Mortgages and Real Estate

Buying a home? How rising mortgage rates might keep you there awhile

Zac Bissonnette Nov 30th 2009 @ 9:00AM EST Filed Under: Real Estate

StraighTalkAboutMortgages broker Tom Vanderwell makes an interesting point in a video recently posted on his website.

He recently asked a customer planning to move in three to five years this question: "If, three to five years from now, mortgage rates are 7, 8, or 9%, will you still move?"

Here's why it matters: let's say you buy a house now for $250,000, and put down $50,000. With a mortgage at 5%, your monthly payment will be $1097.75.

But let's say you decide that you want to move to another $250,000 house five years from now (i.e. you switched jobs), after inflationary concerns and the end of artificially low rates have driven interest rates higher. Let's say that in five years, rates are up to 8%. All of a sudden, your mortgage payment rises to $1467.53 -- your mortgage expense has risen 33%, even though all you did was trade one $250,000 home for another $250,000 home.

Continue reading Buying a home? How rising mortgage rates might keep you there awhile

Mortgage modifications, take two: Obama tries a bigger stick to make banks lower loan payments

Charles Feldman Nov 29th 2009 @ 10:00PM EST Filed Under: Banks, Real Estate, Mortgages

You know that old saying about how in life there are no second acts? Perhaps not. But that doesn't apply to government work.

On Monday, the Obama administration is set to try one more time to get mortgage companies to reduce payments in an effort to bring a halt to ever-mounting foreclosures.

The first effort was a huge flop: Of the half million or so loan modifications made since the first push was on, only about 2,000 became permanent, according to a Congressional oversight panel.

In an interview with the New York Times, Michael Barr, the Treasury Department's assistant secretary for financial institutions said, " The banks are not doing a good enough job ... some of the firms ought to be embarrassed, and they will be."

Continue reading Mortgage modifications, take two: Obama tries a bigger stick to make banks lower loan payments

Why Dubai should matter to you: U.S. real estate could take big hit

Charles Feldman Nov 28th 2009 @ 1:00PM EST Filed Under: Real Estate, Recession, Investing, Mortgages

Funny thing this globalization: Just when you think everything is starting to settle down and maybe, just maybe, the world's economic plight is finally on the mend, along comes news from a place such as Dubai that threatens to send everything into a tailspin all over again.

Stock markets have already felt the shock waves from the news that Dubai's state-owned investment arm--Dubai World--needs to restructure its debt...a fancy way of saying, it simply can't pay its bills. Bills, by the way, that come to some $59 billion. And, there is no app to download that can easily fix that!

Continue reading Why Dubai should matter to you: U.S. real estate could take big hit

Got that sinking feeling? 1 in 4 mortgages now underwater

Joshua Dorkin Nov 27th 2009 @ 3:00PM EST Filed Under: Home, Real Estate, Mortgages

Is America the next Atlantis?

It isn't as absurd as it sounds considering the rate at which new homeowners are finding themselves with property worth less than the mortgage financing it.

According to a newly released report from First American Core Logic, 10.7 million mortgages in the U.S. were underwater as of September. Furthermore, an additional 2.3 million people are teetering on the edge, and are within 5% of being upside down on their loans.

I don't know about you, but it doesn't sound to me like the recession is over for these people . . . far from it!

Continue reading Got that sinking feeling? 1 in 4 mortgages now underwater

It takes the million dollar cake

Ann Brenoff Nov 25th 2009 @ 5:30PM EST Filed Under: Food, Real Estate, Celebs & Money

The million-dollar question being asked among the faithful followers of Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing" show is this: Where is Chad getting those cakes from?

Chad Rogers, one of the three Realtors whose antics are followed each week, let the frosting out of the bag. In an interview with WalletPop, he revealed that he gets the one-of-a-kind cakes at the Brentwood bakery, Susie's Cakes.

Rogers uses them to make his open houses memorable (the $700 cake was decorated with an image of Cake Chad wearing identical clothes to Real Chad, standing in front of an exact replica of the house with a talk bubble saying "It's always a wonderful day in my neighborhood." In the show, Real Chad waits for the end of the open house and then eats Cake Chad's hair.

Continue reading It takes the million dollar cake

Holidays are the time to gobble up homes

Diane Wedner Nov 25th 2009 @ 1:00PM EST Filed Under: Real Estate

Thanksgiving typically launches the beginning of turkey season -- in real estate. Who wants to buy and sell during the holidays -- or so conventional wisdom goes.

Well, bring on the stuffing, decorations and escrow, because this is the season for buying and selling, experts say. Why? Let me count the ways (with help from Whittier, Calif.-based agent Jim Joseph):

Continue reading Holidays are the time to gobble up homes

Corruption behind the real estate debacle? I'm shocked. Shocked!

Charles Feldman Nov 25th 2009 @ 10:30AM EST Filed Under: Home, Real Estate, Mortgages

If anyone has any doubt that there was plenty of corruption behind the mortgage mess that sparked the global recession (and those who might have some doubt may want to double-check what planet they are living on) then consider this small piece of evidence that comes our way out of Sacramento, California, where milk, honey and Vienna schnitzel reign supreme: A former real estate agent is being banned for three years from the biz because he managed to get lenders to hand out millions of dollars worth of loans.

Oh, nearly forgot the important part: it was all apparently based on totally false info, says the Associated Press.

Back story time: The California Department of Real Estate claims the former agent "made false representations to lenders in order to secure nearly $11 million worth of mortgage loans," says the A.P.

Continue reading Corruption behind the real estate debacle? I'm shocked. Shocked!

What to look for if selling your home with seller financing

Zac Bissonnette Nov 24th 2009 @ 4:00PM EST Filed Under: Real Estate, Mortgages

Think rich people pay cash for 8-digit trophy homes? Think again.

According to the Malibu Real Estate Blog, there are 18 homes in the Malibu market where sellers have specifically noted in the MLS listing that they are willing to provide financing to the buyer: "Homes range from $1.1m for a mo-bi-yal home in Paradise Cove to a $10m hillside mansion with jetliner views. There is even a newly remodeled home on Point Dume with tennis court, pool, and beach rights whose owner will carry."

The increase in seller-financing on high-end homes is a direct result of the tightening in the jumbo mortgage market. Without alternative sources of financing, buyers can't buy and sellers can't sell, and that's driving an increasing in seller financing.

Continue reading What to look for if selling your home with seller financing

A Black Friday real estate deal, of sorts

Ann Brenoff Nov 24th 2009 @ 3:30PM EST Filed Under: Real Estate, Black Friday

Not to be left out of the Black Friday hype, Beazer Homes is offering special Black Friday deals at five of its Orlando-area communities.

What's being given away is up to $2,000 in "free" appliances for contracts signed on Friday. But before you give up your place in the Wal-Mart line at 4 a.m., just know that in today's buyers-rule-and-developers-drool market, you can likely mosey on in any old day of the week and let the good folks at Beazer know which dishwasher you want them to throw in for free before you'll sign on the dotted line. Just saying ...

Beazer Homes USA, according to its Web site, "builds for the middle-class buyer who's ready to make the move into the white-picket-fence scene." They build homes with an average price of about $248,700 and courts the entry-level, move-up, and active adult markets.

As for Orlando-area buyers who want to be able to gloat about how they got their house in a Black Friday special, here's the skinny: The special one-day incentive is being offered at Heritage Commons in Winter Springs, The Legacy in Orlando, The Enclave at Moss Park, Sawgrass, also in southeast Orlando, and at Victoria Park Trails in DeLand.

The Federal Tax Credit for qualified new home buyers at $8,000 and $6,500 for existing home buyers is still available.

CPSC study confirms homeowner's worst fears about Chinese drywall

Tom Kraeutler Nov 24th 2009 @ 3:00PM EST Filed Under: Home, Real Estate, Health

A study of 51 homes released this week by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) found a strong association between homes with Chinese-made drywall and levels corrosive hydrogen sulfide, which gives off a smell similar to rotten eggs.

It was the largest investigation ever taken on by the CPSC, costing $3.5 million and involving 15% of the staff, according to the CPSC.

Continue reading CPSC study confirms homeowner's worst fears about Chinese drywall

Beachfront properties you can afford (prepare to travel)

Diane Wedner Nov 24th 2009 @ 2:00PM EST Filed Under: Bargains, Real Estate

For sale: Three-bedroom homes with heart-stopping ocean views. Big properties. Resort nearby.
Price: $139,000
Location: Not the Hamptons (or Malibu or Palm Beach)

What, you thought it was 1950? No matter. If you're willing to fly to Managua, Nicaragua, and make the two-hour trek to lovely San Juan del Sur, you will find your dream vacation house (or land on which to build it). High prices on home turf lured legions of American, Canadian and European buyers to this low-priced Pacific Coast town and other Central American destinations during the real estate run-up earlier this decade. When the bubble burst, investors stayed home, agents and developers say. Now, prices are in oh-my-god territory, and buyers are trickling back. In San Juan del Sur, you can build your own vay cay getaway for $85 a square foot. Compare that with $625 per square foot in Malibu last month. The median price of a home there was $2.1 million in October, according to San Diego-based MDA Dataquick.

Continue reading Beachfront properties you can afford (prepare to travel)

Foreclosures driving record gains in existing-home sales

Charles Feldman Nov 24th 2009 @ 11:00AM EST Filed Under: Home, Real Estate, Mortgages

I Just want to warn you folks right off the bat that this is going to be one of those is the glass half full or half empty? type posts.

On the one hand, the National Association of Realtors is reporting big gains in existing home sales for October (the latest figures) and credits first time buyers rushing to take advantage of the tax credit which has now been extended into next year. Inventories continue to shrink. All good. This now concludes the glass half full portion of this post.

If you look down -- far down -- the news release pumped out by the NAR, you will see something else: So-called "distressed properties" (which conjures up an image in my mind of a house, all by itself, phoning some shrink and asking for prescription meds to battle its depression) account for some 30% of all the October sales.

Distressed properties, of course, are foreclosed properties. This is a reflection of the still never-ending wave of foreclosures that shows no sign of abating anytime soon. Plus, because we are talking distressed properties here, we are also talking about a continuation in the slide of housing prices; with the national median existing-home price now at $173,100, which, says the NAR, is down 7.1% from October of 2008. This is all the glass is half empty portion of this post.

Continue reading Foreclosures driving record gains in existing-home sales

Skip nav