Mind of the buyer in 2012

Posted on February 21, 2012 by grim

From MarketWatch:

Coldwell Banker Real Estate Survey Reveals Sellers More Willing to Price Competitively in 2012

A recent survey over 600 Coldwell Banker Real Estate professionals in the United States revealed home buyers and sellers are adjusting expectations and “getting real” about real estate in 2012. More than half (51 percent) reported that sellers are more willing to price their homes more competitively than this time last year, and 45 percent said sellers are more willing to change the appearance of their homes to entice buyers than they were one year ago.
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94 percent say their sellers are getting rid of clutter and making cosmetic updates, such as fresh paint and minor repairs.
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78 percent agree clients are willing to “de-personalize” the home.
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59 percent say sellers are even bringing in new home decorations or furniture to help make the home more appealing.
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33 percent of surveyed agents say that a new or updated kitchen is the most important feature to homebuyers.
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14 percent say the most important feature to homebuyers is an open floor plan, while 12 percent say it is a new or updated bathroom.
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Only 1 percent of the real estate professionals surveyed say they believe that entertainment rooms or finished basements are the most important feature.
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70 percent of real estate professionals say a new baby or growing family is the “most common,” or a “very common” reason buyers search for a new home.
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69 percent say relocation for job reasons.
59 percent say marriage.
48 percent say divorce.
37 percent say retirement.

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate | 119 Comments

A good week for housing news?

Posted on February 20, 2012 by grim

From Bloomberg:

Home Sales Probably Increased in January

Home sales in the U.S. probably climbed in January to the highest level since May 2010, adding to evidence the housing market is regaining its footing, economists said reports this week will show.

Combined purchases of new and existing houses rose to a 4.97 million annual rate from 4.92 million in December, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Claims for jobless benefits held near the lowest level since 2008, bolstering consumer confidence, other reports may show.

A strengthening job market, combined with record affordability driven by the drop in home prices and mortgage rates, will probably keep underpinning demand. Nonetheless, the Federal Reserve and Obama administration are striving to find ways to lend the industry additional assistance amid concern that mounting foreclosures will continue to hinder the recovery.

“Home sales have bottomed, and from here on, we should see a moderate pickup,” said Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York. “Hiring is improving slowly, so that’s helping.” More policy efforts are needed as “we still can’t rely on housing to recover on its own,” she said.

The National Association of Realtors will release data on existing house sales on Feb. 22. Purchases increased 0.9 percent to a 4.65 million annual rate, following a 4.61 million pace in December, according to the Bloomberg survey median.

Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 66 Comments

NJ foreclosure conversion deal moves forward

Posted on February 17, 2012 by grim

From the Record:

NJ Senate panel OKs bill turning foreclosed property into affordable housing

A Senate panel unanimously approved a measure Thursday that would let municipalities and a new state corporation buy foreclosed homes and offer them to low- and moderate-income residents.

The bill creates the New Jersey Foreclosure Relief Corp, which would buy foreclosed homes, or allow municipalities to acquire them while getting a two-for-one credit against their affordable housing obligations, according to the bill. Funding would come from the state’s million affordable housing trust fund, municipal affordable housing trust funds, bonds from New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, and the Realty Transfer Fee.

There were 58,000 foreclosure actions filed in New Jersey in 2010 and 66,000 in 2009, according to the bill.

“One foreclosed property can have a negative impact on the value of the rest of the homes on the block,” said Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Raymond Lesniak, (D-Union). “This isn’t just about foreclosed properties or affordable homes – it’s about communities in economic crisis, and it affects all New Jersey residents, whether they qualify for affordable housing, are living in foreclosed home, or not.”

The Senate Economic Growth Committee unanimously approved the bill, (S1566), which heads to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee next before going to the full Senate for consideration.

Posted in Foreclosures, Housing Recovery, New Jersey Real Estate | 176 Comments

When does the tsunami hit?

Posted on February 16, 2012 by grim

From WSJ:

RealtyTrac: Foreclosure Filings Fall 19% In January

The number of U.S. properties with foreclosure filings fell 19% in January from a year earlier, though several states reported increased foreclosure activity for the first time in more than a year, according to market researcher RealtyTrac.

There were 219,941 properties with default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions on U.S. properties in January, a 3% increase from December. One in every 624 U.S. housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month, RealtyTrac said.

First-time default notices were filed on 58,362 U.S. properties last month, down 22% from a year-ago and unchanged from December. Default notices rose more than 20% from a year earlier in several states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts and Florida. Pennsylvania default notices reached a 15-month high in January, more than doubling from a year earlier.

“Although overall foreclosure activity was down from a year ago for the 16th straight month in January, we continue to see signs on a local and regional level that the frozen-up foreclosure process is beginning to thaw,” said Chief Executive Brandon Moore. “Foreclosure activity increased on a year-over-year basis for the first time in more than 12 months in Florida, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania, following a pattern we saw in late 2011 in states such as California, Arizona and Massachusetts.”

Moore said foreclosure activity is expected to increase in the coming months, noting a settlement earlier this month between 49 state attorneys general and five of the nation’s largest lenders sets clear foreclosure guidelines and allows lenders to push through some of the delayed foreclosures from last year.

Posted in Foreclosures, National Real Estate | 152 Comments

Making the unaffordable affordable

Posted on February 15, 2012 by grim

From the Star Ledger:

N.J. Dems outline proposal allowing towns to turn foreclosed homes into affordable housing

Two senior Democrats today outlined a measure to let municipalities and a state corporation buy foreclosed homes and offer them to low- and moderate-income residents in an effort to increase the supply of affordable housing and reduce the number of vacant houses.

The bill (S1566), which was introduced last week by Lesniak and state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), would form the New Jersey Foreclosure Relief Corporation — with a five-year life span — to buy foreclosed homes.

Under the proposal, municipalities where the houses are situated would have 45 days to decide whether to buy the houses through the state’s $268 million affordable housing trust fund. If they did, they would get a two-for-one credit against their affordable housing obligations.

Part of the financing would also be provided by $75.5 million the state is expected to get from a federal and state settlement over an investigation into allegedly abusive foreclosure practices by the nation’s largest mortgage providers.

“It’s so much more than housing and boarded up homes,” state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), chairman of the Economic Growth Committee, said at a news conference. “It’s a drag on our economy. It’s a drag on property values in neighborhoods. It’s a drag on peoples’ wealth, which is then a drag on their consumer confidence, which is a drag on our economy.”

If municipalities decided not to buy the vacant homes, the corporation would be able to purchase them through federal and state financing sources and deed restrict them as affordable housing for three decades.

The corporation would also be able to issue bonds to buy and sell vacant foreclosed houses with the aim of selling them at market rates.

Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Union), chairman of the Housing and Local Government Committee, said he also planned to introduce a version of the measure. “I want to make sure government and the nonprofit organizations have a big say in this process,” he said.

Lesniak said the measure, which will be taken up by his committee Thursday, would create more than 10,000 new affordable homes, though he conceded it would not solve the state’s tangled affordable housing policy.

Posted in Economics, Foreclosures, Housing Recovery, Politics | 125 Comments

Value in consolidation or just smoke and mirrors?

Posted on February 14, 2012 by grim

From the Star Ledger:

At Caldwell town hall meeting, Christie calls on N.J. towns to share services

Gov. Chris Christie today told a hospitable audience at the Caldwell Community Center that after school funding, the duplication of municipal services is most responsible for high property tax bills.

Christie said he understands each town values its unique character, but pointed to Princeton Township and Princeton Borough’s recent decision to consolidate. The state will pick up the transition costs for the first year to encourage more towns to merge. “If you wonder why your property taxes are so high,” he said, “the next culprit after school funding is this proliferation of repetition, everybody having a CFO, everybody having a business administrator.”

Christie said New Jerseyans have a tough time choosing between forms of government and delivery of services, and that adds up across 566 municipalities: “Should we have civil service or collective bargaining? Yes. Should we have municipal government or county government? Yes, we’ll have both of them.”

The Republican governor said forthcoming legislation from Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) would call for shared services and in some cases implement penalties. “All the taxpayers in the state shouldn’t be subsidizing the fact that you just don’t feel like sharing the service of garbage collection with the neighboring town,” Christie said.

Turning to the highest drain on tax dollars, Christie said the state spends roughly $11 billion on education with 63 percent doing to 31 school districts and again took aim at the state Supreme Court. He said spending has little bearing on student achievement.“We spend more than a third of the state budget on aid to schools,” he said.

From the Star Ledger:

Lebanon Borough officials oppose plan for county-wide school district

An initiative to consider consolidating Hunterdon’s 28 school districts into one, K – 12 county-wide district, has run into opposition from Lebanon Borough Council.

The county-wide proposal originated with a resolution adopted by Raritan Township Committee, and supported by then-mayor John King and county Freeholder Rob Walton.

Lebanon Borough Council has responded with its own resolution and, as with Raritan Township, the borough seeks other municipalities and school boards to adopt similar ones.

“Lebanon Borough cannot support these efforts as currently articulated because they do not address the well-known and widely documented underlying causes of our high property tax burden, low state aid,” reads a letter addressed to mayors, freeholders and school boards and signed by the Mayor and Council of Lebanon Borough. “Further, it will impose a significant additional tax burden on thirteen of the twenty six municipalities in Hunterdon County,” the letter reads. It also says that the proposed plan would risk the quality of education.

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 117 Comments

Can’t wait to hear about how NJ spends the settlement

Posted on February 13, 2012 by grim

From Bloomberg:

Foreclosure Deal May Help States Prop Up Budgets, Raze Houses

Wisconsin plans to use part of its $140 million share of the national foreclosure settlement to fill a budget hole. Missouri would devote $40 million for education. Ohio wants to tear down vacant homes.

Ninety percent of the $25 million settlement announced Feb. 9 goes to borrowers, with states receiving at least $2.66 billion, said Geoff Greenwood, a spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who helped negotiate the deal. The money for states is to “help fund consumer protection and state foreclosure-protection efforts,” according to the National Mortgage Settlement website, though states have discretion in spending, and their tax bases and budgets were hurt by the housing crash, Greenwood said in an e-mail.

Most states, especially those hit hard by foreclosures, likely will spend the money on related purposes instead of priorities that the public may not see as fitting the spirit of the settlement, said David Adkins, executive director of the Council of State Governments in Lexington, Kentucky.

“If my home were in foreclosure, I would want to make certain that the revenue in my state was directed at ameliorating that specific problem,”Adkins said.
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At least 100,000 homes need to be demolished, DeWine said, and he is establishing a program to match funds that cities and land banks allocate for tearing down houses.

Using the settlement money for that purpose is appropriate because many homeowners are paying their mortgages and did nothing wrong, yet they face plummeting property values because of foreclosures around them, said Jim Rokakis, a former Cuyahoga County treasurer who directs Cleveland’s nonprofit Thriving Communities Institute.

“If you don’t take these homes down, these neighborhoods will continue to lose what little value they have left, they will be less safe and there will be zero chance of those neighborhoods coming back,” Rokakis said in a Feb. 9 telephone interview. “You can’t build the new American city until you take the old one down first.”

Posted in Foreclosures, Housing Recovery, Risky Lending | 137 Comments

Stop with the gimmicks and cut the price

Posted on February 11, 2012 by grim

From the NY Times:

Going Beyond Price Cuts

A PERSISTENT recession in house sales has led to a surge in “concessions” for buyers. In listings and brochures, and most recently through a program started up on Zillow.com, real estate agents are trumpeting the news: even sellers who have reduced asking prices by a lot are often willing to do more.

That means contract concessions, in which sellers may agree to cover a buyer’s closing costs, provide a gift card for a certain amount, pay in advance for renovations, or even subsidize taxes by allocating funds from their proceeds at closing.

As long as concessions are written into a contract, and are also explicit in the Housing and Urban Development settlement document (a form used in closings), many banks in New Jersey are approving mortgage loans with up to 3 percent of purchase price in seller concessions, according to sales professionals. And when it comes to loans issued with the backing of the Federal Housing Administration or Veterans Affairs, up to 6 percent of sales price is allowable, and is becoming a popular option, agents and brokers said.
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Right now, for example, a $5,000 credit toward closing costs — or a gift card for that amount — is being offered by the seller of a four-bedroom colonial in Wall Township that has been for sale for 16 months. The offer is being advertised as part of the independent broker Robert Bruno’s listing on Zillow.

Built five years ago, the house then cost $565,000, according to public records. It was offered for resale at $499,000; the price was reduced several times, and is now $459,900.

Four months ago, when Zillow began offering, for a fee, to highlight seller concessions on listings, Mr. Bruno opted in. The $5,000 concession offer appears in yellow highlighting under the price on the listing.
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“Is it more attractive to save money over the life of the mortgage, or to bring less money to closing and have some cash available at the time of move-in?” Ms. Baldwin asked. “Generally, I would say nothing beats a price cut to make a sale. On the other hand, some people have to scrape just to come up with the higher down payments required now, and need some cash.”

In southern New Jersey, Christopher McKenty, a broker at Re/Max Connection, has a West Collingswood house listed on Zillow with a $2,500 “special offer.” But he says price cuts are “the name of the game.”

A price reduction still gets more attention, he said, adding that he probably won’t use the concession gambit in the future.

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate | 52 Comments

What’s our cut of the settlement?

Posted on February 9, 2012 by grim

From the Daily Record:

NJ gets $837.7M in nationwide mortgage and foreclosure settlement

New Jersey’s share of the $25 billion mortgage settlement announced Thursday is expected to bring financial relief to at least some of the state’s homeowners who are facing foreclosure or owe more than their homes are worth, analysts said.

For homeowners in that category, though, it’s no slam dunk. Banks still will need to be relatively assured that homeowners can make their modified mortgage payments, they said.
Homeowners “have a better chance,” said Patrick J. O’Keefe, director of economic research for J.H. Cohn, an accounting firm based in Roseland. “But this is a partial solution.”

The U.S. government and 49 state attorneys general, including New Jersey, reached an agreement with the nation’s five biggest mortgage lenders – Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc., and Ally Financial Inc. – to settle charges that the companies cut corners to foreclose on homes and deceived customers about loan modifications.
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With the government unable to solve the puzzle, prices have declined so much that 310,000 homeowners in New Jersey – about 16 percent – owe more than their homes are worth, according to Jeffrey Otteau, president of the Otteau Valuation Group in East Brunswick.
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New Jersey is in line to receive $837.7 million, state Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa said. That money will be used to modify and refinance loans. It will go to pay for borrowers who “suffered servicing abuse” and were foreclosed on. And it will help pay for state housing programs.

The settlement affects only customers whose mortgages are owned and serviced by the five companies in the agreement. It’s an important distinction because the companies might have sold some mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government-backed companies whose customers aren’t part of the agreement.

It isn’t clear how many New Jersey homeowners would qualify, but the five companies represent 60 percent of the industry, the state said.

The program, because of its complexity, could take three years to complete, the state said.
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How much of a difference will it make? Observers were torn.

“It might need $1 trillion to really solve the problem, but maybe this will be enough to take people in the process of foreclosure … start to make performing loans,” said Joel Greenberg, chief executive officer of Novadebt, a Freehold Township credit counselor. “That’s got to help the situation, but it’s still the middle of a crisis. I don’t see this whole logjam breaking immediately.”

Posted in Housing Recovery, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Risky Lending | 117 Comments

Thursday Morning Grim

Posted on February 9, 2012 by grim

From CNBC (via Business Insider):

New York Housing Market Could Still Collapse: Analyst

There’s been a lot of talk recently about home prices reaching a bottom. Most notably, Bill McBride at Calculated Risk — perhaps the most respected housing market analysts in the blogosphere — says housing starts already bottomed and housing prices are likely to bottom in March.

But not everyone is convinced. Keith Jurow argues that home prices are nowhere near the bottom. In fact, he thinks that one particular market — New York City — is close to collapsing.

From Jurow:

Let’s look at the most misunderstood housing market in the country — the NYC metro. The published median sale price for both NYC and Long Island has seemingly held up better than other major metros — not much less than $400,000 for Queens or Suffolk counties. This has fooled people into thinking that the worst is over in the NYC area. On the contrary, the real collapse in prices is imminent.

In November 2011, Minyanville.com posted my 30-page New York City Housing Market Report. The report included never-seen-before charts, graphs and data that revealed what has been going on there. The banks have not been foreclosing for the past three years. This started well before the robo-signing mess. On February 7, 2012 there were a total of only 242 repossessed properties on the active MLS in Queens according to foreclosure.com. This is a borough with a population of 2.2 million.

Because of this, the number of seriously delinquent properties throughout NYC has been soaring. Based on individual charts for each borough from the NY Federal Reserve Bank which I included in my report, there were roughly 80,000 properties where the mortgage had not been paid in more than 90 days as of June 2011.

That number is considerably higher now. How about this statistic? I received updated numbers from the N.Y. State Department of Banking a few weeks ago. In 2009, the state legislature passed a law requiring all mortgage servicers to send a “pre-foreclosure notice” to all delinquent owner-occupants in danger of losing their home to foreclosure.

As of the end of December 2011, a total of 165,000 pre-foreclosure notices were sent to delinquent owner-occupants just in NYC. This does not include delinquent investors because the law requires that these notices be sent only to owner-occupants.

While not all of these borrowers were more than 90 days delinquent, the vast majority were 60+ days delinquent. What do you think will happen to home prices once the banks finally begin to foreclose on these properties? Prices will collapse in the four outer boroughs and will decline sharply in Manhattan. I am convinced that this will occur although we can’t be sure when the banks will begin to move on this.

The situation is even worse in Long Island — Nassau and Suffolk counties. I wrote a 22-page report on the Long Island housing market which Minyanville posted in December 2011. Just for these two counties — with a total of less than three million people — more than 149,000 pre-foreclosure notices had been sent as of the end of 2011.

As in NYC, the banks have not been foreclosing in Long Island. But they cannot put it off indefinitely. When they begin, prices there will collapse.

Posted in Foreclosures, Housing Bubble, New Jersey Real Estate, Risky Lending | 172 Comments

Taxes taxes and more taxes

Posted on February 8, 2012 by grim

From the Daily Record:

Property taxes in N.J. rise 2.4 percent despite state-imposed cap

New Jersey’s highest-in-the-nation property taxes continued to rise in 2011, although at a slower rate than in previous years, according to figures released by the state Department of Community Affairs.

The average annual property tax bill was up $183 from 2010 to 2011, to $7,759. That’s an increase of 2.4 percent, slightly more than half the 4.1 percent increase seen between 2009 and 2010.
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In Monmouth County, the average property tax bill rose $248, to $8,040. That’s a 3.2 percent increase. Ocean County property owners saw their taxes jump an average of $618, to $5,434. That’s an increase of nearly 13 percent.
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Statewide, Paterson saw the highest property tax increase, at 17.3 percent to $8,829, for municipalities with more than 250 residents. Corbin City, in Atlantic County, had biggest drop, at 20.6 percent. The town has about 500 residents, and homeowners paid an average of $3,328 in property taxes.

Over the years the state has attempted to mitigate some of the rise in property taxes by distributing rebates to property owners. Rebate checks, previously mailed in October, averaged about $1,000 during Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s administration.

From the Courier Post:

Hey guv, it’s still property taxes

Gov. Chris Christie may not be the kind of leader who drifts whichever way the wind blows and changes his position based on polls.

But, if polls weren’t important to some degree as a barometer of voters’ opinions, then politicians wouldn’t rely so heavily upon them come campaign season.

An interesting new poll from Monmouth University/New Jersey Press Media finds that when it comes to lowering property taxes or lowering income taxes in the Garden State, a vast majority — 69 percent — think lowering property taxes should be the priority. Just 19 percent of poll respondents said reducing the state income tax should be the priority. Another 10 percent of those polled said both should be the priority.
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As Christie turns the corner on the halfway point of his first term and prepares for a potential re-election bid in 2013, or a bid to some national office later, it’s understandable why he wants to lower state income taxes by 10 percent. New Jerseyans are overburdened by taxes and, for the governor, one of the least complicated taxes to lower is the income tax because it is directly controlled by the state.
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The 2 percent cap on local government spending increases and property tax levy increases year-to-year was a great achievement. But, it has not lowered anyone’s property taxes. The cap has only slowed the pace of the tax increases.

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Property Taxes | 121 Comments

One step closer to settlement, at a price

Posted on February 7, 2012 by grim

From HousingWire:

More than 40 states to sign foreclosure settlement

More than 40 states will sign a settlement with the top-five mortgage servicers over alleged foreclosure abuses that arose more than one year ago, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said in a statement Monday night.

Last week, Miller extended the deadline to Monday for states wanting to sign the deal with Bank of America ($7.97 0.13%), Wells Fargo ($30.20 -0.43%), Citigroup ($33.30 -0.24%), JPMorgan Chase ($38.14 -0.14%) and Ally Financial ($22.95 0.03%).

“The sign-on deadline for the proposed joint state-federal mortgage servicing settlement passed Monday with more than 40 states signing on,” Miller said “This enables us to move forward into the very final stages of remaining work.Federal and state officials, as well as representatives from the banks, continue to address matters that they must complete before finalizing any settlement.”

Throughout the day, those representing states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis signaled they are still working on the details of the settlement.

“We’re closer,” a spokesperson for California AG Kamala Harris said.

“My office is continuing to review the intricate draft settlement terms and advocating for improvements to address Nevada’s needs,” said Nevada AG Catherine Cortez Masto in a statement. “Receipt of important state specific information is necessary to make our determination and my office is still in discussions regarding that information.”

Florida AG Pam Bondi said she “remains involved in the settlement discussions in order to reach the best resolution for Floridians and all Americans.” She signed a joint letter with other republican AGs in 2010, saying a settlement that would involve principal reduction creates a moral hazard and lead to more strategic defaults.
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An official in one AG office said an announcement is expected at the end of this week at the earliest.

From Bloomberg:

California, N.Y. Are Among Fewer Than 10 Mortgage Deal Holdouts

California and New York’s attorneys general haven’t signed on to a proposed settlement with five banks over foreclosure practices that has won the support of more than 40 states.

California’s Kamala Harris and New York’s Eric Schneiderman, who have been some of the most outspoken in pushing for changes to the deal, are among those who hadn’t joined the agreement as of yesterday’s deadline for states to decide. More than 40 states signed on to the accord, according to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is helping to lead talks with the banks.

“Adding more numbers probably improves the political dimension of the settlement from the standpoint of the attorneys general,” said Ken Scott, a Stanford University law professor. “If you can say there were only a handful of diehards that didn’t sign on, that gives you some political protection.”
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Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. made a last-minute demand that New York drop claims filed against them Feb. 3 as a condition of the settlement, a person familiar with the matter said.

The push by the three banks raised a new obstacle in getting Schneiderman’s support for the deal, said the person. New York, along with California, Nevada and Delaware said late yesterday they hadn’t signed on to the settlement.

New York sued Bank of America, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo in state court in Brooklyn, saying their use of a mortgage database known as MERS led to improper foreclosures. Schneiderman said the banks’ use of the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems database misled homeowners, undermined foreclosure proceedings and created uncertainty about ownership interests in properties.

Posted in Foreclosures, Mortgages, National Real Estate, North Jersey Real Estate | 122 Comments

Foreclosure settlement to finally be reached today?

Posted on February 6, 2012 by grim

From Bloomberg:

Foreclosure Deal Deadline Arrives as States Must Choose Whether to Sign On

States that balked at bank liability releases in a proposed $25 billion nationwide settlement over foreclosure practices must decide by today whether its mortgage relief and reforms are worth the legal claims they’ll give up.

While some states have already announced their intention to sign the deal, others including California Attorney General Kamala Harris have yet to publicly commit in part due to terms that protect the banks from future litigation. Without Harris, the deal’s value will drop by several billion dollars, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The agreement is “beyond fixing,” said George Goehl, executive director of National People’s Action, a network of community organizations which advocates for fair lending and affordable housing.

“People are very disappointed in what this is going to be both in terms of dollars and release of claims,” Goehl said in a telephone interview. “We’re giving away the store.”

Most states don’t have the resources to go it alone and fight the banks in court, said James Tierney, director of Columbia Law School’s National State Attorneys General Program. States such as California that may reject the agreement must decide whether the time and money needed to fight for a better deal is worth it, given that the settlement provides immediate relief for homeowners, he said.

“How long does it take and how much better?” Tierney said of a state pursuing its own deal. “Is it so much better that it warrants the cost and delay?”
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Today’s deadline, extended by the parties from Feb. 3, comes almost 16 months after all 50 states announced they were investigating bank foreclosure practices following disclosures that faulty documents were being used to seize homes.

Posted in Foreclosures, Mortgages, National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 106 Comments

CoreLogic: December Home Prices

Posted on February 3, 2012 by grim

From CoreLogic (no link):

CoreLogic® Home Price Index Shows Fifth Consecutive Month-Over-Month Decline

Home prices in the U.S. decreased 1.4 percent on a month-over-month basis, the fifth consecutive monthly decline. However, the HPI excluding distressed sales posted its first month-over-month gain since July 2011, rising 0.2 percent. The CoreLogic HPI shows that, including distressed sales, home prices in the U.S. decreased 4.7 percent in 2011 compared with December 2010. This year-end report shows that home prices continued the trend of year-end decreases—this is the fifth consecutive year with a decrease in the HPI. The HPI excluding distressed sales shows that home prices decreased by 0.9 percent in 2011, giving an indication of the impact of distressed sales on home prices in 2011.

Highlights as of December 2011

Including distressed sales, the five states with the highest appreciation were: Montana (+4.4 percent), Vermont (+4.0 percent), South Dakota (+3.1 percent), Nebraska (+2.5 percent) and New York (+1.7 percent).

Including distressed sales, the five states with the greatest depreciation were: Illinois (-11.3 percent), Nevada (-10.6 percent), Georgia (-8.3 percent), Ohio (-7.7 percent), and Minnesota (-7.5 percent).

Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the highest appreciation were: Montana (+7.7 percent), South Dakota (+3.5 percent), Indiana (+3.3 percent), Alaska (+3.1 percent), and Massachusetts (+2.9 percent).

Excluding distressed sales, the five states with the greatest depreciation were: Nevada (-9.7 percent), Minnesota (-5.2 percent), Arizona (-4.9 percent), Delaware (-4.2 percent) and Michigan (-3.5 percent).

“While overall prices declined by almost 5 percent in 2011, non-distressed prices showed only a small decrease. Until distressed sales in the market recede, we will see continued downward pressure on prices,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.

Posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, Housing Recovery, New Jersey Real Estate | 187 Comments

NJ contracts continue to post positive prints

Posted on February 2, 2012 by grim

From the Otteau Group (no link):

Home Sales Up in December Making it 7 of the Last 8 Months

The New Jersey housing market continues to build momentum as it turned the corner into the new year. Combined purchase contracts for resales and new homes rose in December by 8% compared to one year ago which was the largest single monthly increase since June. That the rise in December, which is traditionally a slow period for home sales, was the largest of the year suggests a more robust spring selling season ahead.

Posted in Housing Recovery, New Jersey Real Estate | 130 Comments