Today’s News Synopsis:
Results from an NAHB survey show builders expect homes to average 2,152 square feet by 2015. Lockhart, from the Atlanta Fed, expects the economy to grow up to 4% over the next 2 years. FNC Inc said over 25% of foreclosed properties liquidated in 2008 and 2009 sold at more than a 40% discount. Bank regulators are attempted to push new rules that would require lenders to offer borrowers more principal write-downs.
In The News:
NAHB - “NAHB Study: New Homes in 2015 will be Smaller, Greener and More Casual” (3-7-11)
“Builders surveyed expect homes to average 2,152 square feet in 2015, 10 percent smaller than the average size of single-family homes started in the first three quarters of 2010. To save on square footage, the living room is high on the endangered list – 52 percent of builders expect it to be merged with other spaces in the home by 2015 and 30 percent said it will vanish entirely.”
Inman - “Bank regulators push for principal write-downs” (3-7-11)
“If accepted by lenders, the formulas would force them to offer more borrowers principal write-downs, the Journal said, which are considered to be more effective in preventing foreclosure than lowering a borrower’s interest rate or extending the loan term.”
Wall Street Journal – “FHA Powers What’s Left of the Home Market” (3-7-11)
“About 56% of mortgages for a home purchase were FHA-insured in 2009, up from 6% in 2007, according to a report from the George Washington University School of Business. Many FHA borrowers are first-time buyers drawn by a down-payment requirement of just 3.5% of a home’s purchase price. The FHA currently can insure loans of up to $729,750 in high-cost markets, but the Obama administration recently recommended that those higher limits, which vary by market, expire in October. That would push the top limit down to $625,500, shrinking the pool of eligible properties. And those limits may be reduced even further.”
Housing Wire – “Housing remains economy’s weak spot, Atlanta Fed CEO says” (3-7-11)
“As for the overall economy, Lockhart believes it’s ‘demonstrating moderate strength’ and expects growth in the range of 3% to 4%, with gradual employment increases over the course of the next one to two years.”
Housing Wire – “Higher down payments will stifle mortgage market, CRL says” (3-7-11)
“Policy proposals suggesting a 10% to 20% hike in mortgage down payments could derail the housing recovery, the Center for Responsible Lending said in a new report.”
Housing Wire – “Monday Morning Cup of Coffee” (3-7-11)
“More than one quarter of foreclosed properties liquidated in 2008 and 2009 sold at more than a 40% discount, according to one mortgage technology firm. FNC Inc. said the bottom quarter of foreclosed properties sold at deep discounts again in 2010, while the remaining 75% experienced signs of modest improvement.”
Contra Costa Times – “Pleasanton real estate investor pleads guilty to rigging foreclosure auctions” (3-6-11)
“Yama Marifat, 38, along with other participants agreed not to bid against each other at public real estate auctions in San Joaquin County, the U.S. attorney’s office said. After one of them would secure the property at a rock bottom price, the group would meet privately and rebid the property among themselves. The conspirator with the highest bid got the property and the difference between the auction price and the final sale price was split among those involved, prosecutors said.”
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