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September 2011 - Posts

Thursday, September 29, 2011 12:07 PM

CHINO HILLS CITY COUNCIL VOTES TO TAKE TRTP CASE TO SUPREME COURT

CITY OF CHINO HILLS PRESS RELEASE PR11 – 095 Contact: Denise Cattern Valerie McClung (909) 364-2615 (909) 364-2618 Date: September 28, 2011 City Attorney Mark Hensley announced that the Chino Hills City Council voted in closed session to file a
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Sunday, September 25, 2011 4:58 AM

Fraud Alert of the Week: Five Californians charged with wire, mail fraud

Five Californians have been charged with wire fraud and mail fraud for a real estate investment fraud scheme. According to the indictment, the defendants were affiliated with Diversified Management Consultants (DMC), an umbrella for their "investment
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Sunday, September 25, 2011 4:55 AM

Banks' REO inventories down by 17 percent

Banks held approximately 476,000 homes that they repossessed from delinquent mortgage borrowers as of the end of July, representing a 17 percent reduction from the 574,000 REOs on the books 10 months earlier in September 2010, according to Barclays Capital.
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Sunday, September 25, 2011 4:54 AM

Foreclosure activity increases 7 percent in August

Foreclosure filings – default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions – were reported on 228,098 U.S. properties in August, a 7 percent increase from July, but a 33 percent decrease from August 2010, according to RealtyTrac’s
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Sunday, September 25, 2011 4:53 AM

C.A.R. releases its 2012 Housing Market Forecast

California home sales and median price are predicted to improve only slightly in 2012, as the continuation of the tepid economic recovery, uncertainty about the future, and funding challenges for residential mortgages are expected to keep the market moving
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Sunday, September 25, 2011 4:45 AM

U.S. to have tough time in suits against 17 banks over mortgage bonds

Los Angeles Times... Federal regulators allege 17 banks misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the safety of mortgage bonds, but analysts say the two mortgage giants should have known that the loans behind the bonds were toxic. Read the full story
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Sunday, September 25, 2011 4:44 AM

Five more years of housing problems, with some stability in local markets

The housing market remains shaky and is unlikely to deliver significant growth in prices over the next five years, according to a new survey of economists, real estate professionals and analysts. Read the full story
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Sunday, September 25, 2011 4:41 AM

REALTORS® expect 1 percent rise in Calif. home sales

Bloomberg The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) released its 2012 Housing Market Forecast this week during CALIFORNIA REALTOR® EXPO 2011 in San Jose. The forecast calls for California home sales and median price to improve only slightly
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Friday, September 16, 2011 1:08 PM

Real Estate Sales Statisitics Update

Talking Points Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California rose to a seasonally adjusted 497,390 units in August, up 8.6 percent from a revised 457,930 in July, according to information collected by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION
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Friday, September 16, 2011 1:06 PM

Tight standards make mortgages tough to get

Following the greatest housing decline since the Great Depression, home lending standards have tightened to their strictest levels in decades, economists say. Read the full story
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Friday, September 16, 2011 1:04 PM

When will home prices spring back?

Nationwide, the U.S. housing market remains deep in the doldrums and economists expect prices to fall another 5 percent to 10 percent in many places. Yet, some sellers are seeing signs of a turnaround. Read the full story
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Friday, September 16, 2011 1:02 PM

New ways to use less energy at home

The Wall Street Journal The share of homes being built in the U.S. with environmentally friendly features jumped to 16 percent of single-family starts last year from 2 percent in 2006, says McGraw-Hill Construction. Read the full story
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Friday, September 16, 2011 12:56 PM

Mistakes housing investors make

The Wall Street Journal With traditional investments delivering low returns, some are considering buying rental housing. However, potential investors should do their homework and avoid the following common mistakes. Making sense of the story Investing
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011 9:50 AM

Price Reduced on 16245 Alabaster Ct. in Chino Hills

Chino Hills, San Bernardino County - Announcing a price reduction on 16245 Alabaster Ct., a 2,529 sq. ft., 3 bath, 3 bdrm 2 story. Now MLS® $565,000 - Price Reduced!. Property information
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Monday, September 12, 2011 7:34 PM

Rent/Lease Reduced on 27657 Rim of the World Dr in Crest Park

Crest Park, Lake Arrowhead - Announcing a rent/lease reduction on 27657 Rim of the World Dr, a 1,188 sq. ft., 2 bath, 2 bdrm 2 story "Cottage". Now $950 USD Monthly - Adorable Mountain Cottage. Property information
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Friday, September 09, 2011 7:24 AM

Weekly Fraud Alert: Email falsely claims to be from FTC

The FTC is warning small businesses that an email with a subject line “URGENT: Pending Consumer Complaint” is not from the FTC. The email says that a complaint has been filed with the agency against their company. The FTC advises not to click
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Friday, September 09, 2011 7:22 AM

Obama administration releases August Housing Scorecard

HUD and the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury released its August Housing Scorecard last week. Included in the report are detailed assessments for the 10 largest mortgage servicers participating in the Making Home Affordable Program with results from the second
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Friday, September 09, 2011 7:21 AM

FHFA sues 17 firms to recover losses to GSEs

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), as conservator for Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has filed lawsuits against 17 financial institutions, certain of their officers and various unaffiliated lead underwriters.
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Friday, September 09, 2011 7:15 AM

Getting Pre-Approved not Pre-Qualified

Talking Points Often times, first-time home buyers are so excited at the prospect of becoming homeowners that they start their home search immediately, without knowing how much house they can afford. To avoid wasting time looking at houses out of their
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Friday, September 09, 2011 7:14 AM

Getting a fair appraisal in a tough market

Since the real estate market took a downturn, some people have complained they couldn’t buy, sell, or refinance a home because an appraiser used bank-owned (REO) or short-sold homes as comparables in the valuation process, which dragged down the
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Friday, September 09, 2011 7:13 AM

Coming loan changes could squeeze high-priced home markets

USA Today Starting Oct. 1, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will cut the size of loans they buy from lenders. That will force many future borrowers into more expensive and harder-to-get jumbo loans. Read the full story
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Friday, September 09, 2011 7:12 AM

Mortgage rates hit record lows in Freddie Mac survey

Mortgage rates have plunged to all-time lows amid concerns the economy is stalling again, Freddie Mac said Thursday. Lenders were offering the 30-year fixed-rate home loan at an average rate of 4.12 percent this week, down from 4.22 percent last week.
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Friday, September 09, 2011 7:09 AM

Robo-signed mortgages date back more than a decade, possibly invalidating deeds

The Mercury News Counties across the U.S. are discovering that illegal or questionable mortgage paperwork is far more widespread than first thought, tainting the deeds of tens of thousands of homes dating to the late 1990s. Read the full story
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Friday, September 09, 2011 6:50 AM

Refinancing “stimulus” is no slam dunk

The Wall Street Journal Among the measures President Obama may unveil in his policy speech this week is a plan to make mortgage refinancing easier, so more households can benefit from ultralow mortgage rates. Read the full story
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Friday, September 09, 2011 6:47 AM

Refinancing while underwater

Homeowners whose homes have fallen in value may qualify to refinance their loans through a variety of programs aimed at avoiding late or partial payments or foreclosure. Read the full story
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Monday, September 05, 2011 9:19 AM

Weekly Fraud Alert: CA AG sues law firms engaged in "Mass Joinder" mortgage fraud

Attorney General Harris sued Philip Kramer, the Law Offices of Kramer & Kaslow, two other law firms, three other lawyers, and 14 other defendants who are accused of working together to defraud homeowners across the country through the deceptive marketing
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Monday, September 05, 2011 9:14 AM

Assembly Bill 771 Adjusts Laws for HOA Documents

Talking Points Existing law requires homeowners’ associations (HOAs) to provide specific documents to prospective purchasers of homes in a CID -- a form of real estate ownership in which each homeowner has an exclusive interest in a unit and a shared
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Monday, September 05, 2011 9:12 AM

How to rescue the housing market: Foreclosures

CNNMoney The Obama administration has tried one program after another to stem the tide of foreclosures with limited success. Some housing experts argue that the administration should go in a different direction than it has in the past. Instead, they say
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Monday, September 05, 2011 9:10 AM

Number of short sales on the rise

USA Today Short sales accounted for 12 percent of home sales nationwide in the second quarter. That’s up from 10 percent in the same period last year, says RealtyTrac. Read the full story
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Monday, September 05, 2011 9:08 AM

U.S. considers refinance plan for mortgages

The Obama administration is considering further actions to strengthen the housing market, but the bar is high. One proposal would allow millions of homeowners with government-backed mortgages to refinance them at today’s lower interest rates, about
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Monday, September 05, 2011 9:06 AM

Home prices bounce back, but market still struggles

CNNMoney Home prices rose a substantial 3.6 percent during the second quarter compared with the three months ended March 31, but are still down 5.9 percent compared with the second quarter of 2010. Read the full story
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Monday, September 05, 2011 9:04 AM

When income is freelance

After the financial market downturn in 2008, getting approved for a mortgage loan became even more difficult. Combine that with the fledgling economy, which left many people turning to freelance work, and the challenges involved in qualifying for a home
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