Home Affordable Refinance Program – Not All Good
Real estate news
HARP 2 – Lifeline for Some Troubled Homeowners?
The government is changing its Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), making it easier for homeowners to refinance their underwater, high-interest mortgages.
HARP 2 – Major Features
- Although HARP has helped more than 890,000 homeowners nationwide by reducing their monthly mortgage payments, there are still millions of homeowners who are too far underwater to participate.
- Under the new rules, homeowners who owe more than 125 percent of the market value of their homes will be allowed to refinance into new loans.
- The program also streamlines the refinancing process for homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments and reduces or removes fees that previously hindered them from refinancing.
- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also will reduce the fees they charged in the past to enable borrowers to better afford the new loans. Among the fees that will be reduced or eliminated are those for appraisals, title insurance, and closing costs.
- Fees also will be waived for some underwater borrowers who are refinancing into 20-year or shorter-term loans.
- HARP is only open to borrowers who are current on their payments for the past six months with no more than one missed payment in the past 12 months. The loans must have been originally issued before May 31, 2009, and purchased by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Read more
San Diego Real Estate Market
San Diego County Residential Real Estate Market Analysis: 3nd Quarter 2011 (Part2)
By Mark A. Melikian California Certified Residential Appraiser appraisals@san.rr.com P.O. Box 3051 Del Mar, California 92014 858-793-9339
Market Overview: The mean sold price for a housing unit in San Diego County peaked in 2007 at $621,675. The mean sold price in 2009 decreased to a low of $385,754, a 37.9 percent decrease from the market peak in 2007. *In 2011, the projected mean sold price is $415,743, which would represent a 7.8 percent increase from the 2009 mean sold price and a 33.1 percent decrease from the market peak in 2007 (see figure 3).
Figure 3
San Diego Home Values
San Diego County Residential Real Estate Market Analysis: 3nd Quarter 2011
By Mark A. Melikian California Certified Residential Appraiser appraisals@san.rr.com P.O. Box 3051 Del Mar, California 92014 858-793-9339
The following is a market data summary of detached and attached properties as reported by the San Diego County MLS system. The data includes all zip codes in San Diego County. * All 2011 data in figures 1 through 4 will be projected based on market data taken from January through September as reported by the San Diego County MLS system. All projections discussed in this analysis will be updated throughout the year in subsequent quarterly reports.
Market Overview: The data provided analyzes residential real estate sales beginning in the year 2000, which is used as the base year. The number of sold listings in San Diego County peaks in 2003 at 42,746 units and decreases through 2008 to 23,972 units. *The 2011 projection shows the total number of units sold for the year will be 32,089 (see figure 1). Read more
Home Sales Fall
Home sales
home sales
The National Association of Realtors just released a report today showing that existing home sales fell 3% in September. This puts the existing home sales figures on track to at least match last year’s sales which were the worst in the last past 13 years.the good news in this report, was that even though existing home sales were down for September on a month-to-month basis when one compares the home sales on a yearly basis, the September figures were actually ahead by 11.3%! Read more
Housing Market Good News
housing market
The Commerce Department reported today that U.S. housing starts surged in September at their fastest annual pace in 17 months!
Single-family home construction, which accounts for a larger share of the market, increased 1.7 percent while buildings with two or more units rose 51.3 percent.
The largest increase in housing starts was for multi-family units.
Well, like any good news in today’s housing market, one should be kept in mind that even with this jump in housing starts, the total level of housing starts is still very depressed and has been so for the past three years.
San Diego Real Estate Market Forecasting
Real estate market outlook
Real estate market opinions just like political opinions are highly debated and often is unclear who is correct. But, the passage of time always proves who was correct. Read more