The National Association of Realtors is stating that this is the third straight month where beyond new homes, existing home sales have increased. They are citing that there is a 4.6% increase in pending contracts for existing rooms.  Other news, inventory of houses across the country is dropping because there has been some oversupply in other areas of the country. And percentage of home ownership, increased last month.  In addition, interest rates continue to stay historically low, the $8,000 tax credit is still available for first time homebuyers, and home sales in general continue to rise. 

Real Estate Related News recommends finding a foreclosure prevention company that provides a refund policy and can document a succesful track record negotiating with your specific lender.  Federal and state agencies took 189 actions today against modification and foreclosure-rescue firms, the Federal Trade Commission announced.

Realtytrac: Foreclosures Up 11% in Last Qtr.

The coordinated actions were part of a national law-enforcement effort by 2 federal and 23 state agencies to crack down on loan modification scams.  “Operation Loan Lies,” has targeted loan modification companies that allegedly promised to obtain modifications or stop foreclosures, but the companies actually did nothing. Advance fees charged by the loss mitigation firms were equal to one or more mortgage payments, but no loan negotiations ever took place.  See the original article at FTC Shuts Down Loan Modification Scams.

According to Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the Chicago-based Realtors’ group “The rising home foreclosures that sell at discounted prices are flooding the real estate market and depressing property values.  Kelly Media Group, Founder Jason Cardiff weighed in, “Home sales will rebound strongly if we can keep the interest rates low for the next 12 months, but the trend of rates seems to be increasing.”  Many realtors and mortgage brokers seem to agree that industry needs to keep conventional mortgage rates low until the local and national c can recover.

Existing U.S. home sales in May rose 2.4 % to an annual rate of 4.77 million, lower than forecast, and the median price was down 16.8 % from the same month in 2008, according to the Realtors. It would take about 9.6 months to sell the nation’s 3.8 million unsold homes at the current sales pace, according to the Realtors.   “The worst is behind us but we’re a long ways off from a recovery in housing,” said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Inventories are still elevated. We’re not expecting any strength in housing until the second half of 2010.”   About 20.4 million of the 93 million houses, condos and co- ops in the U.S. were worth less than their loans as of March 31, according to Seattle-based real estate data service Zillow.com.

Home Builders Continue to Struggle

Builders including Los Angeles-based KB Home are slashing prices and reducing the size of houses to compete with foreclosures. KB Home’s revenue fell 40 % last quarter to $384.5 million and net orders dropped 31 % to 2,910 homes, the company said June 26. The Washington-based Mortgage Bankers Association’s loan survey, compiled every week, covers about half of all U.S. retail residential mortgage originations.

In a recent article, Melissa Thomas-Garcia reveals her thoughts about selling New Jersey real estate would be a great way to funnel the entrepreneurial energy she used selling crafts and Avon out of her home into a long-term, steady job.  “They kept telling us how the market is prime right now, and everyone is making sales and making deals,” said Thomas-Garcia, 28, who lives in Lindenwold, Camden County. “At the time, it seemed perfect.”  The housing market in the high cost areas of the US is very difficult.

After doing what she was told last year placing ads, cold-calling potential clients, asking friends and relatives for real estate leads Thomas-Garcia wound up $3,000 in the red with not a sale to her name. So instead of shelling out more money to renew her license, she put her career on hold and took a job at Payless ShoeSource.  Thomas-Garcia has learned firsthand why the number of people entering the real estate business in New Jersey last year plummeted faster than sales themselves. In the bonanza years, when newly licensed agents could stir up a bidding war simply by listing a house, people flocked to the industry to make easy money. Now, real estate classes are half-empty and agents are looking for other work until the cycle begins again.  

Get alerted with home sales and foreclosure reports.  Sign up for related real estate news.  2009 and 2010 are forecasted to see sparks of a market rebound.

The number of people getting real estate licenses in 2008 fell by a third, according to state statistics, following a 17% drop in each of the two previous years. “Last year it really dropped off,” said Jeff Snyder of Moorestown, co-owner of RE/MAX of New Jersey. “I think you’re going to see that trend continue.”  The number of single-family homes sold in New Jersey dipped 18% in 2008, while the median sales price fell 7.5%, according to the New Jersey Association of Realtors.  “People are saying, ‘Wow, I’ve got to get a real job,’” said Richard Leonard, who owns Arcadia Realtors in Roseland.  As far as careers go, real estate has a low entry bar.

To get a license in New Jersey, you need to be 18, have a high school diploma, pay a $60 fee and take a 75-hour course that usually runs about $400. A real estate agent then pays additional fees to maintain the license and to get insurance and database access.  The Association of Realtors reported a spike in interest with a recent direct mail marketing campaign that helped perform a home-buying survey.   Read the remaining article >

Panel discussion at USC featuring: Larry Harris, Fred V. Keenan Chair in Finance and former Chief Economist of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Richard Green, Lusk Chair in Real Estate.

In a recent LA Times article written by Peter Y. Hong, Southern California home prices continued their decline at the end of 2008, closing the year at 2003 price levels, a real estate research firm reported today.  The December median sales price for all Southern California homes fell to $278,000, a 35% drop from the same month a year prior, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick.

Recent foreclosure news suggests that short sales and re-defaults from unsuccessful loan modification plans, may be misleading the severity of the foreclosure crisis in Southern California.

Los Angeles County’s median sales price of $320,000 was down 32% from December 2007, while Orange County’s median price fell 30% to $397,000. San Diego’s median price dropped 30% from December 2007, to $300,000. Ventura County’s $338,000 median December sales price was down 36% from the prior year.  Reduced sales prices drove the number of Southern California homes sold in December up by 51% over the previous year.  “It does look like the spigot is being opened a little bit, at least for low-cost home purchases,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.  The typical monthly mortgage loan payment that California homebuyers committed themselves to paying was $1,239 last month, down from a revised $1,380 for the previous month, and down from a revised $2,060 for December year ago. Read the complete LA Times article.

Suze Orman discuss on when do you know if the Real Estate has reached the bottom.  When has the housing market reached the bottom?  In most cases, when the prices begin to go back up, then you have reached the bottom.

Watch this video to learn more about the real estate market reaching the low point. 

According to KMG president Jason Cardiff, “Timing the real estate market is very difficult.”  Cardiff continued, “Like the stock market, predicting the bottom can be a great way to make money quickly, but even most experts are unable to call the bottom.”  Sign up now and have the latest real estate news delivered to you as it is reported.

The Federal Reserve continued with their rate cutting campaign that promotes home financing and lending directly to damaged financial markets and companies. Its statement Tuesday came with a promise to extend those efforts.  “The focus of the Committee’s policy going forward will be to support the functioning of financial markets and stimulate the economy through open market operations and other measures that sustain the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet at a high level,” the Fed said.

Two large Federal lending programs are still being ramped up. In one, the central bank will buy up to $600 billion of debt issued or guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other government-backed mortgage businesses. So far, the Fed has only committed $8 billion to purchasing bad credit home loans. Officials have been relieved that mortgage rates have come down since announcing the program.  

According to HSH Associate, mortgage rates for conforming thirty year home loans dropped from 6.64% to 5.28% since the Fed’s last meeting, a financial publishing firm. It has been one of the few areas in financial markets where credit costs have shown substantial improvement in the past few weeks.  “Over the next few quarters the Federal Reserve will purchase large quantities of agency debt and mortgage-backed securities to provide support to the mortgage and housing markets, and it stands ready to expand its purchases of agency debt and mortgage-backed securities as conditions warrant,” the Fed said.

Fed officials have high expectations for a separate program through which they will lend up to $200 billion against high-rated securities backed by car loans, student loans, credit-card debt and small-business loans.  U.S. officials have said the program, which is called the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility and is expected to be operational in February, can be expanded to other asset classes — such as commercial real estate loans or mortgages not backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  FHA loans also got a boost from the Fed’s rate reduction, as FHA mortgage executive, Jeff Moran said, “FHA mortgage applications have surged since last week.”  Moran continued, “Our lending office alone saw a 35% increase new loan application volumes, compared to the previous week.” 

The latest housing data underscored the grim economic setting. The housing downturn is now more than three years old. “November’s report for new home production and permit issuance indicates not only that conditions aren’t improving in the housing market, but that the situation is getting worse,” said David Crowe, chief economist with the National Association of Home Builders.  Real estate news in 2008 has been mostly negative amid the foreclosure crisis and stock market slide.  Kelly Media Group President, Jason Cardiff spoke to reporters in Toronto today as the rate cut news hit the wires.  Cardiff said, “The Federal Reserve has made their move to lower mortgage rates to these historic levels.  Now struggling American homeowner who have been waiting on the sidelines to refinance can now jump into the game.”  Cardiff continued, “Let’s take a moment for have a round of applause…Fixed rates at 5% is good news for American homeowners.”

The Federal Open Market Committee had downgraded its unemployment and economic growth projections at its last meeting on October 29th and things have only gotten worse since then. The unemployment rate, at 6.7% in November, was already above the Fed’s October forecast for the fourth quarter and looks sure to go higher still. 

Economists at Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, a forecasting firm, say the nation’s gross domestic product is on track to contract by 6.5% in the current quarter. If they’re right, it will be the worst quarter since 1980.  “Since the Committee’s last meeting, labor market conditions have deteriorated, and the available data indicate that consumer spending, business investment and industrial production have declined. Financial markets remain quite strained and credit conditions tight,” the Fed said. 

The recent decline in mortgage rates could help revive housing markets. Federal Reserve officials also are focused on reducing other interest rates relative to Treasury benchmarks, a difference that is known on Wall Street as a ’spread.’ Across a wide-range of consumer lending, spreads have remained painfully high since September, a sign of tight credit conditions. 

Forbes.com’s real estate experts weigh the Treasury’s attempt to regenerate the real estate bubble by reducing home mortgage rates.  In a recent article, Stephane Fitch considers the controversial proposal being discussed in which the U.S. government will actually buy down the interest rates from banks to ensure lower mortgage rates to help ignite the housing market that has been hindered by foreclosures and declining real estate in the news nationwide.  Forbes magazine brought together their panel of real estate experts who are uniquely qualified to analyze, assess and anticipate movements to escape the housing crisis.

Forbes: The biggest headline of the moment: The government seems to be planning serious action to lower mortgage rates. But there’s a lot of other news happening. (Anybody notice that an obscure developer named Donald Trump is in a legal fight with his mortgage lenders? Both Radar Logic and Zillow.com have released new data and insights about the housing crisis. Mark Zandi’s colleague at Economy.com, Celia Chen, has asked me to share with you all an interesting study of own vs. rent ratios across the nation that is quite alarming.

Let’s go around the horn about the mortgage rates. Treasury reportedly wants to push mortgage rates down to 4.5% from their current level. It’s unclear how they’ll do this or whether it’s wise public policy. But let’s take the 4.5% mortgage rate on its face.

Spencer, Zillow.com is reporting that the going rate for a 30-year fixed rate amortizing mortgage is around 5.3%. That figure doesn’t include the payment of “points.” I believe a no-points thirty-year home loan is solidly above 6% today. So driving down rates by 150 basis points is just huge. What does this mean to a wealthier person, a Forbes reader, say, who is thinking of buying or selling or holding onto a house?

Spencer Rascoff: What a wild last two weeks. The national average interest rate for a thirty-year fixed mortgage in Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is now down 80 basis points from two weeks ago. This dramatically improves the affordability of real estate to the typical home-buyer and has sparked a refinance boom in the last few weeks.