Home Prices Pick Up at Fastest Pace in 7 Years.

Home Prices Pick Up at Fastest Pace in 7 Years. Image courtesy of renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Home prices nationwide, which includes distressed sales, soared 10.2 percent year-over-year, according to CoreLogic’s February report. It’s the largest year-over-year increase in home prices since March 2006. It also marks the twelfth consecutive monthly increase in national home prices, according to CoreLogic’s report.

When excluding distressed sales, home prices rose 10.1 percent year-over-year in February, according to CoreLogic.

“Nationally, home prices improved at the best rate since mid-2006, marking a full year of annual increases and underscoring the ongoing strengthening of market fundamentals,” says Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.

CoreLogic predicts that home prices — excluding distressed sales — will likely rise 11.4 percent year-over-year from March 2012.

“The rebound in prices is heavily driven by western states,” says Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist. “Eight of the top ten highest appreciating large markets are in California, with Phoenix and Las Vegas rounding out the list.”

The five states with the highest price appreciation as of February 2013, according to CoreLogic, were:

• Nevada (+19.3%)
• Arizona (+18.6%)
• California (+15.3%)
• Hawaii (+14.6%)
• Idaho (+13.5%)

Source: CoreLogic

3 Ways to Get Unfriended on Your Social Networks.

3 Ways to Get Unfriended on Your Social Networks. Image courtesy of MR LIGHTMAN / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Social media experts at SocialToaster in Baltimore surveyed social media users to find out what are the most common grounds for unfriending or unfollowing someone. Here are three offenses that emerged from their survey:

1. Repetition again and again: 51.2 percent say that users who repeat themselves, including repeating themselves from their Twitter and Facebook accounts, make them want to unfollow someone.

2. TMI (Too Much Information): 39 percent say that sharing too much information about your personal life can prompt them to unfollow a person.

3. Poor spelling and grammar: 34.1 percent say poor grammar is a turnoff that will prompt them to stop following someone.

Source: “Social Media’s Biggest Turn Offs,” Forbes (April 2013)

Millennials Embrace Unique, High-Tech Spaces.

Millennials Embrace Unique, High-Tech Spaces. Image courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Millennial generation is about 90 million strong—forming the largest demographic wave in the country’s history—and some reports suggest they’re readying for home ownership.

Millennials’ entrance into home ownership has been delayed due to the recession, high unemployment, and high student loan debt. They’ve been living in their parents’ homes, as well as delaying marriage and having children, surveys show. But the pent-up demand from this generation is starting to surface, says Fred Ehle, vice president for PulteGroup.

Homebuilders, like PulteGroup and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, recently revealed surveys of what Millennials want in their future homes. In general, the surveys reveal that this generation isn’t wowed by luxury and prefers technology and flexible space.

Pulte Homes found in its research that more than half of Millennials who decided to buy a home last year from the homebuilder said their main reason was to invest and build equity.

As for what they’re looking for in a home, they appreciate an efficient use of space, an open layout for entertaining, ample storage space, and outdoor space that extends their living areas, according to the Pulte survey of 531 adult renters between the ages of 18 and 34.

“What may be different about this buyer is that they may have more stuff,” says Fred Ehle, vice president for PulteGroup. “It’s different kind of stuff: technological gadgets, gaming. They also do work from home.”

The Better Homes and Gardens survey of 1,000 adults ages 18 to 35 found that Millennials don’t like traditional floor plans and prefer unique spaces. They like to do home improvements themselves and are “fix-it” types.

One in five said that “home office” is a better suited name for their dining room, according to the Better Homes and Gardens survey. What’s more, 43 percent said they want to transform their living room into a home theater.

The survey also showed they’d rather have extra space in their kitchen for a TV than a second oven. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed say they wouldn’t purchase a home without up-to-date tech capabilities.

Source: “GenY is finally in a mood to buy (houses),” USA Today (March 28, 2013)

Mortgage Counseling Pays Off, Study Shows.

Mortgage Counseling Pays Off, Study Shows. Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Home buyer counseling leads to significantly lower mortgage default rates, according to a new study by NeighborWorks America.

The study found that borrowers who went through a prepurchase counseling program were nearly a third less likely than non-counseled borrowers to fall behind on their mortgage payments by 90 days or more in the first two years following closing. NeighborWorks evaluated 75,000 mortgages that originated from 2007 to 2009.

“Before you kind of tie somebody into a loan, you should be encouraging them to go to prepurchase education and counseling,” Eileen Fitzgerald, NeighborWorks chief executive, said about the study’s findings for lenders. “You will make more money off of that person.”

But counseling programs differ in how they’re delivered and there’s been no research on which model works best, says David Stevens, the chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association, about the study’s findings. “My own subjective view is that face-to-face is probably the best,” Stevens told The New York Times.

Source: “Mortgages: The Benefits of Counseling,” The New York Times (March 28, 2013)

New Database Allows Americans to Post Mortgage Gripes.

New Database Allows Americans to Post Mortgage Gripes. Image courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Americans have a lot of gripes when it comes to mortgages. Of the 90,000 consumer complaints that have been filed so far to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new consumer complaint database, 50,000 have related to mortgage issues. Complaints over loan modifications, foreclosures, and other servicing issues dominate.

The CFPB launched a database on Thursday to field consumer complaints — the nation’s largest public database for consumer financial complaints. The database captures individual complaints on everything from mortgages to credit cards, student loans, bank accounts, and other financial services.

The public can view the complaints in the database by mortgage issue and product type and even organize the issues by name of the lender or servicer. The identity of the person who posted the complaint is not included in the database.

“By sharing these complaints with the public, we are creating greater transparency in consumer financial products and services,” says Richard Cordray, CFPB director.

The agency’s Web site notes, however, that it does not verify “all the facts alleged in these complaints but we do take steps to confirm a commercial relationship between the consumer and company.”

Source: “Loan mod, foreclosure complaints dominate CFPB consumer reports,” HousingWire (March 28, 2013) and “CFPB enhances transparency with consumer complaint database,” HousingWire (March 28, 2013)

FHA Premiums to Rise April 1.

FHA Premiums to Rise April 1. Image courtesy of sheelamohan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Starting Monday, borrowers will be charged higher mortgage insurance premiums on new Federal Housing Administration loans. The annual fee on the majority of FHA loans will rise by 0.1 percent on April 1.

This marks the third time the FHA has increased its mortgage insurance premiums in two years. And since 2008, the fee has nearly tripled.

Some borrowers are rushing to beat the April 1 deadline.

The FHA premium hikes are part of an effort by the agency to increase its insurance fund. In early June, the FHA will require borrowers who take out new FHA loans to pay for mortgage insurance for the entire life of the loan.

Source: “FHA Loans Get Pricer April 1,” Bankrate.com (March 26, 2013) and “Mortgage insurers prep for FHA premium increases,” HousingWire (March 28, 2013)

Are First-Time Buyers Being Shut Out?

Are First-Time Buyers Being Shut Out? Image courtesy of Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Across the country, first-time home buyers have been putting in offers on homes, but many of them keep losing out.

One working mother says she’s put in 30 offers on homes in the $100,000 range in the Atlanta area, bidding $2,500 to $3,000 above the asking price, but each time she’s been outbid. “We have to be on top of the game and be able to drop everything and check out a house or it will be gone,” says another couple in Alexandria, Va.

Tight housing inventories are playing a role. For example, in Boston home listings are down 57 percent and in Atlanta area home listings have dropped nearly 40 percent in the past year.

Also, “investors have been pushing home prices higher faster than expected,” Diana Olick reports for NBC. “But the higher prices get, the more investors may get out, because they won’t be able to find such great bargains any more. That in turn will let regular buyers back in, even if they do have to pay a little more to own.”

Source: “First-time Buyers Struggle as Home Prices Rise,” NBC (March 26, 2013)