RATES KEEP GETTING LOWER!

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RISMEDIA, August 11, 2011—The average rate for a 15-year fixed loan dropped to 3.54 percent last week from 3.66 percent the week before, according to Freddie Mac—the lowest result since 1991.

RENTAL SCAMS....BE AWARE!

Beware of renting an apartment that's not for rent

Published 11:10 p.m., Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Page 1 of 1

Here's a scam that local police tell us is all too common, and it's been a good deal more common since websites like Craigslist appeared on the scene.

It's the apartment rental scam, and it goes like this: You're looking for an apartment in, say Fairfield, so you log onto New York Craigslist>Fairfield>Housing>apts by owner. You see just the perfect place, complete with pictures and dozens of amenities -- pool, spa, Jacuzzi, mood fountain, the works.

So you email the landlord. When the "landlord" replies, he tells you that he's out of the country "on business" and there are five other people "just dying" to get the place, but you can nail it down by wiring him $2,500.

So, you give him a call, naturally, and he still sounds pretty convincing. You drive by the place to check it out, and it seems on the up and up.

So, you wire the "landlord" the $2,500 and you call him for a meeting so you can get the key.

When the day and time arrives to meet him, he's nowhere to be found. You call him on his cellphone. Disconnected.

You knock on the door and, to your surprise, someone is living there with no intention of moving out anytime soon. And, the occupant tells you the name of the real landlord, which is different than the guy you're dealing with.

You're out $2,500, and there's nothing anyone can do to get your money back.

"We get these complaints all the time," said Sgt. Sue Lussier of the Fairfield Police Department. "First of all, never complete a transaction like that without meeting the landlord in person."

She said it's also a good idea to check websites like www.visionappraisal.com to see if your "landlord" really does, in fact, own the place. It's also an excellent idea to rent through a real estate broker.

As for the five other people "just dying" to rent the place, she warns: "Actually, if you check, there are dozens and dozens of apartments for rent in Fairfield alone, so don't feel under pressure to wire anyone money," she said.

"Also, in the first place, you should never be wiring anyone any money," Lussier said. "Once you do that, the money is theirs, and there's nothing we can do about it. A lot of times they'll tell you that they're in Africa doing missionary work."

To make matters worse, the scammer will tell you, "Look, I just want to make sure you have $2,500 so I know you're not wasting my time. So wire any of your friends the money using MailGram, and email me a scan of the receipt."

But the way MoneyGram works, once he has a copy of the receipt, he can intercept the cash at any MoneyGram outlet in the world, and you're out the $2,500.

In many instances, scammers will simply pirate information off a legitimate Craigslist ad, as well as the pictures, and just substitute their own contact information. Also, beware of spelling and grammatical mistakes, which could be a tip off that you're dealing with an overseas operation.

Unfortunately, people looking for an apartment are often from out-of-town, so they're more vulnerable to the apartment scam.

We'd like to add that renting from a classified ad in the newspaper is always a much safer bet, because the person placing the ad with us (or another paper) is leaving a paper trail (a canceled check or credit card record) that makes it easier for law enforcement to track down the suspect.

We learned about this after getting in touch with a scam victim who found out she was had after wiring money to secure an apartment in Fairfield. When she went to collect the key, the guy she wired the money to was nowhere to be found, and there was someone living in what was supposed to be her new pad.

"If they say they're out of the country, it's always a scam," Lussier said. "We get these complaints all the time. And there's not much we can do for the victims."

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Beware-of-renting-an-apartment-that-s-not-for-rent-1619104.php#ixzz1TSCX1UxM

Who To List With??

7 qualities of a top listing agent

REThink Real Estate
By Tara-Nicholle Nelson
Inman News™

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Q: I'm preparing to list my home, and am starting to research listing agents to represent me. Besides being comfortable with my broker, what is the most important quality I need from them: negotiating skills or marketing skills? Both are very important to me. Frankly, I'm afraid of being "roughed up" by aggressive buyers in this market. --Michelle
A: You're spot on, Michelle. Both marketing and negotiating will be uber-important to have in the broker or agent you choose to list your home and get it sold.
Some might see marketing as the most important because, to put it plainly, if your home is not exposed widely and aggressively to prospective buyers, you'll never have the buyer viewings and offer(s) that must come in for you to even be faced with the high-class problem of negotiating the price and terms of a sale.
However, I don't see marketing skills as the requirement so much as your listing agent having a clear, comprehensive marketing plan that she is able to present to you with case studies or specimens of marketing she's done for recent properties somewhat similar to yours. It's critical that an agent's marketing plan for your home include details such as:

• how she would help you prepare or stage your property for sale;
• what her plans are for listing the property on the local multiple listing service(s) and publicizing it to other brokers;
• what onsite marketing she would recommend (i.e., yard signage and/or open houses); and
• how and where she would place your home's listing online, down to which sites she'd list it on and how many pictures she would include.

All essential.
But negotiating is essential too -- especially if you're very concerned about being bullied or taken advantage of.
Ultimately, though, when it comes to negotiations, you're going to be faced with making the ultimate decisions about what your bottom-line price and other terms are, including whether you're able to offer incentives like closing-cost credits or whether you can afford to contribute to any repairs the buyer's inspectors require.
What I suspect you want is to feel like you're protected, which will come from having an agent you trust who's "got your back," but also has the experience and knowledge of local standard negotiating practices and buyer psychology that comes only with experience -- and I mean recent experience getting homes sold in today's market climate.
I cannot emphasize enough that one efficient method of finding such a listing agent is to get referrals! Look to any family members, friends, work colleagues and neighbors whose homes are on the market now and ask them if they would strongly recommend their agent, and why.
If it's tough to get referrals, go into the various online real estate websites and their local discussion boards, and see which local agents are giving sensible, knowledgeable answers to consumers' questions in those forums. During your interview process, ask for references -- and call them! Speak to their recent past seller clients, to see how happy they were with the agents' service.
And I'd suggest you look for several other items beyond marketing and negotiating skills, or even trustworthiness and experience.
If I were listing my home one of my top priorities would be to find an agent who seems to have nailed the art and science of pricing their listings -- I'd want to find an agent whose listings regularly sold quickly, relative to other homes in the area, and for sales prices that were at, near or even above the asking prices.
That's an agent whose pricing recommendations you can trust, and an agent who likely has another strong skill you need: the skill of being able to have frank, tough conversations with their clients about what their homes are worth, and can support those list-price recommendations with facts and sound reasoning.
I'd also prioritize an agent with strong relationships: with their past clients; with mortgage professionals; with other agents in the area; with property preparation vendors (like stagers, painters, handymen/women, landscapers and such); with inspectors, engineers and contractors; and with local escrow companies.
And, if I were listing my home as a short sale, I would absolutely limit my listing agent search to agents who have a strong, proven track record of getting short sales closed -- ideally short sales that involved the same bank or banks as my mortgage lender.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of questions to ask and traits to seek in your listing agent candidates, but these are certainly where my top priorities would lie.

NEW CONVEYANCE TAX INCREASE

REMINDER…. CONVEYANCE TAX INCREASE EFFECTIVE 7/1/11
The Connecticut General Assembly adjourned its 2011 Regular Session on Wednesday, June 8. The following material highlights a number of important pieces of legislation that were enacted in the session.

Conveyance Tax

• Public Act 6: Section 102 of this act increases the state's portion of the tax by ¼ of one percent. This increase will go into effect on July 1, 2011, and will be applicable to conveyances occurring on or after that date. The act was signed by the Governor on May 4, 2011.
• Residential property (and vacant land) will thus be taxed at ¾ of one percent (instead of ½ of one percent).
• Residential property that is conveyed for more than $800,000 (the so-called "mansion tax") will be taxed at ¾ of one percent up to that amount, and then at 1 and ¼ of one percent on the excess.
• Nonresidential property that is currently taxed at 1% will instead be taxed at 1 and ¼ of one percent.
• Conveyances to a financial institution of property on which mortgage payments have been delinquent for not less than six months will be taxed at ¾ of one percent, instead of ½ of one percent.
• Section 103 of the bill provides that the revenue attributable to the increase in the state tax rate shall be deposited by the Department of Revenue Services into a municipal revenue sharing account, with funds used for municipal grants.

Note: The legislature did not enact a bill that would have allowed municipalities to impose a "buyer's tax" on the conveyance of real property.

Foreclosures
House Bill 6351: This bill extends the sunset date of the foreclosure mediation program from July 1, 2012 to July 1, 2014. The bill also extends the program to include the owners of property occupied by a religious organization. Other changes made to the mediation program include new restrictions on the making of motions and new documentation requirements.

Other matters covered by the bill include the protections afforded to certain tenants of foreclosed homes; the registration requirements imposed on those who bring foreclosure actions and on those in whom title vests following a foreclosure action; and overtime requirements applicable to certain mortgage loan originators.

Recording Fees
Public Act 48: Section 134 of this act amends Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-34a to make permanent the ten dollar surcharge on recordings that was first established in 2009. That surcharge was due to expire on July 1, 2011. Revenue raised by the surcharge is to be dedicated to the uses set forth in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 4-66aa, as amended by Section 133 of the bill. The act has not yet been signed by the Governor.

FIRST TIME HOME SELLER TIPS!

3 Tips for the First-Time Home Seller

  ^[1]RISMedia, June 14, 2011—Today’s buyer-take-all bonanza is a boon for fence-sitters and buyers with great credit and deep pockets. But sellers are steeling themselves to new realities that include paying (rather than making) money at the closing table, providing extras to sweeten the deal, and spending more time and cash making the home camera-ready.

For first-time sellers who have never been through the process before, it’s a different world. One where the value of the house isn’t measured in the profit made on the sale, but by the enjoyment the owners had from living in the home.

UPSIDE DOWN OWNERS

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS June 9, 2011

40% of underwater borrowers took cash out of homes CoreLogic: Owners with home equity loans more than twice as likely to be upside down By Inman News Inman News™ Share This Homeowners with home equity loans are more than twice as likely to be "underwater" as those who didn't take cash out of their homes, according to statistics compiled by real estate and loan data aggregator CoreLogic. CoreLogic estimates that at the end of March, 22.7 percent of homeowners with mortgages -- about 10.9 million borrowers -- owed more on their mortgage than their home was worth. That's down slightly from an estimated 11.1 million underwater borrowers at the end of December. Falling home prices can put borrowers who have little equity in their homes underwater. By allowing homeowners to convert equity they have in their homes into cash, home equity loans reduce the cushion borrowers have against price declines. CoreLogic said that 38 percent of borrowers with home equity loans were underwater at the end of March, compared with 18 percent of homeowners who had no home equity loan. More than 40 percent of all underwater homeowners (4.5 million) have home equity loans, CoreLogic said. As might be expected, CoreLogic found that the presence of a home equity loan also increased the amount of negative equity. Underwater homeowners who had taken out home equity loans owed $83,000 more than their home was worth, on average, compared with $52,000 for those who hadn't taken cash out of their home. Past studies have shown that the higher a borrower's combined loan-to-value ratio (CLTV), the more likely they are to stop making payments on their loan. In many cases, borrowers will opt for a "strategic default" -- not because they can't afford the monthly payments, but because they don't believe their home will regain its value anytime soon. CoreLogic found that borrowers with home equity loans were slightly more likely to default at "moderate" levels of negative equity, up to 115 percent CLTV. Beyond that point, the relationship reverses, and default rates were slightly higher among homeowners without home equity loans. Among all underwater borrowers nationwide, the average amount of negative equity was $65,000. In states with higher-cost housing, the average was considerably higher. In New York, underwater borrowers had an average of $129,000 in negative equity, followed by Massachusetts ($120,000), Connecticut ($111,000), Hawaii ($98,000), and California ($93,000). At the other end of the scale, underwater borrowers in Ohio had the lowest negative equity -- $31,000, on average -- followed by Indiana ($34,000), and Minnesota ($38,000). Nevada led all states in the proportion of underwater borrowers -- 63 percent of Silver State homeowners with mortgages owed more than their home was worth -- followed by Arizona (50 percent), Florida (46 percent), Michigan (36 percent), and California (31 percent). At the metro level, Las Vegas led the nation, with 66 percent of mortgaged properties underwater, followed by Stockton (56 percent), Phoenix and Modesto (55 percent), and Reno (54 percent). Metropolitan markets located outside of the five states with the highest negative equity shares include Greeley, Colo. (38 percent); Boise (36 percent); and Atlanta (35 percent).

INTEREST RATES MAKE IT A GREAT TIME TO BUY!

Mortgage rates ease again to new 2011 low

Demand for purchase loans up slightly from year ago
By Inman News

Rates on fixed-rate mortgages dropped slightly this week, hitting new lows for the year, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
While lower rates often trigger applications for refinancing, purchase loan demand also picked up last week and was slightly stronger a year ago, a separate survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association showed.
Freddie Mac's survey showed rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.6 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending May 26, down from 4.61 percent last week and 4.84 percent a year ago.
Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hit an all-time low in Freddie Mac records dating to 1971 of 4.17 percent during the week ending Nov. 11, 2010, before climbing to a 2011 high of 5.05 percent in February.
Rates on 15-year fixed rate mortgages averaged 3.78 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from 3.8 percent last week and 4.21 percent a year ago. Rates on 15-year mortgages hit an all-time low in records dating back to 1991 of 3.57 percent in November.
For 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loans, rates averaged 3.41 percent with an average 0.5 point, down from 3.48 percent last week and 3.97 percent a year ago. The 5-year ARM hit a low in records dating to 2005 of 3.25 percent in November.
Rates on 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM loans averaged 3.11 percent with an average 0.5 point, down from 3.15 percent last week and 3.95 percent a year ago.
Looking back a week, the MBA's weekly Mortgage Applications Survey showed applications for purchase loans climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.5 percent during the week ending May 20 compared to the week before. Purchase loan applications were up 3.1 percent from the same time a year ago.
Demand for refinancings was also up slightly, to the highest level since Dec. 10. Requests for refinancings accounted for 66.8 percent of all mortgage loan applications, the highest share since Jan. 28.
In a May 18 forecast MBA economists said they expect rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages to rise to an average of 5.5 percent during the final three months of this year, and continue a gradual rise to an average of 5.9 percent during the fourth quarter of 2012.