How bad the housing market is what we all hear nowadays. But in reality it is only as bad as the effort you put into it. In other words you still can sell a home in today’s market.You just have to do all the things that you can do to sell a house.One way you can enhance your chances of selling your house is to home stage it.

Home staging is when you set your house up and make it look nicer.This is just like the model houses that new developments set up where people could go in and see the looks of the model houses. In my home staging Orange County service we try to give the home a nice model home look as well. The reason we do that is because we want to present the home in as good a light as possible. A nice furniture and decorating setup can do just that.

Making the buyer think of what he/she can do in that certain house is another benefit that home staging can give you.Your goal is to make or give the buyers some ideas of what he/she can do with the house. That is the goal of my home staging Corona service. Because the more ideas you give them the more they are going to want the home.

Finally home staging is real good to give the home the look of more space than it actually has. This is what we do in my interior designer Orange County service.Not all homes are spacious enough to accomodate lots of things.Beautiful homes that are not that big can turn off some buyers.But if you can home stage it and make it more spacious then it would be great.

So those are the things that home staging can do to a house.You should consider this step if you are to sell your house.

Popularity: 4% [?]

The one thing that people need to do right now especially now that the recession is in effect is to save money. There are all kinds of ways people are looking to do just that.But I bet that most people do not know that they can save money if they will replace their windows.Yes, you will still spend money in buying those new windows.But as soon as you have installed it you will begin to notice the money you are saving.So now let us look at the reasons why replacement windows can save you a fortune.

Old windows are not that good in insulating your houses. Usually they are single paned.So it would become hotter inside the house because these single paned windows cannot retain the cool air inside the house. When it is cold it doesn’t keep the heat in and lets the cold in.But if you are to buy new windows for your house then your house would become more energy efficient. Most of my customers of my San Diego window replacement company are surprised when they see how much energy they save.

Another thing that new windows could give you is to make you some money.It can make you money by actually raising the value of your homes.Old windows are not good at raising the value of homes.But buyers know that these new windows are energy efficient and they can save them more money on energy costs.If you are planning to sell a house this would be a good thing to do to raise the value of your homes.This is the way that you can make money by installing new windows. Whenever clients of my glass company San Diego tell me they are trying to sell I always suggest replacement windows.

Finally, your bathroom windows should also be replaced. You don’t want to just improve the bath and the sinks.The windows should be included as well. When people of my San Diego frameless glass shower doors service are getting work done, I tell them to do this.

So there are some ways that getting your windows replaced will save you money.

Popularity: 3% [?]

As more and more people become friendly to the environment they develop ways to help the environment.One way of doing it is with energy. They want to conserve energy thereby saving the environment a little bit.One of the ways that helps to do that is through replacing the old windows. In this article we are going to look at why replacing your old windows is good for you and the environment.

First and foremost let’s examine why it is good for you. In my San Diego window replacement business I see first hand how new windows can help my clients.First of all in the use of old windows energy is wasted.When it is hot they don’t keep out the heat. And they don’t keep out the cold when it is cold. Because of that you have to use more energy to control the environment. Well having to try to control the heat or the cold cost money.So by having older windows your energy consumption is big.

The next reason it is helpful for the environment is because of those energy savings. Obviously if you burn more energy that affects the environment. So by having windows that are more energy efficient you won’t have to use as much fuel or energy. In my glass company San Diego I see so many of my clients diminishing their usage of energy when they replace their windows.

Finally replacing your windows also helps increase the value of your home. In my San Diego frameless glass shower doors service whenever we replace the windows before they sell they see a jump in it’s value. So by replacing windows or getting your bath redone with glass showers you increase your home’s value.

So those are just the basic reasons that explain why you need to get your windows replaced.It will benefit you as well as the environment. And it feels good when you are able to do both of those things.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Some people believe that so far, the results of the Obama Foreclosure Bailout initiative have been unconvincing in its goal of providing assistance to homeowners in the face of more and more layoffs and the continuing slump in home prices. Foreclosure news just continues to dominate in this eroding economy. Some argue that the initiative of the President has a number of positive outcomes in the housing market and in the conditions of homeowners. In particular, Obama Foreclosure Bailout plan is believed to be the reason for the deceleration in the slide in housing values and the slight reduction in the foreclosure rates in several states. However, some critics have pointed out that only a small percentage of the applications for home loan modifications by homeowners who are eligible have actually been approved.

It should be observed that the key to the President’s plan is the reallocation of a portion of the funds that are supposed to be used to help out troubled financial service companies to the fight against foreclosures. Getting help with foreclosure remains a high priority for many people. The three main objectives of the Obama Foreclosure Bailout plan is to stimulate more loan refinancing, more loan modifications, and more new home loans. The President wants to assist homeowners who have been affected by the decline in values of their properties in such a way that their loan balances are now greater than the prices of their homes, to obtain a loan refinancing and make their payments easier on the budget. To be eligible under the Obama Foreclosure Bailout plan, the remaining unpaid loan value should not be greater than 105 percent of the current price of the home. The second portion of the government’s plan has to do with using loan modifications to place a maximum limit on the monthly payments, specifically 31 percent of the borrower’s monthly salary. Lastly, the Obama Foreclosure Bailout plan has also sent 0 billion to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae so that they would be able to offer more new home loans.

Some people have pointed out critically that the Obama Foreclosure Bailout initiative has not taken into account acceptable economic principles. However, members of the federal government continue to defend the plan and have been reporting on developments regarding the program’s accomplishments. Note: when researching foreclosure information online, be sure to search for forecloser as well as it is a very common miss spelling. To demonstrate, the Housing and Urban Development and the Treasury Departments have declared that the program has attained a milestone even before its projected date of accomplishment. Specifically, they pointed out that there are now more than 500,000 approved home loan modifications almost one month before schedule. Therefore, it is too early to point out that the Obama Foreclosure Bailout plan is a failure in its goal of assisting homeowners who are in danger in foreclosure.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) — Home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in October for a fifth consecutive month, putting the housing market and economy farther along the path to recovery.

The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index increased 0.4 percent from the prior month on a seasonally adjusted basis, after a 0.2 percent rise in September, the group said today in New York. The gauge was down 7.3 percent from October 2008, the smallest year- over-year decline since October 2007. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News anticipated a 7.2 percent drop.

Tax credits for first-time buyers and mortgage rates that are less than a percentage point from record lows may prevent the market from retreating after sales jumped 35 percent over the first 11 months of 2009. Rising home and stock prices over the past two quarters enabled households to recover 28 percent of the record $17.5 trillion of wealth lost since mid 2007.

Were starting to get a little bit of a turnaround, things are stabilizing, said John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina. People arent in a panic in terms of selling their homes.

U.S. stocks rose, with the Standard & Poors 500 Index extending its biggest annual rally since 2003. The S&P 500 added 0.2 percent to 1,129.50 as of 10:20 a.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 percent to 10,575.34.

Median Forecast

The median forecast was based on projections from 31 economists surveyed. Estimates ranged for declines of 4.6 percent to 8 percent.

The seasonally adjusted 20-city index has been rising on a month-to-month basis since June, the first gain since it started dropping in June 2006.

Compared with the prior month, 11 of the 20 areas covered showed an increase on a seasonally adjusted basis while eight had a decline. The biggest month-to-month gain was in San Francisco, which increased 1.7 percent.

All of the 20 cities in the S&P/Case-Shiller index showed a smaller year-over-year decline than in September.

A surge in home purchases by first-time U.S. buyers is doing little to help real estate agents and brokers who close the deals.

Commissions in 2009 fell to the lowest level in seven years, driven down by sales of low-priced homes to first-time buyers using a federal tax credit. Commissions through November dropped 6.2 percent from a year earlier to $40.6 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations based on the average commission rates from Real Trends Inc. and on home price and sales data from the National Association of Realtors.

Weaken Again

To help ensure housing doesnt weaken again, President Barack Obama and Congress last month extended the tax credit until April 30 from Nov. 30, and expanded it to include some current owners.

Existing home sales in November rose to a 6.5 million annual rate, the highest level since February 2007, the National Association of Realtors said last week. They were still 10 percent lower than September 2005 peak levels.

The tax credit had the intended impact of drawing buyers in and lowering inventory, Lawrence Yun, the real-estate agents groups chief economist, said in a news conference. An estimated 2 million buyers have taken advantage of the credit.

Mounting foreclosures and an unemployment rate that economists surveyed by Bloomberg News this month forecast will exceed 10 percent in the first half of 2010 remain risks for the housing market and the economy.

Record Foreclosures

Foreclosure filings in 2009 will reach a record for the second consecutive year with 3.9 million notices sent to homeowners in default, RealtyTrac Inc., the Irvine, California- based company said Dec. 10. This years filings will surpass 2008s total of 3.2 million.

There are plenty of headwinds out there, Karl Case, an economics professor at Wellesley College and a creator of the index, said on Bloomberg Radio. Pending resets of adjustable-rate mortgages to higher rates are clearly a huge problem and the pipeline is not clearing.

Still, homebuilders are seeing some improvement. Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., New Jerseys largest homebuilder, said Dec. 16 its fourth-quarter loss narrowed as more buyers signed purchase contracts. On the whole, we are seeing more price stability across our markets, Chief Financial Officer Larry Sorsby said in a Dec. 17 conference call.

Case and Robert Shiller, chief economist at MacroMarkets LLC and a professor at Yale University, created the home-price index based on research from the 1980s. Case this month announced his retirement from teaching.

Popularity: 4% [?]

By RealtyTrac Staff

Activity Up 18 Percent From November 2008, But Down 15 Percent From July Peak
More Than 300,000 Properties Receive Foreclosure Filings for Ninth Straight Month

IRVINE, Calif. Dec. 10, 2009 RealtyTrac , the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its November 2009 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows foreclosure filings default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions were reported on 306,627 U.S. properties during the month, a decrease of nearly 8 percent from the previous month but still up 18 percent from November 2008. The report also shows one in every 417 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in November.

November was the fourth straight month that U.S. foreclosure activity has declined after hitting an all-time high for our report in July, and November foreclosure activity was at the lowest level weve seen since February, said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. Loan modifications and other foreclosure prevention efforts, along with the recently extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit, are keeping a lid on the most visible symptoms of the nations ailing housing market foreclosures and home value depreciation. This is providing a welcome respite for the real estate industry, but a full recovery will only come when unemployment recedes to normal, healthy levels and when availability of credit reaches a more rational balance between the extremes of the past few years.

Default notices nationwide were down 8 percent from the previous month but still up 22 percent from November 2008, scheduled foreclosure auctions were down 12 percent from the previous month but still up 32 percent from November 2008, and bank repossessions were flat from the previous month and down 2 percent from November 2008.

Nevada, Florida, California post top state foreclosure rates

Nevada foreclosure activity decreased by a double-digit percentage for the second straight month, but the state continued to document the nations top foreclosure rate with one in every 119 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in November 3.5 times the national average. A total of 9,295 Nevada properties received a foreclosure filing during the month, a 33 percent decrease from the previous month and also a 33 percent decrease from November 2008. Nevadas November total was 52 percent below its July total of 19,535 properties with foreclosure filings.

Florida posted the nations second highest state foreclosure rate in November with one in every 165 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. Florida took the No. 2 spot from California, which posted the nations third highest foreclosure rate one in every 180 housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month.

After three straight months of decreases, Arizona foreclosure activity increased nearly 8 percent in November and the state documented the nations fourth highest foreclosure rate with one in every 186 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Despite a nearly 2 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month, Idaho posted the fifth highest state foreclosure rate in November with one in every 259 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the nations 10 highest were Michigan, Illinois, Utah, Maryland, and New Jersey.

Four states account for more than 50 percent of national total

For the second month in a row, the same four states accounted for 52 percent of the nations total foreclosure activity: California, Florida, Illinois and Michigan.

Despite a 13 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month, California continued to post the highest total of any state with 73,995 properties receiving a foreclosure filing in November still up 22 percent from November 2008 but down nearly 32 percent from its July peak of 108,104. November marked the fourth straight month that California foreclosure activity has declined on a month-over-month basis.

After two straight month-over-month decreases, Florida foreclosure activity increased slightly in November. A total of 52,935 Florida properties received foreclosure filings during the month, an increase of nearly 2 percent from the previous month and up nearly 8 percent from November 2008.

Illinois foreclosure activity decreased nearly 18 percent from a record high in October, but the states 16,422 properties receiving foreclosure filings in November was still nearly 108 percent higher than November 2008 and third highest among all the states.

A total of 15,988 Michigan properties received foreclosure filings in November, a decrease of nearly 3 percent from the previous month but still nearly 10 percent above the states total in November 2008.

Other states with totals among the 10 highest in the country were Arizona (14,349), Texas (12,095), Ohio (10,587), Georgia (9,664), Nevada (9,295) and New Jersey (9,227).

Las Vegas drops out of top spot among 10 highest metro foreclosure rates
After four straight months with the nations top foreclosure rate among metropolitan areas with a population of at least 200,000, Las Vegas dropped to No. 5 thanks to a 33 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month. One in every 102 Las Vegas housing units received a foreclosure filing in November still more than four times the national average.

The top three metro foreclosure rates were in California. Merced took the top spot, with one in every 83 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in November thanks in part to a 21 percent increase in foreclosure activity from the previous month. Stockton foreclosure activity increased 37 percent from the previous month, and the city documented the nations second highest metro foreclosure rate with one in every 85 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing. Despite a 7 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month, Modesto posted the nations third highest metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 87 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in November.

Other California metro areas with foreclosure rates in the top 10 were Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at No. 6 (one in every 102 housing units); Bakersfield at No. 7 (one in 111); Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 9 (one in 126); and Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville at No. 10 (one in 132).

Florida accounted for two of the top 10 metro foreclosure rates: Cape Coral-Fort Myers at No. 4 with one in every 96 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing; and Orlando-Kissimmee at No. 8 with one in every 120 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Report methodology

The RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into the RealtyTrac database during the month broken out by type of filing by state, county and metropolitan statistical area. Some foreclosure filings entered into the database during the month may have been recorded in previous months. Data is collected from more than 2,200 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. RealtyTracs report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). If more than one foreclosure document is received for a property during the month, only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The report also checks if the same type of document was filed against a property in a previous month. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state the property is in, the report does not count the property in the current month.

About RealtyTrac Inc.
RealtyTrac (http://www.realtytrac.com/) is the leading online marketplace of foreclosure properties, with more than 1.5 million default, auction and bank-owned listings from over 2,200 U.S. counties, along with detailed property, loan and home sales data. Hosting more than 3 million unique monthly visitors, RealtyTrac provides innovative technology solutions and practical education resources to facilitate buying, selling and investing in real estate. RealtyTracs foreclosure data has also been used by the Federal Reserve, FBI, U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee and Banking Committee, U.S. Treasury Department, and numerous state housing and banking departments to help evaluate foreclosure trends and address policy issues related to foreclosures. RealtyTrac publishes a blog with daily updates on the foreclosure market (www.foreclosurepulse.com) and a monthly print newsletter covering the foreclosure market in depth (www.foreclosurenewsreport.com).

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Media Contact:
Michelle Sabolich
Atomic Public Relations
415-402-0230
michelle.sabolich@atomicpr.com

Popularity: 9% [?]

You may be a brand new investor or a seasoned investor looking for new ways of increasing your income. Some of the real estate guru‘s have made big money selling real estate investing courses touting the benefits of government programs, specifically Section 8 housing, and how you can make money hand over fist. Others take a more cautionary approach, essentially arguing just the opposite.

With two opposing views, who’s right, who’s wrong, and what’s the difference?

There are a couple of Pros to Section 8 investing. But as you will quickly see the list of Pros is much shorter than the list of Cons.

First, if you rent to Section 8 tenants, you know you’re going to get your rent money. As a general rule, it’s going to come in like clock work. You’ll have your money each and every month, conveniently deposited into the bank account of your choice.

Second, if you advertise the fact that you accept Section 8 tenants, you will have no shortage of prospective tenants lining up with a housing voucher ready to move in on a moment’s notice. When tenants are hard to come by, say in a strong housing market, it’s an excellent way of guaranteeing a steady flow of renters willing to be your tenants.

Unfortunately, this is where the list of positives ends.

Section 8 tenants can present a host of challenges and problems to you from a variety of angles.

First, as a property owner, you may be lured by the easy money that renting to Section 8 tenants can generate, but if you think the Paperwork Reduction Act applies to Section 8, you have a lot to learn.

Whenever you deal with any government bureaucracy, there are massive paperwork considerations. If every I isn’t dotted and every T crossed on every form the government throws your way, you’re in jeopardy of not being paid, having your payment delayed or even worse being declared a slumlord.

We have also seen when all the paperwork and other delays can take anywhere from 3 to 5 months to complete. During this period your property sits empty with no income.

Second, Section 8 requires property inspections. In order to participate in Section 8 you first have to qualify as a property owner, which means an inspection. If the inspector finds deficiencies of any kind, they have to be corrected on the government’s timetable. Once you’ve met the timetable, you have to repeat the inspection process. When you’ve waded through all the red tape necessary to accept tenants, you really get into the heart of the problem of the Section 8 program dealing with tenants.

Third, there are Section 8 tenants who are attentive to your rules, but there are plenty of bad apples. If you have a troublesome renter one that can’t/won’t pay their rent on time or is a constant troublemaker, your inclination is to give them their walking papers (i.e., eviction). But if the individual you’re trying to evict is a Section 8 renter, you have to follow due process rules that are stricter than any state laws anywhere.

Once you’ve begun eviction proceedings, Section 8 tenants are entitled to free or very low cost legal assistance. Once an attorney enters the picture, this turns into an expensive, time consuming process. You need to ask yourself at what point does a guaranteed rent payment become not worth the hassle, the expense and the headache?

Fourth, we generally see that Section 8 pays about 70% to 80% per month of what you might get for normal tenant. So you need to make decision as to whether this discount is offset by the consistent payment source.

Fifth, Section 8 renters aren’t famous for taking care of your property. So unless you’re willing to entertain the thought of having to make extensive repairs with little hope of recovering damages it is probably in your best interest to not involve yourself in the program to begin with.

As you can see the Cons of Section 8 investing outweigh the Pros. Our experience is the program has many problems and we rarely recommend Section 8 investing.

Popularity: 29% [?]

Leave it to the government to take a crippled housing market (which they helped destroy) and make it worse by prolonging its recovery.

Regulators have taken a loose and passive role watching the housing bubble inflate. Now, true to their nature, regulators are making the problem worse with their slow response and lack of real-world solutions.

Real estate investors, in my opinion, have been unfairly squeezed by the ever tightening underwriting guidelines. We are dealing with larger down payments, higher credit scores, larger cash reserves, and lower debt-to-income ratios.

As a real estate investor, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require you to have a bullet proof credit profile to even be considered for financing. When you consider that investors put up a larger down payment than most home buyers, require better credit, and typically research and buy investment property with a cash-on-cash return, lenders and regulators should be more willing to finance these solid transactions. They would also help solve the housing crisis by reducing the excess foreclosure inventory sought by rehabbers and wholesalers.

Current Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Policies

1. There is a four (4) property limit.

Where is the rational thinking here? Why would you limit the number of properties that a well qualified investor can buy? The answer is that we are dealing with the same regulators that helped bring us the crisis in the first place!

2. Increased down payment, FICO score, and cash reserves for properties 5 thru 10.

Those two policies alone have stifled the road to recovery quite effectively. Wall Street investors have pretty much avoided buying 5th thru 10th mortgage loans, although this is slowly changing. And most lenders have avoided that market altogether, which continues to defy logic.

3. Ignore income on properties owned less than two years.

Underwriters are penalizing investors on properties owned less than two years by ignoring the income generated from those properties. Additionally, they are factoring in the annual debt service of the properties on top of the investors existing debt load. This destroys their debt-to-income ratios and likely disqualifies them from financing.

4. First time investors must prove they have two years of management experience.

Huh!? If they are “first time” investors, how could Freddie Mac expect them to have two years of management experience? What are we missing here? Do they want to effectively guarantee that even the most qualified first time investor gets disqualified?!

Think of all of the experienced investors with strong credit, sufficient investment capital, and adequate cash reserves that would be disqualified because of these illogical policies.

Thousands, if not tens-of-thousands of properties, foreclosures included, remain unsold as a direct result of these nonsensical underwriting guidelines.

Recommendations and Solutions

1. Bring back HUDs 203(k) rehab loan.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has a Section 203(k) program for the rehabilitation and repair of single family properties. It is an important tool for community and neighborhood revitalization and for expanding homeownership opportunities. This loan program would help investors buy and rehabilitate a lot of the existing foreclosure inventory around the country. A true win-win.

2. Eliminate the current FHA 90-day seasoning requirement.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will not insure a loan for the buyer of your property if you, the seller, have owned it less than 90 days. Regardless of whether you bought the property through a short sale, at an auction, or from a bank or wholesaler, you cannot sell it to an FHA qualified buyer until after the 90 days. This is especially problematic when nearly 25% of the buyers today are buying with FHA financing.

Note: On September 1, 2009, the rule was relaxed somewhat. FHA now allows for a waiver when the property is owned by a bank or some other foreclosing entity. It also allows for a relaxation of the rule when a home is sold by a state or federal agency.

3. Remove limits on the number of mortgage loans allowed for investment property.

By removing the limit on second home and investment property mortgages an investor can carry, we allow professional investors to take advantage of the excess housing inventory we see in markets all around the country. These limits are nothing more than unnecessary shackles on professional investors.

4. Base appraisals on what the market is willing pay, not what lenders are willing to lend.

Appraisers must first make apple-to-apple comparisons when valuing properties. Too many appraisals are being skewed by foreclosures and other distressed properties. Days on market should also be considered as well as the number of offers received. The bottom line is market value should be based on what the market is willing to pay.

Without massive action by the government and regulators in a positive investor-friendly direction, we are unlikely to see massive improvement in the housing market for a long time.

Popularity: 5% [?]