Today’s News Synopsis:
According to MDA DataQuick, 8,373 homes closed escrows in the Bay Area last month. Freddie Mac announced the average rate for 30-year fixed loans this week was 4.57 percent. The Federal Open Market Committee expects economic expansion to increase considerably slower over the next couple years than it previously expected. California is currently the second most popular place for foreign home buying.
In The News:
Business Journal – “Brown sues housing agency over halt to PACE programs” (7-14-10)
“California Attorney General Jerry Brown on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against The Federal Housing Finance Agency and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the wake of the federal agency’s negative assessment of the Property Assessed Clean Energy Program. Brown, California’s Democratic candidate for governor, asks the court to require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to recognize PACE assessments.”
DQNews - “Bay Area June Home Sales Send Mixed Signals” (7-15-10)
“Last month a total of 8,373 homes closed escrows in the nine-county Bay Area, up 1.3 percent from 8,264 in May but down 3.1 percent from 8,644 in June 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.”
Los Angeles Times – “U.S. home foreclosures reach record high in second quarter” (7-15-10)
“U.S. bank repossessions increased 38% in the second quarter from the same period a year earlier for a record total of 269,952, according to Irvine research firm RealtyTrac. That was also a jump of 5% from the previous quarter. If that pace continues through the year, the number of homes taken by banks is likely to top 1 million by the end of 2010, said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac senior vice president.”
San Francisco Chronicle – “Mortgage rates remain at lowest level in decades” (7-15-10)
“Government-sponsored mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate for 30-year fixed loans this week was 4.57 percent. That’s the same as a week earlier and the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971.”
Housing Wire – “Value of JPMorgan Government-Backed REO Triples Since 2009″ (7-15-10)
“REO insured by the US government totaled $1.4bn in Q210 compared to $508m in Q209. The latest results are nearly double the total from Q110, $707m. In addition, JPMorgan said nonaccruing mortgages insured by US government agencies were up 140% from Q209, at $10.1bn in Q210 compared to $4.2bn one year ago. Nonaccruing mortgages are those that are late and no longer acrruing interest. That volume is down, however, from $10.5bn in Q110, JPMorgan said.”
Housing Wire – “Feds: No Need to Change Rates Despite Slowdown in Housing” (7-15-10)
“The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in its June 22-23 meeting decided to maintain its target zero to 0.25% federal funds rate despite signs of slowdown in economic and housing growth, according to meeting minutes released this week. Data on production and spending since the Feds’ last meeting remained aligned with expectations, but the pace of economic expansion over the next year and a half looks to be somewhat slower than previously predicted.”
Inman - “6 strategies for a realistic asking price” (7-15-10)
“Absorption rates are generally one of the most powerful ways to persuade sellers to be realistic. The calculation is relatively simple. In most areas, your local multiple listing service publishes how many months of inventory are currently on the market. Next, divide ’1′ by the number of months of inventory. This gives you the percentage of listings that are selling each month. It also tells you the seller’s odds of selling in a given month. For example, if there are 12 months of inventory on the market, that means that the seller’s odds or probability of selling in any month is 8.3 percent (1/12). The probability the seller won’t sell in a given month is 91.7 percent (11/12).”
Orange County Register – “18% more hotels in financial distress” (7-15-10)
“Atlas Hospitality Group reports 73 more California hotels were in high financial distress — in default on their mortgage or foreclosed upon — in the second quarter vs. a year ago. This 478 second-quarter total is an 18% increase from the first quarter 2010 and up 132% vs. a year ago”
Orange County Register – “Calif. No. 2 spot for foreign homebuyers” (7-15-10)
“Florida was the top target for foreign buyers with (22%) of transactions in past year. California was second at 12%; then came Arizona (11%) and Texas (8%.) California was tops as recently as two years earlier.”
Orange County Register – “Is your ZIP a loan-fraud ‘hot spot?’” (7-15-10)
-Contains a list of cities in Orange County and their fraud rates
For more information about The Norris Group’s California hard money loans or our California Trust Deed investments, visit the website or call our office at 951-780-5856 for more information. For upcoming California real estate investor training and events, visit The Norris Group website and our California investor calendar. You’ll also find our award-winning real estate radio show on KTIE 590am at 6pm on Saturdays or you can listen to over 170 podcasts in our free investor radio archive.
About Bruce Norris
Bruce Norris is an active investor, hard money lender, and real estate educator with over 30 years experience. Bruce has been involved in over 2,000 real estate transactions as a buyer, seller, builder and money partner.
Tags: Atlas Hospitality Group, attorney general, clean energy, DataQuick, default, economic, fannie mae, Federal, FHFA, FOMC, fraud, freddie mac, hotel, Jerry Brown, JP Morgan, MDA, mortgage, PACE, reo