Workers build a home in Rancho Santa Fe. Home prices are now posting double-digit gains in some of the places where so-called negative equity is severe. (Sam Hodgson / Bloomberg)
The monthly NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index often includes a set of “special” questions on a topic of current interest to the housing industry. In January 2013, the special questions asked builders about the problems they faced in 2012 and expect to face in 2013. The survey was divided into 5 different sections with significant problems faced by the builders. One section covered problems related to building costs. A year earlier, similar questions asked about problems faced in 2011, so it’s possible to trace the evolution of problems builders faced in 2011, 2012 and expect to face this year.
According to the latest survey, more than three-fourths of the builders expect building materials prices to be one of their significant problems expected in 2013, up substantially from 46 percent in 2012 and 33 percent in 2011. Second is cost/availability of labor, a significant problem 51 percent of builders expect to face in 2013, up from 30 percent who said they faced the problem in 2012 and only 13 percent in 2011. Nearly half of the builders expect cost/availability of developed lots to be a significant problem. This is also up from 24 percent who said they faced the problem in 2012 and 21 percent in 2011.
Against the backdrop of impending health reforms scheduled to go into effect in 2014, 42 percent of the builders expect costs of health insurance be a significant problem in 2013. Like many of the cost categories further down on the chart, problems with health insurance were slightly less common among builders in 2012 than in 2011, but expectations indicate this small improvement is likely to be reversed in 2013.
The tendency for cost problems to become more widespread among builders—especially the top 3 categories of costs (materials, labor and lots)—is something you might expect as residential construction recovers from its trough. At this stage of the cycle, however, rising costs are beginning to emerge as a significant obstacle to a further and stronger recovery.
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DEAR BENNY: I will be soon paying off (in its entirety) the mortgage on my home. For your information, I have been current on my payments throughout the 10-year term. The mortgage company is a credit union, and I intend to continue residing in my home.
Upon full and complete payment of all that is due on my part, is the mortgage company obliged to record a release of the mortgage (deed of trust) in the land registry of the county or execute a promissory note release? What can/should I expect from the mortgage company in proof of the full and complete payoff? –D.S.
DEAR D.S.: Yours is a legitimate question I get from many readers. First, the process is the same whether you obtained your loan from a bank, a credit union or a mortgage broker/banker. You signed a promissory note and a deed of trust (in some states it was a mortgage). The deed of trust (or mortgage) was recorded among the land records in the jurisdiction where your property is located.
Now that you have paid it off, some document must be recorded among those same land records reflecting that the loan has been paid in full. Some places this is called a “release,” while others call it a “satisfaction.”
President Obama is considering announcing a major expansion of the HARP 2.1 refinancing program in his upcoming State of the Union speech that would make it possible for underwater borrowers whose loans are not held by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to refinance at today’s low rates.
The Washington Post, citing Treasury Department sources reported this morning that the President is weighing whether to use his executive powers to expand the program to include non-agency loans in the successful refinancing program. Congress refused to approve such an expansion of the program last year.
HARP has helped about 1.8 million homeowners refinance since April 2009. Some 81,600 borrowers used the HARP program to refinance last month alone, according to HUD. Some 11 million homeowners have been unable to refinance under HARP.
The HARP program, which has been modified a number of times since its launch four years ago, is limited by that fact that borrowers’ loans must be held by one of the government sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. As a result, it has not been able to help millions of homeowners.
“Even with the expanded HARP 2.0 guidelines, we are still finding that 4 out of 10 borrowers we speak with are unable to qualify for a refinance due to participating lender restrictions,” said Brian Maier, a Las Vegas, NV mortgage broker last July.
The plan, if adopted, would likely be aimed at homeowners who have otherwise kept up with their mortgage payments but have been unable to refinance because the loan against their home exceeds its depressed value. Many Republicans in Congress have balked at the idea amid concerns over the cost to taxpayer, according to the Post.
In his State of the Union Speech last year the President proposed an expansion of the HARP program that would provide access to refinancing for all non-GSE borrowers who are current on their payments and meet a set of simple criteria. However, the plan required action by Congress, which failed to materialize.
A Los Angeles-based referral site with more than 200,000 overseas property listings is expanding into the U.S., with exclusive partners in seven states so far.
The International Multiple Listing Service (IMLS) calls itself a “commission share platform” that offers all agents and brokers a free, unbranded search widget for their websites.
The IMLS tracks when a search through the widget leads to a sale, and takes a referral fee from the listing broker. IMLS then shares the referral fee with the agent who placed the widget on his or her website.
“Everything is tracked, and no work is required by the agent with The IMLS search to earn a share of the commissions,” said Daniel Nussbaum, founder and CEO of The International Realty Inc., which created IMLS. “You cannot drive a client to Italy or write the agreement. The Italian agent cannot drive to your area and write an agreement.”
Screen shot of IMLS search widget on Real Living Five Corners website.Agents and brokers can prevent listings in their own market from appearing in the widget’s search results in order to complement agents’ own Internet Data Exchange (IDX) property search, he said.
The good folks at Trackur have put together this infographic on how to monitor your personal or your brand’s reputation online. The steps they specify:
- Identify your reputations – monitor names brand names, company names, product names and variations.
- Quantify your audience – who has a stake in your online reputation?
- Understand your goals – how are you going to measure the whether your reputation is improving?
- Specify your needs – what tools do you require and what sources do you need to monitor?
- How will you monitor? – what processes are in place to be alerted and respond to issues?
- Who will monitor the conversations? – who are you entrusting with managing and responding to online reputation issues?
Is Your City the Snowiest?
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Do you want the video to start automatically?Autoplay OnOffStatistically speaking, which locations really are America’s snowiest cities? Just to set your frame of reference, the table to the right shows the average annual snow totals for some major cities that may come to mind first.
Average Yearly Snow Syracuse 128″ Cleveland 68.3″ Denver 52.8″ Boston 45.1″ Chicago 37.7″ New York City 26.7″ (MORE: 5 incredible snowfall extremes)
We examined 30-year average annual snowfall data from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center to come up with a list of America’s Six Snowiest Cities.
We limited the list to cities with populations of at least 1,000 as of the latest census data. Unincorporated towns, mountains, national parks and ranger stations were not included.
Keep the big city snow totals to the right in mind as we kick off with number six.
Asking prices of homes listed for sale on real estate portal Trulia.com in January were up from a year ago in 86 of the 100 largest U.S. metros, according to a monthly report released today.
The report, which covers roughly 4.5 million for-sale and for-rent properties listed on Trulia through Jan. 31, showed asking prices up 5.9 percent from a year ago, and growing by a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent from December to January — the biggest month-over-month gain since March 2012.
In some markets, the strong growth in asking prices doesn’t necessarily indicate that worries are over, said Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist.
“In many local markets today, dramatic price gains can mask serious red flags,” Kolko said in a blog post. “Strong job growth, low vacancy rate, and low foreclosure inventory — not huge price gains — are signs of a healthy housing market.”
Trulia identified San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Denver and Salt Lake city as “booming” markets with strong fundamentals.
