Team Thayer Property Servicing

Approximately 94.2 percent of first-lien mortgages serviced by eight national banks were  current and performing at the end of the first quarter , an improvement of more than a full percentage point from a year earlier, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's Q1 2015 Quarterly Mortgage Metrics Report released Thursday. The eight national banks covered in the OCC's report are (alphabetically) Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, HSBC, OneWest Bank, PNC, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. The mortgages covered in the OCC's report comprised 43.9 percent of all outstanding residential mortgages in the country, which total 22.7 million loans and approximately $3.8 trillion in unpaid principal balance. Mortgage performance improved across the board for the eight national banks in Q1. The share of performing first-lien mortgages improved from 93.1 percent up to 94.2 percent, the share of mortgages that were 30 to 59 days overdue declined by 7 percent yea

As first-time buyers enter the housing market, the total number of existing-home sales saw the largest increase in May than it has in nearly six years, according to a  report  by the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR). May home sales experienced a growth spurt following April's decline and are now at their highest pace since November 2009. All major regions experienced sales increases in May, led by the Northeast. According to NAR, total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, increased by 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million in May from an upwardly revised 5.09 million in April. Sales have now seen increased year-over-year for eight consecutive months and are 9.2 percent (4.90 million) above a year ago. "Solid sales gains were seen throughout the country in May as more homeowners listed their home for sale and therefore provided greater choices for bu

Freddie Mac  is now offering distressed homeowners a complete guide to foreclosure and how to avoid it, from assessing your situation to what to do when your home has been foreclosed on, as part of a new website  launched this week as a one-stop resource for homeowners. The " MyHome by Freddie Mac " site offers homeowners a number of options under the "Foreclosure and Alternatives" tab that tell a borrower who to contact for help as well as non-foreclosure solutions that include both home retention and home forfeiture options. Freddie Mac first discusses the importance of taking stock of your financial situation and determining what a borrower can and cannot pay for as far as home-related expenses, such as major and minor repairs. If a borrower cannot pay for these things, or is incurring another major expense that will keep them from paying the mortgage, Freddie Mac recommends reaching out to the lender as soon as possible. "Your lender wants to help

Regardless of what endeavor you undertake, you always want to succeed. However, the harsh reality is people do fail in spite of the hard work they put in. Some of the reasons for failure are negligence, silly mistakes and being complacent. Failure is quite common to real estate investors and sometimes it can be so severe that these investors can get bankrupt. But why do real estate investors fail? What are the mistakes that they make? Here are the five major reasons: Image Courtesy of  khunaspix  / FreeDigitalPhotos.net 1. Too Many Risks It all starts with risks which is inherent in investment. But when the risk gets so high that you have to pull out equity or refinance other properties, it means you are heading to bankruptcy. Risk is involved in any kind of investment, including real estate investment. However, it is important to understand the different ways to navigate through these risks in order to succeed. Future is indeed unknown. Thus, it is best to keep a track o

If you thought about selling your house this year, now may be the time to do it. The inventory of homes for sale is well below historic norms and buyer demand is skyrocketing. We were still in high school when we learned the concept of supply and demand: the best time to sell something is when supply of that item is low and demand for that item is high. That defines today’s real estate market. Jonathan Smoke, the chief economist of realtor.com, in a  recent article  revealed: “Our preliminary review of April activity on realtor.com shows that traffic, searches, and listing views are up more than 35% over last year. With 3 million jobs created and close to 1.5 million new households formed in the past 12 months, many more people want a new home of their own, and they want it bad. Their patience will be tested with tight supply—indeed, the No. 1 impediment of active shoppers in April was not being able to find a home that meets their needs.” In this type of market, a seller m

 Default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 126,868 U.S. properties in May 2015, up 1% from the previous month and up 16% from a year ago to a 19-month high, according to the latest report from  RealtyTrac . The U.S. foreclosure rate in May was one in every 1,041 housing units with a foreclosure filing. The increase in May was driven primarily by a jump in bank repossessions, which at 44,892 were down 1% from the previous month but up 58% from a year ago, and a 5% year-over-year increase in scheduled foreclosure auctions. REOs increased on a year-over-year basis for the third consecutive month, and scheduled foreclosure auctions have increased on a year-over-year basis in four of the last eight months. May REOs were 56% below the peak of 102,134 REOs in September 2013 but still nearly twice the average monthly number of 23,119 in 2005 and 2006 before the housing bubble burst in August 2006. (Also see special methodology note on REO data collec

Non-foreclosure solutions continued to outpace completed foreclosures by a rate of approximately five to one in April while serious delinquencies continued their steady decline, according to  data released on Wednesday  by  HOPE NOW , an industry-created private sector alliance of mortgage servicers, investors, counselors, and other mortgage market participants. The number of non-foreclosure solutions, which include loan modifications, short sales, deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, or other workout plans) completed by the industry totaled 153,000 for April, compared to 32,000 completed foreclosure sales during the month, according to HOPE NOW. April's total of non-foreclosure solutions represented a slight increase over the monthly average for the first quarter (148,000). April's total of foreclosure sales was unchanged from the Q1 three-month average of 32,000. "HOPE NOW continues to see declines in overall serious delinquencies each month," HOPE NOW executive d

Team Thayer Real Estate News An estaimated 1.5 million "boomerang buyers" – those negatively affected by the housing crisis – could re-enter the housing market at some point in the next three years, according to a  study  released by TransUnion  on Wednesday. Boomerang buyers include those who are 60 or more days delinquent on a mortgage loan, have had a mortgage loan modified, or have lost a home through foreclosure, short sale, or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. TransUnion estimates that about 700,000 boomerang buyers could re-enter the mortgage market in 2015, and another 2.2 million could re-enter the market over the next five years. "Based on our study findings, the burst had a significant and dramatic impact on many consumers' ability to re-enter the mortgage market after suffering through the downturn," said Joe Mellman, vice president and head of TransUnion's mortgage group. "It's been over seven years since the beginning of the mor

Justin Lee Thayer is Lane counties expert in market analysis for real estate investors. Call Justin @ 541-543-7287 CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE TEAM THAYER WEBSITE Sharing is caring use the social b buttons below to share this post

Since a borrower's credit score influences a lender's decision on whether or not to give that borrower a single family mortgage loan, the importance of having a good credit score when buying a home cannot be underestimated,  according to Freddie Mac's  blog on Monday. According to  Freddie Mac , the best way to earn a high credit score is to pay debts on time that include credit cards, car payments, or student loan payments. Since a  recent survey by TransUnion found that three out four consumers know their credit score is important but are unaware of the critical role the score plays when they are seeking a mortgage loan, on Monday Freddie Mac published a list of helpful hints (as reported by financial-education company Financial Finesse) to consider for consumers who are trying to build a solid credit score or consumers who may not know of its importance. A credit score between 661 and 780 is generally considered good, with 700 being the "sweet spot,

Justin Lee Thayer / Eugene Oregon The number of borrowers who owe more money than their home is worth is slowly decreasing; however, more than half of these borrowers are stuck in an underwater free fall with little to no hope of resurfacing. According to  Zillow ’s first quarter  Negative Equity Report  released today, although the negative equity rate is falling, about 4 million homeowners owed at least 20 percent more than the worth of their home. In order for these underwater homeowners to even come close to breaking a sale, their homes would have to appreciate by more than the percentage at which they are underwater. "It's great news that the level of negative equity is falling, but what really worries me is the depth of negative equity,” said Dr. Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist. “Millions of Americans are so far underwater, it's likely they may not re-gain equity for up to a decade or more at these rates," "And because negative equi

Freddie Mac   announced Thursday  that it sold 157 deeply delinquent non-performing loans (NPLs) totaling about $31 million in aggregate unpaid principal balance (UPB) in its first-ever Extended Timeline Pool Offering (EXPO) sale on June 3. EXPOs differ from Freddie Mac's Standard Pool Offerings in that the loans include smaller pool sizes and a longer marketing period. Freddie Mac is targeting smaller investors with its EXPO auctions, which are intended to give these investors extra time to secure funding to participate in the NPL sales. Freddie Mac  began marketing the pool of loans  on April 21 and encouraged private investors, minority- and women-owned businesses, non-profits, and neighborhood advocacy funds to bid in the auction, subject to meeting bidder qualification requirements. Those requirements include: the bidding servicer must be approved by and in good standing with GSEs; the servicers must prioritize loan modifications over non-home retention solutions and e

Justin Lee Thayer / Eugene Oregon Listing Broker How does hiring the wrong real estate listing agent hurt your chances to get top dollar for your home? Here's four examples current real estate listings that will likely cost the homeowners money. Pictures of the home do not do it justice  - The  MLS can hold 16 pictures, and every listing should have all 16 filled up. Studies show that  properties with more pictures get more views online , and it's these online views that are the precursor to gaining visits to the property by ready buyers. Furthermore, the images utilized should "sell" the features and benefits of the portion of the home shown. So often, listing agents do not seem to have an agenda with the pictures they choose to include. For example, why on earth a listing agent would include the image on the right? It happens far more often than you might expect. Typographical errors in critical property descriptions  - Listing agent sloppiness costs home s