Real Estate Information

Market Comment

Mortgage bond prices rose last week pushing mortgage interest rates lower. The gains came following some stock weakness, signs that unemployment may rise, and better than expected productivity. Increased productivity allows companies to produce more with the same labor input. This helps keep costs in check and alleviates inflation fears.

For the week interest rates fell by about 3/8 of a discount point.

The Fed "Beige Book" will be the most important data this week. The Treasury auctions will also set the tone for mortgage interest rates. Strong foreign demand could result in mortgage interest rates improvements.

Auctions

Low crime, strong schools, green spaces, and fun activities are key ingredients for a happy childhood.

A strong school system would also be key. From there, you'd need lots of other children, expansive green spaces to play in, and plenty of nearby family events. Toss in an abundance of artistic and recreational activities, and all of a sudden you've got one heck of a place to grow up. At U.S. News, we wanted to find out if any communities like that already existed—and if so, where they were located. So we dug into our database of 2,000 different places all across the country and pinpointed the locales that met these criteria. We then examined these communities more closely to determine which places offered the best combination of safe neighborhoods, fun activities, and top-notch educators. Our selections appear below, in our list of America's 10 Best Places to Grow Up:

Virginia Beach, Va.

Junior adventurers will love Virginia Beach, Va. This community of 434,000 residents in the southeastern part of the state has a low crime rate, a solid school system, and 35 miles of majestic beaches on the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. "It's kind of neat to be able to come home from work, make a call to my wife or son, grab a bucket of chicken or some sandwiches, and then go out on the bay and have dinner," says Greg Ward, who works for a marketing firm that represents the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Children can explore an impressive ecosystem of threatened and endangered species—including bald eagles and loggerhead sea turtles—in the 9,000-acre Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The warm summers and mild winters provide plenty of opportunities to hike, bike, and picnic your way through the 19 miles of scenic trails over at First Landing State Park. And after checking out the sand tiger sharks and the cow-nose rays at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center, children can catch an educational picture in its 3-D IMAX theater.

And in early September, the community is launching an online resource—VBparents.com—designed to keep parents plugged in to local health and school news, while ensuring that they are up-to-date on all of the community activities available to their kids. "There are lots of great parenting resources out there. This one is going to be specific to raising your child and your family within the city of Virginia Beach," says Jenefer Snyder, city of Virginia Beach GrowSmart coordinator. "We are constantly going to be connecting it back to community services, activities, events, programs, and classes."

By Luke Mullins, US News

Aug 20th, 2009

Market Comment

Mortgage bond prices rose last week pushing mortgage interest rates lower. Relatively strong foreign demand for US debt along with tame inflation data helped rates improve. The consumer price index came in unchanged and the core, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.1% as expected. The Fed left rates unchanged and continued to purchase billions of dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities in an effort to keep rates relatively low. For the week interest rates fell more than a full discount point.

The producer price index Tuesday will be the most important release this week setting the tone for trading ahead. If signs of inflation emerge at the producer level rates will likely suffer. Housing starts and leading economic indicators data may also move the market.

Market Analysis

The two traditional approaches to market forecasting are fundamental and technical analysis. Fundamental analysis is an attempt to predict future price movements based on the most current economic data. It is based on the theory that economic data can provide analysts with an insight into how levels of economic activity can affect the supply of and demand for money, and thereby impact interest rates.

In contrast, technical analysis is an attempt to predict future market movements based on past price movement patterns. Technical analysts typically use charts and graphs to find patterns or trends into potential future market movements. Technical analysis is based on the assumption that actual changes in economic activity precede the release of the corresponding economic data. Thus, technical analysts attempt to reveal hidden supply and demand factors by reviewing price and volume movements that are not supported by the release of the most current economic data. Another important factor of technical analysis is market sentiment. Market sentiment measures the emotions and expectations of investors in the market. Sentiment, like most emotions, changes often in a short span of time and is impossible to predict accurately.

The inability of anyone to accurately predict the future makes a cautious approach necessary to protect against market volatility. The fact remains that mortgage interest rate are historically favorable. It is difficult to justify the risk in floating when the low rates currently available are a sure thing.

Timing is one of the most important factors in success. Unfortunately, knowing the perfect time to lock in a loan is impossible until after the fact. While analysts constantly try to predict the future, the bottom line is they continually fall short in terms of accuracy. The good news is that the Fed has done a relatively good job of keeping rates favorable, but not without some serious spikes here and there. Without the Fed pouring billions into mortgage bonds, rates would surely be higher.

Provided by
Sam Meekins

Monarch Mortgage

The real estate market in Hampton Roads showed signs of stabilization in the month of May.  The numbers for active listings, settled sales, and pending sales all demonstrated positive movement.  Although the increase in residential listings from April to May was only one-half of one percent (75 listings), the number of active residential listings was actually lower year-over-year by more than 5%.  This lower number of active listings points towards more competition within comparable homes for sale. 

Among the 14,401 residential listings for sale about 9% were distressed properties in either a short sale or bank-owned situation. This represents a higher percentage than the same timeframe last year (3% in May 2008), but fortunately does not approach the percentages reported in other areas hit much harder by price run-ups over the past few years.

The months’ supply of residential housing inventory edged up to 10.4 months in May. This is an increase of 0.2 from April’s measure and a cumulative 1.8 month increase over the past 6 months. The decline in sales at the end of 2008 and into the beginning of 2009 is the main reason why the months’ supply increased 21.2%, while the number of active listings only increased 10.7% since December 2008.  The aforementioned 5% decline in active residential listings year-over-year could be misleading if thereare listings waiting to be placed on the market when it is perceived to have bottomed. Settled residential sales increased on a month-to-month basis by 12.5% despite being down year-over-year by 10.4%.

 In contrast to last year, the number of settled sales has increased each month since January 2009. In May, foreclosure properties comprised 16.3% of settled residential sales. Since the beginning of the year, the percentage of sales in this category has consistently been between 14.6% and 17.2% each month.

Pending residential sales, often a leading indicator of the real estate market, showed strong positive movement again in May. The category saw an increase of 6.4% year-over-year and 1.8 month-to-month. Meanwhile, pending foreclosures matched the percent of settled sales for the months of April and May, and accounted for approximately 16.6% of pending residential sales.

publish by reininc.com

At a time when competitors are cutting back on spending and even canceling entire television campaigns, RE/MAX continues to lead the way in national television advertising among all real estate companies, according to RE/MAX.First quarter 2009 results from Nielsen Media Research showed RE/MAX holding 99.9% of the national share of voice in television advertising, with an estimated 1.2 billion viewer impressions.

The 2009 ad campaign, which rolled out at the beginning of this year, tells viewers that today, more than ever before, professional real estate agents are an essential component of the home buying or selling process.

“We feel that our brand recognition is so high because of our extensive advertising campaign, which translates directly to the public choosing a RE/MAX agent,” said Margaret Kelly, CEO of RE/MAX International. “It’s important for consumers to understand that there are some great opportunities in the real estate market right now and RE/MAX agents are the best trained to help them buy or sell their home.”

source: Rismedia & Bengel Blog

I found this site to be very informitive and I hope you do too.

http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_state

What is StimulusWatch.org?

"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works—whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account—to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day—because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government."

-President Barack Obama in his Inaugural Address

Congress and the President are getting ready to spend billions of dollars to try to stimulate the economy. As a result, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has responded by releasing a list of "shovel-ready" projects in cities around the country that the mayors would like to see funded. President Obama, however, has promised to spend stimulus dollars only on critical projects.

"What we need to do is examine what are the projects where we're going to get the most bang for the buck [and] how are we going to make sure taxpayers are protected," he has said. "You know, the days of just pork coming out of Congress as a strategy, those days are over."

StimulusWatch.org was built to to help the new administration keep its pledge and to hold public officials to account. We do this by allowing you, citizens around the country with local knowledge about the proposed projects in your city, to find, discuss and rate those projects.

To read more about this or see what your state has requested go to:

http://www.stimuluswatch.org/

The stimulus package and current state of the housing market has made it more attractive than ever to buy a home as a first time homebuyer.  Consider the following: 

A couple on the fence over renting versus buying comes into my office to discuss options.  They “hear it might be a good time to buy a home” but have also heard that banks won’t lend unless your credit score is above 720.  Their’s isn’t – in fact, it’s more like 620.  Not great but not bad.  They also know of two collection accounts outstanding from a visit to the hospital last year.  These collections are each about $300.   

The wife has been employed as a teacher for two years.  The husband finished his college education in May 2008 and has been employed since June 2008 full time at his current employer.  Their bank account has just under $1,000 in it. 

Based on all the rumors and misinformation they were under the impression they would not be able to qualify for a home loan because of their credit score, lack of down payment, lack of work history, and existing collection accounts.  As a result they were considering renewing the lease on their current rental which was about $1,000/month. 

We just closed on their loan last week.  I put them into a VHDA First Time Homebuyer Program called FHA PLUS – www.vhda.com for program info.  This allows the borrower to finance 100% of the loan plus an additional 1.5% closing costs for a total of 101.5% financing. 

This program is based on an FHA loan so the buyer is not required to pay off any outstanding collections so long as they total less than $1,000.  These buyers, however, decided to pay them off as a part of their closing costs.  It was their only expense with the loan, as the seller agreed to pay all their closing costs and there was no required down payment. 

They purchased a $150,000 home in Virginia Beach in a nice neighborhood (it was originally listed for $178,000) Total mortgage payment - $1,098 per month.  And the icing on the cake – even though they have already filed their 2008 taxes, they are doing an addendum in order to immediately receive the $8,000 tax credit.  Half will be for new furniture.  The other half for savings, and even though they won’t admit it, I believe a vacation. 

So, yes…it’s a great time to be a first time homebuyer.  And don’t forget that a first time homebuyer is defined as someone who hasn’t owned a home for the past three years. 

Rates remain extremely low – I am available all weekend should you require my services. 

By:Sam Meekins, III

http://www.monarchmtg.com/sammeekins/

Senior Loan Officer

FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER TAX CREDIT

As Modified in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Major Modifications Italicized