effort to press the world’s billionaires to give away at least half of their wealth, said he felt he came into his money honestly and said proudly, “I spend more than 25 times on charity what I spend on myself.” Asked whether he had received any response from the president for his letter, he replied with a chuckle, “I’m not optimistic I’ll hear from him.” “

Source:  www.SmartRealEstateNews.com

Last Call to Take Advantage of Expiring Tax Deductions

Posted in Real Estate by mrdublin on December 6, 2011 No Comments yet

While it’s the season to be jolly, it’s also the last month of the year. That means you have a little less than three weeks to take advantage of tax deductions that are looking to expire by January 2012. Do I really recommend that you take advantage of these benefits now?  From the looks of the government standing today, you certainly should as the government does not seem to be willing to extend any of them. Remember, you have three weeks and less than 20 days if you were to debar the holidays.

Mortgage Insurance Premium Deduction

This deduction was first introduced in 2007 and is set to expire by the end of 2011.  This benefit entitles you to deduct the premiums you pay for the mortgage insurance similar to mortgage interest. The percentage of deduction varies based on levels of income, and to qualify for a full deduction, a taxpayer or a married taxpayer couple must have a gross income of $100,000 or less.

Only payments made in 2011 are eligible for deduction.

Up to $4,000 Education Expense Deduction

There is a deduction of up to $4,000 available to qualified educational expenses to those whose modified adjusted gross income is not more than $80,000 for a single taxpayer or $160,000 for joint payers. Your classes can be taken in 2012 but your payment must be made before the year 2011 ends.

State and Local Sales Tax Deduction

If you are living in a state with no or low income taxes, you are mostly eligible to avail the state and local sales tax deduction benefit. To avail of this, purchase something huge before the end of the year. This Christmas season seems like the perfect time to do this.

Adoption Credit

There is an enhanced adoption credit made available this year which enables any qualified individual to credit up to $13,360 in adoption expenses.

Home Energy Credit of Up to $500

Any homeowner may qualify for an energy credit if in 2011 – you purchase solar panels for electricity or water heating, you install wind energy equipment, geothermal heat pump or any type of fuel cells to generate electricity. You can credit up to 30% of the amount you spend or up to $500.

2% Social Security Tax Cut

Available only in 2011, this benefit aims to add about $1,000 to $2,000 to low income earners or $4,000 and above to income of families with high income earners.

Other benefits to take advantage before January 1, 2011 are IRA to charity tax-free transfers and $250 school teacher expense deduction.

 

Source: http://www.inman.com

It’s Votin’ Time!

Posted in Politics by Jake on October 21, 2010 No Comments yet

I certainly hope that everyone is planning on voting Nov 2nd.  This is probably the most crucial election in the last 50+ years and it WILL determine the course of our country for the rest of our natural life!  I’m speaking primarily to my 50 something friends, but all of my 20 to 40 something friends should also be keenly aware that the choices made now have huge personal liberty and financial implications for a long, long time to come!  Please do not allow the entitlement minded, bottom feeders of society, led by a few well heeled, power hungry, progressive liberals to determine the course of our country for the vast majority of America.  We need smaller, less invasive government, even taxation that does not punish job creators, and huge reductions in wasteful spending.  If that doesn’t happen in the next few years, say good by to our free market Republic and Democracy as our governing principle!