Home Mortgage Reality
home mortgages
Nearly one-quarter of all homeowners who have mortgages – approximately 27 million people – believe they owe more on their mortgage than the home is worth, according to a recent Harris Poll. Nearly 30 percent of homeowners say they are having either great difficulty (11 percent) or some difficulty (18 percent) paying off their mortgage. Approximately two-thirds of all adults (65 percent) say they are concerned that their incomes will not be enough to cover all their costs and expenses this year, and nearly 70 percent of homeowners have a mortgage that they need to pay off, the study finds.
Home Foreclosures Hit A Record
home foreclosures
Foreclosures hit a record in the first quarter. According to RealtyTrac Inc. more than 900,000 households  or one for every 138 homes  received a foreclosure notice in the past three months. Experts say it s a sign that banks are beginning to sort through a backlog of troubled homes at a faster pace. The rate of foreclosures had eased last year as the Obama administration sought to modify loans to give owners more time to work out problems. As several states had similar programs, the trend of foreclosures slowed down, but now that appears to be reversing. We re finally seeing the banks start to process the inventory that has been in foreclosure, but delayed in processing. We expect the pace to accelerate as the year goes on, said Rick Sharga, a RealtyTrac senior vice president. Read more
Home Affordable Modification Program
Home Affordable Modification Program
Obama’s administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Under the HAMP, borrowers and lenders work out an agreement to reduce the monthly payment on the property for a trial period of three months.
But even though more than 728,000 homeowners have qualified for HAMP nationally, just slightly more than 30,000 of these homeowners have successfully adjusted their loans.
New Jersey lawyers
Many Homeowners Put Home Remodeling Plans on Hold
home remodeling
Economic uncertainty is prompting some homeowners to put their home remodeling plans on hold, according to a study by online publisher Remodelormove.com. Homeowners who have declining home equity or who are living in lower-value homes are postponing remodeling projects, while those with more financial resources are moving ahead with them.
Although 84 percent of homeowners said the nation’s economic woes are affecting their remodeling plans, 81 percent said they plan to go ahead with the upgrades. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) expect to do some of the work themselves in an effort to keep costs down.                                                                 San Diego events
One in Five Homeowners Owe More Than Their Home’s Value
It’s estimated 20 percent of single-family homeowners, or 15.4 million, owe more on their mortgage than the current value of their homes. According to Moody’s this number is up from 13.6 million homeowners at the end of last year.
Another new Obama administration plan was just announced to try to help the foreclosure hurricane. This new plan focuses on encouraging short sales.
The earlier plans to deal with this crises from the Obama administration, have now been shown to have had only a marginal effect. It would seem that all the government intervention only creates lots of optimistic press and little actual relief.
The exception to my above opinion, is the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007. This law states that the difference between the original mortgage and the amount for which a home sells at a short sale (i.e., the amount of debt forgiven by the bank) is no longer considered taxable income by the IRS.
Perhaps, just perhaps, the government should not meddle in the foreclosure process. After all, the reality and cure to this housing problem is the fact that home prices need to fall to a level at which all the excess inventory will be absorbed.
In my opinion, though well intentioned, the majority of goverment mortgage assistance/foreclosure moritoriums are only extending the natural cure time and provide little actual long term solutions.                       San Diego real estate
One in Five Homeowners has Negative Equity
Nearly one in five U.S. mortgage borrowers owe more to lenders than their homes are worth, and the rate may soon approach one in four as housing prices fall and the economy weakens.
About 7.63 million properties, or 18 percent, had negative equity in September, and another 2.1 million will follow if home prices fall another 5 percent, according to a report by First American CoreLogic. The data, covering 43 states and Washington, D.C., includes borrowers nationwide, even those who took out mortgages before housing prices began to soar early this decade.
Seven hard-hit states — Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Ohio — had 64 percent of all "underwater" borrowers, but just 41 percent of U.S. mortgages.
Related prior posts:
More homeowners than ever are selling at a loss!
San Diego Real Estate … The Coming Next Wave of Foreclosures
Home Sales Fall In March… Seventh Month In A Row
Home Values Fall in England and Wales
29% of Homeowners Have Larger Mortgage Than Home’s Value
From a Moody's Economy.com report it shows that 12 million households, or 16%, owe more than their homes are worth. Moody's chief economist, Mark Zandi, said: "it is very possible that there will ultimately be more homeowners under water in this period than (at) anytime in our history."
An estimate by real-estate Web site Zillow.com shows that among people who bought within the past five years, about 29% are under water on their mortgages. San Diego California real estate agents
Homeowners … 30% Working Paycheck to Paycheck
In a survey poll conducted by AOL and Zogby consisting of 6,672 participants, 22 percent believe they would lose their homes were they to experience an unexpected short-term job loss. Thirty percent said they were working paycheck to paycheck to cover housing costs and 30 percent said they knew someone who has gone through or is being forced to sell their home due to a foreclosure. Also, when asked if they would sell, 67 percent said they would turn to the internet first. San Diego real estate
Credit Impact of Real Estate Short Sales & Deeds In Lieu
Many San Diego homeowners mistakenly believe that their credit rating will be better off with a short sale vs. a foreclosure. This belief may be seriously flawed.
Short sales, deeds in lieu of foreclosure and foreclosure usually don't minimize the impact on a borrower's credit score. All three proceedings have roughly the same negative impact on an individual's credit score, according to Craig Watts, a spokesman for Fair Isaac Corp., which created the widely used FICO score.
Mr. Watts says that to date little analysis has been done distinguishing, for instance, the credit risk of individuals who completed a short sale versus those involved in a foreclosure. For that reason, "the model ends up treating them [a short sale, a deed in lieu of foreclosure, and a foreclosure] all the same." San Diego income property