Michael Blunt Real Estate

The most affordable major housing market of the US for 2012 was Ogden-Clearfield, Utah, holding this high ranking for the second consecutive year with 93.7% of families affording a home with the area’s median income of $71,500. At the other end of the top, San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, California is the least affordable market (position previously held by New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J). In San Francisco, only 28.4% of all homes sold in Q4 were affordable to households earning the median income of $103,000. -

New Listing in Valencia. Standard Sale. I just listed a Sunrise home and wanted to share with my Facebook Friends before it his the MLS. 23404 Gaucho Court. 3+2, 1128 sq.ft. with a two car garage. One of the nicest and largest yards in the tract. Listed at $369,900. Lockbox to be on by noon 2/15/2013. Let me know if you have any questions.

FHA Issues Guidance on MIP Hikes and Cancellations Borrowers who apply for an FHA-insured loan in June will have to pay annual mortgage insurance premiums for the entire life of the loan, according to the Federal Housing Administration. FHA is rescinding its current policy that allows automatic cancellation of the MIP payments once the LTV ratio on the loan hits 78%.... This rescission goes into effect for loans that are assigned case numbers on June 3 and after, according to mortgagee letter 2013-04. The financially strapped FHA mortgage insurance fund is taking this step to increase revenue and in response to pressure from Congress. FHA guarantees 100% of the loan amount and it still has to pay claims on defaulted loans with 50% LTVs. Therefore, FHA will once again collect premiums based upon the unpaid principal balance for the entire period for which FHA is entitled. That will permit FHA to retain significant revenue that is currently being forfeited prematurely, the agency said. The mortgagee letter also notified lenders that FHA is increasing annual premiums by 5 basis points to 10 bps starting April 1. On a standard FHA loan of no more than $625,000 and less than 5% down, borrowers will pay a 135 bp annual premium, up 10 bps from the current rate. FHA also is tightening its underwriting requirement on loan applicants with credit scores below 620 and total debt-to-income ratios greater than 43%. Starting April 1, these loans must be manually underwritten, according to mortgagee letter 2013-05. Less than 5% FHA loan originations involve borrowers with credit scores below 620.

The Negative Equity Story Improves, Far from Over CoreLogic reports an additional 100,000 borrowers moved from negative to positive equity status during the third quarter of 2012, indicating a trend that started to emerge earlier last year is here to stay. The third-quarter addition, however, is just one fraction of the over 1.3 million borrowers that moved into positive equity through the second quarter of 2012 bringing the total number of borrowers who moved from negative ...equity to positive equity in September year-to-date to 1.4 million. Driven mostly "by an improvement in house-price levels," according to analysts, the story of borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth because of a decline in value, an increase in mortgage debt or both, is far from over. CoreLogic data analysis show 10.7 million, or 22% of all residential properties with a mortgage, were in negative equity at the end of the third quarter of 2012-down from 10.8 million properties, or 22.3%, at the end of the second quarter of 2012. The total number of both borrowers with negative equity and those with near-negative equity who had less than 5% equity in their home is even higher. At the end of the third quarter an additional 2.3 million borrowers were in near-negative equity status. Together, negative equity and near-negative equity mortgages accounted for 26.8% of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide in the third quarter of 2012, down only 2 bps from 27% at the end of the second quarter in 2012. In dollars nationally, negative equity decreased $31 billion from $689 billion at the end of the second quarter in 2012 to $658 billion at the end of the third quarter. Chief economist for CoreLogic, Mark Fleming, attributed part of last year's "substantive gain" in house prices "to tight inventory caused by negative equity's lock-out effect," that paradoxically alleviated some of the pain, but warned that "with nearly one-quarter of borrowers still underwater, we have a long way to go." Nonetheless, expectations for 2013 are to "continue to see more borrowers escape the negative equity trap."

Fannie and Freddie halt foreclosures for the holidays! Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Bank of America said they will not evict homeowners going through foreclosure during the holidays. Homeowners facing foreclosure just received an early Christmas present: They won't be evicted from their homes over the holidays. Mortgage giants, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae announced Monday that they will suspend all bank repossessions beginning December 17 and December 19, respectively, and wil...l not resume the evictions until January 2, 2013. "The holidays are a chance to be with loved ones and we want to relieve some stress at this time of year," said Terry Edwards, Executive Vice President of Credit Portfolio Management, Fannie Mae. According to Freddie spokesman, Brad German, the suspension will not affect other pre- or post-foreclosure activities, such as the filing notices of default or the scheduling of auction sales. Fannie said in its press release that other legal and administrative proceedings will also continue. Bank of America said it will also put a halt to foreclosure evictions both for loans it owns and for those it services for investors during the holiday period. Other large mortgage lenders, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citibank have postponed foreclosures during the holidays in the past, but have yet to say whether they will do so again this year.