Steps To A Quick Home Sale

This article has 5 steps to help you do that.  Make sure to always consult a real estate agent.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/29/real_estate/quick_sale.moneymag/index.htm?section=money_realestate 

Going After Banks

It is funny that this article was in the paper today because I was telling a friend last night how Madoff got 150 years for the fraud he committed however banks have caused Americans to lose more money in equity than Madoff had stolen yet nothing is being done.

“The Supreme Court on Monday partially overturned federal rules on bank regulation, paving the way for state prosecutors to go after national banks for alleged violations of state fair-lending laws.

The 5-4 decision, written by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia but joined by the court’s four liberal justices, could have broader implications as policy makers attempt to overhaul the rules for financial regulation, particularly as the power struggle between state and federal regulators intensifies. The ruling chips away at 140 years of precedent in federal banking policy.

The decision, in Cuomo v. Clearing House Association, was a surprise victory for consumer groups and state officials because their repeated attempts to challenge the National Bank Act of 1864 have nearly always been rejected in court. The ruling will allow state attorneys general in certain cases to sue any of the country’s 1,500 national banks, including major divisions of Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124627465027367747.html#mod=todays_us_page_one 

Shopping For A Mortgage

The most important part of this article is this.  “What to watch out for: Novice loan officers. “In the heyday, underwriting was a matter of pushing a button,” says Steve Curnutte, a former mortgage broker. “Now you have to know what you’re doing.” To prevent your financing plan from fizzling out midway, ask to work with a loan officer who has been in the business for five-plus years, or since before the credit boom took off. “

There are too many things that can cause a loan to go bad and you need someone experienced to help get passed that.  It doesn’t matter how great your credit, income, or assets are, there can and most likely will be problems. 

http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/29/real_estate/home_mortgages.moneymag/index.htm?section=money_realestate 

Small Banks Are Taking TARP Money

The larger banks need to follow in the small banks steps and keep the TARP money and start lending it. 

 

“Smaller TARP recipients have a leg up on big banks that tapped the rescue program. Because small institutions often are closely held, they typically haven’t publicly announced getting TARP. Treasury officials publish a spreadsheet that includes a running list of all TARP recipients.

 

Enterprise Bank has one office, three shareholders and $4 million in fresh capital from the U.S. government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

“That’s not a bailout. That’s being patriotic,” said Chuck Leyh, president and chief executive of the Allison Park, Pa., bank’s parent company, Enterprise Financial Services Group. Enterprise Bank, which has $180 million in assets and turned a first-quarter profit of $85,000, plans to funnel the money it got from the Treasury Department on June 12 into loans to fledgling businesses in western Pennsylvania.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124606040026463617.html 

What Will My Home Be Worth In 10 Years?

Great question and one that I don’t know the answer to but there is a website that will predict it for you. 

http://www.smartzip.com/ 

Plain-Vanilla Financing Could Hurt Banks

I really liked this article because it states that there is nothing wrong with plain-vanilla products however a borrower should have other options. 

“The Obama administration’s plan to protect consumers from bad deals on mortgages, credit cards and other financial products is an attempt to take the industry back in time and could put a dent in bank profits.

“We’re pretty plain vanilla today,” says John Courson, president and chief executive of the group. Mr. Courson says he has no problems with the Obama administration’s push to show consumers plain-vanilla mortgages but adds, “We don’t want to create a barrier that makes it difficult for a borrower to have an opportunity to look at other products that better suit their financial needs.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124597610438257573.html#mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

Obama’s Plan Is Struggling

This is because he didn’t account for unemployment. 

“Rising unemployment is complicating the Obama administration’s effort to reduce foreclosures and stabilize the housing market.

The Obama foreclosure-prevention plan was “built around the subprime crisis model, not the unemployment crisis model,” said Michael van Zalingen, director of homeownership services for the nonprofit Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago.

One possibility is a forbearance plan that allows borrowers to hold off from making mortgage payments for several months while they look for work. But there are no specific guidelines for determining who should get forbearance and for how long.

Other options include providing short-term loans to borrowers who have lost jobs, or giving special treatment to borrowers likely to become re-employed soon. Administration officials haven’t taken a position on these options, and said each brings its own challenges.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124597797525957807.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

Homebuyers Downsizing

Of course this makes sense but I thought I would share the article.

“Home buyers have lost their enthusiasm for the sprawling houses that cropped up across U.S. suburbs over the past decade. Having learned that property values can go down as well as up, they are flocking to smaller homes that are cheaper to buy, furnish and heat.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/31545771 

Short Sales Getting More Complicated

Yeah I can’t believe that statement either and didn’t until I read the full article.  It all boils down to the mark-to-market accounting rule changes where banks used to have to write down the value of their assets on their balance sheet even if it weren’t a bad assets.

“Real estate industry experts say banks are becoming more reluctant to agree to short sales, in part because the change in mark-to-market accounting rules gives them less incentive to take less than the mortgage is worth. As a result, they say, banks are holding out for what Realtors say are unrealistic offers.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/31544746 

The Other Side On Appraisal Changes

I am not a hypocrite, okay maybe a little, but an article from The Wall Street Journal does make some valid points on why they went to the new Home Valuation Conduct Code (HVCC).  However, it does leave out the ability for clients to take an appraisal to another lender, how much they charge for them, what percentage ownership banks have in them, and the inexperienced appraisers.

 

“Left unexplained is how Mr. Yun and others can decide which “valuations” are faulty. Of course, it would be far too cynical to suspect that that the Realtors classify as faulty any appraisal that stands in the way of a commission check. Still, the issue is tricky–and all the moaning in the world is unlikely to make much difference.

An appraisal is merely an educated guess about the price a home might fetch.  It’s true that an experienced and intelligent appraiser knows tricks of the trade that allow him or her to make a better guess than I could. And regulations such as the national Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, or USPAP, provide detailed instructions of how to go about this vital chore. But the appraisal is still at best a good guess, and it’s harder to make such guesses when the national housing market is in a freefall the likes of which no living appraiser has ever seen.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2009/06/24/whats-with-all-the-moaning-about-home-appraisals/