Truckee Real Estate – Record Low Mortgage Rates

By April H. Lee, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Fixed-rate mortgages continued their decline to record lows this week and the 5-year adjustable rate also reached a new low, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

“Low rates are helping to heal many battered local housing markets by increasing home-purchase activity,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac, in a news release.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.92% this week, down from 3.95% last week and 4.68% a year ago. It is also at its lowest point since Freddie Mac started tracking the rate in 1991.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.56% this week, down from 3.63% last week and 4.75% a year ago. The ARM is at its lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking it in 2005.

And 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.53% this week, down from 3.55% last week and 4.72% a year ago.

To obtain the rates, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and both of the ARMs required payment of an average 0.7 point. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage required an average 0.6 point. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.

Rates broke record lows after reports of a sluggish economy, Nothaft said.

“Private payrolls increased by 71,000 jobs in July, below the market consensus forecast, and revisions shaved June’s growth by 34,000 workers,” he said. “The Federal Reserve also noted in its Aug. 10 policy statement that the pace of recovery in output and employment slowed since its last meeting in June.”

April Lee is a MarketWatch Reporter based in New York.

Truckee Real Estate – CA Home Prices Rebound

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A surprisingly strong rebound in California’s real estate market helped lift a key home price index for the eighth month in a row.

That’s good news for people who plan to sell their homes this spring. Prices are now up almost 4 percent from the bottom in May 2009, but still almost 30 percent below the May 2006 peak.

Prices rose 0.3 percent from December to January on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index released Tuesday. Prices increased in 12 cities in the index.

The biggest monthly gain was in Los Angeles, where prices rose 1.8 percent from December. And real estate agents say there’s a distinct sense the worst of the downturn is over.

Buyers are “seeing that prices are creeping up,” said Tony Middleton, a real estate agent with ZIP Realty who concentrates on the San Fernando Valley. “They’re losing bids on homes and they have to bid again.”

Prices in San Diego, meanwhile, rose by almost 0.9 percent. Phoenix had the third-largest gain at 0.8 percent.

Compared with the same month last year, the 20-city index was off just 0.7 percent from last year at a reading of 146.32. That was the smallest decline in almost three years and in line with analysts’ expectations, according to Thomson Reuters.

Rising home prices also could boost consumer optimism. For most Americans, their home is their largest asset, so as values climb from the depths of the housing bust, homeowners feel wealthier and more comfortable spending. And, for homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their properties are worth, rising prices rebuild equity.

Consumer confidence rebounded in March after a February plunge, according to a survey released Tuesday. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index rose to 52.5 in March, recovering about half of the nearly 11 points it lost in February.

Still, shoppers remain cautious and there are signs that last year’s housing rebound won’t last. Home sales sank during the winter, and government incentives that have propped up the market are ending.

Another reason for the positive news is simply that the Case-Shiller index measures a three-month average of home prices. So January’s report included November’s strong home sales.

However, bargain-hunting homebuyers continue to pack open houses in California, often facing off with investors for foreclosed homes.

“We’re seeing multiple offers in most of the markets here in the San Francisco Bay area,” said David Kerr, an agent with ZipRealty in Oakland, Calif. “People are getting off the fence.”

In February, bank-owned properties made up 44 percent of all resales in the state, according to MDA DataQuick. In Southern California, they accounted for more than half of resales.

With such high demand, supply is dwindling, driving prices higher.

Meanwhile, the state’s unemployment rate has flat-lined of late, and that’s made buyers more comfortable about purchasing a home than they were just six months ago, said Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California.

California home sales will likely get a boost in coming months thanks to a new serving of government stimulus.

Last week, state lawmakers enacted a tax credit of up to $10,000 for homebuyers that kicks in May 1. The state allotted $100 million for first-time buyers and another $100 million to anyone who buys a newly built home. California had a round of tax credits last year that proved to be popular; that program ended in July.

The latest incentive picks up where a federal first-time homebuyer tax credit of up to $8,000 is scheduled to leave off when it expires at the end of April. Should the Obama administration extend the federal tax break, that could give homebuyers in California even more reasons to buy.

Still, there remain pockets of weakness. Sales of homes priced above $500,000 are sluggish. And despite rising prices, more than one-third of all homeowners with a mortgage still owe more on their loans than their homes are worth, according to First American CoreLogic.

Among the cities showing monthly price declines in January, the biggest drop was in Portland, Ore., where prices fell 1.8 percent from December. Chicago and Seattle saw declines of 1.7 percent, while prices in Atlanta fell 1.5 percent.

Many analysts expect the Case-Shiller 20-city index will again turn downward in the coming months as more foreclosures in other states hit the market.

“It is only a matter of time before the index records a double-dip in prices,” wrote Paul Dales, U.S. economist with Capital Economics, who forecasts a 5 percent drop. The market will be tested in the second half of the year, he wrote, when a tax credit that has boosted sales is gone.

The Case-Shiller index measures home price increases and decreases relative to prices in January 2000. The base reading is 100; so a reading of 150 would mean that home prices increased 50 percent since the beginning of the index.

Alan Zibel reported from New York.

Truckee Home – Tax Credit

The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 extends the deadline for qualifying home purchases from Nov. 30, 2009 to April 30, 2010.

Additionally, if a buyer enters into a binding contract by April 30, 2010, the buyer has until June 30, 2010, to settle on the purchase.

The new law also provide a “long-time resident”  credit of up to $6,500 to others who do not qualify as “first-time homebuyers.” To qualify this way, a buyer must have owned and used the same home as principal or primary residence for at least five consecutive years of the eight-year period ending on the date of purchase of a new home as a primary residence.

For all qualifying purchases in 2010, taxpayers have the option of claiming the credit on either their 2009 or 2010 tax returns.

CA Signs Home Buyer Tax Credit

AB 183 will provide $200 million for home buyer tax credits, allocating $100 million for qualified first-time home buyers of existing homes and $100 million for purchasers of new, or previously unoccupied, homes. The eligible taxpayer who purchases a qualified personal residence on and after May 1, 2010, and on or before Dec. 31, 2010, or who purchases a qualified principal residence on and after Dec. 31, 2010, and before Aug. 1, 2011, pursuant to an enforceable contract executed on or before Dec. 31, 2010, will be able to take the allowed tax credit. The credit is equal to the lesser of 5 percent of the purchase price or $10,000, in equal installments over three consecutive years. Under AB 183, purchasers will be required to live in the home for at least two years or forfeit the credit (i.e., repay it to the state).

Truckee Real Estate – Old Greenwood, Grays Crossing

What’s New With the East West partners Properties?

As mentioned in my blog, several posts down, East West Partners has filed for Chapter 11. This has put excessive price pressure on the properties in Old Greenwood and Grays Crossing. There are some very good deals, with the associated risk, that are popping up. Shared ownership properties in Old Greenwood are selling for under $30k in some cases. Lots and homes in Grays Crossing are severely depressed from a year or two ago.

If you’re not completely risk adverse, let me know if you want to go check out some homes or land.

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