Sunday, November 25, 2007 3:34 AM
By Joe Bel Bruno
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- When Domenico Colombo saw that his monthly mortgage payment was about to balloon by 30 percent, he had a clear picture of how bad it could get.
His payment was scheduled to surge by an extra $1,500 in December. With his daughter headed to college next fall and tuition to be paid, he feared ending up like so many neighbors in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who defaulted on their mortgages and whose homes are now in foreclosure and sporting "For Sale" signs.
Colombo did manage to negotiate a new fixed-interest-rate loan with his bank, and now he believes he'll be OK -- but the future is less certain for numerous others....
CLICK ON LINK FOR REST OF STORY
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
U.S. home prices plummet
By J.W. Elphinstone
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- U.S. home prices fell 4.5 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the sharpest drop since Standard & Poor's began its nationwide housing index in 1987 and another sign that the housing slump is far from over, the research group said yesterday.
One of the index's creators also predicted a significant chance of a recession as the economy contends with falling housing prices, spiking foreclosures and turmoil in the financial markets.
The odds for a recession are "over 50 percent," said Robert Shiller, chief economist for MacroMarkets LLC. Other economists have put the chance of recession at one in three.....
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Dump This House: Unloading
The Wall Street Journal Online
By Jonathan Clements
It could be the kindest cut of all.
Look at the prices of homes getting sold, and the property market's decline seems no worse than a rough day in the stock market. Look at the number of unsold homes, and you realize there's a world of financial pain out there.
True, these unsold homes may eventually get bought at decent prices. But in the meantime, the owners are often bleeding money -- and many of them would be smart to slash their asking price and go for the quick sale....
CLICK ON LINK TO CONTINE
By Jonathan Clements
It could be the kindest cut of all.
Look at the prices of homes getting sold, and the property market's decline seems no worse than a rough day in the stock market. Look at the number of unsold homes, and you realize there's a world of financial pain out there.
True, these unsold homes may eventually get bought at decent prices. But in the meantime, the owners are often bleeding money -- and many of them would be smart to slash their asking price and go for the quick sale....
CLICK ON LINK TO CONTINE
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Housing Slump Spurs Rentals and Complaints
By Ben Casselman From The Wall Street Journal Online
Mark Spector was happy with his new neighborhood. Then the renters started moving in.
In 2004, Mr. Spector and his wife, Deanna, paid $350,000 for a six-bedroom house in Bridgewater, a new development in Wesley Chapel, Fla., about 25 miles north of Tampa. They moved into their home and looked forward to meeting their neighbors.
Then Florida's once-feverish housing market started to cool. Investors who'd bought a large percentage of the properties in Bridgewater found they couldn't flip them for a quick profit, and brought in tenants, instead. By last year, Mr. Spector estimates, close to half of the residents in the subdivision of 750-plus homes were renters....
Mark Spector was happy with his new neighborhood. Then the renters started moving in.
In 2004, Mr. Spector and his wife, Deanna, paid $350,000 for a six-bedroom house in Bridgewater, a new development in Wesley Chapel, Fla., about 25 miles north of Tampa. They moved into their home and looked forward to meeting their neighbors.
Then Florida's once-feverish housing market started to cool. Investors who'd bought a large percentage of the properties in Bridgewater found they couldn't flip them for a quick profit, and brought in tenants, instead. By last year, Mr. Spector estimates, close to half of the residents in the subdivision of 750-plus homes were renters....
How to Sell in a Down Market And Get a Deal on a New Home
Real Estate Journal
By Emily Friedlander and Lauren Baier Kim
Going, Going, Even Auctions Aren't Moving Homes
Builders and real-estate agents are turning to auctions to get rid of excess homes on the market, with mixed success. The Orlando Sentinel reports on an auction held at the DeBary Golf & Country Club that was called off because the builder, Lakeside Homes of DeBary, was losing too much money.
"The bidding was sluggish. One unit originally priced at $355,000 sold for $165,000. And so with just a few town homes gone, auctioneer Eddie Haynes called off the sale," the Sentinel reports.
On Saturday in San Diego several hundred people turned out for an auction of 56 new townhomes and condominiums put on the block by homebuilder D.R. Horton, reports the San Diego Union Tribune.
How many units were sold? That information wasn't available because, as the paper reports, the event was closed to the media.....
By Emily Friedlander and Lauren Baier Kim
Going, Going, Even Auctions Aren't Moving Homes
Builders and real-estate agents are turning to auctions to get rid of excess homes on the market, with mixed success. The Orlando Sentinel reports on an auction held at the DeBary Golf & Country Club that was called off because the builder, Lakeside Homes of DeBary, was losing too much money.
"The bidding was sluggish. One unit originally priced at $355,000 sold for $165,000. And so with just a few town homes gone, auctioneer Eddie Haynes called off the sale," the Sentinel reports.
On Saturday in San Diego several hundred people turned out for an auction of 56 new townhomes and condominiums put on the block by homebuilder D.R. Horton, reports the San Diego Union Tribune.
How many units were sold? That information wasn't available because, as the paper reports, the event was closed to the media.....
School board mulls swimming facility proposal
This Week Bexley
By Bonnie Butcher
Oct. 18, 2007
A 1975 graduate of Bexley High School offered to donate up to $500,000 toward the construction of a natatorium on the high school's grounds, Superintendent Michael Johnson told the board of education on Monday.
Johnson said he received a letter from the graduate, Michael Stickney of Upper Arlington, stating that he would be interested in donating the money for a natatorium should the district wish to build one.
"He believes there are other individuals that he could solicit support from to add more money to this particular project," Johnson said. "To build a facility like this requires displacing something on the property....."
By Bonnie Butcher
Oct. 18, 2007
A 1975 graduate of Bexley High School offered to donate up to $500,000 toward the construction of a natatorium on the high school's grounds, Superintendent Michael Johnson told the board of education on Monday.
Johnson said he received a letter from the graduate, Michael Stickney of Upper Arlington, stating that he would be interested in donating the money for a natatorium should the district wish to build one.
"He believes there are other individuals that he could solicit support from to add more money to this particular project," Johnson said. "To build a facility like this requires displacing something on the property....."
Developer pulls the plug on RaceQuip condos
This Week German Village
By Sue Hagan
Oct. 18, 2007
A year after the Merion Village Association approved the project, real estate developer Doug Tenenbaum has decided against converting the old RaceQuip Safety Systems building into condominiums.
Tenenbaum said his decision is based on zoning and variance issues, construction costs and potential sales prices.
"Even though we obtained parking variances, we would have needed to come back for additional parking variances," he wrote in an e-mail. "The result of the current variances essentially forced us into one-bedroom units that had limited marketability resulting in lower sales price (per square foot) and desirability....." (click on link to follow story)
By Sue Hagan
Oct. 18, 2007
A year after the Merion Village Association approved the project, real estate developer Doug Tenenbaum has decided against converting the old RaceQuip Safety Systems building into condominiums.
Tenenbaum said his decision is based on zoning and variance issues, construction costs and potential sales prices.
"Even though we obtained parking variances, we would have needed to come back for additional parking variances," he wrote in an e-mail. "The result of the current variances essentially forced us into one-bedroom units that had limited marketability resulting in lower sales price (per square foot) and desirability....." (click on link to follow story)
Builders warn against Darby housing levy
The Columbus Dispatch
By Mike Ferenchik
Saturday, October 6, 2007
A community-development authority that would tax new homeowners could quash demand for housing near Big Darby Creek, the head of a builders' group says.
A working group of the Big Darby Accord is finalizing ways to pay for public improvements and protect the Darby, a state and national scenic waterway. The accord developed last year calls for creating a community-development authority that could tax property owners up to 10 mills for larger housing developments in the Franklin County section of the Big Darby watershed.
Ten mills would cost $306.50 a year per $100,000 of house value. The money would be used to buy land to preserve open space and to put in such things as roads and sewers.
Although the accord says "up to 10 mills," Jim Hilz, executive director of the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio, has heard that the working group is expecting to levy the full amount.
"How did this move from 'possible sources of funding' to 'this is what it is?' " Hilz wrote the 10 accord governments recently.
He said that amount could stymie home builders and the proposed town center that would concentrate up to 5,000 houses off W. Broad Street in what is now Prairie and Brown townships.
"The whole idea of a town center is to allow development to take place at higher densities while protecting land close to the Darby," Hilz said this week.
Those working with the accord say they haven't decided how large the millage will be or how big a development needs to be to be part of a development authority.
Recently, the owners of 203 acres along W. Broad between Alton and Galloway roads, who plan to build homes there, said they will be creating a community-development authority that will assess 10 mills, said Susan Ashbrook, who is Columbus' environmental steward and a member of the Darby working group. Final approval would have to come from the Columbus City Council.
But Jim Schimmer, Franklin County's economic-development and planning director, said 10 mills have not been set in stone for the entire Darby watershed.
"We have to make sure we have a mechanism that works for everybody," said Schimmer, also a member of the working group.
In his letter, Hilz referred to the community-development authority in New Albany, which now assesses 5 mills to property owners to pay off bonds that built a new high school, roads and a new fire station. It collected 9.75 mills when it was set up in 1992.
Hilz said homeowners in New Albany can afford to pay the extra millage, but he wonders if the market in the Darby watershed can bear that.
"You have to be careful adding those costs on now (when the housing market is soft), pricing everything out of the market," he said.
Coleman's spokesman, Mike Brown, said Hilz is overreacting.
"We're not going to sell out the goals of the Darby Accord because of short-term market conditions," Brown said.
By Mike Ferenchik
Saturday, October 6, 2007
A community-development authority that would tax new homeowners could quash demand for housing near Big Darby Creek, the head of a builders' group says.
A working group of the Big Darby Accord is finalizing ways to pay for public improvements and protect the Darby, a state and national scenic waterway. The accord developed last year calls for creating a community-development authority that could tax property owners up to 10 mills for larger housing developments in the Franklin County section of the Big Darby watershed.
Ten mills would cost $306.50 a year per $100,000 of house value. The money would be used to buy land to preserve open space and to put in such things as roads and sewers.
Although the accord says "up to 10 mills," Jim Hilz, executive director of the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio, has heard that the working group is expecting to levy the full amount.
"How did this move from 'possible sources of funding' to 'this is what it is?' " Hilz wrote the 10 accord governments recently.
He said that amount could stymie home builders and the proposed town center that would concentrate up to 5,000 houses off W. Broad Street in what is now Prairie and Brown townships.
"The whole idea of a town center is to allow development to take place at higher densities while protecting land close to the Darby," Hilz said this week.
Those working with the accord say they haven't decided how large the millage will be or how big a development needs to be to be part of a development authority.
Recently, the owners of 203 acres along W. Broad between Alton and Galloway roads, who plan to build homes there, said they will be creating a community-development authority that will assess 10 mills, said Susan Ashbrook, who is Columbus' environmental steward and a member of the Darby working group. Final approval would have to come from the Columbus City Council.
But Jim Schimmer, Franklin County's economic-development and planning director, said 10 mills have not been set in stone for the entire Darby watershed.
"We have to make sure we have a mechanism that works for everybody," said Schimmer, also a member of the working group.
In his letter, Hilz referred to the community-development authority in New Albany, which now assesses 5 mills to property owners to pay off bonds that built a new high school, roads and a new fire station. It collected 9.75 mills when it was set up in 1992.
Hilz said homeowners in New Albany can afford to pay the extra millage, but he wonders if the market in the Darby watershed can bear that.
"You have to be careful adding those costs on now (when the housing market is soft), pricing everything out of the market," he said.
Coleman's spokesman, Mike Brown, said Hilz is overreacting.
"We're not going to sell out the goals of the Darby Accord because of short-term market conditions," Brown said.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Top 10 Credit Do's and Dont's During the Loan Process
Barbara Collier from Metrocities Mortgage shared these tips to help your credit!
- Don't Apply for New Credit. Everytime that you have your credit pulled by a potential creditor or lender, you can lose points from your credit score immediately.
- Don't Pay Off Collections or "Charge Offs." If you want to pay off old accounts, do it through escrow, making sure that the debt is yours. Request a "letter of deletion" from the creditor.
- Don't Close Credit Card Accounts. If you close a credit card account, it may appear that your debt ratio has gone up. Closing a card will affect other factors in the score, including credit history.
- Don't Max Out or Over Charge Credit Card Accounts. Try to keep your credit card balances below 30 percet of their limit during the loan process. If you pay down balances, do it across the board.
- Don't Consolidate Your Debt. When you consolidate all of your debt onto one or two credit cards, it will appear that you are "maxed-out" on that card and you will be penalized.
- Don't Do Anything That Will Cause a Red Flag To Be Raised By The Scoring System. This includes adding new accounts, co-signing on a loan or changing your name or address with the bureaus.
- Do Join a Credit Watch Program. Then, you may check your own credit reports regularly. Plus, if something unexpected does show up, you can address it promptly.
- Do Stay Current On Exisiting Accounts. Like your mortgage and car payments, one 30-day late notice can cost you.
- Do Continue to Use You Credit as Normal. Red Flags are raised easily with the scoring system. If it appears that you are changing your pattern, it will raise a red flag and your score could go down.
- Do Call You Loan Officer. Your loan officer may be able to supply you with the resources you need to stop any derogatory reporting to the burears. Ask for details.
A Quick Guide to Short Sales
A Short Sale or Pre-Forclosure Sale in the mortgage world amounts to an accomodation on the part of the lender in hopes of avoiding or mitigating an impending loss.
There are many ways to lose a home but siging away ownership in a manner that destroys credit, embarrasses the family and strips an owner of dignity is one of the hardest. For owners who can no longer afford to keep mortgage payments current, there are alternatives to bankruptcy or foreclosure proceedings. One of those options is called a "short sale". When lenders agree to do a short sale in real estate, it means the lender is accepting less than the total amount due. Not all lenders will accept short sales or discounted payoffs, especially if it would make more financial sense to forclose. However, the foreclosure process is an expensive solution for a lender, one that may be more expensive than simply accepting to take less than the amount that is currently due.
Pre-Foreclosure Sale Eligibility Requirements
There are many ways to lose a home but siging away ownership in a manner that destroys credit, embarrasses the family and strips an owner of dignity is one of the hardest. For owners who can no longer afford to keep mortgage payments current, there are alternatives to bankruptcy or foreclosure proceedings. One of those options is called a "short sale". When lenders agree to do a short sale in real estate, it means the lender is accepting less than the total amount due. Not all lenders will accept short sales or discounted payoffs, especially if it would make more financial sense to forclose. However, the foreclosure process is an expensive solution for a lender, one that may be more expensive than simply accepting to take less than the amount that is currently due.
Pre-Foreclosure Sale Eligibility Requirements
- The residence must be owner occupied. (Houses that are rented or vacant are considered on a case by case basis).
- The loan must be at least two months (32 days) delinquent at the time of closing.
- This must be an arms length transaction.
- The mortgagee must be without the resources to bring the debt current.
- Foreclosure must be inevitable.
If you have any questions about Short Sales, give Jeff Jonas a call at 614-989-9968.
"Paulson Says Housing Is Likely To Adversely Affect Economy" RealEstateJournal.com
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson offered a sobering view Tuesday of the pressure the housing market was having across the country, saying the decline stood "as the most significant current risk to our economy."
Mr. Paulson even acknowledged that problems in credit, mortgage, and housing markets were much more severe than anticipated.
"The ongoing housing correction is not ending as quickly as it might have appeared late last year," he said in a speech to Georgetown University Law Center, according to prepared remarks. "And it now looks like it will continue to adversely impact our economy, our capital markets, and many homeowners for some time yet."...
Mr. Paulson even acknowledged that problems in credit, mortgage, and housing markets were much more severe than anticipated.
"The ongoing housing correction is not ending as quickly as it might have appeared late last year," he said in a speech to Georgetown University Law Center, according to prepared remarks. "And it now looks like it will continue to adversely impact our economy, our capital markets, and many homeowners for some time yet."...
Columbus Home Sales Down 13% in Region-Columbus Business First
Sales of single-family housing in Central Ohio declined 13 percent in September, the Columbus Board of Realtors reported, a signal the region's housing market remains soft.
The organization said 1,851 houses and condominiums were sold in the region last month, down from 2,134 sold in September 2006. Columbus-area homes in contract dropped 15 percent to 1,606, from 1,896 a year earlier.
The report does not include sales of newly constructed houses by builders.
September marked the seventh month this year that housing sales had fallen from a year earlier. A 5 percent sales rise during July broke a five-month downturn that resumed in August...
The organization said 1,851 houses and condominiums were sold in the region last month, down from 2,134 sold in September 2006. Columbus-area homes in contract dropped 15 percent to 1,606, from 1,896 a year earlier.
The report does not include sales of newly constructed houses by builders.
September marked the seventh month this year that housing sales had fallen from a year earlier. A 5 percent sales rise during July broke a five-month downturn that resumed in August...
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