Home Buying Market Conditions « HomeBuyerPower®

Major Revamp Of The Home Affordable Refinance Program Announced

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 [...]

Baltimore-Area ‘Shadow Inventory’ Reported At 50,000 Homes

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 [...]

Bye, Bye To The American Dream? No Way!

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 [...]

Surge In All-Cash Buying Signals The Demise Of The ‘Normal’ Housing Market

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 [...]

Housing Time Bomb Goes Tick Tock Tick Tock

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 [...]

Investors Outdo Banks Offloading Distressed Properties

DSNews.com and ForeclosureRadar are reporting what many “on the ground” have observed for some time:

“Third-party investors are much faster at reselling foreclosures than banks…

‘Our statistics clearly show that real estate investors continue to far outperform banks in dealing with distressed properties,’ said Sean O’Toole, CEO and founder of ForeclosureRadar.”

“Outperform”?

As buyer agents [...]

Homes Built For Families May Not Make The Buyer’s Cut

Smaller homes may be a better idea for home buyers — so says John Burns Consulting on Housing Wire:

“A staggering 39.2 million American households consist of people living alone or with nonfamily members, changing the outlook for real estate professionals who want to design and sell homes to this demographic…”

So according to the [...]

Banks Artificially Reducing Inventory To Bolster Prices

Imagine that. The banks are alleged to be manipulating the system thru a strategy of reducing the number of filed foreclosures — thereby reducing the amount of available sales inventory and artificially bolstering prices.

Who would have guessed?

The New York Times is reporting:

“Millions of homeowners in distress are getting some unexpected breathing room — [...]

Strategic Defaults Could Get Very Ugly: With Home Prices

There has been much written in the last couple of weeks about the latest National quarterly home value numbers. None of it good. Many people are coming to realize that we may very well see even lower prices in the future.

But what does this mean for “strategic defaults”?

An excellent article addressing this question appeared recently [...]

Short Sale vs. Foreclosure Credit Score Damage? FICO Debunks Some Myths

The Baltimore Sun had an interesting article on Monday on the subject of the relative impact of foreclosures and short sales on credit scores:

“Homeowners who are falling behind on a mortgage often worry just how much they might be damaging their credit score.

How much will a score be dinged if a [...]

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