As it is well known, the housing market is uniquely bound to the U.S. Treasury. This is never more apparent than a policy found within the Treasury Department’s Office of Home Ownership. Laurie Maggiano is the architect of a plethora of the government-backed Making Home Affordable program, uniform guidelines for loan modifications, Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives short sales, and foreclosure prevention.

“Her work at Treasury has not only helped servicers and investors adopt HAFA short sales, but also led to new guidelines that include making deficiency releases and relocation money standard when it comes to these transactions. Maggiano and her team were also responsible for programs that have helped so many people across the country avoid foreclosure.”

The changes Maggiano will affect the tools provided to agents and consumers if they get bogged down in the midst of their short-sale process by:

• adjusting short-sale timeline

• change occupancy restrictions in addition to

• an increase in payments to second mortgages and relation assistance to sellers.

Related Content: 

Beating the Odds on Short Sales

Expect Gradual Changes at Fannie & Freddie

FHA: Unsung Hero of the Recovery

Lenders: What’s Holding Back Loans

http://realtormag.realtor.org/news-and-commentary/feature/article/2013/04/us-treasury-offers-resources-for-distressed-sales

 The name short sales is becoming much more accurate to the shortening frequency short sales are entering the market. Freddie Mac initiated Standard Short Sale program on November 1st. Since then, the short sale process has become easier and more transparent.

"We estimate that the time to complete a short sale will decrease by approximately 50 percent to 75 percent," as a result of the changes, writes Tracy Mooney, Freddie Mac’s EVP in a recent blog post.

Here is a list of changes that took effect:

• Mortgage servicers have 30 days to make a decision on a short sale once they receive an application. If they need to negotiate with a third party, they have 30 additional days. A final decision on the short sale must be made within 60 days. 
• Mortgage servicers are required to acknowledge they received the short sale application within three days of submission. Servicers must provide weekly status updates if they end up needing more time to review the application past the initial 30-day period.
• Mortgage servicers have authority now to approve short sales when qualifying financial hardships for home owners who are past due or current on their mortgage payments. 
• Mortgage servicers are also now able to approve short sales without seeking a separate review by the mortgage insurance company.
• Following a short sale, home owners may be able to qualify for up to $3,000 in relocation assistance. 

Source: “The Shorter Short Sale: Long on Borrower Benefits,” Freddie Mac Executive Perspectives Blog (Jan. 22, 2013)

 ATHOMEINBOZEMAN
 

Decreasing rates of foreclosures is a positive trend for home owners at large, but shifting trends result in a shifting reaction within the real estate market. The first result from the decreasing inventory was a beneficial growth in home prices across the board. The tighter inventory of a post REO flooded market has nearly run its course in controlling the market economists predict. In fact, CoreLogic goes so far as to say that home prices are stabilized enough to be back ‘on track’ in a way it has not been since 2006.

The stats are as follows:

• Foreclosures have fallen 20% from a year ago.
• From January to November of 2012, REOs dropped from 19.6%-11.5%.

Delinquencies are becoming rarer as banks opt for short sales/mortgage  modifications over foreclosures. One big national trend within this larger narrative is that of the stark difference between judicial and non-judicial states. The only difference, judicial states must have their foreclosures go through the state’s court extending the timeline for a home to foreclose. Non-judicial states have clear their foreclosure pipeline whereas the judicial states are still trucking along. 

“The foreclosure crisis has shifted east, to the judicial states, where the pipeline is slow,” says Khater. “The big driver in 2012 in prices increases [sic] was the decline in REOs, but I think the big move-down has already happened. The driving prices in 2013 will be the tighter inventory.”

Source: “Inventory Takes Center Stage as Foreclosures Fade,” The Wall Street Journal (Jan. 4, 2012)

1. Florida: 1 in every 304 homes received a foreclosure filing in November
2. Nevada: 1 in every 390 homes
3. Illinois: 1 in every 392 homes
4. California: 1 in every 430 homes
5. South Carolina: 1 in every 455 homes
6. Ohio: 1 in every 458 homes
7. Arizona: 1 in every 468 homes
8. Georgia: 1 in every 494 homes
9. Michigan: 1 in every 621 homes
10. Indiana: 1 in every 684 homes

Source: RealtyTrac

With that list, I would also like to add some positive news. Foreclosure starts fell to a new –year low. They have dropped 28% from only a year ago.

The latest data offers “more evidence that we are past the worst of the foreclosure problem brought about by the housing bubble bursting six years ago,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “But foreclosures are continuing to hobble the U.S. housing market as lenders finally seize properties that started the process a year or two ago — and much longer in some cases. We’re likely not completely out of the woods when it comes to foreclosure starts, either, as lenders are still adjusting to new foreclosure ground rules set forth in the National Mortgage Settlement along with various state laws and court rulings.”

So here is another list--the greatest drops in foreclosures:

1. Oregon: dropped 84%
2. Pennsylvania: dropped 67%
3. California: dropped 63%
4. Arizona: dropped 59%
5. Georgia: dropped 51%

READ MORE

Trends are shifting! Foreclosures continue to drop so much so that the number of those not occurring has passed the critical mass of those that are coming on the market. Foreclosure rates have fallen 7% in September reaching their lowest since July of 2007.

“We’ve been waiting for the other foreclosure shoe to drop since late 2010, when questionable foreclosure practices slowed activity to a crawl in many areas, but that other shoe is instead being carefully lowered to the floor and therefore making little noise in the housing market — at least at a national level,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “Make no mistake, however, the other shoe is dropping quite loudly in certain states, primarily those where foreclosure activity was held back the most last year.”

Court processes are skewing the numbers slightly as each state handles their foreclosure process a little differently, but even with backlogs, slow court-approval, and other details, the trend is speaking loudly. Foreclosures are on the decline!

Source: RealtyTrac

Housing Prices Hitting Bottom

Economists have finally put their two cents in and have declared they agree that housing prices have indeed hit bottom.

Over the last three years, housing prices have been volatile. There is a loose pattern of home prices rising… rising all spring and summer and then dropping off in the fall and winter, but this year is predicted to be different.  There is no foreseeable drop to come as the seasons shift.

While the fall months likely will bring out some sort of decrease in recent home price increases, “we have a much better supply and demand dynamic” than in previous years, Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist, told The Wall Street Journal.

Better yet, home prices are boasting their largest jump this year as compared to the last six years. Even on a micro scale, comparing today’s prices with that of this February, they have risen 9.6%.

ALL VERY GOOD NEWS. Please comment and share the predictions of the market in your area.

Source: “Here’s More Evidence That Home Prices Have Hit Bottom,” The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 4, 2012)

Tim Hart