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 Fannie Mae creates Short
Sale Assistance Desk to assist REALTORS®
Case Shiller Index
improves in second quarter
Delinquencies,
foreclosure starts decrease in second quarter
Free
webinar on zipLogix Digital Ink
Mortgage servicers fail
to deliver best practices during loan-mod
process
Negative equity continues to improve in Q2
2010
California Consumer Confidence rises in
August
CALIFORNIA
REALTOR® EXPO 2010 program
highlights
Home Values rise in
second quarter
C.A.R. Green
Tip of the Week: Water
footprint
Fast
Facts
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Fannie Mae creates
Short Sale Assistance Desk to assist
REALTORS®
Fannie Mae, in cooperation with
participating MLSs across the nation, recently developed the
Short Sale Assistance Desk to assist real estate professionals
with handling issues that may arise following a short-sale
offer. Post-offer short sale issues may relate to servicer
responsiveness, the existence of a second lien, or those
involving mortgage insurance.
The Assistance Desk will collect and submit information to
Fannie Mae using a dedicated submission form on the
member’s MLS Web site. The form then is submitted to
Fannie Mae with data to help improve valuations and make quicker
decisions regarding short-sale requests.
The Assistance Desk is designed to assist real estate
professionals in cases where the standard approval channel has
slowed down, and where Fannie Mae’s intervention may serve
as a means for progress towards a resolution. The
Assistance Desk is not intended to replace the standard approval
channels, nor is it intended to serve as a compliance or
enforcement function, or as a potential appeal for decisions the
real estate professional believes to be unfavorable.
REALTORS® who would like their MLS to take advantage of
the Short Sale Assistance Desk, should contact their MLS
directly.
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Case Shiller Index improves
in second quarter
Home prices increased 4.4 percent
in the second quarter of 2010 and now are 3.6 percent above
their year-earlier levels, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller
U.S. National Home Price Index, released yesterday.
The index, which covers all nine U.S. census divisions,
recorded a 3.6 percent improvement in the second quarter of 2010
compared with the second quarter of 2009.
The 10-City and 20-City Composites recorded annual returns of
5 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively, in June.
Following 16 consecutive months of improvement in their annual
rates of return, June’s figures were the first to moderate
from their prior month’s pace, indicating a possible
deceleration in home price returns.
More
info.
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Delinquencies, foreclosure
starts decrease in second quarter
The delinquency
rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential
properties decreased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.85
percent of all loans outstanding in the second quarter, down 21
basis points from the first quarter, but up 61 basis points from
one year ago, according to the recently released Mortgage
Bankers Association’s (MBA) National Delinquency
Survey.
The delinquency rate includes loans that are at least one
payment past due, but does not include loans in the process of
foreclosure. The percentage of loans in the foreclosure
process at the end of the second quarter was 4.57 percent, a
decrease of six basis points compared with the first quarter of
2010 but an increase of 27 basis points from one year ago.
“Ultimately the housing story, whether it is
delinquencies, homes sales, or housing starts, is an employment
story,” said MBA Chief Economist Jay Brinkmann.
“Only when we see a consistent increase in employment will
we see an increase in sales and starts, and a sustained
improvement in the delinquency numbers. Until we see the
increase in the number of households that comes with an increase
in the number of paychecks, all measures of the health of the
housing industry will continue to be weak.”
More
info.
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Free webinar on zipLogix
Digital Ink
zipLogix Digital Ink is an alternative
digital signature solution for signing C.A.R. forms within
zipForm® 6. Using this solution, REALTORS® can
send documents to buyers and sellers without printing, searching
for a fax machine, or driving across town.
Benefits and features of zipLogix Digital Ink:
- Pre-tagged signatures for forms (no more drag and drop
required for each signature/initial on every page).
- Optional signature and initial fields.
- Text boxes for client completion.
- Expedite business processes and reduce associated
costs.
- Better protection of confidential information.
Accounts can be ordered by logging into your zipForm® 6
account and clicking on the “eSign” icon, or by
clicking on the “Tools” tab, going to the
“Options” menu, and clicking the
“E-Signature” tab. A credit card is required
to complete the order.
C.A.R. is hosting free webinars about zipLogix Digital
Ink. To participate in a webinar, please visit
http://www.car.org/tools/zipForm6/esign/.
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Mortgage servicers fail to
deliver best practices during loan-mod process
A new
study finds that mortgage services fail to deliver key service
practices more often during the loan modification process than
during the loan origination process, according to J.D. Power and
Associates.
Among the best practices that mortgage services often fail to
deliver include: Providing and meeting a time frame for
approval; not requesting information more than once; explaining
the entire process during application; and providing proactive
status updates during the process.
The study measures customer satisfaction with five areas of
the mortgage-servicing experience: fees; billing and payment
process; escrow account administration; Web site; and phone
contact. The study also finds that customers with higher
levels of satisfaction may lead to higher levels of loyalty and
retention. Among customers in the prime credit segment, 34
percent of those who are highly satisfied (credit scores of 800
or higher) say they “definitely will” recommend
their servicer—compared with 6 percent of customers with
lower satisfaction scores. Similarly, 27 percent of highly
satisfied prime credit customers say they “definitely
will” select their servicer for a new home mortgage, while
6 percent of less-satisfied customers say the same.
More
info.
Negative equity continues
to improve in Q2 2010
Nearly one quarter (23
percent) of all residential properties with mortgages had
negative equity at the end of the second quarter of 2010, down
from 24 percent in the first quarter, according to
CoreLogic.
Foreclosures, rather than price appreciation, were the
primary factor in the change, according to the report. An
additional 2.4 million borrowers had less than 5-percent equity.
Together, negative equity and near-negative equity mortgages
accounted for nearly 28 percent of all residential properties
with a mortgage nationwide.
Negative equity remains concentrated in five states: Nevada,
68 percent; Arizona, 50 percent; Florida, 46 percent; Michigan,
38 percent; and California, 33 percent.
Homes with more equity are appreciating faster than
underwater homes, the report found. The average values of
properties with 50 percent or more equity increased more than 1
percent between Q4 2009 and Q2 2010. Properties with 25 to 50
percent in equity increased an average of 0.2 percent in that
period.
More
info.
California Consumer
Confidence rises in August
The California Composite
Index of Consumer Confidence increased to 84.2 in August,
slightly higher than the May reading of 82.7, according to a
survey conducted by the Anderson Center for Economic Research at
Chapman University. An index level lower than 100 reflects
a higher percentage of pessimistic consumers compared with those
who are optimistic. The Chapman Survey contrasted with a similar
survey conducted by the University of Michigan, which showed
that consumer confidence at the national level had a lower
reading in August than May.
The index measuring
consumers’ spending plans on big-ticket items improved to
77 in August, while the index measuring current economic
conditions increased to 71.9. The index measuring future
economic conditions showed a decline to 100.1 in August from a
reading of 105.1 in May.
More
info.
CALIFORNIA
REALTOR® EXPO 2010 program
highlights
The primary
reason to attend CALIFORNIA REALTOR® EXPO 2010 is all the
free professional development for C.A.R. members. Once a
year, C.A.R. gathers the industry’s heavy hitters and
cutting-edge practitioners to provide members with a
concentrated informational and educational experience.
Mark your calendars now for Tech Tuesday and CALIFORNIA
REALTOR® EXPO 2010, running Oct. 5-7 in Anaheim. Learn
how to take your existing leads to the next level, maneuver
through the auction process, and employ realistic marketing
strategies for your business in the Sales track. The REOs,
Short Sales, and Foreclosures track will teach you how to close
a short sale; how to understand HAFA, including details on the
HAFA process, timelines, and documents; and how to work with
asset managers to find REO listings. The Risk Management
track will show you where to look for finance options for your
buyers, how to handle multiple offers while alleviating your
risk, and how to deal with walk-aways the right way. Finally,
the Innovation & Trends track will help you identify the
best social media tools to use in promoting your business, get
started with a social media business plan, and organize and
showcase data to create listing presentations with a wow-factor.
Entrance to the exhibit hall is FREE for all C.A.R. members,
but you must register to receive an entrance badge. Fees
apply to ticketed events, including Tech Tuesday and special
luncheon events.
More info.
Home Values rise in
second quarter
Home values rose 3.1 percent in the
second quarter of 2010 compared with the first quarter, but
declined 0.2 percent compared with a year earlier, according to
Freddie Mac’s Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index
(CMHPI).
Home values rose in all nine Census Divisions, marking the
first time since the second quarter of 2009 that all Census
Divisions experienced positive changes in home values. In
the Pacific Division, which includes California, home values
rose 3.1 percent in the second quarter of 2010. Over the
last 12 months, home values increased 4.2 percent, and during
the last five years, home values have decreased 14.7 percent,
according to Freddie Mac.
More
info.
C.A.R. Green Tip of the
Week: Water footprint
You can learn your
home’s water footprint at the H2O Conserve Web site (www.h2oconserve.org).
For more green real-estate-related tips and discussion, visit
C.A.R.’s green blog (http://www.car.org/blogs/)
and C.A.R.’s Green Web site (http://green.car.org/).
Fast
Facts
Calif.
median home price: July 2010: $314,850 (Source:
C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R.
region July 2010: Santa Barbara So. Coast $871,250 (Source:
C.A.R.)
Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R.
region July 2010: High Desert $128,950 (Source:
C.A.R.)
Calif.
First-time Buyer Affordability Index
- Second quarter 2010: 64 percent (Source:
C.A.R.)
Mortgage
rates: Week ending 8/26/2010 30-yr. fixed: 4.36 Fees/points:
0.7% 15-yr. fixed: 3.86% Fees/points: 0.6% 1-yr. adjustable:
3.52% Fees/points: 0.7% (Source: Freddie Mac)
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