3 Reasons Mortgage Demand Is Dropping..Robert De La Rosa An Expert In Your Court 909.271.5640 CALL NOW!!!!

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2014

Fixed-rate mortgages sank to the lowest average of the year last week, yet mortgage origination activity remains lackluster. Why aren’t more home buyers taking advantage of the lower borrowing costs?

In a recent blog post, Freddie Mac analysts point to three main factors behind the decrease in mortgage originations:

1. The refinancing boom has ended. From 2013 to 2014, mortgage applications for refinancings have fallen about 60 percent. Freddie Mac projects refinance applications will drop by another 50 percent from 2014 to 2015. When mortgage rates rise—as they are expected to soon—borrowers will have less incentive to refinance. Applications for home purchases are not expected to be able to fill the void from the refi boom.
2. Home sales are down. Sales of existing and new homes have fallen about 5 percent during the first six months of 2014 compared to the first half of 2013, according to Freddie Mac. “A period of higher mortgage rates, a harsh winter, and slower economic growth compared to a year earlier contributed to the slowdown,” researchers explain.
3. More buyers are paying cash. The number of borrowers who took out a mortgage to purchase a home is down compared to last year, but that could be due to more buyers using cash. In the first six months of this year, all-cash home sales were up slightly from 31 percent to 33 percent, according to National Association of REALTORS® data. Yet, “with rising home values and fewer distressed homes coming the market, expect the available inventory for all-cash buyers to trend down in the coming year,” researchers note.

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Freddie Mac researchers say the key to an increase in mortgage origination activity will be “sustained economic growth and jobs.”

“Overall, recent economic and employment improvements should help bolster household formation and contribute to gains in construction, home sales—and also mortgage originations,” Freddie Mac researchers note. “However, even with these improvements, expect new and refinance mortgage origination volume for this year to be the lowest since 2000 at about $1.15 trillion.”

Source: Freddie Mac

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Singles: Why We're Buying Now... Robert De La Rosa An Expert In Your Court 909.271.5640 CALL NOW!!!!

Singles: Why We're Buying Now

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2014

Seventy-five percent of single home owners ages 25 to 50 say home ownership is important to them, according to a new Century 21 survey.

These are the top three reasons single home owners say they decided to buy: They viewed home ownership as an investment in their financial future; they were tired of paying rent; and they thought it was the right time to purchase a home.

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“We are in the midst of a shift in the home-buying population,” says Rick Davidson, president and chief executive officer of Century 21 Real Estate LLC. “This survey shows that home ownership is a major life decision for singles and that it is just as important a part of the American Dream for them as it is for married couples.”

Nearly one-third of all real estate purchases in 2013 were made by single home buyers, according to data from the National Association of REALTORS®.

But single home buyers say it wasn’t easy to achieve home ownership because many were intimidated by the home-buying process, and they had to make several sacrifices in order to buy a home.

Nearly two-thirds of single home owners say they overcame a roadblock to buy their home. The most intimidating parts of the home-buying process, they say, included making an offer and negotiating a price (38%); obtaining a mortgage (36%); moving (31%); closing (30%); and searching for and locating a home (25%).

Singles also say they had to make several lifestyle sacrifices: 60 percent say they had to dine out less to purchase a home, and half say they had to cut back on entertainment. Fifty-one percent say they had to spend less on vacations.

What were their most important considerations in buying a home? Single home owners rated space and square footage (59%); the yard (57%); and proximity to work or school (47%) as the most important criteria in their house hunt, according to the Century 21 survey. Good cell service and proximity to public transportation tended to be more important to single home owners 25 to 35 years old than those 36 to 50 years old.

The younger set was also more likely to say they searched for real estate on their mobile devices.  

Source: Century 21

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Robert De La Rosa

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9220 Haven Ave. Suite 100

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Fannie Mae More Cautious On Housing Outlook!!!

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2014

Fannie Mae economists have downgraded their housing outlook after a weak end to the second quarter, and they say that near-term indicators are suggesting only a minor improvement in the second half of the year.

"The impact on mortgage rates from the market's expectation that the Federal Reserve would soon start tapering their securities purchases, combined to some degree with the weather effect in the first half of 2014, led to very little seasonal growth in housing," says Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae's chief economist. "In the first six months of the year, total sales have run below last year's pace."

Also, Duncan notes that "on the demand side, there appears to be a conservatism among consumers and their willingness to take on big-ticket purchases, such as homes."

Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group estimates that 2014 will finish lower in total sales figures than 2013. They're also predicting that "2015, while stronger than 2013 and 2014, will not be the breakout year some are expecting."

Still, there is some hope for a turnaround: Consumers surveyed in Fannie Mae's July National Housing Survey did report being more optimistic about their personal income and expenses. Also, the economy has shown a slight improvement, with upticks in consumer spending and employment, Fannie researchers note.

Source: Fannie Mae

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Amerisave On the Hook for Alleged Mortgage Scheme..REALTOR ROBERT DE LA ROSA 909.271.5640 Serving The So Cal Basin!!!

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2014

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is ordering Amerisave Mortgage to pay $19.3 million, alleging the lender scammed thousands of customers with a bait-and-switch mortgage-lending scheme. CFPB also accuses Amerisave affiliate Novo Appraisal Management Company and Patrick Markert, the owner of both companies, of being involved in the scam.

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CFPB says that between mid-2011 and 2014, Amerisave advertised misleading interesting rates and then locked customers in with pricey up-front fees. The agency alleges that Amerisave failed to honor its advertised rates to customers and illegally overcharged them for affiliated "third-party" services.

"By the time consumers could have discovered that the advertised low rates were too good to be true, they had already committed to pay hundreds of dollars to Amerisave," says CFPB Director Richard Cordray.

Amerisave advertised its low interest rates through online banner ads and searchable rate tables on third-party websites. When customers clicked on the ad, they were then directed to Amerisave's website, which provided consumers with quotes based on an 800 FICO score, even if customers had entered a lower FICO score on the previous third-party website. As such, CFPB says that customers were being provided with misleadingly low interest rates.

CFPB also says that consumers were required to order and pay for an appraisal before Amerisave would provide a Good Faith Estimate for the mortgage. Amerisave then charged consumers for "appraisal validation" reports and failed to disclose that the service was being provided by Novo, a move that violates RESPA, CFPB stated in its allegations. CFPB asserts that the price charged on the appraisal report was inflated by as much as 900 percent.

Amerisave and Novo have been ordered by CFPB to refund $14.8 million to customers who were affected, as well as pay $4.5 million as a penalty. Markert is ordered to pay an additional $1.5 million penalty.

Source: “Amerisave to Pay $19.3M for Bait-and-Switch Mortgage Scheme,” Atlanta Business Chronicle (Aug. 12, 2014) and “CFPB Takes Action Against Amerisave Mortgage,” HousingWire (Aug. 13, 2014)

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Robert De La Rosa

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Rental Affordability Crisis Spreads to Middle America...REALTOR ROBERT DE LA ROSA 909.271.5640

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2014

Skyrocketing rents continue to plague renters, and the problem is going to only get worse all over the country.

“Overall, housing dynamics are currently changing,” Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist, said last month during panel hosted by CoreLogic and the Urban Institute. “Rental demand is rising while supply is dwindling as a result of the declining share of distressed assets relative to all homes on the market. Due to this trend, rent prices will continue to climb.”

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Talk of rising rental costs have mostly centered on coastal areas such as New York City, San Francisco, and Miami, which have long had the highest rents in the nation. But higher rents are also increasingly hitting Middle America as well.

In the second quarter of this year, several cities in the central part of the U.S. placed in the top 10 regions for highest rent growth, including Nashville, Tenn.; Raleigh, N.C.; Louisville, Ky.; Columbus, Ohio; and St. Louis, according to a report by Reis, a real estate research firm.

“Although average rents in these smaller cities are still lower than in big cities, the rapid increases have been met with sticker shock by residents, especially those with lower incomes,” The Wall Street Journal reports. Economists say that landlords have the upper hand in a growing number of Southern and Midwestern cities, as they’re able to continue raising rents due to strong demand and local job growth.

In the Nashville metro area, apartment rents are up 18 percent since 2009 while the median household income has grown by 5 percent, according to Moody’s Analytics. More than half of renter households in Nashville are paying more than 30 percent of their income to rent, which is considered cost-burdened. 

In April, Shaun Donovan, the former Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, said the U.S. is in the “worst rental affordability crisis this country has ever known.”

Source: “Rising Rent Squeezes Middle America,” HousingWire (Aug. 11, 2014) and “Nashville Rent Increases Have Residents Singing the Blues,” The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 10, 2014)

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Robert De La Rosa

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 909.271.5640 CALL NOW!!!!

www.TheCaliforniaPropertyConnection.net

9220 Haven Ave. Suite 100

Rancho Cucamonga Ca, 91730

BRE 01435824

Agents Warned of Vacation Rental Scams...

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | MONDAY, AUGUST 04, 2014

Police in eastern North Carolina are the latest to issue warnings to real estate companies and home owners, advising them to watch out for con artists who are duplicating advertisements of vacation rentals and placing them on other websites at a cheaper price. Such scams are reportedly becoming more frequent across the country, particularly among single-family rental property listings being scraped online by scammers. 

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"Basically what the scammers do is they take the legitimate ad and they just duplicate the page, they duplicate the pictures, descriptions, and they post it on sites like Craigslist," says Sergeant John Towler with the Kill Devil Hills Police Department in North Carolina. Towler has fielded complaints from home owners and real estate companies saying their listings were hijacked online. 

Often, the scam isn't reported until a family shows up to start their vacation at a home they thought they rented, but then discover they were scammed, Towler says.  

Towler is recommending real estate companies use Internet search engines to make sure their rentals aren't being reposted by scammers. He suggests taking one or two sentences from the listing copy and pasting them into Google to see if any similar phrases come up online.

Vacation renters also are being cautioned to be leery of any person who asks them to make untraceable payment options, like a money order or Western Union. 

“Most legitimate rentals are going to be with a credit card or a personal check,” Towler says.

Source: "Homeowners and Real Estate Companies Become Targets of Vacation Rental Scams," WNCT-9 CBS in Eastern North Carolina (Aug. 3, 2014)

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Robert De La Rosa

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 909.271.5640 CALL NOW!!!!

www.TheCaliforniaPropertyConnection.net

9220 Haven Ave. Suite 100

Rancho Cucamonga Ca, 91730

BRE 01435824