Bringing Money To The Table
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports from Montana. “With housing prices going down in Montana, Bozeman real estate agents say it’s time to buy, and researchers are agreeing with them. ‘It’s a buyer’s market because buyers have a lot to choose from and have more leverage in negotiating a sale,’ said Rich Mayo, president of Gallatin County Association of Realtors. ‘If you’re trying to sell a house that you bought in 2002 or 2003, you’ll be in decent shape. But if you bought your house in 2005 or 2006, you might end up bringing money to the table to sell the house.’”
“The more affordable housing doesn’t mean everyone should buy now, Mayo said. Instead, he recommends to people who are just starting to look into the housing market to first visit a mortgage consultant to see how big of a loan they qualify for. ‘One of the things that got us into this mess was people buying more than they could afford,’ Mayo said. ‘You should only look to spend 30 percent of your income on your housing. That’s just good sense.’”
The Great Falls Tribune in Montana. “Housing foreclosure rates in Cascade County are higher than a year ago, according to CoreLogic. Great Falls real estate brokers who sell foreclosed homes for national companies and government-related entities say Cascade County, and other locales in Montana and the nation, soon could see a brief but strong upturn in foreclosure actions during the next few months.”
“ERA American Horizon Realty agent Amber Corrow specializes in foreclosure sales. Corrow agreed that a lot of large lenders, including Bank of America, imposed temporary moratoriums on foreclosures last year. She thinks government related lenders such as HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have begun to release foreclosed home now. ‘But it seems to me a lot of private lenders still are holding back the release of foreclosed homes, creating what’s called ‘ghost inventories,’ Corrow said. ‘I think they’re trying to avoid flooding the housing market in some places and harming the recovery.’”
“‘It’s a godsend for the housing market that a lot of foreclosed homes aren’t being released,’ she added.”
The Yakima Herald in Washington. “Local agents say they’ve been busy answering more phone calls and showing more homes to potential buyers in the past few months. But all the activity doesn’t seem to be yielding results. In fact, it leads to a different set of numbers, affirming that sales are soft in the real estate market.”
“For the first four months of 2011, the dollar sales volume for all residential real estate sales in Yakima County dropped by 22.1 percent from last year, according to Headwaters-The Source. And prices are an issue, too. According to data from Headwaters-The Source, the average home price for the first four months of 2011 is down 6.6 percent from last year. So why the poor stats?”
‘While much attention has been on interest rates and the economy, emotion and circumstance still very much play into whether a person wants to — or can — buy a home. ‘I’ve got people who are well qualified, but they’re unsure (about buying),’ said Tom Biehl, broker and owner for RE/MAX First Advantage. ‘I’ve got people who are willing, but the ability (to buy) is not there.’”
“Several months after her divorce in 1994, Ellen LaViolette’s home in Grandview went into foreclosure. For the next 15 years, she would rent. But she grew weary of only staying in a place for a year or two or being at the mercy of her landlord. After spending a year living with her parents, she was ready to buy again.”
“‘I wanted something of my own,’ said LaViolette. ‘I don’t like to move. I want security. I want to be able to stay in one place.’”
“When she started looking at places early in 2009, she qualified for a federal first-time home buyer credit. (Under current laws, a first-time buyer is anyone who has not owned in three years.) She planed to use the tax credit to pay back a relative who offered to lend money for a down payment. But she never purchased. LaViolette never found a home she liked in her price range.”
“And despite working two jobs she fell behind on one of her bills and her credit score dropped, making her ineligible for a home loan she was preapproved for. LaViolette, who dealt with a foreclosure 17 years ago, said that fear of repeating her mistakes may have kept her from buying. ‘I didn’t want to get into something and fail,’ she said.”
“Today, LaViolette, along with her son and her grandson, still lives with her parents in Grandview. She still wants to buy, but has decided she’s better off finding a rental. ‘There’s too many things holding me back now,’ she said about buying a home.”
“Even those who have decent credit scores are still being cautious. Home buyers are taking more time to examine their short- and long-term finances with real estate agents to make sure they can afford to pay for a home now and into the future, said Doug Rich, broker and owner of Prestige Realty. ‘I don’t believe there’s an incentive’ to buy, he said. ‘I believe the attitude of the buyer has become much more conservative.’”
From KMVT in Idaho. “Idaho’s commercial and residential real estate has seen its ups and downs over the years. And now, foreclosures and a mass of unsold homes keep driving values lower. ‘We see some difficult real estate environment with devaluing commercial real estate, devaluing home values’, said Zions Bank Regional President Kelly Anderson.”
“Officials with Zions Bank say the current real estate situation is causing many people to be pretty cautious. On average, home prices are now down 33% from the 2006 peak. As more and more homes go into foreclosure, lending requirements have tightened. ‘It’s a lot tougher for people to get into homes, its with a sizable down payments required and tougher underriding,’ said Zions Bank Executive VP Michael Morris.”
“‘We’ve gone back into what - in our lending parameters, in our lending guidelines back to where we were several years ago, before the subprime lending and all of that came into the scene,’ said Anderson.”
The Associated Press on Oregon. “Consumer protection legislation is needed to provide oversight of foreclosures and help people navigate the system as the numbers increase in Oregon, state and federal lawmakers say. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., shared the story of Oregon contractor Tim Collette of Bend on the Senate floor Thursday, saying it was typical of the stories he has heard about people facing foreclosure, The Bulletin reported.”
“Merkley said it starts with the lender telling the homeowner to stop making payments so they can enter the loan modification program. They stop making payments, which then harms their credit and they are no longer worthy of a modification. ‘So many homeowners are going through a program meant to assist them that is instead turning their life upside down,’ Merkley said.”
“Collette recently told state lawmakers about his struggle with foreclosure in hopes of helping others avoid losing their homes. Collette says he got contradictory advice and the bank lost his files. He said he drew down his savings, thinking he was on track to keep his home, only to find out he would likely lose it and be left with an empty bank account.”
“‘It’s frustrating,’ Collette said. ‘You think you know the rules, and then they change them. I feel like we’re working with an entity that doesn’t have any rules.’”
The Oregonian. “When Pfc. Aaron Collette is eligible in August for a two-week break from the dull, murderous routine in Iraq…Collette, however, is ticketed for Bend. Bend is home. Yet thanks to JPMorgan Chase, that reprieve might not be available. If this one goes through, Tim Collette — Aaron’s father — said, his son might end up on a couch at a friend’s place: ‘I don’t want that to happen. Aaron deserves better than that.’”
“When Tim Collette bought the house in Courtyard Acres in 2006, he said he put $125,000 down and began making monthly payments on his $253,000 mortgage. He made those payments for about 15 months before the Deschutes County real estate market crashed, taking Collette’s job — he specializes in counter tops and floor coverings — with it.”
“Collette began negotiating with Chase to modify his mortgage. He was first told he had too much money to merit one. After the process dragged on for two years, and Collette drained that savings account making payments while looking for work, he was told he didn’t have enough funds to make payments. But Collette thought he was still on the modification track until last fall when the bank moved to foreclose: ‘They waited until I owed $9,000 to call me and tell me I’m not making the right payment.’”
“Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore, is championing Collette’s case because the Bend contractor brings a face — and an Operation New Dawn veteran — to Merkley’s campaign to end the worst in mortgage abuse. ‘This is not an accident,’ Merkley added. Many of the worst mortgages are pooled in trusts. The banks are selling securities that bet against those trusts. All too often, everyone but the homeowner gains ‘if the mortgage is dysfunctional.’”
“Back in Bend, Tim Collette is working again and hoping for the best: ‘This isn’t about me. This is about all of us being treated fairly by the banks. Whether I save my house or not is immaterial.’”
