“Ocean City property owners started the new year with good and bad tidings, depending on how they feel about having a lower property assessment.

On the [...]]]> Ocean City Today on Friday reported that reduced property value assessments will be delivered to many Ocean City Maryland property owners by mail in the coming weeks:

“Ocean City property owners started the new year with good and bad tidings, depending on how they feel about having a lower property assessment.

On the one hand, a lower assessment reflects a possible loss in value, while on the other, it could mean a bit of a tax break. Either way, the new assessments were mailed out around Dec. 28 and nearly all of them are lower than in 2009.

According to Robert Smith, the state assessor for Worcester County, the value of 97 percent of properties being assessed are going down, in part because of the number of unoccupied condos in the resort.”

The full article –

http://www.oceancitytoday.net/news/2012-01-06/Front_Page/Reduced_property_assessments_mailed_to_resort_resi.html

“The Fiscal Times had an interesting article on the subject that is worth a look:

Call [...]]]> What a way to start the New Year, but apparently it is on the minds of the Federal Reserve also. A recent recommendation floated by the Fed suggests having Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac convert more REO’s to rentals.

“The Fiscal Times had an interesting article on the subject that is worth a look:

Call it the Big Selloff—America is headed toward a future in which fewer people own the spaces they call home. The effective homewonershiprate, which excludes borrowers whose homes are underwater, stands at 62 percent, down from 69 percent in 2006, according to a 2010 report by the New York Federal Reserve.

Those trends are just the beginning, concludes a July report from investment bank Morgan Stanley: the United States is becoming a nation of renters and home ownership will keep falling. And that, say some experts, could be good for the country.”

“Good for the country.”

Did you get that? These are probably the same people that told us that high homeownership numbers were good for the country a few years back during the bubble.

The full article –

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/01/04/The-New-American-Dream-Rent-Dont-Buy.aspx#page2

Imagine that.

The net effect is that the housing bust we have experienced so far is much worse than the NAR had originally reported:

“A [...]]]> The Wall Street Journal is reporting in 2 separate articles recently that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revised their last 5 years of sales data downward to reflect, apparently, reality.

Imagine that.

The net effect is that the housing bust we have experienced so far is much worse than the NAR had originally reported:

“A real-estate trade group said Monday it plans to lower its estimates of how many homes were sold in the U.S. since 2007, after analysts came up with evidence that the group was overestimating sales.

Earlier this year, outside analysts called into question some of the assumptions behind the trade group’s data. For example, Corelogic, Inc., an independent housing data firm, found a far smaller number of home sales by tracking property records through local courthouses.”

Links to both Wall Street Journal articles –

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/12/12/realtors-to-revise-2007-2011sales-data-down/

http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2011/12/12/housing-bust-to-look-worse-with-sales-revised/

“According to Robert Smith, director of the State Department of Assessment and Taxation (SDAT) for Worcester County, most residential property owners in Ocean City will see their values decline by an average of [...]]]> The Maryland Coast Dispatch had an article Friday reporting another decline in the taxable value of Ocean City Maryland property values:

“According to Robert Smith, director of the State Department of Assessment and Taxation (SDAT) for Worcester County, most residential property owners in Ocean City will see their values decline by an average of 12 to 15 percent since the last reassessment three years ago.”

“The values are continuing downward as expected, but maybe not as much as the last three years,” said Smith this week. “The angle of decline is less steep than it was. We saw residential property values in the county decline by as much as 17 to 20 percent over the last few years, but Ocean City’s average decline this time around is coming in at 12 to 15 percent.”

The full article –

http://mdcoastdispatch.com/articles/2011/12/02/Top-Stories/15-Decrease-In-Property-Values-Reported-In-OC

Apparently, for many, not too well:

“Zillow.com, the real estate information company, says the average price [...]]]> The Wall Street Journal had an article  on Tuesday worth considering. It revisits the subject of the tax credits to home purchasers offered by the Government back in 2009 and 2010 and analyzes how that all worked out.

Apparently, for many, not too well:

“Zillow.com, the real estate information company, says the average price of an American home fell again last month to $171,500 — the lowest level in eight years. That’s down 4.4% from a year ago, although it’s been about stable over the summer.

Now compare the average prices with those that people paid in 2009 and 2010, when they took advantage of the credits.

Zillow tracks prices closely in 157 cities and major towns around the country. Humphries says that in 110 of those, prices today are more than $8,000 lower than they were in June 2010.

The picture is even worse when you compare prices today with the average for the entire year-and-a-half that the credits were in place. By that measure, prices have fallen by more than $8,000 in about 130 cities and towns.”

The full article –

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-great-26-billion-real-estate-swindle-2011-11-08

]]> http://homebuyerpower.com/2011/11/10/the-great-26-billion-real-estate-tax-credit-swindle/feed/ 0 http://homebuyerpower.com/2011/10/25/major-revamp-of-the-home-affordable-refinance-program-announced/ http://homebuyerpower.com/2011/10/25/major-revamp-of-the-home-affordable-refinance-program-announced/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:00:20 +0000 admin http://homebuyerpower.com/?p=867 This could be very big news, and probably is, and will certainly lead to a major uptick in residential mortgage refinancing. As reported everywhere yesterday:

“Seeking to breathe new life into a sagging economy, President Obama announced Monday he will attempt an executive branch rescue of homeowners trying to refinance underwater mortgages, with a [...]]]> This could be very big news, and probably is, and will certainly lead to a major uptick in residential mortgage refinancing. As reported everywhere yesterday:

“Seeking to breathe new life into a sagging economy, President Obama announced Monday he will attempt an executive branch rescue of homeowners trying to refinance underwater mortgages, with a new initiative that lets people with little or no equity get a better interest rateat a reduced cost.

The initiative, the first in a series of announcements expected this week by the president, applies to homeowners with federally guaranteed mortgages who are current on their payments.

The change is not a mass refinancing of everyone in America, but a targeted fix to open up the program to more people who are underwater. “

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/24/white-house-to-announce-major-home-lending-revamp/

“Thousands of homes are on the market in the Baltimore region. But as the commercials say, wait — there’s more.

Tens of thousands of Baltimore-area homeowners are [...]]]> An article in the Baltimore Sun reported that, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting, Baltimore’s “Shadow Inventory” of homes may be in the 50,000 range:

“Thousands of homes are on the market in the Baltimore region. But as the commercials say, wait — there’s more.

Tens of thousands of Baltimore-area homeowners are behind on their mortgage payments. At least some of their homes will end up on the market too, either as short sales or repossessed foreclosures.

California-based John Burns Real Estate Consulting, which does market research for homebuilders and banks, estimates this “shadow inventory” in the Baltimore region at 50,000 homes as of June. That’s how many properties the company believes will eventually become distress sales but aren’t yet listed.

“That equates to 14 months of supply based on the average resale sales volume for the area over the last 10 years,” Wayne Yamano, a vice president at John Burns, said in an email. “The U.S. average is about 9 months of shadow inventory in comparison.”

As Baltimore’s real estate market has historically been a good barometer of Ocean City’ market, it leads one to wonder what the “Shadow Inventory” number for Ocean City Maryland might be.

The full article –

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/blog/2011/09/firm_baltimorearea_shadow_inventory_at_50000_homes.html

“What our survey told us is that [...]]]> Trulia had an interesting article on the attitudes of Americans, generally, and young Americans in particular, about homeownership.  Apparently, notwithstanding what has happened to housing during the last 10 years or so (bubble, bubble bursting, bust, continuing bust…), Americans are still bullish on owning their own home:

“What our survey told us is that a whooping 70% of Americans said they still see homeownership as being part of their personal American Dream. When we asked this same question back in January, it was also 70%. What this means is being a homeowner is still on most Americans’ “I’ve made it in the U.S.A.” to-do list and that nothing (that’s happening politically or economically) is going to bring them down. Even when you look at the data by age (as we did below), most said their American Dream includes owning a home. In particular, we thought this sentiment was pretty strikingly high among young people – the children of the 90s and 80s in this case – especially when you consider the fact that most do not own their own homes.”

No surprising, really. Americans still want a place to call “home” and to enjoy as their own. The full article –

http://insights.truliablog.com/2011/09/trulia-american-dream-survey-fall2011/

“In July, Inside Mortgage Finance (or IMF) reported in its monthly Housing Pulse Survey report that 75% of investor purchases nationwide in June were all-cash transactions. These investors [...]]]> Business Insider has an excellent article, with strong analysis, commenting on the unprecedented cash buying trend we have seen since 2008. Just look at this stat:

“In July, Inside Mortgage Finance (or IMF) reported in its monthly Housing Pulse Survey report that 75% of investor purchases nationwide in June were all-cash transactions. These investors focused their attention on what IMF calls “damaged REOs.” The June survey revealed that 59% of damaged REO sales were to investors.”

Did I read that right? 75% of investor purchases were ALL CASH.

This article is worth a read, especially if you are an investor and your thoughts are to “beat” the yield of your local bank thu a real estate cash purchase.

The full article –

http://www.businessinsider.com/all-cash-buying-signals-demise-of-normal-housing-market-2011-9#ixzz1YPxdD3tD

“The actual, not seasonally adjusted, data suggests that the momentum of declining sales has leveled off. However, in order for the oversupply in distressed markets to be [...]]]> An interesting and very detailed analysis was posted yesterday on the Wall Street Examiner Web Site regarding the state of the U.S. housing market. A few snippets:

“The actual, not seasonally adjusted, data suggests that the momentum of declining sales has leveled off. However, in order for the oversupply in distressed markets to be absorbed, that’s not enough. Sales must increase. That is largely dependent on household formation, which in turn is dependent on growth in full time jobs. And that’s not happening.”

The full article is worth a read. Find it at -

http://wallstreetexaminer.com/2011/08/24/housing-time-bomb-goes-tick-tock-tick-tock/