IMPROVING MARKETS INCLUDES 2 IN CT!

Road to Recovery: List of Improving Housing Markets Nearly Doubles in January

  ^[1]The number of housing markets showing measurable improvement nearly doubled in January with the addition of 40 new metros to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI).

The IMI now boasts 76 improving markets, up from 41 in December, with 31 states and the District of Columbia represented by at least one entry.
The index identifies metropolitan areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs in housing permits, employment and house prices for at least six consecutive months. New entrants to the list in January include the following (listed alphabetically by state):

HOUSING 2012

• January 5, 2012, 12:53 PM ET

Five Issues for Housing in 2012

Associated Press

Trying to figure out where the housing market is headed in 2012 offers a strong sense of déjà vu: The market feels just as it did at the beginning of 2011, when many pundits optimistically predicted that housing would finally hit bottom. The housing market didn’t deteriorate in 2011, but it didn’t firm up either amid an economic recovery that struggled to find its footing.
So what does 2012 hold? For one, the story will be local. While many housing markets rose together during the boom and fell together during the bust, they’re exiting the downturn at different speeds, and so it’s not very useful to talk about a “national” housing market.
With that caveat in mind, here’s a look at five key issues that will help determine whether prices stabilize and sales improve in the coming year:
1. Confidence and jobs: The housing market badly needs the economy to add more jobs to stimulate demand for home purchases and to prevent mortgage delinquencies from rising. The good news is that with prices down by 30% from their peak and mortgage rates at their lowest recorded levels, housing is more affordable than it has been in decades. But many would-be buyers are worried about buying today if prices are going to be lower tomorrow. Others don’t want to buy a house until they have more evidence that they’re not going to get laid off or see their hours cut back.
2. Foreclosures: Whether home prices hit a floor this year also relies on how banks manage a huge overhang of foreclosed homes that they haven’t yet taken back and resold. Banks and other mortgage investors own around 440,000 foreclosed properties, but there’s another 3.4 million loans in foreclosure or serious delinquency, according to estimates by Barclays Capital. Because banks are faster to cut prices to unload inventory than are mom-and-pop sellers, home values can fall further as the share of distressed sales rises.
This is one by reason why policymakers at the Federal Reserve and elsewhere are talking about converting some of those foreclosed homes into rental properties. Look for some pilot programs where government entities test the concept in 2012.
3. Rents: Apartment rents are rising as vacancy rates drop to levels that are already lower than the low point in 2006 during the previous economic cycle. If low mortgage rates aren’t enough to give urgency to would-be buyers, rent hikes could accelerate buyers’ decisions to take the plunge.
4. Mortgage credit and rates: Federal policymakers have taken extraordinary steps to keep mortgage rates low and federal-backed entities are responsible for backing nearly nine in 10 new mortgages. But it’s still hard for many buyers to get a loan because banks are demanding lots of documentation of borrowers’ incomes, and appraisals are tanking some deals. When appraisals come in below agreed upon sales prices, sellers must drop prices or buyers must put down more cash. Banks will need to put their legacy-loan problems behind them before there’s much easing in lending standards.
Other wildcards remain on the lending and rates front: will the Federal Reserve initiate another round of buying mortgage-backed securities—a step known to some as “quantitative easing”—to lift the economy? Will continued litigation and demands that banks buy back defaulted loans from mortgage titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lead them to be more stingy with mortgage credit? And will other lenders move in to fill that void? Will the government do more to juice up refinancing programs? Will rates rise as the government attempts to draw back private capital by raising the fees that Fannie and Freddie charge to lenders?
5. Regulation: Many analysts don’t expect Congress to make major changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the election year, but several major regulatory changes could significantly reshape the future of the lending landscape in 2012. Dodd-Frank Act lending rules that have yet to be spelled out by regulators will influence how banks price loans that are bundled and sold into securities. Another set of rules will determine how banks must satisfy provisions for them to determine that a borrower has the ability to repay a mortgage.
Meanwhile, the regulator that oversees Fannie and Freddie is revamping the way that mortgage companies are paid for collecting loan payments. This could lead to a broader shakeup in the mortgage industry that ultimately influences how much borrowers are charged for mortgages and how banks handle loans that fall into delinquency.

THE IMPORTANCE OF STAGING!

3 tips for staging your home to sell

Decluttering has financial upside

By Dian Hymer, Monday, December 19, 2011.

Inman News®

Paint brush image via Shutterstock.com.

Today's buyers are looking for turnkey homes. That is, they want to move right in without having to do a lot of work. Buyers with busy lifestyles pay a premium for listings that are in prime condition. Staging can make the difference between a listing selling or not, the time it takes to sell, and the ultimate sale price.
Sellers who are financially strapped often have a hard time accepting that they'll need to invest in preparing a house for sale even though they may sell for less than they paid. Fix-up costs can mount up; your agent can help you prioritize so that you don't waste money. It's important to keep your goal in mind, which is to sell your house in a difficult market.
Recently, a home in Piedmont, Calif., an affluent city neighboring Oakland, came on the market in "as is" condition. It had been lived in for decades without much upgrading. Although located in a desirable area, the listing was vacant, dark and showed poorly. The sellers refused to do any work to improve its appeal.
After months on the market with no significant interest, the sellers pulled the house off the market and made improvements. The wall-to-wall carpet was pulled up to reveal hardwood floors that were then refinished. Painters lightened the interior and a professional stager was hired to bring in furniture, artwork, house plants and accessories. The listing was put back on the market with a fresh look and sold right away.

RATES!!!

Mortgage rates dip below 4% — again

by KERRY CURRY

Thursday, December 8th, 2011, 9:03 am

Fixed-rate mortgages rates were largely unchanged and near record lows, according to Freddie Mac and Bankrate mortgage surveys.
The 30-year fixed dipped to 3.99% for the week ending Dec. 8 with an average 0.7 point, and at 3.27%, the 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage with an average 0.8 point, was just slightly above its all-time low of 3.26%, which it hit on Oct. 6, according to Freddie Mac.
The 30-year FRM dipped from last week when it averaged 4%. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.61%, the GSE said.
The 15-year FRM is down from last week's 3.3%. A year ago it averaged 3.96%.
Freddie said the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.93%, up from last week's 2.9% but down from 3% a year ago.
The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.8%, up from last week's 2.78% but down from 3.27% a year ago.
"These low rates and home prices have pushed housing affordability to record highs this year," said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac.
Bankrate reported that the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell 1 basis point this week to 4.24%, according to its survey of large lenders.
Mortgages in the survey had an average total of 0.36 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was 4.89%.
The benchmark 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.48%, unchanged from last week. The 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage fell 3 basis points, to 3.18%.

CAN RENTERS HELP SOLVE HOUSING SLOW DOWN?

How Can Renters Solve the Housing Crisis?

  ^[1]Residential real estate is not rocket science. We know that this housing crisis is:
1. Explainable – bad lending, mad speculation, wild expectations, government meddling
2. Isolated – bad mortgages, negative equity, strategic default, government meddling
3. Temporary – demand for housing always catches up to supply eventually

SELLING YOUR HOUSE?

5 Things to Do Now to Get Your Home Sold in 2012

 

It’s that time of year when most of us start to count our blessings, look back at what we’ve accomplished in 2011 and think about what we’ll get done in 2012. If selling your home is part of your resolution list for next year, there’s plenty of prep work you can do to set yourself up for home selling success.

Here are 5 things you can and should start working on without further ado, if you want to get your home sold - smoothly and for top dollar - in 2012.

1. Put your intentions in writing. The first step to any real estate transaction - actually, to anything important in life! - is to get clear on your goals. Unexpected challenges and situations might very well come up in the course of selling your home, so having a clear idea of your ultimate goals at the outset is a must to help you make the right decisions along the way and to remind you when you might need to course correct.

When you’re setting your objective and writing it down, it’s critical to be specific and holistic, drilling down to the details of what result it is you want your home sale to achieve in your life.

Also, establish where your priorities lie: with speed or with dollars? For example, your goal might be to sell your house as quickly as possible so you can relocate your family by spring. Or, your goal may be to sell your house at the best possible price no matter how long it takes.

Getting as clear as possible from the very beginning on your priorities and ultimate life objectives for the sale will allow you to communicate these crucial things clearly to your agent, and will power your decisions on issues like:

• which home improvement projects, if any, to complete before you sell;
• whether to accept a particular offer; and
• how aggressively to negotiate counter-offers, and on which points to push back against a buyer’s offer.

2. Study the local market. The most successful home sales are the listings that are priced right from day one. Ask any agent: even in the toughest markets, there are listing that sell quickly, mostly because the one-two punch of the property and its price look to buyers like a very strong value.

In order to position yourself and your property at the point of pricing nirvana, you’ll need to do some leg work. stat. You don’t need to pick an exact price this moment, unless you’re planning to list your home super soon, but you can get started on what I like to think of as the ‘thinking seller’s’ three-pronged approach to pricing now, by:

• visiting open houses,
• studying nearby listings, and
• talking with local agents.

Before the year is up, try to visit a handful of open houses in your neighborhood. This will help you get a sense of the types of homes that are on the market, what condition they’re in, and how they are priced. Keep in mind that no home is going to be exactly like yours, but if it’s similar in size, location and features, then buyers that see that property will probably be the same buyers that come to see yours - and they will be comparing list prices.

Another great prep tool in gearing up to sell your home in 2012 is to study similar homes for sale on Trulia! Pay particular attention to what features they have, how they are described and priced, any incentives the sellers are offering (e.g., closing cost credits, etc.) and how long they’ve been on the market. (Hint: you might not want to price your home right in line with one that’s been on the market over a year. Obviously, that home is overpriced, and that is NOT a result you want to replicate!)

Finally, one of the most efficient and nuanced ways to get to know your local market is to begin speaking with agents who sell homes in your area. Get a few referrals, call them up and tour them through your home. Then, ask these pros for their opinion on what you should list your home for, what recent sales they think are the most comparable (and why), and how long they would expect your sale to take given their experience and current conditions.

You can use these same home tours to get a head start on selecting your listing agent by asking the agents you interview to give you a preview of what they would recommend in the way of preparing your home, timing your listing and marketing your house to achieve the objectives you set in Step 1.

3. Gather your paperwork. In planning for your sale next year, you can get a great head start by pulling together the necessary paperwork now. Keep in mind that the specific requirements vary by state, so this is not an exhaustive list. In general, you’ll need to have these ready:

• Disclosure documents: This includes any documentation of anything that might impact a buyer’s decision about your home, whether it be inspection reports, repair receipts or estimates for repairs you haven’t actually had done yet. Your local real estate pro will help determine what exactly is needed here.
• Compliance certificates: In some cities, the local government will require certain conditions be met before a property is transferred to another owner. Examples of these requirements include sewer line condition guidelines, and energy conservation ordinances that require low-flow toilets and shower heads to be installed. Again, your  real estate agent and your city’s website can help you figure out which, if any, of these types of ordinances might apply to your home.
• Mortgage statements: Before the property’s title can transfer to another owner, the escrow or title company will need your mortgage statements to order payoff demands from any mortgage holder who has to get paid before that can happen.
• Financials: If you’re planning on a short sale, you’ll have a lot more paperwork to gather in your process, including paycheck stubs, bank and investment account statements, and two years’ W-2 forms or tax returns - the bank will review these to determine whether they will authorize you to sell the home for less than what you owe.

4. Prep your listing plan and timeline. After you’ve done all your pricing homework and have chosen a listing agent, you can create a plan and timeline for how all the moving pieces will come together - including who is responsible for getting which tasks done. At minimum, your plan should specify:

• prep work you’ll be doing to your property before it’s listed for sale - including decluttering, staging and any repairs or cosmetic power-tweaks you plan to make;
• if you’re planning a short sale, a timeline for submitting an application to your lender for approval (this might be before or after the property is listed - consult with your lender and your agent on the matter)
• planned list price (based on current local market conditions - this could change if you don’t plan to list your home for several months);
• the target date on which your home will be listed for sale in the local MLS; and
• how showing arrangements will work so that local agents can get prospective buyers into your house to see the place, and what.

Agents: What other elements do you encourage sellers to include in their listing plans?

5. Get a head start on your ‘home’work. How much prep work your home needs really depends on its current condition. A good starting point for many sellers is to order an inspection. Most buyers will get their own inspection before closing a deal, but getting ahead of them with your own will help you avoid any unwanted surprises later on in the transaction. An inspection will give you a reality check on your home’s condition, enabling you to decide upfront whether it’s worth it to fix something now or simply reduce the price in consideration thereof.

Your holiday vacation from work is a great time to:
     (a) obtain any advance inspections your real estate agent recommends,
     (b) have any reasonable repairs completed,
     (c) pre-pack and declutter your place, and
     (d) prettify your home’s curb appeal - painting the shutters and sprucing the landscaping goes a long way toward attracting buyers.

Kudos, in advance, for taking the time now to prepare for your home sale in 2012!  Selling in today’s market is no easy task, and doing the heavy lifting now - before your home goes on the market and, hopefully, while you're on vacation! - will help tremendously in making things go as smoothly, and profitably, as possible.

GET YOUR ENERGY TAX CREDITS BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE

Last Call for Energy Efficiency Homeowner Tax Credits

 The Alliance to Save Energy urges American consumers to give themselves the gift of energy efficiency this holiday season—and reap the benefits when they file their 2011 federal tax returns—by taking advantage of tax credits for energy efficiency home improvements.