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HARP refinancings dip in second quarter | South Salem Real Estate

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Higher mortgage rates caused refinance volumes to edge down in the second quarter as fewer homeowners filed refi applications.

When compared to the two prior periods, 2Q refinance volumes fell slightly, according to the latest housing agency refinance data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

In the second quarter, 279,933 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages refinanced through the government’s Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), representing 22% of total refinance volume.

The slight drop in refi volumes occurred as mortgage rates rose sharply to 4.07% in June, up from 3.57% in March.

The total number of HARP refinances from the inception of the program to now totals 2.65 million.

Market analysts expect the trend to continue, as mortgage rates are likely to trend higher once the Federal Reserve begins scaling back its monetary stimulus.

“I think once rates begin their return to normalcy as the Fed starts to taper, refinance demand is likely to further decline,” explained Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) markets and international banking analyst Sarah Hu.

She added, “The tapering of refinance activity may have already occurred as evidenced in this week’s refinance index (< 2000), the lowest since Jan 2011.”

On a similar note, Compass Point Research & Trade analyst Kevin Barker noted that HARP refinance volumes will remain under pressure given the higher rates.

“If borrowers have less of incentive to refinance at higher levels, it’s going to effect volumes and how aggressively originators will target HARP borrowers,” Barker stated.

He continued, “I would point out that the drop in refi activity compared to HARP volumes will be relatively less because they’ll be more resilient to rates.”

Of the loans that refinanced through HARP in the second quarter, 19% had a loan-to-value ratio greater than 125%.

While taking a look at year-to-date figures through June, 18% of HARP refinances for underwater borrowers were for shorter-term 15- and 20-year mortgages, building equity faster than traditional 30-year mortgages.

In Nevada and Florida, markets that analysts have been keeping an eye on since the recovery began, HARP refinances represented 59% and 50% of total refinances, respectively. This is more than double the 21% of total refinances throughout the country over the same time period.

Underwater borrowers accounted for a large portion of HARP refinances in a number states, representing more than 61% of HARP volume in Nevada, Arizona and Florida.

From the program’s inception through June, 2.34 million loans refinanced through HARP were for primary residences, 78,756 were for second homes and 307,272 were tied to investment properties.

 

 

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http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26598-harp-refinancings-dip-in-second-quarter

 

The Week In Video: Mobile Video, Bigfoot And Steam Powered YouTube | South Salem Realtor

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The Week In Video: Mobile Video, Bigfoot And Steam Powered YouTube

Welcome back to the ‘Week in Online Video’ where we catch up with the news  and gossip from the world of YouTube, Cable, Google and all things video  related. This week we take a look at how e-commerce  annotations and the Content ID system are helping those who want to monetise  their video content as well as some of the new tweaks YouTube have introduced.

YouTube Gives Go Ahead For E-Commerce Annotations

A huge percentage of those producing consistent, quality, relevant content on  YouTube will have looked into the ways they can monetise their channel. There  are many avenues to explore, all with various degrees of success depending on  your approach and audience. We have a new kid on the block in the form of Subblime which  aims to provide extra revenue for those that use their services. Subblime is one  of the companies that YouTube have just endorsed that allow content creators to  link out to third parties via their annotations. The company currently has  around 40 creators signed up and confirms the CTR ranges from 20% to 50%. One to  watch.

Read More at: PandoDaily

Great Moments in Mobile Video

Accessing video content via our smartphones seems as second nature as  switching on the TV these days. But with the lightening fast pace of technology  it’s easy to forget that the concept is only 10 years old and it’s only in the  last couple of years that mobile video consumption  has reached stratospheric heights. The team at Spark Qualcomm bring us the facts  and figures.

The Week In Video: Mobile Video, Bigfoot And Steam Powered YouTube

See the full infographic here.

AdRev Opens Up Content  ID Platform To Independent Musicians And Publishers

We’ve already touched on monetisation opportunities and the YouTube Content ID system has been an excellent way for  artists to track down and often profit well from copyright infringements. AdRev,  one of the biggest third party providers of tracking to the huge publishing  companies such as Universal and Warner have opened up their features to smaller  labels and musicians via their new ContentID.com  site. Artists can upload their content to AdRev’s database for free and keep 80%  of the revenue from unofficial, third party videos.

Read More at: NMR

Rhett And Link Producer Jason Inman Wants $10,000 To Go Find Bigfoot

The producer behind YouTube darlings Rhett and Link has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a web  series tracking and finding (because it totally exists) Bigfoot. For a  modest $10,000, Jason Inman and his team of Squatch Watchers – with the help of  the glorious Chuck Testa – aim to do what programmes like ‘Finding  Bigfoot’ have failed to, albeit restricted to filming in the California area  only. Of course, Sasquatch aficionados will know that Cali was the location for  the most famous sighting of all time so anything is possible.  Here’s the trailer for the campaign:

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The Week In Video: Mobile Video, Bigfoot And Steam Powered YouTube http://www.reelseo.com/the-week-in-video-mobile-bigfoot/#ixzz2dq3MPEbT

Peter Eisenman’s Experimental ‘House VI’ Listed for $1.4M | South Salem Real Estate

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A rare house by “postfunctionalist” architect Peter Eisenman in the hills of Connecticut has been quietly listed for $1.4M. Despite the name, House VI, this was actually just the second structure built by Eisenman, who, at the time of the 1972 design, had spent much of his career on theory. Perhaps as a result, the construction of the compact house took three years and ran well over budget. In 1987, persistent issues with the structure meant it had to be thoroughly renovated, but the original clients remain satisfied with the result, so much so that they wrote a book in defense of Eisenman’s work. Set on six acres, the controversial house has been listed alongside a repurposed 1880s schoolhouse, now used as a guest cottage, and a lean-to barn

Real estate agents get wise to superstitions | South Salem Homes

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Are you superstitious? What about your clients? While it may seem odd, honoring the cultural beliefs and superstitions that others hold not only builds connection, but it can also help you close more deals. A number of years ago I had some affluent clients from Thailand. We found a $1.3 million house in Santa Monica, Calif., that they wanted to purchase. Before writing the offer, however, they wanted their priest to look at the property. The “priest” turned out be a Buddhist monk who spoke no English and was dressed only in a scant orange robe and sandals. When my clients decided they wanted to stop for coffee, I was at a loss about what to do with the priest: Do I stay in the car, go in with my clients to buy coffee, bring him some bottled water or do nothing? I decided to wait in the car.

Needless to say, the whole situation seemed bizarre. When we arrived at the property, the monk walked it completely and then stood across from one of the trees in the front yard. An animated discussion followed in Thai between my clients and the monk. I learned later that the monk had advised them not to buy the property because there was an evil spirit in the tree in the front yard. My first question was how to get rid of the evil spirit. The monk had already advised my clients on that issue: It wasn’t possible. While this story may seem strange, have you ever bumped into any of the following with your clients? 1. In down markets, an agent who buries a statue of St. Joseph in the yard in order to sell the house more quickly?

 

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http://www.inman.com/2013/08/15/real-estate-agents-get-wise-to-superstitions/#sthash.JIAv8gXy.dpuf

Bidding Wars Abate as Markets Stabilize | South Salem Real Estate

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Competition for homes across the U.S. dropped from 68.6 percent in June to 63.3 percent in July. The number of offers facing competition peaked in March at 75.7 percent.

Increasing inventory, rapidly rising home prices and interest rate spikes all contribute to the continuing trend toward a less competitive market. Less measurable market forces such as buyer fatigue and buyers taking summer vacations probably also played a role in this trend.

Budding wars are abating as is in line with other research that points toward the strong sellers’ market beginning to shift toward more balance, giving frustrated home-buyers a bit of relief. Redfin agents report that buyers who have been in the market for even a few months have noticed the change in their favor, the Redfin brokerage reported today.

Redfin agents and analysts are closely monitoring bidding war rates, expecting them to continue their downward trend into the fall. This would be a contrast to last year’s pattern, which saw the market heat up in the autumn months.

The report’s key findings include:

  • As a result of reduced competition, winning offers fell closer to list prices for the second consecutive month. Nationally, the average difference between winning offers and list prices fell to 0.6 percent in July from 0.9 percent in June and 1.4 percent in May.
  • San Diego and Orange County saw the largest decreases in competition, with bidding war rates falling by more than 10 percentage points in July.
  • Washington, D.C.’s bidding war rate saw the smallest decline, falling just 1.2 points in July.
  • Baltimore was the only metro area where bidding wars increased, with an 8.8 percentage point jump in July.

The table below ranks the hottest real estate markets in order of competitiveness.

 

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http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/08/bidding-wars-abate-as-markets-stabilize/

 

Are local housing markets recovering too quickly? | South Salem Homes

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While housing bubble concerns are overblown, there are cities where the pace of recovery is perhaps too strong, given current market dynamics, CNBC reports.

The news publication is sounding the alarm on potential bubble territories:

“Nationwide, the housing market is not in a bubble. But there are probably some markets that are at risk for getting into bubble territory if they continue at the pace that they’re going,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

                    Source: CNBC

How Do Digital Marketers Engage On Twitter? | South Salem Real Estate

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Social media has made it possible for us all to be digital marketers.How do digital marketers engage on Twitter

The reality is that if you are on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ you “are” a digital marketer whether you like it or not. You are publishing  and promoting a brand. It might be brand “you” or it maybe be a  business or organisation you represent.

If you publish you are a digital marketer.

Publishing is now marketing and the mind share that content marketing has  garnered reveals the power of social content and crowd sourced sharing.

Marketing also involves two key activities.

Publishing and promotion

Social media provides the means, the technology and the platforms to do  both.

Don’t underestimate Twitter’s brevity

Twitter’s role in the digital marketing pantheon was often seen as about  breaking news. Used correctly it can accelerate your brand message and content  to a global waiting audience that will pass it on. Don’t underestimate Twitter’s  marketing horsepower because of its 140 character brevity.

It can be a focused marketing platform that drives brand awareness and  content discovery. It is a low friction network that moves multi-media content  in real time….fast.

Some questions

So if you see yourself as a digital marketer then you may be asking some  questions. This will provide you with some ideas on the sources you may need to  be reading to keep up to date. It will also enable some insights into the  sources, apps and people that you may need to follow or check out.

  1. Which social networks are they on?
  2. What apps and platforms do they use to share on Twitter?
  3. What mobile apps do they use for sharing ?
  4. What types of content do they share?
  5. What are the mainstream media sources?
  6. What industry sources are they sharing?
  7. What are the social media media sources are they reading, viewing and  sharing?
  8. Who are the people most retweeted by digital marketers?
  9. Who are the people that are most mentioned?
  10. What are the brands most retweeted?

A recent report on  Leadtail looked at 143,856 tweets and 69,657 shared links to provide a  snapshot of how digital marketers engage on Twitter. It also provided  answers to those 10 questions.

How do digital marketers engage on Twitter?

Here are some insights into Twitter engagement as performed by digital  marketers. It reveals resources, tools and people that you may not have heard of  that you may want to add to your reading, viewing and watch list.

 

Read more at…

 

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2013/08/13/how-do-digital-marketers-engage-on-twitter/#lDMbWKAz2bVfL841.99

Will rates kill the building rebound? | South Salem Real Estate

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McBride & Son had so many people waiting to buy houses in its new subdivision in south St. Louis County that it held a lottery last week to allocate the lots.

“We had 47 people give us checks,” McBride Chief Executive John Eilermann said. The lottery determined the order in which buyers could pick their home sites.

“I’ve been doing this 27 years, and that was the biggest demand I’ve ever seen,” said Eilermann of his new subdivision near Grant’s Farm.

Home building has been rising rapidly in St. Louis — although higher mortgage rates put the future in doubt.

From January through June, home construction permits were running 38 percent ahead of last year on the Missouri side of the area. Permits issued in June were up 66 percent from June 2012.

“The industry is healing. It’s getting better, and we’re putting more people back to work,” said Pat Sullivan, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri.

The association counts the hours that carpenters work building houses in St. Louis. At the current rate, carpenters will work 2.1 million hours this year, up from 1.4 million last year.

But that’s still far below the 4.7 million of 2005, before the housing bust. And it’s below the 5.4 million record set in the late 1980s.

 

 

Will rates kill the building rebound? : Business.

So far, it’s a lucky ’13 for rebounding home values | South Salem Real Estate

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The first six months of 2013 brought a remarkably fast recovery to Sacramento’s real estate market.

Figures from DataQuick, a San Diego real estate information firm, show median single-familyhome prices jumping anywhere from 15 percent to 50 percent across much of the four-county Sacramento region.

“I don’t recall anyone predicting prices would rise this much” in so short a time, said DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage.

There were a few exceptions, mainly in the region’s most sought-after residential areas. The college town of Davis, the leafy neighborhoods near downtown Sacramento, and the upscale foothill communities of Granite Bay and El Dorado Hills held their value better in the crash, LePage said. Those areas saw more moderateprice increases during this year’s rebound, he noted.

“The spectacular appreciation tends to be in areas where prices got beaten down the most during the downturn,” LePage said.

Parts of south Sacramento, West Sacramento,Tahoe Park, North Sacramento, North Highlands and Arden Arcade were among the places that saw the biggest leap in prices, with appreciation of about 50 percent over the same period of 2012, according to DataQuick.

The median price is the point at which half of homes sell for more and half sell for less.

Most of the rise in median home prices has been driven by an increase in values, as more buyers compete for a relatively small number of homes for sale, LePage said.

Investors paying cash and snapping up cut-priced homes for rentals spurred the upward price pressure, he said. The realization that the market had hit bottom and turned upward also unleashed a wave of pent-up demand from mid-level and high-end buyers, he added.

Combined with a record-low inventory of homes for sale and record low mortgage rates, it pushed prices skyward.

“In six months people went from thinking prices might fall to thinking they would go up,” LePage said.

Another big factor was a sharp drop in the number of foreclosed homes on the market. There was a huge decrease in foreclosure resales in the first six months of this year compared with the first six months of last year, LePage said.

In Sacramento County, for example, the number of homes on the market that were foreclosures dropped from 41 percent in the first half of 2012 to 16 percent in the first half of this year. El Dorado, Placer and Yolo counties also saw the percentage of foreclosures on the market drop by more than half.

Whether such huge price gains can continue is another question. Rising mortgage rates and rising prices could moderate demand, LePage said.

“It’s easy to imagine a temporary pause where people have to think more carefully because (those factors) are affecting affordability,” he said.

 

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/04/5620257/so-far-its-a-lucky-13-for-rebounding.html#storylink=cpy

 

 

So far, it’s a lucky ’13 for rebounding home values – Real Estate – The Sacramento Bee.

Hot Real Estate Market Causes Unexpected Glitch For Buyers, Sellers | South Salem Real Estate

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The real estate market in the Boston area has been crazy lately and that’s adding up to trouble for both buyers and sellers.

Demand is way up and inventory is way down. That means buyers are all chomping at the bit to bid on the few houses that are on the market. “I’ve had clients this spring who have offered on properties without even seeing them,” explained realtor Kerrianne Ciccone.

In the most popular neighborhoods, sellers are routinely getting multiple offers above the asking price. While that may sound like great news for Ciccone’s clients like Neil Maniar, it can create some problems. “You never quite know what you are going to get into when you sell your house,” Maniar said.

One of the biggest unknowns in the current market is the appraisal. If a bidding war pushes the price above asking, the appraisal may come in too low.

 

 

Hot Real Estate Market Causes Unexpected Glitch For Buyers, Sellers « CBS Boston.