Team Thayer Property Servicing

  CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE TEAM THAYER WEBSITE TEAMTHAYER.COM Justin Thayer

  CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE TEAM THAYER WEBSITE TEAMTHAYER.COM Justin Thayer

  CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE TEAM THAYER WEBSITE TEAMTHAYER.COM Justin Thayer

As the employment situation continues to improve, more buyers made their way into the housing market for the second quarter in a row. The U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday that thehomeownership rate rose 0.1 percent to 63.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, compared to 63.7 percent last quarter. Despite the rise however, the homeownership rate is 0.2 percent below the rate of 64.0 percent last year during the same period. In addition, the homeownership rate, while up from a 48-year low in the second quarter of 2015, is still below the peak of 69.2 percent in June 2004. After suffering a major drop in November 2015, existing-home sales rose 14.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.46 million in December, up from 4.46 million in November. Year-over-year, existing-home sales are up 7.7 percent, and December's jump will mark the largest increase ever. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the first-time buyers share was at 32 percent i

I remember reading about no-money-down deals and thinking people were completely out of their minds. How could you possibly do deals with no money down? It doesn’t make sense. I know when I go to the bank, they ask me a million questions, want everything but a blood test, look at everything I own and owe with a giant microscope, and then in the end, I will likely be frustrated, tired of the process, and may or may not walk away with a mortgage on a property. And I’ll end up bringing more money to close than I wanted to in the first place. The fact is, cash and financing are the barrier to entry for a lot of the people wanting to get into real estate investing. And I’ve learned over time the power is in finding solutions to problems: harnessing your needs, working towards them with desire and tenacity, and creating a solution. Those solutions come in many forms, and it can take many creative steps to put the financing of deals together. I wanted to think through a few examples

Employment numbers and current mortgage payments among buyers are driving the health of the housing markets across the United States, according to  Freddie Mac's Multi-Indicator Market Index  (MiMi) for November 2015 released Tuesday. Freddie Mac found that the U.S. housing market continued to stabilize as the MiMi value rose to 82.5 as of November 2015, meaning that the market is on its outer range of stable housing activity. According to the report, the MiMi value is up 0.82 percent month-over-month and 7.23 percent year-over-year. Over the last three months, the MiMi has risen 2.09 percent. The MiMi is up 39 percent from the all-time low recorded in October 2010, but remains far off from the peak of 121.7, the report stated. "We saw another strong year-over-year improvement at 7.23 percent in this month's MiMi, the best 12-month showing in a year," said Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac Deputy Chief Economist. "The regional variation of housing activity cont

While foreclosure continue to steadily decline, the number of foreclosure alternatives completed is adding up, and the industry completed another 99,000 foreclosure prevention actions in November 2015, according to data released by  HOPE NOW  on Wednesday. The 99,000 foreclosure prevention actions completed in November included permanent loan modifications, deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, short sales, and other workout plans. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, foreclosure sales for the month totaled 24,500, meaning that non-foreclosure solutions still outpaced completed foreclosures by a four to one ratio. "This metric is important as it shows the breadth of solutions available to at-risk homeowners and that these homeowners are likely to receive an alternative solution to foreclosure," HOPE NOW's report stated. "It is interesting to note that nearly 40 percent of foreclosure alternative solutions for families were repayment plans. This indicates most

Steve Dane Stephen M. Dane is a partner with  Relman, Dane & Colfax PLLC  in Toledo, Ohio. Mr. Dane practices civil rights law primarily in the areas of fair housing, insurance redlining, mortgage lending discrimination, and equal credit opportunity. Dane has testified before both houses of Congress on mortgage lending discrimination issues, and regularly speaks to lenders, private fair housing groups, and state and federal investigators on the topic.  He is the author of many articles in the field. Dane represented the  National Fair Housing Alliance  (NFHA) in their complaint filed with HUD  in 2012 against  U.S. Bank  accusing the Minneapolis-based bank of racial discrimination in REO maintenance. NFHA alleged that U.S. Bank better maintained REO properties in primarily white neighborhoods than communities mostly populated by minorities. Earlier in January,  HUD  concluded after an investigation  of the properties in question that there was not enough evidence to show

While the Federal Reserve saw enough improvement in the economy to raise the short-term interest rates in December, the Conference Board reports that the economy actually lost momentum at the end of the year. The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI) dropped by 0.2 percent in December down to 123.7 (2010=100) after increasing by 0.5 percent in both October and November. The Bureau of Economics and Analysis ( BEA ) reported at the end of December that real GDP grew at only half the pace in Q3 (2.0 percent) that it did in Q2 (3.9 percent), indicating that economic activity was slowing down. “December’s decline in the LEI, while small, was led by the decline in housing permits, followed by weak new orders in manufacturing,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, Director of Business Cycles and Growth Research at The Conference Board. “Over the last six months, the housing permits component showed three negative components offsetting the other three month’s increases. In the last six mon

Affordability Banks generally don’t want to hold on to REOs for too long — each month that goes by means another month of taxes, maintenance, and other costs they have to cover. Because they’re eager to unload the property, they may offer a significant discount (which means smaller  mortgage payments  for you!). Likewise, if a neighborhood is filled with discounted houses, then surrounding properties will also sell at a lower price — even if that specific property isn’t a foreclosure. Options You can find foreclosure properties at a variety of price points, from tiny bungalows to sprawling luxury homes, so whatever your current budget, there’s a good chance you can snag a deal on a foreclosure. Value appreciation If you buy a foreclosure that’s a little rough around the edges, you can make repairs and upgrades that will add to its value. When it comes time to sell, you could price the home for considerably more than you paid for it. And there are benefits even if you bu