Tag Archives: Waccabuc Homes for Sale

It’s Official: Canada Housing Market Slowing, But by How Much? | Waccabuc Realtor

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By Don Curren

REUTERS

It’s official: Canada’s central bank has formally recognized that the country’s housing market is starting to cool.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t bring a lot of clarity to the key issue that’s keeping a lot of Canadians awake at night, namely how deep the correction will be.

Canada’s housing market has seen robust growth for several years both before and after the global financial crisis, with a fairly brief wobble in that period. That growth pushed prices to record highs, worrying both the central bank and the federal government. The government, all too aware of the housing implosion south of the border, responded by tightening mortgage rules four times in as many years, with the last measures taking effect in July.

That last tightening seems to have been the tipping point, with housing prices in key real-estate flash points such as Toronto and Vancouver softening in the following months. Canada’s central bank acknowledged for the first time the reality of the housing slowdown in its regular policy statement Tuesday morning, saying “housing activity is beginning to decline from historically high levels.”

But that was quickly followed with the caveat that “[it] is too early, however, to determine whether the moderation in housing activity and credit growth will be sustained.” The bank would certainly like to see more moderation. It’s been worried about the household sector’s overall debt levels since at least 2009, and those debt levels are largely driven by mortgages and other forms of property-based borrowing.

Meanwhile, it’s been unable to take action by raising interest rates as it’s had to offset the drag on Canada’s export-oriented economy from the problems in Europe and elsewhere. The bank does forecast with some confidence that the expansion will be “driven mainly by growth in consumption and business investment, reflecting very stimulative domestic financial conditions.”

But the sophisticated forecasting models the bank uses for making economic forecasts and interest-rate decisions apparently don’t extend to the housing market–or the bank isn’t comfortable revealing what they say. The bank did quantify the impact it expects the housing sector to have on the economy in its last policy report in October, when it said the housing sector would take a tenth of a percentage point off GDP growth in 2013 and 2014. But for any more detail than that, worried Canadians will have to wait for its next policy report, in January.

via blogs.wsj.com

3 things to avoid when buying or selling | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Advice on what to do and how to do it is everywhere these days. Whether you want to know what to eat, how much money to save or how to learn a new language, it seems that the answers are a mere Google away.

And that has created its own set of problems, chief among them the issue of information overload. Sorting through the overwhelming inundation of information about how to proceed with any major life endeavor — including real estate matters like buying, selling or refinancing a home — has become a sort of pre-action step.

Often, the most helpful action-sorting, order-creating, overwhelm-abolishing advice turns out not to be advice about what to do, but advice about what not to do. To that end, here are my top three real estate don’ts:

1. Buy too soon. As I see it, the drive to buy a home before your finances, your family and even your personal development are truly ready (and the complicity of lenders who were all too happy to make loans to borrowers, prematurely) is to blame for much of the real estate mayhem we saw in the recent real estate recession.

If you have no money to put down, no cash cushion, poor spending, saving and debting habits, or uncertainty about how stable you and your household will be in the next five or so years, geographically and otherwise, buying a home is a move that is highly likely to end in a tale of woe.

As strongly as I believe in the power of homeownership, I have seen time and time again that it is better deferred until you are truly ready than rushed into and regretted.

2. Take it personally. Whatever it is. Buyers who get overly attached to a property, emotionally speaking, put themselves behind the eight ball when it comes to negotiations, and are also likely to panic and make bad decisions when it comes to responding to inspection reports and borrowing mortgage money.

Know that there are literally hundreds, possibly thousands, of prospective homes in your area that might fit your needs, so beware of allowing any single one to get you too worked up, before you have it in contract, have your inspection reports in hand, and have made it through appraisal and underwriting phases.

For sellers, the potential to take things personally is exponentially greater, given that your home is both your largest asset and the place that has been good enough for you and your family to live in for, perhaps, years. It’s very easy to get offended by everything from the real estate agent’s estimation of what your home is worth, staging and property preparation advice (which can feel like your taste and lifestyle are under attack), lowball offers, appraisals — you name it.

The very best practice is to find and work with professionals you trust, six months or even a year in advance of when you want to make your move, then be open and attentive to their advice, even if it hurts. Do not allow your emotional attachment to your home to get in the way of the financial and personal progress you seek from trying to sell it.

3. Avoid discomfort. As a general rule, many of the best things in life require us to go through some discomfort or small, recurring pain to get them. To get fit, you have to get up and exercise when you might feel like curling up and snoozing. To get ahead in your career, you have to exercise discipline in your work habits, putting in hours and ideas even when the going gets tough.

It is no different with real estate; in fact, the nature of the real estate game is so foreign to what most of us consider our zones of comfort and competence that making a series of informed, smart real estate decisions can actually require a series of uncomfortable commitments, several months or even years of agreement to endure little pains to reach your goal.

Whether your personal discomfort zone is triggered by one or all of the following:

  • staunching your spending hemorrhage.
  • saving money when you’d rather take a trip.
  • working through your financial maths repeatedly.
  • negotiating.
  • asking hard questions (and continuing to ask them until you are satisfied).
  • thoroughly reading literally hundreds of pages of disclosure, inspection, and homeowners association (HOA) and loan documents.

My last “don’t” is this: Don’t avoid any of these uncomfortable processes, practices and moments. They are each an essential element of the process of buying or selling or mortgaging a home with wisdom and long-term sustainability.

via inman.com

Widows Pushed Into Foreclosure by Mortgage Fine Print | Waccabuc Realtor

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Ms. Bates, 70, is caught in a foreclosure trap that is ensnaring widows across America: she cannot get help lowering her payments until her name is added to the mortgage note, but the lender says she must be current on payments before that can happen.

“I keep praying,” said Ms. Bates, who is fighting with the bank to stay in the four-bedroom house.

Just as the housing market is recovering, a growing group of homeowners — widows over the age of 50 whose husbands alone were holders of the mortgage — are losing their homes to foreclosure because of a paperwork flaw that keeps them from obtaining loan modifications.

In the latest chapter of the foreclosure crisis, homeowners over 50 are falling into foreclosure at the fastest pace of any age group, according to nationwide data, in part because women are outliving their spouses and are unable to cope with cuts in their pensions, ballooning medical costs — and the fine print on their mortgages.

While there are no exact measures of how many widows have entered foreclosure, figures compiled by AARP show the rate of foreclosures among people over 50 increased by 23 percent from 2007 to 2011, resulting in 1.5 million foreclosures.

A few lenders have tweaked their procedures to navigate the problem, and housing advocates are petitioning the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to devise guidelines for lenders in situations that involve surviving relatives. Banks say that while the volume of delinquent mortgages means that they need a blanket policy to cover all homeowners who are behind on their payments, they are willing to work closely with widows.

Still, interviews with elder-care advocates, housing lawyers and borrowers suggest that the problem is spreading fast, propelled by an aging population. Legal aid offices in California, Florida, Ohio and New York say it is among the top complaints from clients. Billy Howard, a consumer lawyer in Tampa, Fla., said he had more than two dozen cases involving widows, up from virtually none before 2007.

“These women are essentially invisible,” said Gladys Gerson, a lawyer for Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida.

At first glance, the issue seems little more than a logistical headache. To stay in the home, and play slot game to earn and pay bills, the surviving spouse needs to take over the mortgage. But to do that, most banks require that the borrower assuming the mortgage be up-to-date on payments. Housing advocates say that their clients, especially if one spouse experienced a prolonged illness, often find they are already thousands of dollars behind.

“Surviving spouses are trapped without a clear way to preserve their home,” said Arabelle Malinis, a lawyer at Housing and Economic Rights Advocates in California.

The conundrum is pushing some widows into foreclosure by choking off a lifeline that could save their homes. As of 2011, 6 percent of loans held by people over 50 were delinquent, up from about 1 percent in 2007, according to a July study by AARP, an advocacy group for Americans over 50. The study, which housing lawyers say accurately describes the tide of foreclosures on seniors’ homes, analyzed mortgage data over a five-year period.

Part of the problem, according to Debra Whitman, AARP’s executive vice president for policy, is that older Americans are saving less and borrowing more. Debt for Americans ages 65 to 74 is outpacing any other group, according to the Federal Reserve.

Some help is on the way. JPMorgan Chase, for example, allows surviving relatives to complete a loan modification and mortgage assumption simultaneously. And the consumer bureau is finishing rules to provide tighter oversight of mortgage servicing companies, which collect payments from homeowners.

Housing advocates say most of their widowed clients still remain in their foreclosed homes.

The trouble for Ms. Bates, of Jacksonville, Fla., began after her husband Robert, a World War II veteran, died last February. Mr. Bates had obtained a trial loan modification but died before he could make the first payment. Determined to make good on the hard-won plan, Ms. Bates said she notified HSBC, the servicer, of her husband’s death and sent in a check for $1,125.47.

Ms. Bates said she was devastated when the check was returned, with a letter explaining the money could not be accepted because she was not on the mortgage. Ms. Bates still owes roughly $131,000 on the original $140,000 mortgage. HSBC declined to comment on the case, but said in a statement, “HSBC has a strong commitment to home preservation and regards foreclosure as a last resort.”

Complaints from widows about botched forms, unanswered calls and the peculiar frustration of being asked repeatedly by servicers for the same documents echo the concerns that culminated in a $26 billion settlement in February over other mortgage flaws with the country’s five largest mortgage servicers.

via nytimes.com

4 Ways a Real Estate CRM Will Help You Get More Organized | Waccabuc Real Estate

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Thinking about investing in a customer relationship management (CRM) software? If you are, now is the time to get on board. Here’s why: the U.S. real estate market is finally making a comeback after years in decline. In fact, there are reports that U.S. housing rebounded to a four year high last month. There are less vacant homes on the market and applications for building permits are increasing

If you’re still a REALTOR®, you’ve lived through some tough times. Now is the time to prepare yourself for more business and make sure that you’re able to take it on while staying 100% organized and in-control.

In addition to helping you remain in touch with clients, nurture your leads, and build relationships with your sphere, a real estate CRM is absolutely instrumental to getting more organized. Below are four ways you can use your CRM to stay both proactive, organized, and in-control:

1.     Listing and Closing Activity Plans

A good real estate CRM will come with pre-designed listing and closing Activity Plans. These plans will help you manage every step in the process of listing and closing a home so nothing ever falls through the cracks.

2.     Transaction Management

Part of running a completely organized business is having the ability to manage all of your transactions, transaction documents, showings, and third parties in one place. And this is exactly what a top-notch CRM will let you do. Use your CRM to generate service reports, schedule appointment and task reminders, list property details, record closing and other dates, manage offers, and track commissions.

3.     Drip Email Marketing

Staying in touch with clients and prospects and building long-term relationships with them is the impetus that’ll spark referrals and repeat business. Your CRM should have a number of pre-designed marketing campaigns created you. Simply select the campaign that works best for a particular contact or group and your CRM will send emails out automatically at various time intervals. Drip email marketing campaigns will help you automate some of your marketing, which means that while you’re busy with a client on the road, you’re also marketing to hot leads and staying in touch with past clients at the same time.

4.     Integrated Calendar and Task List

Never underestimate the power of a calendar and task list in helping with personal organization. One of the benefits of a good CRM is that you don’t have to rely on your memory. Use the system for any reminders or notifications that you want to receive (for example, you may want the system to remind you to call your clients on their birthday or home purchase anniversary date). As soon as you log into your CRM, take a look at your calendar and tasks for the day so you’re aware of your appointments and what needs to be done.

Choose a system that automatically and wirelessly syncs with the built-in calendar in your smartphone. That’s an important plus because it gives you the opportunity to add and view appointments on the road and keep your CRM constantly up-to-date.

A good, easy to use CRM will play a big role in helping you run a more organized and productive business. As the real estate market is coming back to life, adopting a CRM into your business is more important now than ever.

via next.inman.com

Ads by 19 Mortgage-Related Companies Probed by Regulators | Waccabuc NY Real Estate

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U.S. regulators are investigating 19 mortgage-related companies over potentially misleading advertisements, including some that used Facebook Inc. (FB)’s website, the agencies announced today.

“Misrepresentations in mortgage products can deprive consumers of important information while making one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives,” Richard Cordray, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director, said in an e- mailed statement announcing the probes. “Baiting consumers with false ads to buy into mortgage products would be illegal.”

Ads by 19 Mortgage-Related Companies Probed by Two U.S. Agencies

Ads by 19 Mortgage-Related Companies Probed by Two U.S. Agencies

The consumer bureau said in the statement it had opened investigations into six companies. The Federal Trade Commission, the other agency involved in the probes is looking at 13 firms, Thomas Pahl, the FTC’s assistant director in the division of financial practices, told reporters on a conference call.

Neither agency released the names of the companies.

The CFPB and the FTC also announced they had sent warning letters to 32 mortgage-related companies that the agencies said may be violating the Mortgage Acts and Practices Advertising Rule. Of the 32 letters, 12 came from the CFPB and went to mortgage lenders and brokers, the agency said.

The rule, which was approved by the FTC in 2011 and is jointly enforced by both agencies, does not apply to traditional depositories, so today’s actions affect only non-banks.

The agencies’ warning letters from the agencies urge the companies to review the rule to assess compliance, and do not accuse them of legal wrongdoing.

Preventive Measure

Since the housing bubble burst, mortgage advertising has been down and may rise in the future, Pahl said.

“One of the things we wanted to do through conducting this sweep was to make sure that when mortgage advertisers start disseminating claims again, that they are aware of their obligations to make sure that none of those ads contain deceptive claims,” Pahl said.

The actions grew out of a joint review of about 800 randomly selected mortgage-related advertisements that appeared in newspapers, on the Internet and in direct mail and e-mail, Pahl said. The Internet ads included ones on Facebook, he said.

Some were provided by state attorneys general including Kamala Harris of California and Lisa Madigan of Illinois, Kent Markus, the CFPB’s enforcement director, told reporters.

The CFPB focused its review on mortgage advertisements, particularly ones targeting older Americans or veterans, according to the agency’s statement. The FTC looked at ads by home builders, real estate agents and lead generators, services that collect consumers’ information and sell it to service providers.

Potential Violations

The review turned up four potentially illegal practices, according to CFPB. Some ads contained seals that appeared to imply a government affiliation, while others promoted potentially misleadingly low interest rates. Some understated the costs of reverse mortgages, and others may have misrepresented the amount of cash available to consumers by for example, including a mock check.

Markus said the dividing line between warning letter and enforcement action depended on the severity of the potential violation. A “clearly false” statement brought an investigation, while something that might be technically true would prompt a warning letter, Markus said.

“It’s not a technical reading of the ad,” Pahl told reporters. “It’s as if an average person is reading the ad.”

via bloomberg.com

Fed Gov. pushes separate lending rules for community banks | Waccabuc NY Homes

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The threat of losing community banks in the home lending space, prompted Federal Reserve Board Governor Elizabeth Duke to propose the creation of a separate regulatory regime for smaller banks this week.

While speaking to the Community Bankers Symposium in Chicago, Duke said one-size-fits-all regulatory structures ignore the unique burdens community banks face when dealing with Dodd-Frank Act rules and Basel III capital requirements.

“Balancing the cost of regulation that is prescriptive with respect to underwriting, loan structure, and operating procedures against the lack of evidence that balance sheet lending by community banks created significant problems, I think an argument can be made that it is appropriate to establish a separate, simpler regulatory structure to cover such lending,” Duke said during her speech.

Duke is one of the first Fed Governors to go on the record, saying she believes regulation is starting to reach a point where its benefits are now outweighed by the risks of overburdening community banks and forcing them out of home lending altogether.

For starters, higher-interest rates and balloon payments have become targets of lending regulations tied to Dodd-Frank and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But community banks have successfully used these products time and time again in the past.

Unlike subprime lenders, which abused these tools to drive volume and then sold them through the securitization channel, community banks generally hold the risk on their balance sheets, Duke asserted.

“They use higher interest rates to compensate for the lack of liquidity in these loans or to cover higher processing costs because community banks lack economies of scale, and they use balloon payments as a simple way to limit their interest-rate risk,” Duke said.

Concerns over new capital requirements and additional operating procedures could push community banks away altogether, Duke said.  This is a problem when considering banks and credit unions together represented 25% of all originations in the U.S. marketplace last year.

Rather than imposing the same regulatory structure on all institutions, Duke proposes the creation of a separate regulatory regime that possesses the skills to evaluate smaller banks on the disclosures they make and through on-site bank supervision.

via housingwire.com