Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee have drafted legislation that would raise the minimum down payment for FHA mortgages to 5 percent, cut FHA loan limits in most markets, and move the Agriculture Department's rural housing program to FHA's parent agency, HUD.
Though the draft bill has not been introduced, titled or assigned a number, it is expected to be the main subject of a hearing Wednesday before the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity, chaired by Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill. After that, the bill is likely to be formally introduced and sped through subcommittee and committee votes and head for action by the full House.
The text of the draft bill appears to be a partial answer from House Republicans to the Obama administration's call earlier this year for a smaller federal government footprint in housing.
By lowering maximum FHA loan limits in large numbers of local areas -- well below even the limits that are already scheduled to kick in Oct. 1 -- the bill would squeeze down FHA loan volume across the country, cutting a resource for some home purchasers who can't obtain a conventional mortgage.
Article continues belowHere are some examples of current FHA loan ceilings, how they're scheduled to adjust in October, and where they'd end up under the Republican plan:
- In Los Angeles County, the present high-cost area maximum is $729,750, which was set by the federal economic stimulus legislation passed by Congress following the financial crisis of 2008. That ceiling is scheduled to drop to $625,500 Oct. 1. Under the new bill, however, the maximum FHA-insured loan amount allowed in Los Angeles would be $412,500 -- a $317,250 plunge from the current limit and $213,000 below the scheduled reduction this fall.
- Other counties in high-cost California would experience even sharper declines, such as Monterey, where the maximum would decline by $436,000 and Contra Costa, where the drop would be $379,750. Every county in California -- from big urban communities to rural areas -- would be on the losing end of the new FHA equation, and most reductions would be in the six figures.
- The lower limits would be significant in other states as well. Monroe County, Fla., would see maximum FHA loan limits go from $729,750 to $425,000. Under the scheduled Oct. 1 statutory decrease, the county -- which comprises the Florida Keys -- would have a $529,000 maximum. Sarasota, Fla., would see a $261,250 drop under the bill, Miami-Dade a decrease of $161,250, and Orange County (Orlando) limits would decline by $128,750.
- Large counties in the high-cost areas around Washington D.C. would see FHA limits drop by anywhere from $398,500 (Prince George's, Md.) to $366,250 in Baltimore. Most New England and mid-Atlantic states would end up with lower loan ceilings along with major markets in the Midwest and the Rocky Mountain states.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Draft Bill Would Increase Down Payment to 5% for FHA loans on Walnut Creek Homes
Friday, May 20, 2011
If the World is Ending Tomorrow- This Walnut Creek Wine Bar has my Vote for a Place to Party Like its 1999.
Residual Sugar
Nibbling and sipping, we scanned the menu at Walnut Creek’s newest wine bar, in a downtown storefront that could easily be mistaken for a wine shop.
We sampled salumi from Italy and wines on tap from California, loving the lush cherry nose of the Sangiovese from Emeryville’s Periscope Cellars ($9). Then, we paired Brillat-Savarin cheese (French, of course) and a smattering of salad with a citrusy white from Italy’s Amalfi Coast. We matched flavors and textures, acidity and balance, savoring each morsel and moment, when suddenly our friend Rick dropped a bomb: He asked for “Napa.”
“We’ve got stuff that’s just as good,” replied our über-savvy server, as she recommended a flight of reds from the Rhône. With 27 flight wines (groupings of three small pours organized by region) and more than 50 wines by the glass, Residual Sugar offers more than a few stellar wine choices. You won’t find the best-known supermarket brands or the high-profile Cabs Rick was after. Nor will you find many hearty bites. But what you will find is a wine education.
Residual Sugar, 1684 Locust St., Walnut Creek, residualsugarwine.com.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Freddie Mac offers incentives on REOs | Inman News
Hoping to boost sales of foreclosed homes, Freddie Mac is offering up to 3.5 percent in closing-cost assistance to homebuyers and a $1,200 bonus to buyer's agents for offers on HomeSteps properties received by July 31 with escrow closing on or before Sept. 30.
On the purchase of a home priced at $150,000, for example, HomeSteps will pay up to $5,250 toward closing costs. Investors are not eligible for Freddie Mac's HomeSteps summer sales promotion -- only homes sold to owner-occupants qualify.
Similar closing-cost incentives offered by Fannie Mae on HomePath properties this spring require escrow to close by June 30, with Fannie Mae advising that offers submitted after May 15 may not meet that deadline.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Almost Half of Home Buyers Do Not Understand Basic Loans - Walnut Creek Homes
Consumers are woefully under-educated when it comes to purchasing a home.
That’s the simple takeaway from a survey recently conducted by Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. Nearly half (46 percent) the respondents answered basic questions about mortgages incorrectly. About the same percentage acknowledged their limited understanding of mortgages and the process in general.
Among the findings:
- A majority of consumers don’t understand how adjustable-rate mortgages work or that interest rates fluctuate throughout the day
- Nearly half believe paying points is essential and that FHA loans are restricted to first-time buyers
- A third were unaware that lender fees aren’t flat, industry-wide rates
Perhaps some longtime industry observers aren’t surprised. But the reality is that consumer education regarding mortgages is more important than ever, from the debate over Qualified Residential Mortgages to the evolving demands on prospective borrowers.
Clearly, there’s a role for personal responsibility here. Consumers who don’t take the time to ask questions and do basic research have dug their own hole. And they’re wasting money in an water-tight economy.
The challenge for those in the lending industry is bolstering consumer education without sacrificing competitive advantage.
This doesn't surprise me. I run across people almost everyday that don't realize you can buy a home for very little down payment and do not have to have perfect credit at the same time.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
EBMUD May Raise Rates for Walnut Creek Homes
The general manager of the East Bay Municipal Utility District made it official.
On Tuesday, General Manager Alexander Coate recommended to the water agency's board of directors that they approve a 12 percent rate hike over the next two years.
The increase would come in two stages -- 6 percent in fiscal year 2012 and 6 percent in fiscal year 2013.
The board will hold a public hearing on the proposal at its June 14 meeting. They'll vote on the rate hike plan at that same meeting. The new rates would take effect July 1.
If approved, the rate hike would increase the monthly water bill for a typical EBMUD household using 270 gallons a day from $38.66 to $43.45 over the next two years.
EBMUD officials said the hike is necessary because of the rising cost of gasoline and other materials used in their water delivery system. They also said customers have used less water the past three years, decreasing the district's water sale revenue by 15 percent.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Should You Send Your Kids to Private Schools? - Walnut Creek Homes for Sale
Last week local parents and educators certainly breathed a sigh of relief when the release of 2010’s Academic Performance Index (API) scores confirmed that, once again, Walnut Creek schools are doing an “excellent” job of teaching our children.
As reported last Thursday in Walnut Creek Patch, all Walnut Creek public schools scored better than 800 on the 1,000-point scale. With such exemplary results, Walnut Creek Patch editor Martha Ross wondered, in her article, why local parents would consider sending their kids to private schools.
It’s something I, myself used to wonder until recently. I feel I am in a unique position to answer this question because, you see, one of my children attends public school in the Walnut Creek School District and the other attends a private elementary school in nearby Lafayette.
It’s not a decision my husband and I made lightly. I am a huge proponent of public education; both of my parents are retired public school educators and I myself am the product of California’s public education system. Many of my friends and family members now teach. We chose our home’s location based on its proximity to one of the top (based on API scores) elementary schools in Walnut Creek and I have been an active volunteer at said school. I even serve on the PTA board.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Jennifer Aniston's $42 million home
The famous "Friends" star purchased the mid-century modern home designed by architect Hal Levitt for $13.5 million in 2006 after her divorce from Brad Pitt.
She then completely overhauled the 1972 property with the help of interior designer and architect Stephen Shadley. The project took nearly two and a half years, but not long after Aniston moved in, she was ready to move on.
Photos courtesy of Realtor.com.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
50 purses recovered after burglary arrest in Walnut Creek on Friday night
50 purses recovered after burglary arrest in Walnut Creek on Friday night
The Walnut Creek Police arrested the woman pictured above, 29-year-old Antioch resident Sheila Nichole Whitson, and recovered 50 purses which were allegedly stolen from vehicles in the parking lots of night clubs around town.
The Walnut Creek Police gave us the full details on the arrest….
On 5/6/2011 at approximately 11 PM Walnut Creek Officers contacted Whitson in a parking lot near Vice Ultra Lounge on Arroyo Way. The officers were conducting surveillance due to numerous auto burglaries that had been occurring while patrons were inside various nightclubs around Walnut Creek.
Officers located stolen property from recent auto burglaries and burglary tools on Whitson and in her vehicle.
Approximately 50 additional purses containing personal property were located in Whitson’s vehicle. Officers are attempting to track down further victims.
Whitson was booked into the CoCo County Jail for possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools and burglary.
Whitson is also on probation for prior theft offenses.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
MARK ZUCKERBERG BUYS A $7 MILLION HOME - walnut creek real estate
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly a homeowner.
The 26-year-old multibillionaire has reportedly purchased a five-bedroom house in Palo Alto, Calif., just 10 minutes from Facebook's new 22-acre corporate campus in neighboring Menlo Park, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
"Everything on that transaction (is) pretty hush-hush. He didn't even buy it in his name," Dawn Thomas, broker associate with Intero Real Estate Services in Los Altos, Calif., told Inman News. Intero Real Estate did not handle the transaction, Thomas said.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
MARCH HOME SALES FOR CALIFORNIA - Walnut Creek Real Estate News
April 14, 2011
An estimated 36,417 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That was up 33.3 percent from 27,320 in February, and down 2.4 percent from 37,295 for March 2010. California sales for the month of March have varied from a low of 24,565 in 2008 to a high of 68,848 in 2005, while the average is 44,150. DataQuick's statistics go back to 1988.
The median price paid for a home last month was $249,000, up 2.0 percent from $244,000 in February, and down 2.4 percent from $255,000 for March a year ago. The year-over-year decrease was the sixth in a row after 11 months of increases. The bottom of the current cycle was $221,000 in April 2009, while the peak was at $484,000 in early 2007.
Distressed property sales made up about 57 percent of California’s resale market last month.
Of the existing homes sold last month, 39.3 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was down from 40.1 percent in February and down from 40.3 percent in March a year ago. The all-time high was in February 2009 at 58.5 percent.
Short sales – transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property – made up an estimated 17.6 percent of resales last month. That was down from an estimated 18.8 percent in February but the same as a year earlier and up from 11.4 percent two years ago.
The typical mortgage payment that home buyers committed themselves to paying last month was $1,050. That was up from $1,042 in February, and down from $1,091 in March 2010. Adjusted for inflation, last month's mortgage payment was 52.2 percent below the spring 1989 peak of the prior real estate cycle. It was 61.2 percent below the current cycle's peak in June 2006.
San Diego-based DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.
Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity has declined somewhat but remains high by historical standards. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and cash and non-owner-occupied buying remains at relatively high levels, DataQuick reported.
This article has information about Walnut Creek Condos and Walnut Creek Homes for Sale.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Attn: Realtors - This is a Game Changer!
The National Association of Realtors next month will consider revising rules governing multiple listing services in order to explicitly permit brokers or agents to display Internet Data Exchange (IDX) listings on social networking sites and mobile devices.
Some aspects of proposed changes to NAR's IDX policy -- particularly a recommendation to allow IDX listings to be distributed using Really Simple Syndication, or RSS -- have raised concerns by The Realty Alliance, a network of 60 real estate companies whose members include HomeServices of America Inc.
Distribution of listings via RSS "allows anyone to obtain all data in an MLS area with no permission required and allows situations where another broker, who does not have a contract with the seller, (will) broadly publish another broker's listing data with no limitations," The Realty Alliance said in a letter to the chairman of NAR's Multiple Listing Issues and Policies Committee, Pat Callan.
"This creates a condition where the legally responsible broker is no longer in compliance with their contract with the seller and their MLS rules and regulations."
I'm all for it! In fact I'm one of those odd ball agents that gets excited about this sort of thing. I guess you would call me "New School".
This is something that will be fought ferociously by older traditional agents. I think all of us "tech savvy" agents have had our run in with one or two from time to time. They are the agents that call you up and say "Why is MY listing on YOUR website!?!?!?!"
The way I see it, the industry is going in that direction one way or another whether we like it or not. Take the recording industry for example - How many millions of dollars did they spend fighting tooth and nail to retain "control"? Although they did manage to shut down Napster I can go on my computer today and download any song for free, anytime day or night. What the RIAA should have done is concentrate on giving the consumers what they wanted (high quality instant downloads) instead of fighting them. They were suing their consumers! Take a look at the success of Apple with Itunes and you will get what I am saying.
The problem with the industry fighting within it self and trying to remain in control is that it gives the edge to outside businesses. We should be trying to perfect what we do and give the consumer what they demand. Let me explain-
Under the current MLS rules an agent may not advertise a property for sale that is listed with another agent, even if it is fully disclosed (I have contacted my board several times to find out where the line is. It's a little grey) On the other hand Trulia and Zillow (companies outside traditional real estate) can do whatever they would like. If it was allowed I could advertise any listing and get leads off of them, instead I must go to Zillow and pay $289/month to sponsor a zip code and get THE SAME LEAD - YES! THE EXACT SAME PERSON I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN ON MY OWN WITHOUT THE 3RD PARTY HAND IN THE MIDDLE. So how does that make Real Estate any better ?
Walnut Creek Real Estate Market Statistics - California Market at a Glance
Latest Market @ A Glance
C.A.R. closely monitors and analyzes trends in the residential real estate industry. The table below contains the latest reported existing home sales series, median home prices, unsold inventory index, median time on market, first-time buyer housing affordability index, and the latest mortgage rates
Market @ A Glance
California Reporting Period Current
PeriodLast
PeriodYear
AgoChange from Last Period Change from Year Ago Existing Home Sales (SAAR) *
March-11
514,090
498,450
506,680
3.1%
1.5%
Median Home Price *
March-11
$286,010
$271,320
$300,900
5.4%
-4.9%
Unsold Inventory Index (months) *
March-11
5.3
7.3
4.8
-27.4%
10.4%
Median Time on Market (days) *
March-11
56.7
64.4
37.0
-12.0%
53.2%
First-Time Buyer Housing Affordability Index (HAI) *
2010 Q4
69%
66%
64%
3.0%
5.0%
30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) **
March-11
4.84%
4.95%
4.97%
-0.11%
-0.13%
SOURCES * CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, ** Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp
Prices have dropped a bit overall since last year but the market is gaining steam. Every other indicator says this is the year for a rebound. Walnut Creek homes for sale are receiving much more attention these days.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Walnut Creek Real Estate News - California Mortgage Defaults Drop Again!
La Jolla, CA.--The number of financially distressed California homeowners who were dragged into the formal foreclosure process declined again last quarter, the result of turmoil and policy changes within the mortgage industry as well as shifts in the economy, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 68,239 Notices of Default (NoDs) were recorded at county recorders offices during the January-to-March period. That was down 2.2 percent from 69,799 for the prior quarter, and down 15.8 percent from 81,054 in first-quarter 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.
Last quarter's activity was the lowest since 53,493 NoDs were recorded in the second quarter of 2007. It was just over half the record 135,431 default notices recorded in the first quarter of 2009.
"Lenders and servicers have put various temporary holds on foreclosure filings while they work on procedural issues and respond to regulatory and legal challenges. It's unclear how much of last quarter's decline can be attributed to market factors and strategic decisions, and how much can be attributed to the formalities of the foreclosure process," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.
Most of the loans going into default are from the 2005-2007 period: the median origination quarter for defaulted loans is still third-quarter 2006. That has been the case for two years, indicating that weak underwriting standards peaked then.
Most of the loans made in 2006 are owned and/or serviced by institutions other than those that made the loans.
The most active "beneficiaries" in the formal foreclosure process last quarter were JP Morgan Chase (9,634), Wells Fargo (8,329) and Bank of America (7,158).
The "servicers" (or the Trustees in the formal foreclosure process) that pursued the highest number of defaults last quarter were ReconTrust Co (mostly for Bank of America and MERS), Quality Loan Service Corp (Bank of America), California Reconveyance Co (JP Morgan Chase), NDEx West (Wells Fargo) and Cal-Western Reconveyance Corp (Wells Fargo).
California's priciest zip codes collectively saw mortgage defaults buck the market-wide trend again and rise slightly quarter-to-quarter, while their defaults fell less on a year-over-year basis than in the overall market. The state's 80 zip codes with median sale prices of $800,000 or more last quarter posted a 5.8 percent quarter-to-quarter increase in default notices and a 4.7 percent year-over-year decline.
Great news for anyone who owns a Walnut Creek Home. I'm hoping this is a sign that the foreclosure boom is coming to an end.