Fed finds housing, banking conditions improved

By Greg Robb

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Home real estate markets and banking conditions are improving across most of the nation, according to the Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book reading of economic conditions released Wednesday. Overall, the report found a modest, moderate expansion underway, with only New York the only one of the dozen Fed districts to report slower activity through mid-February. Most economic conditions are similar to past reports. Manufacturing and nonfinancial services are expanding and reports of consumer spending were positive. Prices remained stable and there was no wage pressure, the report said.

Mortgage fees are on the rise

Mortgage fees are on the rise
And chances are that more of them are on the way, some say

By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Higher fees are sneaking into the overall cost of most mortgages. But given ultralow interest rates these days, it’s likely few borrowers will notice.

Mortgage rates are clinging near record lows, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 3.95% for the week ended Feb. 23, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of rates for conventional mortgages.

Still, consumers should pay attention to any fee increases because they could be a sign of what’s to come: increasingly higher costs to get a government-backed mortgage, whether it’s a conforming loan sold to government-sponsored entities Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae or a loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration, said Guy D. Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade magazine for the residential mortgage business.

“The message there for consumers is even though none of this stuff is going to have a big impact right away, the cost of getting government [backed] mortgages is going to go up,” Cecala said.

Paying for tax cut

The guarantee fee that lenders must pay to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for securitizing loans will rise by one-tenth of a percentage point on April 1, a cost that will get passed on to borrowers through interest rates that are about an eighth of a percentage point higher, said Bob Walters, chief economist for online lender Quicken Loans.

That fee increase was part of the payroll-tax cut deal reached in December.

For the most part, lenders already have factored those costs into the interest rates they’re quoting now, mainly because it will take a while before they sell the loans to Freddie and Fannie, said Walters. Lenders assume it will take 45 to 60 days to close a loan and another 15 to 30 days before they deliver the loan to Freddie or Fannie, he said.

While this fee increase is slight, some think it could signal more fees to come. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae need to be profitable, said Karen Mayfield, national mortgage sales manager at Bank of the West in San Francisco. “Let’s face it, the higher fees give them more revenue.”

Annual mortgage-insurance premiums for FHA-backed loans are also set to rise by one-tenth of a percentage point on April 1, Mayfield said. That’s about $200 more a year for mortgage insurance on a $200,000 FHA-backed mortgage, she estimates. Premiums will go up another quarter point for mortgages greater than $625,500, affecting borrowers in high-cost markets like California.

“The government is taking a look at what they think the cost of insurance should be,” said Walters, “and the general consensus is that it should be higher.”

Some borrowers will face another cost when they go to file their 2012 taxes in 2013. That’s because the 2011 tax year is the last in which borrowers can deduct the mortgage insurance they paid either through a private insurance company or through the FHA.

Watch for junk fees

Despite the threat of rising costs, the current low-rate environment is causing borrowers to feel little urgency when it comes to locking in a low rate for a home purchase or refinancing.

“For the last two years, everyone has been predicting at the beginning of the year that interest rates would rise and they’ve done the opposite — they’ve fallen,” Cecala said. “No [borrower] is expecting that they are going to lose their window of opportunity for the foreseeable future.”

But if you’re in the market for a mortgage, be wary of what Cecala calls “junk fees.”

Over the past three years, mortgage lenders have been “making more money on the loan-origination side than they have in the past,” Cecala said. “They find opportunities for building in fees,” though lenders might argue about what is and isn’t a junk fee.

Look for costs such as origination fees, processing fees, document-preparation fees and any other fee that the lender is charging — as opposed to third-party fees, including those for title insurance and appraisals, which are set costs that the lender does not control.

Many of these “junk” fees are negotiable.

Also, keep in mind that it takes longer these days to get a mortgage approved, so consider getting an interest rate locked in for as long as possible, Cecala said. Any agreement pertaining to lock extensions should be in writing.

Sometimes, lenders will say they’ll extend the interest-rate lock at no cost if the loan doesn’t close on time — getting that promise in writing could save you some money, Cecala said.

Amy Hoak is a MarketWatch reporter based in Chicago.

Average 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Up From All-Time Record Low

Average 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Up From All-Time Record Low

In Freddie Mac's results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), fixed mortgage rates moved off their at- or-near record lows for the first time in three weeks amid recent data showing the housing market continues to improve.

·  30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.95 percent with an average 0.8 point for the week ending February 23, 2012, up from last week when it also averaged 3.87 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.95 percent.

·  15-year FRM this week averaged 3.19 percent with an average 0.8 point, up from last week when it also averaged 3.16 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.22 percent.

·  5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.80 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.82 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.80 percent.

·  1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.73 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.84 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 3.40 percent.

According to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac:

"New data releases this week suggest the housing market is continuing to gradually improve. Loans that were seriously delinquent (90 days or more past due plus the foreclosure inventory) fell to 5.3 percent of prime mortgages at the end of 2011, representing the lowest quarterly share since the start of 2009, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The Census Bureau reported new residential construction starts in January outpaced the market consensus forecast, led by condominiums and apartment buildings, and December's figures had upward revisions. Finally, existing home sales were at the strongest pace in January since May 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors®"

California to Receive $18 Billion in Mortgage Settlement

On February 9, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced that California secured up to $18 billion for its distressed homeowners as part of a $25 billion national multistate settlement with the country's five largest loan servicers. More than $12 billion will be used to offer short sales or write down loans over the next three years for about 250,000 underwater homeowners in California, according to the attorney general. Relief will go to areas hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis within the first year of the settlement.

Although the actual settlement has not yet been released, the attorney general has stated that other financial benefits for California include $849 million for refinancing 28,000 borrowers who are underwater but current on their payments; $279 million restitution for 140,000 homeowners who were foreclosed upon between 2008 and 2011; $1.1 billion for unemployed homeowners, transitional assistance, and repairing blight; $3.5 billion to extinguish unpaid loans that remain after foreclosure for 32,000 homeowners; and $430 million to the state attorney general's office for costs and fees. As part of a California guarantee, if the lenders fail to reduce principal balances by a minimum of $12 billion, they will be required to pay fines up to $800 million to the state.

The loans involved in this settlement are those owned or serviced by Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Ally Financial Inc. The settlement releases the five named lenders from certain federal and state claims pertaining to robo-signing and other foreclosure misconduct by the lenders. It does not affect any individual's rights to bring legal action against a lender. It also does not apply to the majority of mortgage loans, which are those owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

This mortgage settlement does not change any homeowner's existing financial relationship with a settling lender. It does not relieve homeowners from any obligation. It does not require a settling lender to stop any foreclosure.

Homeowners seeking relief under the settlement agreement should contact their loan servicer or a HUD-approved housing counselor. More information including detailed FAQs is also available from the California Attorney General's website, or visit the National Mortgage Settlement website.

Tight-fisted mortgage lenders pressure home sales

By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer

Home prices have fallen by a third since 2006, creating tremendous bargains for home buyers. Mortgage rates are at rock-bottom lows, making houses more affordable than they have been in decades. Yet home sales last year fell to the lowest levels since the government began keeping records in 1963.

One big reason is that mortgage bankers have gotten a lot choosier about who they’ll approve for a loan, according to a report by Goldman Sachs economists Hui Shan and Jari Stehn. By some measures, they're pickier than they were before the housing boom took off.

With anecdotal evidence showing that home mortgages are harder to get, the economists crunched Federal Reserve data to show just how much tighter lending standards have become. Using the results of the Fed's survey of loan officers, the report found that lending standards rose sharply after the mortgage market collapsed and the financial system imploded in 2008. Since the recession ended in 2009, lenders haven’t eased their tight grip on mortgage money.

Part of the reason is that there’s less money available to lend. During the housing boom, as brokers produced a flood of new mortgages, Wall Street bankers churned out a torrent of mortgage-backed bonds for investors waiting to snap them up. That market has all but vanished; 90 percent of new mortgages written today are backed by the government.

The new mortgage pipeline also has slowed because it is clogged with paperwork. These days, you’ll have to fill out many more forms and produce a lot more documentation, on average, just to get your loan considered.

The percent of loans that required “full documentation” declined steadily from 2000 through 2006, hitting a low of less than 60 percent. Those “no-doc” loans were a big part of the reason mortgage bankers made the bad underwriting decisions that created the mortgage mess. Today, nearly 90 percent of mortgage applications require full documentation. That’s much higher than the pre-bubble level.

You’ll also have to show a much higher credit score than you did in the go-go days of the housing boom. In a separate report, Mortgage Marvel, an online mortgage-shopping website, analyzed data from more than 700,000 mortgage applications filed last year and found that the average FICO score was 730. That’s a significant jump from the days when borrowers with scores in the high 500s were routinely steered to high-cost subprime loans.

Applications with highest credit scores concentrated in California, Oregon, Wisconsin, District of Columbia and Hawaii, the company said. The states with the lowest credit scores were Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

Fed says long-term inflation goal is 2%

By Steve Goldstein

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The Federal Open Market Committee said Wednesday that the long-term inflation goal is 2%, as measured by the annual change in the price index for personal consumption expenditures. That's the most explicit the Fed has been in terms of setting an inflation target. Eleven of the 17 Federal Open Market Committee participants believe a rate hike would not be appropriate before 2014, according to the first-ever rate forecasts published Wednesday. Three members want the first hike by this year, three want them in 2013, five want them in 2014, four more in 2015, and two in 2016. The Fed also forecasts GDP growth between 2.2% and 2.7% this year, an unemployment rate between 8.2% and 8.5% and PCE inflation between 1.4% and 1.8%; the growth forecast is down from November levels, as are the jobless and inflation views. The Fed sees longer-term rates reaching between 4% and 4.5%.

Responsibilities of Being the Executor of an Estate

Did you agree to be the executor of someone’s estate, and you’re not sure what you got yourself into? Or do you expect someone will ask you in the future, and you don’t know if you should say “yes”? Being an executor is much more than an honorary title, and if you take on this role, it is important to understand the duties it entails. The executor is the person named in a will who is responsible for executing it and otherwise settling the deceased person’s estate. It typically involves: Locating and inventorying the deceased person’s assets and safeguarding them until they are given to the heirs. Petitioning the court to probate the will. (Probate is the legal process of validating the will, settling debts, and transferring the assets to heirs, although some assets, such as jointly owned property and life insurance, don’t go through probate). Giving notice of the death to the deceased’s person’s creditors, financial institutions, and service providers. Paying any outstanding bills with the assets from the estate. Filing the deceased person’s last federal and state income tax return. If applicable, filing the federal and state estate tax return (only an issue for larger estates). Paying any taxes due with assets from the estate. Locating the heirs and distributing the remaining assets according to the instructions in the will. As the executor, you are not required to pay any of the estate’s liabilities out of your own pocket. However, you have a “fiduciary duty” to act in the best interest of the deceased person. If you don’t (e.g., you keep all the assets and don’t give them to the heirs), you can be held personally financially liable for your actions. How demanding the role of executor is largely depends on the estate itself. For example, if you are the only child and heir to your parents’ estate, they own very little, and have no debts, the process should be fairly painless. However, if you are one of five children, the will says that four children inherit the assets (including an ill-taken-care-of house filled with furniture from the 70s) without specifying who gets what, and there are multiple creditors, you could be dealing with a headache that won’t resolve itself for months. If you are on the fence, looking at the will can give you a good sense of how complicated settling the estate will be. Keep in mind that you can hire a professional, such an estate planning attorney, to help you. However, if you don’t feel up to the task, don’t feel guilty about saying “no”. Ultimately, the estate is best served by an executor who is fully capable and willing to carry out the deceased person’s wishes, whatever work that may entail.

30-year mortgage rate at record low 3.88%

By Ruth Mantell

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The average rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked down to a record low of 3.88% in the week ended Jan. 19 from 3.89% in the prior week, Freddie Mac said Thursday in its weekly report. These data go back to 1971. A year ago, the 30-year rate was at 4.74%. "Mortgage rates were nearly unchanged this holiday week" amid mixed economic reports, said Frank Nothaft, Freddie's chief economist, in a statement. To obtain the latest rate, payment of an average 0.8 point was required, according to Freddie, a buyer of residential mortgages. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged in prepaid interest. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked higher to 3.17% in the latest week from a record low of 3.16% in the prior week. These data go back to 1991. Meanwhile, the average rate on the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage remained at 2.82%, matching the record low set in the prior week. These data go back to 2005. The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM fell to a record low of 2.74% from 2.76%. These data go back to 1984.

30-year mortgage rate at record low 3.89%

30-year mortgage rate at record low 3.89%

By Ruth Mantell

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Mortgage rates have hit record lows, Freddie Mac said Thursday in its weekly report on these rates, following "mixed" labor-market indicators. The average rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low of 3.89% in the week ended Jan. 12, compared with 3.91% in the prior week, according to Freddie, a buyer of residential mortgages. These data go back to 1971. A year ago, the 30-year rate was at 4.71%. "Although the economy added 1.6 million jobs in 2011, which was the most since 2006, the unemployment rate remained historically elevated," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie's chief economist, in a statement. To obtain the latest rate, payment of an average 0.7 point was required. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged in prepaid interest. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low of 3.16% in the latest week from 3.23% in the prior week. These data go back to 1991. Meanwhile, the average rate on the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage declined to a record low of 2.82% from 2.86%. These data go back to 2005. The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM fell to a record low of 2.76% from 2.80%. These data go back to 1984.

30-year fixed-rate mortgage at record low

Jan. 5, 2012, 10:34 a.m. EST

30-year fixed-rate mortgage at record low

Housing market showing signs of improvement, economist says

By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages matched a record low this week, after recent reports indicated the housing market and manufacturing industry are showing improvement, Freddie Mac’s chief economist said on Thursday.

The mortgage averaged 3.91% for the week ending Jan. 5, down from 3.95% last week and 4.77% a year ago, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates. This is the fifth week in a row that the mortgage has averaged below 4%.

Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.23% this week, down from 3.24% last week and 4.13% a year ago.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.86%, down from 2.88% last week and 3.75% a year ago.

But 1-year Treasury-indexed ARMs rose, averaging 2.8% this week, up from 2.78% last week. The ARM averaged 3.24% a year ago.

To obtain the rates, the fixed-rate mortgages required an average 0.8 point, the 5-year ARM required an average 0.7 point and the 1-year ARM required an average 0.6 point. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.

“Fixed mortgage rates started the year a little lower this week just as recent data reports indicate the housing market and manufacturing industry are showing signs of improvement,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac, in a news release.

Pending existing home sales rose 7.3% in November, while construction spending rose 1.2% in November.  “Similarly, manufacturing expanded in December at the fastest pace in six months,” Nothaft said.

§ 

Central bank set to change “mid-2013” guidepost on keeping rates low

Jan. 3, 2012, 2:04 p.m. EST

Fed to map out each member’s rate forecast

Central bank set to change “mid-2013” guidepost on keeping rates low

By Greg Robb, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Federal Reserve has decided to shift its communication strategy to show the likely path of interest rates, according to minutes of its December 13 meeting released Tuesday.

Starting in January, the Fed will release each Federal Open Market Committee member’s individual forecasts of the appropriate level on the target federal funds rate in the fourth quarter of the current year and the new few years.

At the same time, the Fed will report when each official thinks the Fed will hike rates for the first time.

The shift in the communications strategy is designed to give more clarity to financial markets about when the Fed thinks it will tighten policy.

Fed watchers noted that there have been several instances over the past few years when the markets became convinced prematurely that a rate hike was in the offing. The resulting higher rates served only to dampen the recovery.

The Fed is still working on a statement of longer-run policy goals, the minutes showed. This could include a move to a more informal inflation target.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke encouraged a communications subcommittee to have a new statement ready for the FOMC to consider at its next meeting on Jan. 24-25.

In their discussion of current policy, a number of Fed officials backed more easing steps while only a few objected. The Fed members said they were likely to soon alter language about the central bank keeping rates at ultra-low levels through the middle of 2013.

Financial market uneasiness due to the European debt crisis was seen as a key downside risk to the outlook, the minutes showed.

The Fed staff trimmed its growth outlook due to developments in Europe, the minutes showed.

Mortgage rates breaking records again

Demand for purchase loans still off from last year

By Inman News, Thursday, December 22, 2011.

Inman News®

Mortgage rates surveyed by Freddie Mac hit new lows this week, but low rates alone may not be enough to spur homebuyer demand, a separate survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association suggests.
Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaging 3.91 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending Dec. 22, down from 3.94 percent last week and 4.81 percent a year ago.
Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.21 percent with an average 0.8 point, unchanged from last week's record low but down from 4.15 percent a year ago.
For five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loans, rates averaged 2.85 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from 2.86 percent last week and 3.75 percent a year ago.
Rates on one-year Treasury-indexed ARM loans averaged 2.77 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from 2.81 percent last week and 3.4 percent a year ago.
Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages have been at or below 4 percent for the last eight weeks and are almost 0.9 percentage points below where they were at the beginning of the year, said Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft. That translates into $1,200 in annual savings for a homebuyer taking out a $200,000 mortgage.

Looking back a week, the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey showed demand for purchase loans was down 7.5 percent during the week ending Dec. 16, and off 6.9 percent from a year ago.
"Remarkably low rates are not enough, as many homeowners continue to hold back due to lack of equity in their properties, poor credit and a weak job market," Michael Fratantoni, the MBA's vice president of research and economics, said in a statement.
Looking back a month, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that existing-home sales increased by 4 percent from October to November, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.42 million homes. That's a 12.2 percent increase from a year ago, when existing homes were selling at a pace of 3.94 million a year.

5 tips to help your home sell quickly

Check out this link

http://realestate.msn.com/5-tips-to-help-your-home-sell-quickly

Glendora Real Estate Market Conditions

Good Afternoon! This is the December update on the NewHomesDirectory.com.  My name is Maureen Haney, and I am a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Millennium. I specialize in properties in the local area, Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, Covina, West Covina and the surrounding communities. I will be blogging on the most current real estate information once a month. I hope that you find this information timely, helpful and relevant. If you ever need anything regarding real estate, please feel free to contact me. My contact information is:

Email:                    Maureen@MaureenHaney.com

Website:                www.MaureenHaney.com
Blog:                       MaureenHaney.blogspot.com
Cell:                        (626) 216-8067

In each installment of my monthly Glendora Real Estate Market Conditions, I will provide the basic overall statistics for Glendora. I will update the statistics each month and other important information about the local area. It will be easy to see the changes from month to month and from one year to the next.

• Number of "Active Listings" (Homes for Sale) in Glendora
• Number of homes that sold last month.
• The average days on market of those that sold.
• Average Home Prices.
• The average price point for both active and sold homes.

Active Listings

	2010	2011
January	89	129
February	106	122
March	108	126
April	112	116
May	115	123
June	116	132
July	117	139
August	124	138
September	127	139
October	142	127
November	142	130
December	123

Days to Sell (Average)

	2010	2011
January	84	151
February	62	99
March	75	105
April	72	112
May	77	103
June	88	103
July	101	125
August	114	95
September	113	94
October	95	105
November	83	92
December	97

New Listings

	2010	2011
January	57	55
February	53	39
March	61	54
April	54	49
May	51	56
June	57	56
July	64	72
August	58	48
September	46	40
October	49	33
November	46	39
December	27

Sale Price (Average)

	2010	2011
January	523,633	480,641
February	556,876	468,398
March	411,227	452,984
April	469,661	433,606
May	476,888	502,652
June	493,103	458,237
July	449,312	471,167
August	429,467	415,848
September	475,324	390,967
October	527,345	490,897
November	492,053	381,647
December	491,513

List Price (Average)

	2010	2011
January	546,574	504,330
February	465,425	438,033
March	517,886	590,492
April	572,281	473,977
May	578,828	502,318
June	674,106	569,545
July	502,381	596,883
August	536,076	477,273
September	570,161	494,705
October	566,490	409,313
November	469,136	586,611
December	428,746

Well, that is the update for my December blog!  At a minimum, I will be updating the numbers and including interesting information for the Glendora real estate market each month.

If you are considering moving out this way, I suggest you bookmark this blog!   I will have lots of helpful information and statistics regarding Glendora real estate.  Thanks so much for your time, just let me know if you need anything.

Happy Holidays,

Maureen

Maureen Haney, GRI, CRS

Coldwell Banker Millennium
www.MaureenHaney.com
Maureen@MaureenHaney.com
MaureenHaney.blogspot.com
626-216-8067 Cell