Team Thayer Property Servicing

While tight inventory combined with increasing home prices have caused some concern about affordability as of late, the  Federal Reserve reported in its  December Beige Book released Wednesday  that housing markets improved at a “moderate” pace on balance since the previous Beige Book was issued in mid-October. Rising home sales in seven of the Fed’s 12 districts—Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Chicago, and Kansas City—were largely responsible for the Fed’s reports of moderate growth in housing markets, though the Philadelphia district reported a “slow growth” market in which supply was at a low but stable level. The Boston, Cleveland, Richmond, and St. Louis districts all reported year-over-year declines in housing inventory, the Fed reported. Other contributors to the moderate improvement in housing markets were an increased demand for mortgage lending in several Fed districts, notably Richmond, Atlanta, St. Louis, and San Francisco; a sligh...

The credit default swaps (CDS) market has declined dramatically since the financial crisis. Trading volumes in CDS—which are financial swap agreements in which the seller agrees to compensate the buyer of the CDS in the event of a loan default—are a mere one-fourth of what they were in 2008, totaling less than $9 trillion in amount outstanding nationally as of June 2015. What is the cause of the substantial drop in the CDS market, and what can be done to bring it back up? A report titled “ Can the Credit Default Swap Market be Salvaged ?” from the Kroll Bond Ratings Agency ( KBRA ) states that new laws and regulations focused on reducing the risk of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives products is partly to blame for the dramatic decline. But KBRA also said in the report they believe the decline is “part of a larger trend by large, systemically significant global banks to move away from products and markets that are seen as problematic.” Raising some troubling questions for both ...

Pending home sales increased slightly in July for the sixth time in seven months, according to the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR). The  Pending Home Sales Index  (PHSI), which is based on contract signings, increased 0.5 percent to 110.9 in July from an upwardly revised 110.4 in June and is 7.4 percent above 103.3 recorded in July 2014. Additionally, the index has increased year-over-year for 11 consecutive months and July's reading was the third highest reading of 2015, behind April (111.6) and May (112.3). "Despite the ebbs and flows, the housing market is on solid footing that’s being bolstered by strong, broad-based job growth and more millennials creating their own households," said Selma Hepp, Trulia's chief economist. "As we saw earlier this week, the slowing of home sales price appreciation means that the frenzied and competitive markets that we’ve seen in recent years are finally calming down. This is a good th...

Via: DSNews.com Economic growth in the second quarter fell short of July expectations, presenting a less promising outlook for the rest of the year, according to  Fannie Mae’s August 2015 Economic and Housing Outlook . Although the government revised higher economic growth for the first quarter, the disappointing performance of second quarter growth and less optimistic prospects for the current quarter put the full-year 2015 growth outlook at 2.1 percent—the same as in Fannie Mae's prior forecast. The upward revision to first quarter growth by the federal government was offset mostly by a drop in nonresidential investment in equipment and structures. Housing, consumer spending, and government spending are likely to be the largest drivers of growth this year, according to the outlook. Housing data was mixed in June, but all main indicators increased during the first six months of the year compared to the same period last year. This supports Fannie Mae's expec...

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 theref...

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 ...

Flipping and refurbishing houses has become all the rage over the past decade. Almost everyone has become an expert on mortgages, refinancing, and remodelling.Introducing the  203K loan . It’s officially known as Rehab Mortgage Insurance; but that’s putting the cart before the horse. Simply, it’s an insured home loan. With the 203k FHA loan y ou have the ability to buy that spec house knowing that your pre-approved loan is going to come with some extra money for repairs. The restoration costs are at least $5,000. Spending that is not a problem these days, It’s an  FHA backed loan  that is insured, so the lender is more inclined to approve it; especially if you have done your homework and have all the paperwork showing the remodeling estimates. Remember, the 203K loan is designed to cover the present value of the house plus the cost of the rehabilitation, or 110% of the appraised value of the property after rehabilitation; whichever is less. ...

Mortgage Rates At All-Time Lows 2015 is another great year for housing in America. Home sales are on the rise, home supply is diminishing, and prices are skyrocketing in most places. To top it all off, mortgage rates are dropping like stones. What’s a person to do in a red-hot market like this? Aside from buying a home, you can start flipping like those guys on TV! 30-year mortgage rates are below 4% nationwide, their lowest levels of all-time. Many lenders now quote rates and APR in the 3s; with rates for  FHA  and  VA loans  beating rates for conventional loans. Lower mortgage rates mean lower monthly payments. Unfortunately, many  first-time homebuyers  are still under the impression that they must start out by putting 20% down. This simply is not true. Most mortgage programs today require little or no money down. No Need To Put Down 20% Buyers in today don’t need 20 percent down. Many believe they do. The reason buyers beli...

Recreational Marijuana in Oregon I was prompted from feedback on my last report on this subject to take a look at Colorado as a template on how to decipher the effect measure 91 will have on the market economics.  The news for investors  based on the Denver housing market is positive to say the least.  "There has been a huge bump in real estate prices due to the legalization of marijuana," according to James Paine, managing partner at West Realty Advisor's. "It's massively pushed up raw land and industry prices." I n March,  Denver experienced the second-largest jump in annual home prices at 10%, just behind San Francisco, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. "The pot industry is creating jobs we didn't have before," said Kelly Moye, a Re/Max real estate agent who has worked in the Denver area for 24 years. "It's brand new, it adds a whole new factor to the area; you have real estate needs, housing need...