Home-Price Recovery Expected to Begin in 2011 - WSJ.com

By JAMES R. HAGERTY

U.S. home prices will begin a gradual recovery by next year, according a survey of 92 economists and other housing analysts by MacroMarkets LLC.

Separately, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that single-family housing starts in April surged to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000, up 10.2% from March. Ivy Zelman, chief executive of research firm Zelman & Associates, said builders stepped up production ahead of the April 30 deadline for sales qualifying for a federal tax credit, but since then have cut back.

via online.wsj.com

Question is - can we wait?

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10 Cities with Lowest Rates of Home Equity

Despite generally rising home prices, home equity continues to fall in many cites hardest hit by the unraveling of the real estate market.

Equity continues to drop because of resetting mortgage rates, job losses, and high rates of foreclosure depressing home prices further.

Using information from credit reporting service Equifax, Forbes magazine measured the percentage of home equity relative to a home's current value in the country's 200 largest metropolitan statistical areas.

It determined that these are the 10 areas with the lowest average percentage of home equity:

1. Modesto, Calif.
2. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.
3. Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, Ariz.
4. Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev.
5. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.
6. Stockton, Calif.
7. Merced, Calif.
8. Reno-Sparks, Nev.
9. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.
10. Anchorage, Alaska

Source: Forbes, Tim Kiladze (05/06/2010)

Art Oswald

www.title-ed.com

551 404 5341

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When Mortgage Relief Is a Band-Aid

BY JAMES R. HAGERTY AND RUTH SIMON

After months of negotiations, Wells Fargo & Co. agreed in February to reduce Cynthia Mason's mortgage payments by about $300 a month.

But the 49-year-old resident of Volente, Texas, a former school secretary who is unemployed and battling cancer, says her income still falls short of what she needs for medical and legal bills, health insurance, credit cards, a car loan—and the mortgage.

"I think the whole process is a sham," Ms. Mason said, angry that the San Francisco bank didn't do more to help reduce her debt load. A Wells Fargo spokeswoman declined to comment on her situation.

As ...

via online.wsj.com

It’s not just the house loan that is taking a toll on borrowers, but the car loans, credit card balances and college loans. Typical homeowners getting loan relief under the President’s initiatives spent 44.8 percent of their pretax income on housing prior to loan modification, but when other monthly debt payments were added they were spending 77.5 percent of pretax income.

After loan modification, consumers were spending 31 percent of their monthly pretax income on housing, but still a combined 61.3 percent of income on debt payments.

Ted C. Jones, PhD

Posted via web from Title Insurance

Home prices could sink without tax credit - USATODAY.com

prices are widely expected to fall now that a tax credit for home buyers has expired.

That's raising concern about a possible double dip in home prices.

National housing prices stopped falling early last year and rose 0.3% over the 12 months ending in February, according to a study by real estate analytics firm CoreLogic.

The firm predicts prices will fall this year before starting to rise again in late 2010. Even so, next February's prices are likely to be 4.2% lower, it forecasts.

via usatoday.com

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How to Calculate Past Due Property Taxes for the HUD-1

"Why would we want to find the tax assessor records for a property?" you may ask. ANSWER: To prepare the HUD-1 before sending it to the short-sale lender. For example, a homeowner may be 2 years past due on their property taxes, but you fail to list the past-due taxes on the HUD-1. Then the short-sale lender approves the HUD-1 as WRITTEN. So you go to escrow, the title company runs a preliminary title report (AKA "prelim") and you find out that $10,000 is owed in property taxes.

via shortsalesuperstars.com

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Frank Introduces National Flood Insurance Program Bill | RealEstateRama

“The flood insurance program has lapsed twice this year. For each day the program was inactive, up to 1,400 homebuyers seeking to buy homes in flood plains were unable to close on their homes

.

via realestaterama.com

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Two new courses approved at LearnTitle.com

LearnTitle.com has had two new courses approved by the New Jersey Dept of Banking and Insurance.  "Judgments, Liens, and Encumbrances" and "Riparian and Other Water Issues in Title" have been approved for 3 credits each, Use the code 10off when you enroll to get 10% the price of enrollment.

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Title Agency websites

Need some work on your website?  Your cyberpresence.com specializes in websites for title agents.  Automated ordering, title premium calculators, common forms, and much more.  Use a web design and hosting company that understands your business. 

YourCyberPresence.com

Art Oswald

YourCyberPresence.com

551 404 5341

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The Closing took Place, But Not Without Some Anxious Moments

A transaction that was cruising along just so well, almost too good to be true, and then right at the last minute while waiting for the clear to close, an underwriter decided to do some muscle flexing.

Ideal clients, with the house going under contract on Mar 21 and we closed on April 14. A 2300 sq ft Colonial sold for $296,000.

The buyers have their home under contract and were well enough positioned to be able to close on their new house before their current home got sold. The Inspection showed some minor problems, but not at all unexpected for a foreclosure, especially when the the previous owners were forced into foreclosure because of a spouse dying.

via activerain.com

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Mortgage Lenders: Mortgage Lender Requirements Result in Closing Problems And A Dry Closing | ThinkGlink

Mortgage lender requirements are confusing brokers, buyers, and even the lenders who are giving the loans. The new world of mortgage financing requires very strict qualifications for the buyers, and brokers and lenders are having trouble keeping track of the rules. It's very hard to get mortgage financing right now, and some mortgage financing deals are falling through at the last minute because the lenders and brokers don't know what will make the buyer fail to fulfill the mortgage lender requirements. The result of these loan requirements is closing problems and a dry closing.

via thinkglink.com

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The First American Corporation Reports Financial Results for the First Quarter of 2010 - MarketWatch

The First American Corporation /quotes/comstock/13*!faf/quotes/nls/faf (FAF 34.57, -0.47, -1.34%) , America's largest provider of business information, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010.

Total revenue for the first quarter of 2010 was $1.4 billion, a decrease of 1 percent relative to the first quarter of 2009. Net income attributable to the company was $29.5 million, or 28 cents per diluted share, compared with $36.0 million, or 38 cents per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2009.

via marketwatch.com

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