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The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 2/10/12

aaron — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:58:51 +0000

Sources:
Multifamily mortgage originations jump 13%
Builder Confidence for the 55+ Housing Market Ends Fourth Quarter on an Upswing
HAMP Mods Approach 1M Mark
Mortgage mods in 2011 down 40% from prior year
Fewer young adults hold jobs than ever before
Report Reveals Number of Foreclosures Down From Last Year
Mortgage giants to pay $25 billion in foreclosure settlement
REAL ESTATE: California receives up to $18 billion in multistate settlement
Wells Fargo to start $5.3 billion foreclosure settlement relief in March
Banks Paying Homeowners a Bonus to Avoid Foreclosures: Mortgages

Today’s News Synopsis:

In this week’s video, Aaron Norris gives the news of the week in the world of real estate and other big news of the week. 30-year mortgage rates continue to hold at record lows of 3.87%. DS News reported Bank of America will be required to pay $1 billion in settlement fees for their part in mortgage fraud. In other news, the values of homes decreased over 1% in the fourth quarter, although the decrease for this year is expected to be lower than 2011.

In The News:

San Francisco Chronicle – “30-year mortgage rates hold at record low of 3.87%” (2-10-12)

“Rates for 30-year U.S. mortgages held at the lowest level on record as fewer Americans sought loans for home purchases. The average rate for a 30-year fixed loan was unchanged in the week ending Thursday at 3.87 percent, the lowest in records dating to 1971, Freddie Mac said in a statement.”

DS News – “U.S. Resolves Claims Against BofA Through $1 Billion Settlement” (2-10-12)

“Bank of America will pay $1 billion to settle on the largest False Claims Act relating to mortgage fraud. As part of the $25 billion settlement, Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced that the government will resolve its claims against Bank of America, Countrywide, and certain Countrywide subsidiaries and affiliates for underwriting and origination mortgage fraud.”

Housing Wire – “Construction job cuts account for one-third of 4Q mass layoffs” (2-10-12)

“Mass layoffs in the fourth quarter of 2011 declined to their lowest level in six years, but construction jobs still took a big hit on the end of seasonal hiring, the government said Friday.”

Bloomberg - “Pimco: Foreclosure Deal Cheap for Banks” (2-10-12)

“The government’s deal with banks over their foreclosure practices after 16 months of investigations is cheap for the loan servicers while costly for bond investors including pension funds, according to Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Scott Simon.”

CNN Money – “Mortgage deal: What the critics say” (2-10-12)

“The $26 billion mortgage settlement had a lot of support — as evidenced by the 49 out of 50 state attorneys general that signed on to it. The deal, which was announced Thursday, also won praise from groups as diverse as the Mortgage Bankers Association, the industry trade group for lenders, and the Center for Responsible Lending, a public interest group advocating for borrowers.”

Housing Wire – “Three California real estate investors plead guilty to bid rigging” (2-10-12)

“Three Northern California real estate investors agreed to plead guilty to forming a conspiracy to rig bids at foreclosure auctions, the Department of Justice Financial Fraud Enforcement Division said Thursday.”

DS News – “Home Values Declined 1.1 Percent for Fourth Quarter” (2-10-12)

“Zillow forecasts home values will be on the decline through December 2012, but the decrease will be smaller than 2011.”

Inman – “Markets with largest percentage-based price declines in Q4 2011″ (2-10-12)

“The Boise City-Nampa, Idaho, metro area led the nation with a 20.2 percent drop in its single-family existing-home median home price in fourth-quarter 2011 compared to the same quarter in 2010, the National Association of Realtors reported this week.”

Housing Wire – “Fannie defends ending pilot principal reduction program” (2-10-12)

“A small pilot principal reduction program Fannie Mae killed in 2010 was not performing well enough for executives to expand, the mortgage giant claims.”

DS News - “Illinois Introduces Two Initiatives to Tackle Foreclosure Issues” (2-10-12)

“To alleviate issues of foreclosure in one of the hardest hit areas, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn launched two initiatives. One effort will connect homeowners to resources to keep them in their homes, and another will help revitalize areas affected by foreclosed and vacation properties.”

Hard Money Loan Closed

West Covina, California hard money loan closed by The Norris Group private lending. Real estate investor received loan for $270,000 on a 7 bedroom, 4 bathroom home appraised for $420,000.

California Real Estate Investor Events:

The Norris Group will be holding their monthly REO Boot Camp, February 14, 2012.

Bruce Norris of The Norris Group will be at the 2012 Kick Off Brunch on February 18, 2012.

Looking Back:

Existing home sales increased 15.4% in the 4th quarter of 2010, according to the NAR. Housing affordability for first-time buyers increased to 69% during the final quarter of 2010, said the CAR. RealtyTrac reported foreclosure filings fell 17% year over year. Kevin Warch resigned from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

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.

The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 2/6/12

aaron — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:17:18 +0000

Today’s News Synopsis:

According to the latest report from the U.S. Commerce Department, sales of pending existing homes increased while at the same time sales of new homes decreased all in the month of December. According to Housing Wire, commercial and multifamily loan origination increased 13% in the fourth quarter of 2011. NAHB reported the number of housing markets showing improvement has increased to 100.

In The News:

Bloomberg – “Foreclosure Deal Deadline Arrives” (2-5-12)

“U.S. states that balked at liability releases in a proposed $25 billion nationwide settlement over bank foreclosure practices must decide today whether its mortgage relief and reforms are worth legal claims they’ll lose.”

Housing Wire – “Multifamily mortgage originations jump 13%” (2-6-12)

“Originations of commercial and multifamily loans grew 13% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2011, while still declining 7% from the third quarter, an industry trade group said Monday.”

Realty Times – “Real Estate Outlook: New Home Sales and Prices Decline” (2-6-12)

“Pending existing-home sales may be up across the nation, but new home sales fell for the first the first time in three months in December. These latest figures come from the U.S. Commerce Department.”

Bloomberg – “Bernanke: Fed will protect U.S. economy from Europe” (2-6-12)

“The U.S. foreclosure crisis has risen to new heights. Atlanta’s 55-story Bank of America Plaza, the tallest tower in the Southeast, is set to be sold at an open outcry auction on the steps of the Fulton County Courthouse tomorrow after landlord BentleyForbes missed mortgage payments.”

Mortgage Bankers Association – “MBA Forecasts $230 Billion of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Originations in 2012; $2.4 Trillion of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Debt Outstanding” (2-6-12)

“In its inaugural forecast of the commercial/multifamily real estate finance markets, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) projects originations of commercial and multifamily mortgages will hit $230 billion in 2012, an increase of 17 percent from 2011 volumes, and continue to rise to $290 billion in 2015.”

NAHB – “List of Improving Housing Markets Expands to Nearly 100″ (2-6-12)

“The list of housing markets showing measurable improvement expanded by 29 metros in February to include a total of 98 entries on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI), released today. Thirty-six states are now represented by at least one market on the list.”

Los Angeles Times – “Lawmakers push Fannie, Freddie to write-down mortgage principle” (2-6-12)

“Rep. Barney Frank and two other House Financial Services Committee Democrats on Monday pressed Edward DeMarco, the regulator of seized housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to write-down the principal on mortgages of underwater homes.”

Housing Wire – “Capital Economics: REO to rental program possibly ‘best housing fix so far’” (2-6-12)

“In a statement released Monday, Capital Economics called the REO to rental program possibly the “best housing fix so far,” calling it “possibly more significant” than President Obama’s refinancing proposals announced late last month.”

Los Angeles Times – “Consumer Confidential: Mortgage deal, Redbox service, Clint rules” (2-6-12)

“Today’s the day for state attorneys general to decide whether they want a piece of a multibillion-dollar mortgage settlement with the nation’s largest banks.”

Inman – “Texas regulator issues cease and desist order against flat-fee FSBO site” (2-6-12)

“A Texas real estate regulator is investigating a flat-fee, for-sale-by-owner site for alleged unlicensed brokerage activities in the state and has issued a cease and desist order against the company.”

Hard Money Loan Closed

San Bernardino, California hard money loan closed by The Norris Group private lending. Real estate investor received loan for $150,000 on a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home appraised for $250,000.

California Real Estate Investor Events:

The Norris Group will be holding their monthly REO Boot Camp, February 14, 2012.

The Norris Group posted a new event. Bruce Norris of The Norris Group will be at the 2012 Kick Off Brunch on February 18, 2012.

263-TNG Radio – Mike Novak-Smith and Ted Boeker 2-04-12

aaron — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:56:27 +0000

Mike Novak-Smith

REO agent

RE/Max

(Full Bio)

Ted Boeker

Owner and Broker

RE/Max

(Full Bio)

This week Bruce Norris is joined by Mike Novak-Smith and Ted Boeker. Mike Novak-Smith is not only one of the largest REO agents in the Inland Empire, but the nation. Mike is in the top 1% of all real estate agents nationwide and is experienced in REO, short sales, bankruptcies, asset management, and negotiating. Mike specializes in REOs in Riverside, Moreno Valley, San Bernardino, Perris, Rialto, Colton, and Corona. Ted Boeker is the owner of the company that Mike is at and has brokered for RE/Max Results in Moreno Valley. Having started the company in 1989, Ted has vast experience in real estate and has been able to train and lead 35 of Southern California’s highest producing real estate brokers and agents to close deals quickly and efficiently for a variety of clients in commercial, residential, multifamily, and office real estate. Nationwide Home Loans Inc. and RE/Max Results escrow division are associated companies. Before that, Ted practiced law.

Ted opened a business in 1989, which was a peak year. Things changed radically after this, and Bruce wondered if this was something that as a part of his business model he saw changing very quickly or if it surprised him. Ted said he would love to say he foresaw a lot of things, but he really did not see much coming. He had come out of commercial real estate, which died after the 1986 Tax Reform Act; and he said there was nothing in commercial to do so he should look at residential. It looked attractive at the time, but he never dreamed they would see the ups and downs that they have. Ted said it was probably good to start when he did because it did steal him through some of the early tough times. The flexibility of a business model all of a sudden became absolute. You could not do farming and be surviving in the ‘90s, and you could not do it after 2006 either.

Bruce went to a meeting at Ted’s company where he talked, and remembered prior to the meeting when they were talking about volume of sales. They were talking about the number of closings that Mike had and the other people who were ahead. Bruce also envisioned a meeting he was not at in 2006 where everybody is doing pretty well, and he wondered how you tell somebody that is doing well that their model is about to radically change and they have to do it before it actually happens. Ted said it is not easy as real estate agents are a wide variety of people, some well educated and others not so much. The biggest example is 3 years ago Ted started harping on short sales, being able to hopefully foresee what was coming. However, agents two years ago said Ted was crazy and they were not going to do what he was talking about. Ted said today about 40% of his sales are short sales. The agents who refused it are probably gone, and the ones who embraced it are doing relatively well to the marketplace. There are not a lot of easy commission checks anywhere.

Mike has been involved in the REO listing side for 21 years. The first REO ever listed was in January 1991. He worked at a Century 21 Office where they could not give away the REO. It basically paid 5% commission instead of 6%. He made a referral, but he was number 9 one the list; so when they finally got to him he knew the economy was declining. The Persian Gulf War had started, and things were tough. He thought if he could do the deal at 2% he could still make the house and car payments and could eat another month. This was why he carried out the deal. Anybody that declined the deal at the time is no longer in the business. Prior to doing the REOs, Mike’s business model was to show up at a Century 21 office and try to live off the floor time and advertise, which he did well. People would just walk in and say they wanted to buy or sell a house and you wrote up the deal. It was easy. Mike also started in 1989 at the very peak year and then quickly transitioned into unknown territory. The 90s was not replicated and it was not the normal downturn. In the ‘80s we had the radical interest rate change, but we did not have a price decline because we were able to borrow the cheap financing and move it forward to other buyers. In the 90s we took a 5% gradual decline every year for a while, and this was news to everyone who owned California real estate.

Bruce wondered how the 2006-2011 downturns differed from what Ted experienced in the 90s as a business owner. Ted said he did not remember the 90s as well because they never really got up to speed. It took them ten years to get up to a critical mass of agents and holding on through the tough times. The early 2000s were good, and then the falloff was a real shock. When they saw the change in 2008, it was the big change for them. In 2008 and 2009 they had a lot of REOs, and then nothing for two years. This is the biggest challenge he has ever had. They have really been able to tighten up and cut out expenses, but that is the key.

As far as the cycles went, Mike said in the 90s he could predict better what was going to happen. He could see the start and the end game. Now it just seems like it is never going to end. It was easier back then to predict your business than compared to now. You get a lot of curve balls today that you did not get then. As far as quantity of listings in this current cycle, Mike said the peak year for him and for everybody in general was 2008. We did not have the government intrusion that we had in the last 3 years, and this is a big frustration.

Bruce wondered what the following years as far as percentages went after 2008 if that year was a 100% year. Mike said in 2008 it went down about 20% for him and 60% in ’10. In ’11, it picked up a little bit but still went down about 50%. Bruce also wondered if anybody on the lender side is saying to either Mike or Ted that they will not be releasing so many or if they are always telling them to step up. What he heard for a long time was to maintain the staff and not cut anybody back, and this was kind of a mistake. He carried too much overhead through a lot of 2010, and he finally decided he was going to have to cut it back. He is okay with not making any money sometimes, but he hates having to feed it. Now he has the right amount of staff, and if they pay attention and operate well, they can make money. When you talk to asset management, the general opinion of people is they do not want to sit there and say they are not going to have a job. They believe it is going to pick up and they are going to have REOs to sell so they will have a job. He believes this is what a lot of it comes down to overall, and he does not believe anybody can predict what is going to happen. They are probably not at the policy decision level. With someone in Mike’s position, one of the nation’s largest, he would probably feel that he has access to somebody inside actually telling him the real scoop. However, this does not happen. Mike said he does know some people way up the food chain from various REO organizations, and even they cannot tell you what is going to happen.

Mike’s REO business peaked in 2008 when we had about a 3.4% delinquency rate, and we went up to 11.2%. Mike’s peak of foreclosures resulted from a 3.2% delinquency, and then we tripled. The amount of REOs he probably should have been handling should have been some gigantic percentage above the peak and its decline. The shadow inventory term is real, but it is not where people think it is. Mike’s opinion of what shadow inventory is the process that is not being finished. There are a lot of defaults going on, but the timeframe between when somebody misses the first payment to the time they foreclose is probably in many cases 18 months to 2 years. He asks a lot of people how long since they made their payment and this is the answer he usually gets. He rarely gets anybody less than a year; but he thinks the whole process has just slowed down, and this is your shadow inventory. It is not like the banks are sitting on millions of houses they own; they just don’t finish the foreclosure. Bruce wondered if there is a valid reason why they don’t do this, and Mike said part of the reason is if they just foreclosed every which way they could, they would not have the capability to handle the property. He hears of agents telling him they are in a really bad situation and don’t even want to foreclose because they do not want the house back. They don’t want to be responsible for the code liens and the taxes.

Bruce said what is interesting to him is somebody always tells him that the lenders are too smart in regards to carrying out foreclosures, but in 2008 they did exactly what they should not have done. They foreclosed on properties aggressively, and we ended up with something like 17 months of inventory and a price decline of about 3 or 4% a month. Once you are there on that low level of price and everybody is upside down; it is much easier to make a decision to walk when you have negative 50% equity. When the civil Code 1169 came into effect in California, you could be fined $1,000 a day if you are the lender owning the property or a trustee sale buyer owning a property. They have someone come out and visit your place, and you have a week or two to fix whatever they are going to see.

When Mike resells REOs, Bruce wondered if there was a big problem with liens that had been placed on the property. Mike said they have a lot of problems with liens. He has a full-time employee whose job is dealing with liens, code violations, and HOA problems. Part of the problem with a lot of the banks is they do not have the internal staff anymore to handle these problems. It used to be they had attorneys on staff that would fix a lot of the code violations and a lot of the liens, and now a lot of that is not done. We do not figure it out until we start marketing the property and they come up. He said he fronts a lot of money to pay code violations and liens because typically the agents expect you to pay them and then be reimbursed. They are on it full-time, checking properties every day as he does not want any code violations and does not want to front the money for it. It is a lot bigger problem than it once was.

Bruce wondered what percentages of his listings were occupied by somebody at the end of the foreclosure process, which Mike said was about 75%. The attitude of the person behind the door is usually bewilderment as they wonder how something like this could happen, and most of these people are tenants of the former borrower. They did not know they were about to be asked to go.

On the topic of Cash for Keys, once this type of thing happens it becomes a street lore and urban legend. You can go ahead and ask for cash for keys, plus with some of the clients they are told how much cash for keys is going to be. A large problem Mike has is a lot of clients are very generous with cash for keys and some are not. Many of them ask why they only receive $1500 when their friend received $8,000. Bruce said if the Learning Annex was still in business, he could be almost certain there was a class held at night. The Cash for Keys is a big deal, but the offers vary a lot, and this can cause some problems. Bruce wondered if it has to do with the size of the loan or just the motivation of the lender, to which Mike said it is the latter. The more well known you are today as a lender, the more you want to pay.

Bruce wondered how big of a problem MERS robo-signing presented to California lenders. Mike said he has not seen much of it where it was a problem. He does believe with a lot of their deals a lot of the loans are in pools and portfolios, and sometimes they get slowed down because someone is going to check the whole portfolio, whether most of the loans are in Chicago or Florida. Sometimes this will slow them down. Something that was originally going to close, for example, in January will not close until March. However, the bigger issue is they are in a mix of properties.

On the myth of bulk sales and bulk REO listings, Bruce said he has only fallen victim to this one time as he went around an looked at 100 houses in two days to get his piece of the dream. However, there have been people who spent a year and ruined themselves by following something that seemed imminent that they were going to cash in on 100 houses. Mike does deal with a lot of REOs, and Bruce wondered if he has dealt with successful bulk deals in California only. He said Fannie Mae and several others do pool sales and advertise for it, but it is usually beyond the capability of the small investors. It does happen, but where he gets the calls is from some person who wants to buy ten houses in bulk, and the problem with that is with many of the lenders there are ten different investors on the deals. It is not the same real seller when you get down to the bottom line. Bruce wondered if he feels there are sufficient properties going that route that it affects the volume that they see, but Mike said this was not the case.

Another topic is bulk note sales, where you have big companies buy thousands of loans at a shot. Bruce wondered if this is significant in its impact in the REO listings. Mike said he is not sure he has seen them, even if it is possible they are going on. You do not see them in California has much as you see them in other places. In Orange County, there is a company in Irvine that buys very large pools, but the majority of the loans are not in California yet. Even if the purchaser received 60% off of the face, it would be hard to say that there would be a lot of room.

Bruce was a moderator of a panel on bulk buying that HousingWire.com had a couple years ago. He was very fascinated with the concept and thought it could really happen to somebody. Of the three, one of the companies that was on the panel was capable of buying 1,000 homes in a very short notice was Williams and Williams Auction Company. Bruce knew Tommy Williams personally, so he talked to him, the person he thought would really know. Having auctioneers all over the country, their infrastructure is such that they literally could get a 1,000 property listing within two or three days, legitimately see every one of them, and come to a number. They had not bought a property in a year, so they had the capacity, but there was not any inventory that was going that route in that kind of volume. Bruce just heard of another scenario yesterday about a bulk sale from one particular lender, so it is such a great theory. However, Ted said somebody actually has to go out and look at the properties to make sure they are even there. Ted said they have had REOs they have gone out to look at that are not even there and had burned down about a year earlier.

It seems one of the things RE/Max would really have a grasp on is how much infrastructure there is as far as capacity to move inventory already in place. They do not have to invent a thing. Bruce wondered how many more listings they could have, if they could have a multiple of 300-400% alone. This is replicated everywhere. Someone could drop a lot of properties into the United States REOs, and it would get absorbed by current staff. Another option is trained staff is added, and this would make more sense more than selling thousands of homes to a hedge fund. There were couple of things in a report Bruce read, and one of the things was doing a big bulk deal. A couple days later he saw a headline for a $650 million pool by one of the well known big companies that they were going to buy REOs and retain them as rentals. This sounds significant until you look at the numbers of how much debt there is in excess. You basically have a $3 trillion problem when you start throwing $50 million at it and see how it is such an insignificant thing. In short of saying they are going to forgive everybody, whoever owes more than their house is worth, we are probably in for a long haul. There is really no end in sight and no end game. Neither is there a change in the aggression of lenders saying they should cut to the chase and take all the REOs back. If a lot of the houses were sold to hedge funds, they would be a lot more aggressive because they would not care about their name being drug through the mud. They do not have a public name or a retail presence, and this is most likely part of the reason why things are slow in some cases.

One of the suggestions in the white report was getting a deed in lieu of foreclosure and giving the people right to buy the property back some years later. Bruce wondered what their thoughts were on the same owner returning as owner at a later time. However, Ted said this is silly. Once a person has given up on the property as we have seen and stopped making payments a year or two earlier, when you go to that person see them start making payments again, that person just laughs at the agents in charge. Bruce does not know how you rationalize this with the person next door making payments on the same loan. You start asking yourself if you can get the deal too. Mike and Ted said one of their clients offered the ability for the occupants to lease the property for a year. Mike and Ted said they have started a few of these, but they have yet to see anybody finish before they failed and ended up being evicted. For them, not paying is a good deal and they want it to continue.

Bruce read another news article where they were talking to a family that had not made a payment in a couple years, and it was a very positive experience for them as far as what it did for them financially. If you think about it, they have an expectation that this is okay, and there is an expectation that it is almost sad when it ends. Of the people who have not made a payment in two years, the ones who have saved all the payments is 0%. There is a statistic that 4,100,000 people that are 90 days late or beyond, including REOs, there is only a 1% chance that they will willingly write a check to make it current. 99% of the pile is going to go the route of a lowered opening bid at a trustee sale, a short sale, or an REO.

In RE/Max’s business model, the short sales have really aggressively gained momentum. Bruce wondered if they are ahead of REOs as far as closings. However, Ted and Mike believe they are even. Last year, roughly, they had about 20% normal sales and about evenly divided between short sales and REOs. Bruce has looked at charts for years, and he said he has not come up with a real meaning with what was just said regarding REOs and short sales until recently. When you close 100 sales, only 20 buyers emerge. This really hit Bruce that in the Inland Empire 80% of the closings are either going to be vacant or bought by someone new migrating here or someone in credit damage or investor for cash. This is not a lot of people. Unfortunately, it is many of the people who walked from their homes three years ago and now have repaired their credit and are able to buy again. There are very few of those, but it is shocking in today’s world that the person who did the wrong thing three years ago seems to be saving the system. Had we foreclosed on somebody instead of waiting, the people who are behind by 2 ½ years have not had one day of new credit.

Tune in next week as Bruce continues his interview with Mike Novak-Smith and Ted Boeker. For more information on RE/Max, visit www.remax-results-ca.com/.

The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 2/1/12

aaron — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:56:44 +0000

Today’s News Synopsis:

170,000 jobs were added to the private sector, although job growth overall was slower for the month of January as companies were hiring fewer people. In updated news from yesterday, the home ownership rate has decreased for 7 years straight and is now at levels that have not been seen in almost 14 years. Both mortgage rates and applications continue to stay low.

In The News:

DS News – “Robo-Signing Settlement Update: Friday is Cutoff for States to Join” (1-31-12)

“State attorneys general have until Friday to sign on to the settlement draft proposed last Monday that would resolve claims against the nation’s top five mortgage servicers surrounding documentation errors in foreclosure processing, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Ruth Simon.”

Housing Wire – “Homeownership rate falls to 14-year low” (1-31-12)

“The nation’s home ownership rate fell for the seventh year in a row, nearly touching levels unseen in 14 years. U.S. home ownership in the fourth quarter of 2011 dropped 0.5% from the year-ago period to 66%, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released Tuesday. The rate hasn’t dropped that low since 1997 when it was 65.7%. Since then, it steadily rose until 2005, reaching 69%.”

CNN Money – “Job growth slows in January” (2-1-12)

“Companies slowed their hiring in January, according to a report by payroll processor ADP. The private sector added 170,000 jobs in the month, ADP said Wednesday, missing forecasts of 200,000 jobs that economists polled by Briefing.com had predicted.”

Mortgage Bankers Association – “Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey” (2-1-12)

Mortgage applications decreased 2.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 27, 2012.”

Housing Wire – “Housing construction spending hit 16-year low” (2-1-12)

“Residential construction rose on a seasonally adjusted basis in December from the year-ago period, despite yearly totals at their lowest level since 1995.”

Realty Times – “Mortgage Rates Remain Low While Mixed Reports Flourish” (2-1-12)

“After several positive housing reports released this month, the National Association of Realtor’s Pending Home Sales Index decreased 3.5% in December. For another week, while mixed reports flourish, mortgage rates have remained low and stable according to Freerateupdate.com’s weekly survey of wholesale and direct lenders.”

Los Angeles Times – “White House details mortgage refinancing plan for homeowners” (2-1-12)

“The White House hopes to help millions of homeowners lower their monthly mortgage bill with a $5 billion to $10 billion plan to set up a streamlined refinancing program for people who are current on their payments.”

Housing Wire – “FHFA will pre-qualify investors for bulk REO program” (2-1-12)

“Investors who want to acquire and rent out real-estate owned properties from the Federal Housing Finance Agency can begin pre-qualifying for participation in the bulk REO rental program.”

DS News – “Mortgage and Foreclosure Complaints Quadruple in Massachusetts” (2-1-12)

“Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has seen mortgage and foreclosure-related complaints quadruple in her state over the past two years. In fact, the category now overshadows all other types of consumer complaints.”

Realtor Magazine – “Where List Prices Have Fallen the Most in a Year” (2-1-12)

“While nationally, the median list price has been on the rise the last year, increasing 5 percent year-over-year to $188,000, according to December 2011 housing data published by Realtor.com. But home prices the past year haven’t been rising everywhere. For example, Detroit continues to face a plague of foreclosures that are bringing home values down in the area. The metro area had the biggest drop in median list prices the past year.”

Hard Money Loan Closed

Wilmington, California hard money loan closed by The Norris Group private lending. Real estate investor received loan for $150,000 on a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom home appraised for $242,000.

California Real Estate Investor Events:

Bruce Norris of The Norris Group will be at the Advanced Investing Skills and Strategies 2.5 on February 4, 2012.

The Norris Group posted a new event. Bruce Norris of The Norris Group will be at the 2012 Kick Off Brunch on February 18, 2012.

Looking Back:

The Commerce Department said construction spending fell 2.5% from July 2011. Fiserv forecasted a 5.5% decline in home prices for 2011. According to the Treasury Department, the re-default rate for the Making Home Affordable Program averaged 20.4% after 1 year. Marcus & Millichap expected Orange County rents to rise 4.5% in 2011.

The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 1/31/12

aaron — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:54:41 +0000

Today’s News Synopsis:

According to the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Index, the prices of homes decreased 3.7% from last year. In other news, the Conference Board reported consumer confidence declined again this month after having increased at the end of 2011. The Congressional Budget Office expects taxpayers will pay $27 billion to aid Fannie and Freddie from 2013 to 2022.

In The News:

CNN Money – “Freddie Mac: A mess, and likely to stay that way” (1-30-12)

“It’s not tough to find critics of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae on either the right or the left. But there has been little progress made in rehabilitating the mortgage giants.”

Housing Wire – “S&P/Case-Shiller Nov. home prices down 3.7% from year earlier” (1-31-12)

“The average price of a single-family home fell again in November, with decreases in 19 of the 20 largest metropolitan areas during the month, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index.”

Realty Times – “California Association of REALTORS® To Build Ethics Violations Data Base” (1-31-12)

Approve that C.A.R. build a system, to be developed by staff, to create a database that contains all final findings – within the last three (3) years – of a member’s Code of Ethics and membership duty violations, including whether the member fulfilled the sanction imposed, for use by local Associations in making their decision on membership applications.”

Housing Wire – “CBO slashes cost of Fannie, Freddie over next decade” (1-31-12)

“Taxpayers will spend another $27 billion between 2013 and 2022 subsidizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the Congressional Budget Office estimates released Tuesday.”

DS News – “Appraisal Institute Offers Guidance on Distressed Comparables” (1-31-12)

“The Appraisal Institute recently released new guidelines to instruct its members on how to deal with distressed sales and foreclosures when seeking comparables.”

Housing Wire – “Consumer confidence retreats in January” (1-31-12)

“Consumer confidence slumped in January after rebounding in the final months of 2011, The Conference Board said in its consumer sentiment index.”

Bloomberg – “Foreclosures Draw Private Equity as U.S. Rents Homes” (1-31-12)

“Private equity firms are jumping into distressed housing as the U.S. government plans to market 200,000 foreclosed homes as rentals to speed up the economic recovery.”

Inman – “LPS asks Nevada court to throw out consumer fraud suit” (1-31-12)

“Lender Processing Services Inc., provider of real estate technology, services, and mortgage performance data, today filed a motion to dismiss a consumer fraud lawsuit against the company filed by the state of Nevada that alleges the company falsified foreclosure documents.”

Housing Wire – “Foreclosure claims dominate CFPB mortgage complaints” (1-31-12)

“More than 38% of the 2,300 mortgage complaints sent to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in December related to loan modification and foreclosure concerns, the largest share in this category.”

Hard Money Loan Closed

Rialto, California hard money loan closed by The Norris Group private lending. Real estate investor received loan for $125,000 on a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home appraised for $200,000.

California Real Estate Investor Events:

Bruce Norris of The Norris Group will be at the Advanced Investing Skills and Strategies 2.5 on February 4, 2012.

The Norris Group posted a new event. Bruce Norris of The Norris Group will be at the 2012 Kick Off Brunch on February 18, 2012.

Looking Back:

Rismedia reported that new home sales increased 17.5% in December of 2010. However, the Obama Administration reported that sales were still lower than levels at the beginning of the year. According to Bloomberg, the rate of unoccupied homes increased to 2.7%, making the number of people who own homes the lowest it had been in 10 years. Standard and Poor’s announced that home prices were still declining and most likely would continue, according to the Realty Times.

The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 1/18/12

aaron — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:47:07 +0000

Today’s News Synopsis:

According to the most recent Mortgage Bankers Association Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, mortgage applications increased 23.1% from last week. NAHB reported builder confidence increased this month for the fourth month in a row, having increased 4 points to 25. The FHFA is expected to be subpoenad regarding how principle reductions would effect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In The News:

Housing Wire – “Democrats push to subpoena FHFA over principal reductions” (1-18-12)

“Democrats on the House oversight committee are pushing to subpoena the Federal Housing Finance Agency to obtain an analysis looking at what effects principal reductions would have on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

NAHB - “Builder Confidence Rises Fourth Consecutive Time in January” (1-18-12)

“Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes continued to climb for a fourth consecutive month in January, rising four points to 25 on the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today. This is the highest level the index has attained since June of 2007.”

Bloomberg - “Fannie Fees Fail to Offset Record Low Lending Rates: Mortgage” (1-18-12)

“Ben S. Bernanke’s success in pushing mortgage rates to record lows is enabling Congress to fund last month’s payroll tax cut extension by siphoning money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (FMCC), while homebuyers still benefit from the cheapest borrowing costs in history.”

Housing Wire - “Longer Forbearance Option Helps Temporarily Struggling Homeowners” (1-18-12)

“The BuildFax residential remodeling index in November rose for the 25th straight month from a year earlier, exceeding levels reached during the home-equity withdrawal boom of 2004 to 2006, analysts said.”

FINS - “Goldman Cut 2,400 Jobs, Plans More” (1-18-12)

“Even the most sought-after and prestigious investment bank in the business sometimes has to retool its strategy to stay profitable. Goldman Sachs, which had originally planned to eliminate 1,000 positions in 2011, ended up shedding 2,400, according to its fourth quarter earnings statement.”

Mortgage Bankers Association - “Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey” (1-18-12)

“Mortgage applications increased 23.1 percent from one week earlier (last week’s results included an adjustment for New Years Day), according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 13, 2012.”

Housing Wire – “Home prices dip again in FNC index” (1-18-12)

“U.S. home prices fell 0.4% in November from October, the fourth-straight monthly decline according to FNC’s residential price index.”

DS News - “Clayton Holdins Closes Green River Capital Acquisition” (1-18-12)

“Clayton Holdings LLC announced Wednesday it has completed its acquisition of Green River Capital. No financial details were disclosed.”

Housing Wire - “Economic standstill stalls housing recovery: IHS report” (1-18-12)

“Wage stagnation and weak consumer confidence among young adults are two factors delaying a housing recovery, according to a new report from IHS Global Insight.”

CNN Money - “Foreclosure nightmares: 3 families fight for their homes” (1-18-12)

“With more than 200,000 households receiving foreclosure notices each month, there are bound to be a few mistakes. But for some unlucky homeowners, these blunders carry some serious consequences.”

Hard Money Loan Closed

Burbank, California hard money loan closed by The Norris Group private lending. Real estate investor received loan for $375,000 on a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home appraised for $617,000.

California Real Estate Investor Events:

Bruce Norris of The Norris Group will be speaking at the Women’s Council of Realtors today.

Bruce Norris of The Norris Group will be at the Investors Workshops and will be interviewing Shawn Watkins on January 25, 2012.

Looking Back:

19,528 new and resale houses and condos sold in Southern California the previous month, according to MDA DataQuick. LPS reported the average foreclosure in California and Nevada had been delinquent 461 days. December’s default rates for first and second mortgages were 2.93% and 1.74%.

The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 1/12/12

aaron — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:31:31 +0000

Today’s News Synopsis:

In a big news story, foreclosures are at their lowest level since 2007, according to RealtyTrac. Another thing at a record low right now is 30-year fixed mortgage rates, which are now at almost 4%. Realty Times reported that Freddie Mac extended the forbearance for mortgage servicers.

In The News:

Bloomberg – “Home Seizures May Jump 25% This Year” (1-11-12)

“Banks may seize more than 1 million U.S. homes this year after legal scrutiny of their foreclosure practices slowed actions against delinquent property owners in 2011, RealtyTrac Inc. said.”

CNN Money - “Foreclosures fall to lowest level since 2007″ (1-12-12)

“Foreclosure filings and repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007 last year. Total filings, including default notices and bank repossessions were down 33% for the year to 2.7 million, according to RealtyTrac, the online marketer of foreclosed properties.”

Realty Times - “Longer Forbearance Option Helps Temporarily Struggling Homeowners” (1-12-12)

“If you are struggling to pay your mortgage, but can see a light at the end of the tunnel, don’t overlook the forbearance option. Freddie Mac recently gave mortgage servicers of its loans authority to provide you with up to a year of forbearance – as much as four times the previous term.”

Bloomberg - “Mortgage Rates for 30-Year Fixed U.S. Loans Decline to Record Low of 3.89%” (1-12-12)

“Rates for 30-year U.S. mortgages fell to the lowest level on record after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke urged lawmakers to do more to revive housing.”

Housing Wire – “FICO warns mortgage, student loan delinquencies may rise” (1-12-12)

“Bank risk professionals believe Americans who are over leveraged on mortgage, student loan and credit card debt remain a risk to the broader economy, according to a FICO report.”

Inman - “Trulia offers agents insights into consumer behavior” (1-12-12)

“Trulia today launched a new subscription-based lead-generation service that provides real estate professionals with insight into the search preferences of visitors to the popular listing portal.”

Bloomberg - “Fed Detection of Housing Weakness in August 2006 Triggered Rate-Rise Pause” (1-12-12)

“Federal Reserve officials detected growing weakness in the U.S. housing market in August 2006, deciding to pause after a two-year campaign raising the benchmark interest rate.”

Housing Wire – “NeighborWorks invests $1.3 billion into rental homes” (1-12-12)

“NeighborWorks America, which finances community development around the country, invested more than $1.3 billion in rental housing over its fiscal year ending Sept. 30.”

DS News - “Foreclosures in Most of Top 20 Metros Decline From Past Two Years” (1-12-12)

“With Atlanta as the exception, all of the metro areas on RealtyTrac’s top 20 list for foreclosure rates in 2011 demonstrated declines in foreclosures from both of the previous two years.”

Hard Money Loan Closed

Riverside, California hard money loan closed by The Norris Group private lending. Real estate investor received loan for $92,000 on a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home appraised for $153,000.

California Real Estate Investor Events:

The Norris Group posted a new event. Bruce Norris will be speaking at the Apartment Owners Association-Discover Wealth Strategies for 2012 Los Angeles on January 12, 2012.

The Norris Group will be at the Women’s Council of Realtors on January 18, 2012.

Looking Back:

According to CoreLogic, in November 2010 the price of homes fell once again for the fourth month in a row. Moody’s Investor Services reported a 79% increase in delinquncies for commercial mortgage-backed securities. The Mortgage Banker’s Association also reported that applications for mortgage refinancing increased that week 2.2%. Mortgage News Daily gave an update that the conventional 30-year fixed mortgage increased again to 4.875%.

The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 1/6/12

aaron — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:05:10 +0000

Sources:

Job Growth Accelerates
Apartment-Vacancy Rate Tumbles to 2001 Level
S&P: Home prices back to 2001 levels
November Pending Home Sales Index
Rescuing redevelopment
California high court puts redevelopment agencies out of business
2011 Migration Patterns
Fed Identifies Markets Primed for Bulk REO-to-Rental Programs
Federal Reserve System

Today’s News Synopsis:

In this week’s video, Aaron Norris gives the news of the week in the world of real estate and other big events. DS News reported an 8.5% drop in unemployment with the addition of 200,000 new jobs. In another big story, the Federal Reserve released a white paper showing support for a bulk-buy-to-rent program to help stabilize hard-hit markets. New York and New Jersey are among the worst hit states for foreclosures.

In The News:

Bloomberg – “U.S. Office Vacancies Fell in Fourth Quarter as Economy Recovered Slowly” (1-5-12)

“U.S. office (BBREOFPY) vacancies fell in the three months through December, extending a yearlong recovery, as a dearth of new supply helped counter sluggish economic growth, Reis Inc. said in a report today.”

Housing Wire - “LPS reports mortgage delinquencies are going nowhere” (1-6-12)

“The latest mortgage monitor from Lender Processing Services (LPS: 15.82 +1.35%) shows the level of homeowners 90 days or more behind on their house payments stayed essentially flat over the second half of 2011.”

Mortgage Bankers Association - “MBA Statement on Fed’s Housing Policy White Paper “ (1-6-12)

“‘The Fed’s white paper is a thoughtful document that raises a number of very interesting issues that policymakers ought to consider as they seek to solve the ongoing ills of the housing market. The Fed staff’s comments validate much of what we have been saying, as it relates to the balance between credit availability and consumer protection, as well as the role that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could play in stabilizing and revitalizing the mortgage market’.“

Realty Times - “30-year Fixed-rate Mortgage Matches All-time Record Low” (1-6-12)

“In Freddie Mac’s results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® the average fixed mortgage rates starting the year at or near their all-time lows. The 30-year fixed averaged 3.91 percent matching its all-time record low amid recent data showing signs of improvement in the housing market and manufacturing industry.”

DS News - “Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.5%” (1-6-12)

“The nation’s unemployment rate continues to trend down. It slipped to 8.5 percent during the month of December as the economy added 200,000 new jobs, the U.S. Department of Labor said Friday morning.”

Bloomberg - “Foreclosures Worsen in New York, New Jersey as Arizona Improves” (1-6-12)

“The number of homes in the foreclosure (HOMFCLOS) pipeline is increasing in states including New York,New Jersey and Connecticut, where the process is slowed by courts, as Arizona, California and Nevada digest their backlog.”

Housing Wire - “Fitch: CMBS delinquencies down to 8.37% in December” (1-6-12)

“Delinquencies tied to commercial mortgage-backed securities experienced five-straight months of declines in 2011, but late payments on office properties are likely to challenge CMBS in 2012, Fitch Ratings said Friday.”

San Francisco Chronicle - “Apartment vacancies at decade low as rents climb” (1-6-12)

“U.S. apartment vacancies dropped to a 10-year low in the fourth quarter, allowing for rent increases that are likely to continue this year, property research firm Reis said.”

Bloomberg - “Obama’s Consumer Watchdog Targest Mortgage, Payday Lenders” (1-6-12)

“Richard Cordray’s appointment as director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau moves the new agency nearer to fulfilling its intended role as a one-stop shop for borrower safeguards.”

Housing Wire – “Veros sees slow housing recovery with 1.3% decline in home prices in 2012″ (1-6-12)

“Home prices over the next 12 months will remain relatively unchanged, with the strongest markets seeing a 4% uptick in appreciation and the weakest markets dropping by 6%, Veros Real Estate Solutions said Friday.”

Hard Money Loan Closed

San Bernardino, California hard money loan closed by The Norris Group private lending. Real estate investor received loan for $80,000 on a 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom home appraised for $147,000.

California Real Estate Investor Events:

The Norris Group posted a new event. Bruce Norris will be speaking at the Real Estate Rewind at IRCA Los Angeles on January 3, 2012.

The Norris Group will be at the Real Estate Investor Rewind at CVREIA on January 10, 2011.

Looking Back:

According to Freddie Mac, rates on 30-year FRMs fell to 4.77% the week of January 6, 2011. Altos Research reported home prices fell 1.63% in December 2010. Timothy Geithner requested from Congress to increase the national debt limit. The debt limit at that time was $14.29 trillion, and the nation’s debt level was just $335 billion short of the limit.

259-TNGRadio – Craig Hill 1-7-12

aaron — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:58:03 +0000

Craig Hill

Hard Money Lender for The Norris Group

(Full Bio)

This week Bruce is joined by Craig Hill of The Norris Group. Craig has worked with The Norris Group since the company opened in 1995. Craig has worked with the real estate investors, helping them access money for their deals and trust deed investors who want to get a very safe yield on their money. Prior to working with The Norris Group, Craig was in the hard money loan business for years prior to that; and the expertise he brought with him has proved him valuable to the success of the company.

Bruce said it never ceases to amaze him that their client base keeps on finding deals that keep giving them record years. Craig said it seems that regardless of what you hear out there about there not being any deals, The Norris Group is very fortunate because they have wide enough base of clients that they seem to find enough properties to keep The Norris Group hitting record levels every year. They have an expert base of clients that finds things when most people don’t. Bruce has a feeling next year might be a blockbuster year and that there will be inventory in excess of what they had this year. Craig said for most of his clients, the perception ranges from no deals to a blockbuster year. Their base of clients, both buyers and trust deed investors, will be ready for whichever one it is.

The mood has definitely shifted, but at least now there is a safety in what people think has happened to prices. Craig thinks there is definitely not a huge issue with a large price drop, especially in the inventory with which The Norris Group is dealing. They are dealing in the starter homes, whether it is L.A., Orange County, Riverside, or San Bernardino. It is the lower priced homes. But Craig said people definitely do not see a sharp drop in the prices. This would be hard to imagine because when they deal with one of the long-term loans, it is not uncommon that the rents are 2x the interest payment. This is a 9.9% interest payment, not 4%. You would have to think there would be an interested buyer at some level. It is almost like with the investment side and the trust deed side, it is hard to imagine a real worst case. Craig had talked to a gentleman earlier who talked about how the only real issue is it would go from passive to a little less passive if you ever had a situation you had to deal with, but not something where you have a major loss of funds or would not have 2 or 3 solutions.

Back in 2007 and 2008 was not normal, it was really a Great Depression for real estate. It was hard to not get damaged somewhat in that, but for the ten years prior there are so many solutions, including the client base that deals with the inventory. When The Norris Group has one client that might have an individual problem, it seems to be easily resolved by multiple sources. Since a lot of the buyers concentrate in the same areas, Craig cannot imagine that if somebody were to get a house back or if a borrower was to have a problem that he would have any trouble finding somebody who would either take over the mortgage or take a similar mortgage on a house where it cash flows by twice of what the payment is. The Norris Group has had very few problems, but when they have they have had cooperation from the borrower. It seems like most of the time they are interested in a solution that does not force them to take it into foreclosure. The cooperation The Norris Group has had has been very fantastic.

The easiest case here would be if somebody wants to do a deed in lieu of foreclosure, this makes the process very simple. There have been a couple cases where someone has allocated a sale to another investor that then put the trust deed investor back on track receiving payments. A lot of things really come with the base of the clients that they have. The Norris Group has really grown to become the company it is today, and there are not a lot of people who want to burn that bridge. It is a lot of fun when you are associated with a company that has that reputation. Both Bruce and Craig receive the calls where people tell them they have heard of The Norris Group from so many different directions and want to know what they do. This is a fun phone call for them. The calls are definitely warm if not red-hot depending on how many times they have heard of Bruce Norris and The Norris Group. It is an advantage to take those calls. What is nice is there is no other place you can go to where they are treated the same way.

The concept of loaning money out to someone seems fairly simple. You find someone with a unique situation where normal lenders would not loan on it, so you step in, put up money, and get a higher interest yield. It sounds simple except for when people try to do it themselves. This is when the failure rate is astronomical. This is why they do loans and not situations because the situations are the dangerous ones. Their focus has always been on investors buying properties, so they really focus on doing loans. The people who only lend to people who have a situation, such as someone in foreclosure, currently do not have the ability to pay, or they would be paying. Therefore, somebody steps in and thinks they are protected by the equity and if they give a certain amount, such as $30 grand, then everything will be okay. However, what happens is that $30 grand has a home probably 5 minutes after you give it to them. Now you are dealing with the only security you have, which is the property. You really cannot rely on the borrower to make you good because he really could not make payments before you met him, and now he has all the payments plus The Norris Group’s payment, and the $30 grand did not really solve the problem the way the customer thought it would. If you are protected by the property, then this is a situation where you can be tied up by the borrower with litigation; and this has never been something The Norris Group wanted to do.

The word Craig uses more than anything because it applies to how he feels as an investor is passive. Their group of investors really gets spoiled by the passive nature. When they first started, the investors at the beginning felt like the company was a big warehouse filled with loans. People were asking for loans that were, for example, $200,000 more than what they originally asked. For a long time this may have worked because they were growing as the money base was growing, but then when the market got a little more difficult, they really backed off on the number of loans they did. Unfortunately, this was when clients found out it was not a warehouse, but rather a process. The clients went elsewhere thinking the process would be the same and they were drawing the loans from the same warehouse, but unfortunately this was where a lot of people got hurt. They have had so many people who want to invest, and Craig has had to tell people they will never change their criteria, no matter how many people want to lend money through The Norris Group. It is better for them to be a little disappointed than for The Norris Group to change their process.

What people have to understand is The Norris Group spends no time on negative situations in relationship to a lot of other companies. A lot of companies have foreclosure divisions, and Bruce said he just cannot imagine the stress of this. Earlier in the year, they did have a house that went all the way through foreclosure that was 600-700 loans in the past. This is something Craig can deal with; but when you are dealing with loans from 2 or 3 years ago and you have only had one, then it makes things a little more difficult. As a business model it is very good because they are spending all of their energy on positive things, such as new programs and ways to service people better and fund deals more quickly. It really helps the Norris Group do a better job too because when everyone is making their payments on time, the base of investors who have trust deed investments feel safer to make more quick decisions saying that what they have is just like the one they had originally. Craig said he sometimes wishes he were like the Ghost of Christmas Present when dealing with the new investor and show them how a deal had worked out originally and what they could do this time. Unfortunately you can’t, so it is understandable for new people. Everybody is new at something at some point, but usually with the success and consistency of things, everybody wants to get in and they’re only frustrated by the fact that maybe The Norris Group does not have enough loans for everybody.

Sometimes we get into situations where there are multiple decision-makers, a lawyer, and there was even one incident they dealt with where it was trumped by somebody who had a bad sense about the investment, and the investment they put in has not worked out. You can go a year out and look back to see how you really liked the decision you made. This is one thing that is a hard decision for people because sometimes they just have the wrong perception because hard money for years has been tied to people lending to people in situations Craig had talked about earlier, and it is not real easy for them to separate that somebody may actually have a different process. On the surface, with interest rates are 4% and the Norris Group is loaning at 12.5%, the borrower has to be risky; and his is not. It almost does not make sense. Interestingly enough, you have two groups of people, some who think they can do better with their own money and can get a 15-20% yield, and others who are completely the opposite and are earning under a percent in a CD and when they look at a yield of 9% think the money is being taken to Vegas. Whenever somebody comes into the office, he always shows them a list of all the 9% loans they have. He shows them how they have not had to foreclose on any and only might occasionally have a couple that are 30 days late. It is real comforting to know that on any given day he can have somebody in the office he can show his computer to and not be embarrassed.

Bruce also discussed the time he had the opportunity to speak in front of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about the safety of loaning to investors. At that time we had a pool of $15 million loans with absolutely no late payments, and he said you could see the look of shock on their faces that there could be a 9.9% interest rate and no late payments. It was so out of the box of their thinking because they were looking at the investor as the risky borrower as opposed to the owner-occupant, and The Norris Group has found just the opposite to be true. This is why they have always pushed the envelope on the yield vs. risk side. They have never been the highest in yield to an investor, but they have always been by far the less risky. Sometimes people ask Craig if he could lend a little less or try to custom-fit the program, and Craig always responds that what they have to realize is this is a very given and take situation because if we want to continue to have the absolute best clients, we have to be on the cutting edge. It has to make sense for both sides, but The Norris Group cannot make it to where it absolutely does not make sense because what happens is instead of getting the A quality borrowers that they are filled with, they have to start fighting for lower than this. They always have to keep the clients they have because this is what makes them successful.

The type of people who always want to chase the higher yield is interesting because Bruce has had the same conversation with them where you finally figure out that they are in fact getting a higher yield and are foreclosing on 50% of their properties while they have 20% of their money active. The active part is really the key because Craig has had conversations with people year by year, and they just cannot pull the trigger. One instance might be the 9% program because it is an 8 year program. They think they are going to be looking at a higher interest rate and more nervous about committing their money. They will call Craig a year later, and he will finally tell them that for two years they have not been getting any yield, so going forward it would really have to obtain a yield. You really can’t take riskier investments or wait for some kind of better yield, especially someone who has wealth already. Sometimes it may not be a good fit for somebody that has to create wealth.

Craig was having dinner with a client recently who had been with them a long time, and she had somebody she knew who came up to Craig and asked him how they could make $1 million. He said he could not tell her how to do it, but if you try to do it you might lose $1 million. Sometimes not everybody is a fit for everybody, so they have really found a nice niche for people who have some wealth and want to consistently build it with very low risk. With the price points we are at right now, we are making loans based on 1990’s prices. Common sense tells all of us that that was before it even went up this last time. If we feel that 1995 was a realistic value, these loans are being made at 60-65% of 1995 prices. All that tells us is historically we would not know what would have to happen for this to make sense and it also does in a second way because the rents are already covering the payment by double. It is one of those situations where the smart money is actually on both sides of the table because the investor, or the person buying the property, is a skillful investor buying something below market by today’s value. However, if you look at the whole picture the investor is buying it with a starting point of half of what it was worth four years ago, and he is receiving a discount and a cash flow. He is making money monthly and buying something below replacement cost where the history says we will probably accelerate in the future. He cannot borrow money through standard lenders because they are not interested in that loan. On the other side, he has the choice of receiving a ten year t-bill that is at 1.9% today, the stock market that goes down or up 300 points every other day based on what happens in Greece, or a 9% trust deed. ]

The Norris Group has some very large commitments from people, who have money managers and overseers, and from talking to these people one year apart Bruce has seen that they are astonished that their yield had performed perfectly. They were warning their client that there is no way that the yield could be so riskless, and then it turned out to be so. The best and most satisfying thing about what The Norris Group does is what they see happen in the long-term. Before going to The Norris Group, Craig was working with a friend and was funding deals with hers and her father’s funds. She told him a story about how she went to her account year after year for 6-8 years in a row. Craig told her he did not know what her investment was but she needed to get out of it because it was too risky. Meanwhile, with her father’s insistence she has also diversified into some stocks, which had netted a 0 yield over the last 18 years. However, by the ninth or tenth year she was told to keep doing what she was doing. It was very rewarding. The Norris Group has a process in place that is second-to-none in picking clients that are worthy of borrowing money.

Bruce and Craig talked about the process and why it was different from other people. The main thing you have to do is rule out people to make sure they are qualified when you get a call from a borrower. The first thing you do is try to establish right away whether or not it is a situation. If it is a situation, then you have to rule that out. Secondly, you always try to find out if it is owner occupied. Most hard money companies will not do owner-occupied loans any longer, so you also look at this. You also have to get an idea and see if they have any experience. The Norris Group really relies heavily on liquid cash because one thing they have found in the business is you really need to have liquid cash because you cannot have a situation where a $10,000 or $20,000 problem throws your whole world upside down. This is probably the most frustrating thing when somebody calls in to borrow, they might have $800 credit but only $10,000 in the bank. You can usually tell by their credit report and what they state their income is to see that it would not take much to flip the whole thing over. This is compared with someone who is a business person who went through a situation 4-5 years ago where he had a bankruptcy and so his credit is not as good. However, he currently has about $200,000 in the bank to back him up. People with better credit don’t like to hear this, but in our world this is a safer bet.

When we make loans, we are actually using common sense and asking ourselves what are the odds that we are going to be paid monthly and get paid back. We are really not guided by any 1,2,3,4 rules. The bottom line is if it really makes sense and it is a good loan, then it can be done. Bruce said that Craig also has kind of a sixth sense in that there are times when he has come to Bruce showing him something that looked good on paper, but he knew there was something about it that he felt uncomfortable with, and he was right. This was probably one of the things that he has always appreciated from the very start, whether it was from a trust deed investor or a borrower. There will be times when he will come to Bruce, and he can just feel that there is something not right. Craig has learned that he if gets that feeling to try to catch somebody in a little bit of a situation where he can tell they are not being up front with him.

Tune in next week for the second part of Bruce’s interview with Craig Hill on The Norris Group Radio Show.

The Norris Group Real Estate News Roundup 12/16/11

aaron — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:48:16 +0000

Sources:

New jobless claims drop to lowest level since 2008
California unemployment falls for 4th straight month in November
Mortgage Rates for 30-Year U.S. Loans Fall to 3.94% as Record Low Matched
SoCal home sales rise on declining prices
California November Home Sales
S.E.C. Sues 6 Former Top Fannie and Freddie Executives
FHFA extends loan data implementation deadline for GSEs
Attorney General Expect to Reach Settlement Before Christmas
FDIC Announces Settlement With Washington Mutual Directors and Officers
Foreign homebuyers clicking on depressed US housing markets
Realtors: We overcounted Hoem Sales for Five Years

Today’s News Synopsis:

In this week’s video, Aaron Norris gives the news of the week in the world of real estate and other big events. In a top story, six former Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac top executives have been accused by the SEC of fraud involving securites. The world’s largest banks are also being downgraded by Fitch, banks including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs.

In The News:

Los Angeles Times - “SEC accuses former Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac bosses of fraud” (12-16-11)

“Six former top executives of housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were accused of securities fraud Friday by federal regulators for allegedly misleading investors about the size of the companies’ risky subprime mortgage holdings. 30-year fixed mortgage rates are at an all-time low of 3.94%.”

Realty Times – “30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Matches All-Time Record Low at 3.94 Percent” (12-16-11)

“In Freddie Mac’s results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), the average fixed mortgage rates at or near their all-time lows. The 30-year fixed matched the average all-time record low of 3.94 percent, and a new all-time record low was set for the 15-year fixed, both previously set in the October 6, 2011 Freddie Mac PMMS.“

San Francisco Chronicle - “Moratorium leads to dip in foreclosure filings” (12-16-11)

“U.S. foreclosure filings fell last month as delinquent homeowners got a holiday break, RealtyTrac reported. A total of 224,394 properties received notices of default, auction or repossession, down 14 percent from a year earlier, the data seller said Thursday.”

CNN Money - “Fitch downgrades world’s largest banks” (12-16-11)

“The ratings firm Fitch downgraded a cluster of the world’s largest banks Thursday, pointing to trading challenges facing international markets. The banks included Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) and Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), as well as Europe’s Barclays, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas.”

Housing Wire - “Fed officials testify on European liquidity injections” (12-16-11)

“Steven Kamin, acting director of the division of international finance for the Federal Reserve, said in prepared congressional testimony that swap transactions to help Europe “present no exchange rate or interest rate risk to the Fed.”

Los Angeles Times – “California unemployment falls for 4th straight month in November” (12-16-11)

“California employers added 6,600 new jobs in November, driving the monthly unemployment rate down to 11.3%, its lowest level since the depths of the recession in June 2009. The decline from October’s jobless rate of 11.7% marked the fourth consecutive month that the Golden State has generated jobs as it gradually replaces some of the 1.3 million lost in the worst economic downturn in half a century, the California Employment Development Department reported.”

Housing Wire – “Nevada AG sues LPS, alleging mishandled mortgage documentation” (12-16-11)

“Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto filed suit against Lender Processing Services (LPS: 15.83 -8.71%) for allegedly falsify foreclosure documents with the state.”

DS News - “Mortgage Debt in the U.S. Continues to Diminish” (12-16-11)

“The ongoing turmoil still gripping housing markets across the country has manifested itself in the Federal Reserve’s macro assessment of household wealth and capital flow.”

Housing Wire - “MBIA moves to limit CMBS exposure” (12-16-11)

“Bond insurer MBIA (MBIA: 0.00 N/A) signed a deal this week to commute $20 billion of its insured exposure to shield the company from future risks on volatile commercial mortgage-backed securities.”

Hard Money Loan Closed

Compton, California hard money loan closed by The Norris Group private lending. Real estate investor received loan for $125,000 on a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home appraised for $238,000.

California Real Estate Investor Events:

The Norris Group posted a new event. Bruce Norris will be speaking at the Real Estate Rewind at IRCA Los Angeles on January 3, 2012.

The Norris Group will be at the Real Estate Investor Rewind at CVREIA on January 10, 2011.

Looking Back:

6,111 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the Bay Area in November 2010, according to MDA DataQuick. Freddie Mac reported the 30-year mortgage rate rose to 4.83%. Statistics from CoreLogic show home prices declined 3.93% in October from July 2010. Three members of congress introduced a bill which would possibly put an end to the use of MERS by GSEs.