Economic Update

Posted on 2013/02/05 by ProperBlogger

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has issued a news release on the 30th of January that the Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — decreased at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 (that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In the third quarter, real GDP increased 3.1 percent.

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GDP Update

Posted on 2013/01/03 by ProperBlogger

Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the third quarter of 2012 (that is, from the second quarter to the third quarter), according to the “third” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In the second quarter, real GDP increased 1.3 percent.

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You still have time to get a great deal on real estate ! Get Ready……

Posted on 2011/10/22 by ProperBlogger

But do not dilly dally for long……………. The sale of properties repossessed through foreclosure may not peak until 2013, keeping home prices from a meaningful recovery for some time. Nearly half of the more than 552,000 REO properties liquidated in the first half of 2011 were held by private banks. In the years ahead, the government — including the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — will begin taking a majority of the activity. Most of the projected increase will come as the government begins to unload its backlog. The government-sponsored enterprises and HUD, analysts estimate, will liquidate roughly 595,000 properties in 2013 alone. The Obama administration began work last month developing new strategies for selling this mass of properties, which may involve renting more of them. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is also working on a way to refinance more underwater borrowers to entice them from walking away.

If half of the 800,000 mortgages currently somewhere in the foreclosure process and another half of the 1.5 million loans in serious delinquency end up REO, it could mean an additional, 1.15 million properties that would need to be liquidated — not including new foreclosures that enter the process.Investors themselves, though, showed little confidence they would take on such a risk again. In fact, most are trying to keep the government involved in the housing market for the future, to keep risks as low as possible. Otherwise, foreign investors would flee.

While the estimates on how many REO will be sold in the future are extremely difficult to nail down, the size of the best projections share a common and threatening scale. Major refinancing schemes or new strategies for liquidating REO on a local level would need to be completed soon to rescue house prices from the still increasing pressure of mounting foreclosures. Get ready to tak0e advantage earl0y when it happens.

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Citizens adopts sinkhole inspections October 1st

Posted on 2011/10/14 by ProperBlogger
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Sept. 30, 2011 – Effective tomorrow, Oct. 1, 2011, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. won’t automatically cover sinkhole damage through an insurance rider in certain high-risk areas without a pre-coverage sinkhole inspection. While the inspection is a new requirement for the state-owned property insurer, many private insurers already require sinkhole inspections. The change applies to all new policies in the affected areas – both existing homeowners applying for first-time sinkhole coverage and people planning to buy a home. Homeowners who currently have sinkhole coverage through Citizens do not need to schedule an inspection. The new rule is effective for home purchases in four Florida counties: Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas. The inspection applies statewide, however, if an answer is “yes” to any sinkhole-related question on the insurance application. A Citizens-approved inspection firm must perform the sinkhole inspections. The homebuyer must pay half the inspection fee directly to the inspection company and Citizens will pay the other half, though the fee is non-refundable even if Citizens turns down the sinkhole coverage application. According to Citizens, a negative sinkhole inspection does not automatically disqualify a home from coverage, but it makes the approval process more complicated. Citizens has posted a PDF list of frequently asked questions on its website about the new sinkhole policies. For more information, go to www.citizensfla.com
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XPLODE CONFERENCE BRINGS CUTTING EDGE REAL ESTATE TECH CONFERENCE TO ORLANDO APRIL 29th, 2011

Posted on 2011/03/02 by ProperBlogger

MAJOR SPONSORS, SPEAKERS AND SPACE HAVE BEEN ENGAGED FOR THIS DEEP, ONE SOLID DAY OF INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER.

 February 20, 2011 – Following a very successful sold out conference in Austin, Texas on February 9th, 2011, Matt Fagioli, founder and Director of the Xplode Conference, will be bringing the event to the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Resort Hotel & Conference Center near Downtown Disney. The event is sponsored by major corporations and associations servicing the Real Estate Community including Network Communications’ The Real Estate Book, Mobile Card Cast, Realtors Property Resources, Internet Marketing Specialist Designation, Zillow, RETechnology and Facebook Marketplace to name some. The speakers, many from the sponsors, will cover key aspects of required real estate marketing including Mobile Marketing & Lead Conversion, Social Media Madness, Digital Transactions, Blogging Effectiveness, Video Revolution, WordPress 2011, Digital Listing Search & Syndication Techniques and more with the integration of all as the key focus.  Many of the speakers are consultants to major real estate players and associations nationwide. The theme is to insure that successful realtors and those that wish to be have an in depth exposure to all of today’s new tools and how to integrate them with the knowledge & experience of proven practices & methods of past generations.

For more information: Contact: Greg Fagioli, Orlando Conference Director Phone: 1-813-489-6701 Cell Phone: 1-813-833-3467 eMail: OrlandoDirector@XplodeThis.com

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Realtor Magazine seeks Good Neighbor nominations

Posted on 2011/03/02 by ProperBlogger

WASHINGTON – Feb. 28, 2011 – The National Association of Realtors®’ Realtor Magazine is now accepting nominee applications for its 2011 Good Neighbor Awards. The program – now in its 12th year – recognizes Realtors whose extraordinary commitment to community service has helped make their communities better places to live.
In November, five winners will be announced in Realtor Magazine and will be recognized at the 2011 Realtors Conference & Expo in Anaheim, Calif. Five winners will receive a $10,000 grant for their community cause, travel expenses to the convention, and extensive publicity to benefit their cause. In addition to the winners, five honorable mentions will receive $2,500 grants.
“Realtors play a significant role in our nation’s communities,” says NAR President Ron Phipps. “The Good Neighbor Awards highlights NAR members who spend time and energy to help others. They also remind us that Realtors not only help people purchase homes, but also they work to improve the quality of life in those homes.” Phipps was a Good Neighbor Award recipient in 2001 for his work with the Tomorrow Fund.
Eligible activities include any volunteer work that helps improve the quality of life in a community. Entry deadline is Friday, May 20, 2011.
© 2011 Florida Realtors®

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Strategic Default may be the last step…but should be the first ???

Posted on 2011/03/01 by ProperBlogger

After months and maybe years of short sale and/or loan MOD failures usually caused by the bailed out banks’ lack of cooperation, home owners now do the math on the loan to current market value of their property and just purposely default and just let it go. The promises of help from our government and the banks themselves are a miserable failure no matter what Ben Bernanke and Tim Geithner claim. If you listened to them testify today you would think all is wonderful and we are on our way to recovery. Don’t believe it there are more foreclosures and defaults on the horizon. The banks have been sitting back to be sure the paper is correct since 4Q 2010.

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Rates hit a 40-year low of 4.17 percent in November

Posted on 2011/02/25 by ProperBlogger

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell below 5 percent this week, as investors sought more Treasury notes amid growing tension in the Middle East.
Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan slipped to 4.95 percent from 5 percent. It hit a 40-year low of 4.17 percent in November.
The average rate on the 15-year fixed home loan fell to 4.22 percent from 4.27 percent. It reached 3.57 percent in November, the lowest level on records dating back to 1991.

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Foreclosures are up again………..

Posted on 2011/02/25 by ProperBlogger

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Feb 24, 2011 – One media story says foreclosures are up – the next story says foreclosures are down. A report released by Florida Realtors clears up the confusion by explaining the three different levels of foreclosure activity that analysts consider, and listing the state numbers for each during 2010. “The Florida Foreclosure Report” found general confusion about the definition of foreclosure. One group might focus on the number of homeowners who received at least one notice of foreclosure and consider that “the number of homes in foreclosure.” A second group might focus only on the number of homes actually taken over by a bank. But while the number of foreclosure notices could be rising, the number of homes actually taken over by a bank could be declining.
The report outlines three levels of foreclosure, which added together are the “foreclosure rate”:
• Lis Pendens: Homes under Lis Pendens have received at least one foreclosure notice.
• Notice of foreclosure sale: Homes that received a notice have been scheduled for a foreclosure sale, but the homeowner may still find a way to keep the house.
• Real estate owned (REO): Bank-owned homes post-foreclosure.
In 2010, only 2,800 Florida properties made it through the foreclosure process to become REOs. Of the rest, 180,402 were Lis Pendens and 140,105 received a notice of foreclosure sale. However, the total number of homes in some phase of foreclosure – all three categories – comes out to 323,307 Florida households.
Other report highlights:
• In 2010, 1 in every 29 Florida housing units were in some phase of foreclosure. In 2008, it was only 1 in every 54.
• The top Florida counties for high foreclosure rates are, in order: Lee, Miami-Dade, Osceola, Charlotte and Orange.
• The Florida counties for lowest foreclosure rates are, from least up: Taylor, Union, Jefferson, Lafayette and Liberty.
The complete report is posted online on Florida Realtors website under Legislative Research.

© 2011 Florida Realtors®

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New-home sales decline 12.6% in January

Posted on 2011/02/25 by ProperBlogger

WASHINGTON – Feb. 24, 2011 – Sales of newly built, single-family homes declined 12.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted, annual rate of 284,000 units in January, according to figures from the U.S. Commerce Department. The decline largely offsets a big gain in sales activity recorded in the previous month, but the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) says the drop can be blamed, in part, on an expiring tax break in California.
Regionally, new-home sales declined 12.8 percent in the South and 36.5 percent in the West, but gained 54.5 percent from a very low number in the Northeast and rose 17.1 percent in the Midwest this January.
Meanwhile, the inventory of new homes for sale continued to edge downward by 0.5 percent to 188,000 units in January. This amounts to a 7.9-month supply at the current sales pace.
© 2011 Florida Realtors®

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