realtors are a whining chorus loudly proclaiming lenders are to blame for failing to inflate a replacement housing bubble.
Irvine Home Address … 12 VIENTO Dr Irvine, CA 92620
Resale Home Price …… $275,000
You've got a little worry,
I know it all too well,
I've got your number,
But so does every kiss-and-tell
Who dares to cross your threshold,
Or happens on your way,
Stop laying blame
You know that's not my thing
R.E.M. — Bang and Blame
Most often blaming others is a way to dodge taking personal responsibility. realtors are suffering right now. Transaction volumes are off and prices are well below what they were a few years ago. Since realtors have disavowed any responsibility for the role their amoral sales practices played in inflated the bubble, they are now blaming banks for failing to inflate a new one.
It's a low risk position for realtors to take. It isn't their money at risk. Lenders must put their money at risk to make loans which results in a real estate transaction and realtor commission. Since lenders don't want to lose any more money, they are being careful about who they loan it to. realtors don't understand that. Or worse yet, they probably do understand, but they just don't care. They just want another commission.
Realtors blame banks for slow recovery
November 11th, 2011, 9:30 am — posted by Jeff Collins
Banks.
That’s the top obstacle to the housing market recovery, Realtors gathered for an annual conference in Anaheim said.
Specifically, tight credit, which makes it hard for many homebuyers to get a loan;
Credit is tight by bubble standards, but it isn't tight by historical standards. Lenders don't want to lose more money, so they don't want to give loans to people who won't pay them back.
and inefficient practices, which make it hard to process loans and short sales on time.
It isn't inefficient practices which is slowing up short sales. It's the fact that lenders are trying to squeeze money out of their deadbeat borrowers who don't want to give them any.
If your a bank, and a borrower is asking you to accept a $150,000 loss, wouldn't you ask for some of the $50,000 they have in other assets? Borrowers are trying to keep their other assets and have the bank eat the entire loss on the short sale, and banks aren't willing to do it. This standoff continues until one party or the other gives up. The bank may decide to foreclose, or the borrower may walk away from the debt and dare the lender to sue them. It's not a process designed for expediency.
We caught up with a handful of Realtors at a 5K run that started this week’s activities at the National Association of Realtors meeting at the Anaheim Convention Center. We asked what they believe is the greatest impediment to recovery.
First, that isn't a good question. What is recovery? When prices stabilize at rental parity, I will consider the market “recovered.” I suspect most realtors and loan owners would define “recovery” as when prices regain their peak. The only thing that will make that happen is the passage of time and wage inflation or a new housing bubble. realtors want a new housing bubble.
Here’s a sampling of what they said:
Renee Holt, Keller Williams Realty, Oviedo, Fla.: “Banks. Banks don’t have the system to help homeowners recover, and they’re not hiring and/or training employees to make the process less painful for homeowners.”
What obligation to the banks have to make their losses less painful for loan owners? These people cost them billions of dollars, and the banks are supposed to be worried about the loan owner's pain?
Former California Association of Realtors President Ann Pettijohn, Oak Tree Realtors in Orange: “Banks,” she said, echoing Holt. “They’re making it tough to borrow.”
Yes, they only want to loan money to people who can pay them back. It's a good business practice they abandoned during the housing bubble.
Former New Jersey Association of Realtors President Chris Clemans: “Before, (lending standards) were too loose. Now they’ve gone to the other side.”
No, they haven't. In the 1980s, there was FHA and 20% down conventional financing. That's it. Today we still have 5% conventional financing, we allow low FICO scores (above 580 FHA can put 3.5% down), and many fringe qualifying standards we did not have 25 years ago. Credit is not tight by historical standards, and the loosening of credit standards over the last 25 years was not innovation, it was folly.
Cindy Wu, Keller Williams Realty, Encino: “It’s really confidence” that’s holding back the recovery. “People are just very pessimistic these days.”
Buyer sentiment does play a minor role, but the real problems are a depleted buyer pool, and the lack of a move-up market caused by a lack of equity.
Mark Gavin, director of administrative services for the Iowa Association of Realtors: “It’s more than one thing, but probably some of the contributing factors are the ability to get loans. They’ve tightened up some of the restrictions and limitations on getting loans. … We want responsible lending practices, but we don’t want it to be over-restrictive.”
Fair enough, but we should also let the people whose money is at risk determine what standards are not over-restrictive.
2011 National Association of Realtor President Ron Phipps: “Our number one strategic priority is a reliable flow of mortgage capital.
“We live (in an industry) that requires mortgage capital, and our biggest single priority and challenge this year was making sure that was reliable and that the credit standards and underwriting standards move more toward equilibrium, rather than the extremely vigorous dynamics that we have right now.”
Every quote I have read from Mr. Phipps has been complete and utter bullshit, and the above is no exception. What does this mean, “credit standards and underwriting standards move more toward equilibrium, rather than the extremely vigorous dynamics”? equilibrium? vigorous dynamics? To me it reads like a rectal extraction.
What he means to say is that he has been lobbying hard to get free money flowing again to inflate a new housing bubble, and he has failed.
We also asked what the mood of the industry is as we enter a seventh year since the housing slump started. Here are a few responses:
Art Carter, CEO of the California Regional Multiple Listing Service in San Dimas: “I’d say the mood of the industry is acceptance and realization that we’re not near the bottom yet.”
Wow! I don't see that attitude in the industry at all, despite the fact it is the truth. 
Rob Arrietta, Corona associate broker and president of CRMLS: “Distressed properties are on everybody’s mind in the last couple of days. … (But if) you work hard in this business, and you’ll survive and you’ll thrive.”
Yes, hard work and perseverance will win in the end. realtors should stop looking for people or conditions to blame and work harder to serve their customers. That will contribute to their success.
Hunt Cooper, communications and education director for the Kentucky Association of Realtors: “In Kentucky, we didn’t see the spikes and the down side. So we’ve been pretty strong — strong and steady. Sales have picked up over the last quarter.”
The non-bubble markets of flyover country have not been suffering like we have. realtors in these markets probably wonder what everyone here is whining about.
44 months of squatting on a 2002 rollback
Today's featured property was purchased for $378,000 on 11/7/2003. The owners used a $302,300 first mortgage, a $75,550 second mortgage, and a $150 down payment.
On 8/3/3005 they refinanced with a $424,000 first mortgage, and on 3/1/2006 they obtained a $89,000 HELOC. They quit paying the mortgage at the latest in January of 2008.
Foreclosure Record
Recording Date: 12/08/2008
Document Type: Notice of Rescission
Foreclosure Record
Recording Date: 08/25/2008
Document Type: Notice of Sale
Foreclosure Record
Recording Date: 05/16/2008
Document Type: Notice of Default
It looks as if the house was purchased by a third party on 9/27/2011 for $275,000. That makes this a closed sale on a 2002 rollback.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
This property is not available for sale via the MLS.
Please contact Shevy Akason, #01836707
949.769.1599
sales@idealhomebrokers.com
Irvine House Address … 12 VIENTO Dr Irvine, CA 92620
Resale House Price …… $275,000
Beds: 2
Baths: 2
Sq. Ft.: 1419
$194/SF
Property Type: Residential, Single Family
Style: Two Level, Cape Cod
Year Built: 1979
Community: Northwood
County: Orange
MLS#: S624194
Source: CRMLS
Status: Closed
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Proprietary IHB commentary and analysis 
Resale Home Price …… $275,000
House Purchase Price … $300,000
House Purchase Date …. 10/18/2002
Net Gain (Loss) ………. ($41,500)
Percent Change ………. -13.8%
Annual Appreciation … -0.9%
Cost of Home Ownership
————————————————-
$275,000 ………. Asking Price
$9,625 ………. 3.5% Down FHA Financing
4.06% …………… Mortgage Interest Rate
$265,375 ………. 30-Year Mortgage
$84,075 ………. Income Requirement
$1276 ………. Monthly Mortgage Payment
$238 ………. Property Tax (@1.04%)
$0 ………. Special Taxes and Levies (Mello Roos)
$57 ………. Homeowners Insurance (@ 0.25%)
$305 ………. Private Mortgage Insurance
$295 ………. Homeowners Association Fees
============================================
$2172 ………. Monthly Cash Outlays
-$199 ………. Tax Savings (% of Interest and Property Tax)
-$378 ………. Equity Hidden in Payment (Amortization)
$14 ………. Lost Income to Down Payment (net of taxes)
$54 ………. Maintenance and Replacement Reserves
============================================
$1,663 ………. Monthly Cost of Ownership
Cash Acquisition Demands
——————————————————————————
$2,750 ………. Furnishing and Move In @1%
$2,750 ………. Closing Costs @1%
$2,654 ………. Interest Points
$9,625 ………. Down Payment
============================================
$17,779 ………. Total Cash Costs
$25,400 ………… Emergency Cash Reserves
============================================
$43,179 ………. Total Savings Needed
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Fewer mortgages going bad but foreclosures expected to increase
The Mortgage Bankers Assn. says it could take three or four years to return to a normal pattern of delinquencies and foreclosures.
November 18, 2011|By E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times
Fewer home loans are in trouble these days, but despite some improvements, the nation is not even halfway through cleaning up the foreclosure mess, industry experts said.
It could take three or four years to return to a typical pattern of delinquencies and foreclosures, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. said in releasing its quarterly delinquency report Thursday.
An economist for the trade group declined to estimate how many households had lost their homes since the mortgage meltdown four years ago, or how many more foreclosures were to come.
But the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonpartisan advocacy group that accurately predicted a foreclosure tidal wave in 2006, issued its own assessment Thursday: 2.7 million American households had lost their homes as of February, with an even greater number to come.
The advocacy group, which analyzed 27 million home loans made from 2004 through 2008, estimated that an additional 3.6 million mortgages were in foreclosure or likely to fail.
“That means the nation is not yet midway through a foreclosure crisis that mires the economy,” the Durham, N.C., group said in releasing its study.
The mortgage industry stopped funding high-interest subprime mortgages and other risky loans in 2007, when the meltdown made it impossible to sell them. But the backlog of soured mortgages from that era was enormous and has been compounded by lingering unemployment of about 9% nationally and about 12% in California.
Things are slowly improving, said Mike Fratantoni, the mortgage bankers’ economist. The number of borrowers who had missed at least one payment but were not yet in foreclosure dropped below 8% for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2008. Just a year ago, it was 9.13%.
The percentage of home loans mired in the foreclosure process was up slightly from a year earlier at 4.43%, compared with the 1% that once had been considered normal, Fratantoni said.
The backlog remains high in part because lenders eased up on foreclosures for much of 2011 after revelations that they had mishandled legal paperwork and procedures when repossessing homes in the past.
The regulatory pressures on home lenders include a lengthy investigation by a task force of state and federal officials. California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris is also pursuing a separate probe in hopes of forcing more write-downs of principal for troubled California borrowers.
Longtime industry observer Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, said he believes it will take at least two more years to resolve the crisis.
“A lot depends on how fast banks … can clear out defaulted mortgages and foreclosed properties,” he said.
Fratantoni said that with the industry more confident that it has fixed its foreclosure procedures, “a couple of big servicers” he didn’t identify had recently stepped up foreclosures. Many of those, he said, involved boom-era subprime loans that had been modified at least once but fell back into delinquency.
Reflecting this push, the percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started during the third quarter was 1.08%, up from 0.96% in the second quarter. California had the nation’s fifth-highest rate of new foreclosures: nearly 1.5% in the latest quarter.
The statistics also reflected a much higher backlog of unresolved foreclosures in states where they are handled in the courts, compared with states like California that do not normally require court approval.
The rate of homes in foreclosure was highest in Eastern and Midwestern states that route all home repossessions through the courts, with Florida at more than 14% and New Jersey at 8%.
California, which for years had one of the highest rates of loans in foreclosure, fell to 19th on the list at a bit over 4%. Of states that handle foreclosures without court procedures, Nevada was the only one high on the total foreclosure-rate list, with nearly 8% of its mortgages in foreclosure.
In a separate report Thursday, mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac said the typical rate on a 30-year fixed-rate home loan this week was an even 4%, a statistically insignificant rise from 3.99% a week earlier. The 15-year fixed loan rates rose to 3.31% from 3.30%.
Expressing some optimism about the business, Frank Nothaft, a Freddie Mac economist, said the economy “is showing potential for further gains in the near term” as the near-record-low mortgage rates persist.
“Realtors blame banks for failing to inflate a replacement housing bubble”
That’s like:
1. Crackheads blaming the govt for not supply enough drugs.
2. Obesity on the farmers for producing low cost food in America.
3. Creating a disease so there will be a market for a cure.
Any others to list?
Happy Thanksgiving.
Why, in this day of the internet and blogs such as this one do I (as a potential buyer) even need a Real Estate agent?
Does a R/E agent [as a buyer] even represent my best interests?
It seems to me that a Real Estate *attorney* could just as easily handle the legal details.
I have posed this very question to agents at open houses wanting to know if I am “working with someone”
I have never received a clear cut answer other than somehow R/E agents have access to “secret” information [like non MLS listed homes] that no one else does.
Had a buyer today drop out of escrow merely hours after their Short Sale was approved by the bank. Why, after waiting 90 days for news from the bank? Because A) additional listing have come up nearly $100k less than the accepted SS price and B) their dual agent did not tell them about these new homes within walking distance of their grossly overpriced short sale listing.
Many Realtors do great work on behalf of their clients. Many more do not and can be demonstrated over and over ad nauseum to seek out the highest and best for only themselves. To quote Obi-Wan in the original trilogy – “There has never been a more wretched hive of scum and villany. We must be cautious”. Keep that in mind when engaging anyone in the real estate industry – lenders included btw…
My .02c.
Soylent Green Is People.
The SF version of Irvine’s “North Korea Towers” is the Ritz-Carlton Residences condo development.
Units were originally sold for $2 million, but current resales are half that, shocking for SF.
A big part of the reason is the $2,621/month HoA.
Socketsite.com: Following In The Footsteps Of A 52 Percent Drop At The Ritz-Carlton
“PMI Group filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, listing debts of $736 million, triggered by the meltdown of a housing market that has yet to halt its decline.
Walnut Creek-based PMI was forced into bankruptcy following a judge’s decision that upheld the takeover by Arizona state regulators of PMI’s primary unit to insure mortgages.
PMI pays lenders after a homeowner defaults and a foreclosure fails to recover enough to cover the mortgage.
The company is losing money amid the worst slump in U.S. housing prices since the Great Depression.
Arizona regulators took control of PMI’s mortgage insurance unit in August.
The subsidiary was ordered to cease writing new policies, which erased a vital revenue stream for PMI.
“PMI listed assets of $225 million. The company filed for a Chapter 11 in a quest to reorganize its finances.
“Continued high unemployment in the United States and the slow economic recovery in U.S. residential and mortgage and housing markets” have contributed to PMI’s losses, L. Stephen Smith, PMI’s chief executive officer, said in a court filing.”
PMI files for bankruptcy, listing $736 million in debts amid rough housing market
Realtors in and around Central Texas are doing better this year than they were last and the year before. Since the interest rates went down a few months back, sales this winter have been taking off in Austin. Houses that sat for sale for a hundred days or more have actually gone pending and closed — most in the low 4s. We do still have zero down loan products for some price points, but that doesn’t explain it. Our lack of meddlesome regulation and our unrivaled support of local commerce brings people to Austin from California and it’s keeping our houses appreciating every year while they tank everywhere else. No Realtors here worrying about bubbles!