bubbleinfo.com

Hat tip to Kingside for sending alng the new loan mod law for California.

It starts by extending the foreclosure process ANOTHER 90 days!  Here’s that paragraph, then link:

 AB 7, Lieu. Residential mortgage loans: foreclosure.
   Existing law requires that, upon a breach of the obligation of a
mortgage or transfer of an interest in property, the trustee,
mortgagee, or beneficiary record a notice of default in the office of
the county recorder where the mortgaged or trust property is
situated and mail the notice of default to the mortgagor or trustor.
Existing law provides that, after not less than 3 months after the
filing of the notice of default, the parties described above may give
notice of sale, stating the time and place of the sale, as
specified.
   This bill, until January 1, 2011, and only with respect to
specified loans that were recorded between January 1, 2003, to
January 1, 2008, would prohibit a mortgagee, trustee, or other person
authorized to take sale from giving a notice of sale for an
additional 90 days if the loan at issue is the first mortgage or deed
of trust that the property secures, the borrower occupied the
property as his or her principal residence at the time the loan
became delinquent, and the notice of default has been filed.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/abx2_7_bill_20090220_chaptered.html

Santa Fe Canyon

5 br/4.5 ba, 3,864sf

SP: $679,000  11/02

SP: $1,200,000  3/06

SP: $770,000  5/08 REO

Actual photo, not photoshopped.

Catalina view from 2,800sf house in Carlsbad that just sold last week for $660,000.  There were ten offers, and I represented the buyer.

This 2,058sf house on a 7,944sf lot on Laguna in the heart of the village of Carlsbad also closed this month – for $685,000.

There’s a buyer for every property, if you can just get the price right!

LGS sent along this link to BB & T’s John Allison’s 86-minute dissertation, sponsored by the Ayn Rand Institute, on how the government has caused the financial crisis:

http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ls_financial_crisis

Here is a link to his charts if you’d like to see a quicker version: 

http://www.aynrand.org/site/DocServer/LS091_slides.pdf?docID=1861

He presents a great summary of what’s happened, start to finish, and includes his idea on how to fix the residential real estate market – a 10% tax credit on residential real estate purchases with the goal being to entice individuals to purchase real estate who would not otherwise invest at this time, in an effort to clear the real estate market.

• Reduces cost to buyers without reducing price to sellers
• Available to all/also receive interest tax deduction
• Government-sponsored “fire sale”
• Only available for new houses under construction (or completed) and pre-owned homes for sale as of January 1, 2009.
• Do not want to incent additional house construction
• Incent to act now – only available to August 30, 2009, and limited to $150 billion on a first come/first serve basis.  (use part of $700 billion)
• Must have carry forward feature for everyone, and must be available to high-income individuals – those who pay taxes and have capital.

John seems to be like many who would prefer no bailout, but if the government insists on doing something, this is his idea on what they should do.  He says in the presentation that the overall prices have come down 20%, and have another 10% to go.

Do you think his idea would work? 

Would you buy a house in the next eight months if you got a 10% tax credit? 

If you bought a house for $500,000, it would probably be a $50,000 tax credit spread over the next 3-5 years against your personal income tax owed – plus you get the interest deduction too.

Dear Fellow REALTOR®,

For nearly four months, NAR has been working to deliver to you and to our nation a comprehensive plan to stabilize the housing market.

This week, we saw countless hours of hard work pay off – in a MAJOR way – when the federal government implemented NAR’s recommendations to stimulate housing with the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

This bold and unprecedented move to help housing did not happen by chance. Just a few months ago, the auto industry had Congress’ ear. Yet, thanks to countless meetings, letters, phone calls, and public pressure that we – the REALTORS® of America – placed on lawmakers in Washington, D.C., housing emerged as the top priority in the new Administration and in Congress. While some of the items in the Act are controversial and are currently being debated, most of our top priorities were addressed.

Thanks to all of our hard work, America’s homebuyers and homeowners will soon have:

Lower interest rates for home mortgages;

A greater ability to get financing through FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in high-cost areas;

A true tax credit incentive to buy a home NOW; and

Foreclosure mitigation and short-sale standards.

As a direct result of NAR’s advocacy, we hope REALTORS® will see an increase in home sales this year. NAR also continues to make significant progress on our efforts to unclog the pipeline for foreclosures and to address administrative problems with short sales.

Such significant movement on these critical issues is rare. I personally thank and congratulate each and every member of the National Association of REALTORS® for helping to make NAR’s Housing Stimulus Plan a reality. For more information and details on these new laws and programs, visit the Unlock America’s Economy Page on Realtor.org:

http://www.realtor.org/government_affairs/gapublic/gses_conservatorship?LID=RONav0023

Make no mistake — we’re just getting started. NAR will continue to push for other important laws and policies that can help you in your business. From keeping banks out of real estate to providing you with affordable health coverage, you can count on the “Voice for Real Estate” to help you gain an advantage in every kind of market.

That’s the power of NAR, and it’s why I am proud to be a member and to serve as your 2009 President.

Once again, thank you all, and keep up the great work!

Sincerely,

Charles McMillan, CIPS, GRI
2009 NAR President

email received today:

Brand Launch – Changing to Bank of America

The Countrywide Transition Team currently anticipates the target date for the change in brand to be April 27, 2009. This milestone is when Countrywide business partners will begin representing the Bank of America brand and start using Bank of America branded documents.

We will be making the necessary name changes to our internally prepared documents and ask that your office please be ready to make the changes where necessary to any documents prepared on our behalf.

Please note that until the brand changes, Countrywide and Bank of America will continue to be used separately in the market place. No re-branding of the company name can occur prior to April 27, 2009.

I definitely think re-branding is in their future – and April 27th is a long ways off. 

What will it be then?  Bank of Ben?  Obama Financial?

For sale on ebay, in Festus Missouri.  Just $300,000 opening bid!  Hat tip to LC Jim

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=330306913609

If you’re looking for a deal, your best chance is with a vacant property.

Here’s a glimpse of the detached and attached ACTIVE listings, and percent of vacants:

Oct. 12th:  6,876 vacant/16,947 total = 40.6%

Feb. 20th:  5,600 vacant/14,518 total = 38.6%

**********************************************************************

Here’s a look at the PENDING file:

Oct. 12th: 3,940 vacant/6,095 total pendings = 64.6%

Feb. 20th: 3,940 vacant/5,934 total pendings = 66.4%

Don’t you love the statistical quirks – the exact same number of vacant pendings!

***********************************************************************

SOLDS between January 1st and February 19th:

2008 – 1,375 vacants/2,094 total = 65.7%

2009 – 2,484 vacants/3,209 total = 77.4% of all solds were vacant

Though sales are up 53% YOY, you can see why, the vacants are up 81%. 

There are bank deals, and everything else.

Thinking of selling? 

Do what the banks do – vacate the property and price it 5% under the comps!

If you’ve reviewed the Obama plan you’ve seen that it won’t help many around here. 

Those who qualify:

• Homeowners whose mortgage is within 105% of the home’s value, and happens to be owned by Fannie/Freddie. 
• Homeowners who get a loan modification now that they couldn’t get before because the loan servicer is motivated by getting up to $1,000 incentive per mod.
• Homeowners will to declare bankruptcy to see if the judge will give them a break.

The first two categories won’t do much for people around here.  If your loan is under $417,000, how much better can your new payment be, a couple of hundred dollars? (unless you’re subprime, and most of those have been worked out by now).  Plus there won’t be many that fit the 105% requirement, their LTV is higher.

The second category is useless too because the loan servicers have already been charging fees to modify loans, and results have been lackluster.  Another $1,000 isn’t going to change that.

The homeowners with non-agency mortgages who are willing to declare bankruptcy and put their fate in the hands of the judge are the ones who might benefit. 

Walking away sounds a lot easier.

The best quote:

“I’m not impressed,” said Dean Baker, a housing specialist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “There are some good things in there. I think giving servicers incentives is a good thing. But it’s mostly money for banks, not money for homeowners.  The banks still decide who gets into this, and that’s been a problem all along.”

Surprisingly, the ingredient that wasn’t included was the equity sharing component that was talked about preceeding the speech.  Those who do get their loan modified get their new-found equity for free.

No specific relief mentioned for the elephant in the room – the green, yellow, and blue.  Until you hear them talking about waiving ARM resets/recasts, there’s a storm brewing ahead: 

(click on it for clearer view)

More cherry-picking!

Here’s a follow-up on some of the homes featured here over the last few months:

6628 Sitio Sago, Carlsbad

5 br/3 ba, 3,476sf   YB: 2002

OLP: $745,000

SP: $733,000  1/27/09

MT: 22 days

This was the REO near Aviara with the green pool right outside the back slider.  Here’s the video we saw back in December: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rv4LyZj3Rw

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1728 Hawk View, Encinitas

4 br/3 ba, 2,091sf   YB: 1986

OLP: $768,888

SP: $710,000   1/27/09

MT: 191 days

This is the one in Leucadia that had the Home Depot once-over, and a $1,000 view of the ocean/lagoon.  Sat for more than six months, and still got within 8% of original list price with virtually no upgrades since 1986.  Youtube from Dec. 23rd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Suam-SBuuM

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4444 Highland, Carlsbad

3 br/2 ba, 2,551sf  YB:1961

OLP: $989,000

SP: $848,250   2/6/09

MT: 65 days

Judging by today’s photo and those in the MLS, this old rambler was in need of total rehab.  Nice view of the ocean though, around the smokestack. Agent bought it and subtracted commission – flipper?

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4158 Highland, Carlsbad

3 br/2 ba, 1,661sf  YB: 1948

OLP: $1,439,000

LP: $1,399,000 PEND

MT: 220 days

The seller and agent will have a good laugh on me when this one closes.  I told the seller that I wouldn’t list this over $1,000,000, so he found someone who would – and got lucky, at least so far.  There really isn’t an ocean view, but it’s on a big .94-acre lot.  We’ll see what happens.

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7327 Seafarer, Carlsbad

2 br/2.5 ba, 1,868 sf  YB: 2000

OLP: $635,900

LP: $635,900 PEND

MT: 42 days

This is the REO comp around the corner from my REO that backs to the railroad tracks. I told the Escondido agent he should list for $550,000 – the mold smell is overwhelming inside.  But 42 days later, he goes pending without a price reduction.  He probably got over $600,000.  My listing is not on the market yet, and no list price determined either.

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5167 Los Robles, Carlsbad

2 br/2 ba, 1,468 sf  YB:1952

OLP: $875,000

LP $796,000 PEND

MT: 95 days

This beach bungalow in Terramar is in original condition.  The lovely lady who lived here finally passed on, and the heirs are selling – she designated that 80% of the proceeds goes to the zoo!  I thought it could slip into the $600,000s due to it being land value, but it’ll probably close in the mid-$700,000s.

I don’t think you’ll consider any of these as super-superior properties, yet they’re selling for a pretty penny!  With the loan limits being raised again, we should see more action in the mid-range properties ($600,000 to $800,000) but still no relief for jumbo loans.

The banks are doing more to uncover whether buyers of short sale properties are trying to pull a fast one.  I received this document today from the owner/agent who accepted my buyer’s offer a couple of months ago – here’s the first paragraph:

The purpose of the Purchaser Eligibility Certification is to identify Prospective Purchasers who are not eligible to purchase assets of failed financial institutions from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation under the laws, regulations and policies governing such sales. Completion of the Purchaser Eligibility Certification, without modification, is a prerequisite to any such purchase.

Here is the full document (link below)

purchaser_eligibility_certification11

At least they’re doing something.