Foreclosures Continue to Fall From Last Year’s Levels

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

Foreclosure starts are down 13 percent from a year ago when they had reached a 17-month high, RealtyTrac reports. Foreclosure starts include default notices or scheduled foreclosure auctions.

Many experts had been predicting a foreclosure wave to occur this summer with foreclosuresreaching elevated levels. But the “wave” has yet to materialize. Foreclosure starts increased 1 percent in August from July but remain well-below year ago levels.

Several states saw large decreases in foreclosure starts in August:

Oregon - 89% decrease

Nevada - 64% decrease

Utah- 57% decrease

Massachusetts - 47% decrease

California - 42% decrease

Arizona - 41% decrease

Georgia - 31% decrease

Foreclosure filings—which includes default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions—increased 1 percent in August compared to July, but were still down 15 percent from last year’s levels. Also, bank repossessions decreased in August by 2 percent compared to the previous month, marking the 22nd month for declines, RealtyTrac reported.

Source: RealtyTrac

arizona homes sale, arizona house, arizona real estate, az houses, az real, az real estate, business, chief economist, economy, for sale by owner, FSBO, gilbert arizona, gilbert az, gilbert real estate, home for sale in arizona, homes for sale in san tan valley az, homes for sale in san tan valley az san tan valley arizona arizona homes sale home for sale in arizona real estate az real estate arizona arizona real estate san tan san tan heights homes in az for sa,homes for sale valley, homes in az for sale, houses for sale,houses in Arizona for sale,how to sell my home, johnson ranch, queen creek, queen creek arizona, queen creek az,real estate arizona, real estate az, real-estate, san tan, san tan heights, san tan valley arizona, san tan valley real estate, Selling my home,short selling my home, valley homes sale, where is san tan valley az

In Buy vs. Rent, Home Buying Wins Again

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

A new Trulia study shows that owning a home is more affordable than renting over a seven-year time frame in America’s 100 biggest cities. 

Trulia collected data on homes for sale and for rent from its Web site between June 1, 2012 and August 31, 2012, and factored in such items as transaction costs, taxes, and opportunity costs. The study assumes that the home is sold after seven years and includes closing costs, maintenance, insurance, property taxes and other costs. The cost of renting includes security deposit and renters insurance.

Trulia found that nationally, owning is 45 percent cheaper than renting, with affordability highest in Detroit and lowest in Honolulu and San Francisco. 

Download Trulia’s full buy vs. rent cost analysis (PDF).

Source: “Homeownership 45 Percent Cheaper Than Renting, But Factors Vary,” eCredit Daily (09/17/12)

(c) Copyright 2012 Information, Inc.

arizona homes sale, arizona house, arizona real estate, az houses, az real, az real estate,business, chief economist,economy, for sale by owner,FSBO, gilbert arizona, gilbert az,gilbert real estate, home for sale in arizona, homes for sale in san tan valley az, homes for sale in san tan valley az san tan valley arizona arizona homes sale home for sale in arizona real estate az real estate arizona arizona real estate san tan san tan heights homes in az for sa,homes for sale valley, homes in az for sale, houses for sale,houses in Arizona for sale, how to sell my home, johnson ranch,queen creek, queen creek arizona, queen creek az, real estate arizona, real estate az,real-estate, san tan, san tan heights, san tan valley arizona,san tan valley real estate,Selling my home, short selling my home, valley homes sale,where is san tan valley az

Rising home prices lift 1.3 million out from underwater

CoreLogic: 5 percent price gain would give another 2 million equity in their homes

BY INMAN NEWS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012.

Inman News®

Rising home values helped 1.3 million homeowners get out from “underwater” in the first half of the year, and another 2 million would get equity if national home prices increase by another 5 percent, data aggregator CoreLogic said today.

CoreLogic estimates that 22.3 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage were worth less than what was owed on their mortgages at the end of June, down from 23.7 percent at the end of March.

That translates into 10.8 million homeowners who owed more than their homes were worth at the end of June, down from 11.4 million at the end of March and 12.1 million at the end of 2011, CoreLogic said.

“Surging home prices this spring and summer, lower levels of inventory, and declining REO sale shares are all contributing to the nascent housing recovery and declining negative equity,” CoreLogic Chief Economist Mark Fleming said in a statement.

Nevada had the highest percentage of mortgaged properties that were underwater (59 percent), followed by Florida (43 percent), Arizona (40 percent), Georgia (36 percent) and Michigan (33 percent).

Those five states accounted for 34.1 percent of the $689 billion of negative equity in the U.S.

http://www.inman.com/news/2012/09/12/rising-home-prices-lift-13-million-out-underwater

Low-Wage Earners Struggle to Attain Home Ownership

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

A study shows that most of the new jobs created post-recession have been low-wage jobs, which doesn’t bode well for helping to lift the housing market. 

From the first quarter of 2010 through the first quarter of 2012, low-wage jobs rose 2.7 times faster than mid to higher-wage jobs, according to a study by the National Employment Law Project.

For the study, the advocacy group labeled low-waged jobs as those that pay between $7.69 to $13.83 per hour; mid-waged jobs between $13.84 to $21.11 per hour; and high-waged jobs between $21.14 to $54.55 per hour. 

"The recovery continues to be skewed toward low-wage jobs, reinforcing the rise in inequality and America's deficit of good jobs," noted Annette Bernhardt, the study’s author. "While there's understandably a lot of focus on getting employment back to pre-recession levels, the quality of jobs is rapidly emerging as a second front in the struggling recovery."

As HousingWire notes, a person in the low wage category may earn $20,800 a year and a person in the mid-range income category may bring $28,000 per year.

“Neither salary would put a person in the position of easily affording a home,” a HousingWire article about the study notes. “For the housing market, the quality of jobs percolating throughout the economy is a key factor in deciding whether there are enough potential buyers to maintain home ownership.”

Source: “Higher Pay Drives Home Sales, But Most New Jobs Are Low Wage,” HousingWire (Aug. 31, 2012)

Another Sign That Home Prices Have Hit Bottom

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

Economists are increasingly confident that home prices have bottomed out.

For the last three years, home prices have usually risen in the spring and summer to only then lose all of those increases—plus more—in the fall and winter months. However, economists expect this year to be different and do not foresee such a big drop to occur to home prices in the colder months ahead, The Wall Street Journal reports.

While the fall months likely will bring out some sort of decrease in recent home price increases, “we have a much better supply and demand dynamic” than in previous years, Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist, told The Wall Street Journal.

Home prices have posted some of their largest year-over-year jumps compared to the last six years. According to CoreLogic, home prices have risen 9.6 percent from February, which was the month prices reached their lowest levels since the housing slowdown. Economists say it’s unlikely that, given recent indicators, home prices will reverse course steeply and fall 9.6 percent or even more in the coming months. Home prices haven’t dropped by that type of percentage since the economy was in a recession.

10 tax tips for home sellers

Real Estate Tax Talk

BY STEPHEN FISHMAN, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2012.

Inman News®

It is so hard to believe we are sneaking upon a new year. Where does the time go? But here are some things to remember when buying and selling a home!

The IRS has recently issued a helpful list of 10 tax tips all homeowners should keep in mind when selling a home:

1. You are usually eligible to exclude the gain from income if you have owned and used your home as your main home for two years out of the five years prior to the date of its sale.

2. If you have a gain from the sale of your main home, you may be able to exclude up to $250,000 of the gain from your income ($500,000 on a joint return in most cases).

3. You are not eligible for the exclusion if you excluded the gain from the sale of another home during the two-year period prior to the sale of your home.

4. If you can exclude all of the gain, you do not need to report the sale on your tax return.

5. If you have a gain that cannot be excluded, it is taxable. You must report it onForm 1040, Schedule D, Capital Gains and Losses.

6. You cannot deduct a loss from the sale of your main home.

7. Worksheets are included in Publication 523, Selling Your Home, to help you figure the adjusted basis of the home you sold, the gain (or loss) on the sale, and the gain that you can exclude.

8. If you have more than one home, you can exclude a gain only from the sale of your main home. You must pay tax on the gain from selling any other home. If you have two homes and live in both of them, your main home is ordinarily the one you live in most of the time.

9. If you received the first-time homebuyer credit and within 36 months of the date of purchase the property is no longer used as your principal residence, you are required to repay the credit. Repayment of the full credit is due with the income tax return for the year the home ceased to be your principal residence, using Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit. The full amount of the credit is reflected as additional tax on that year’s tax return.

10. When you move, be sure to update your address with the IRS and the U.S. Postal Service to ensure you receive refunds or correspondence from the IRS. Use Form 8822, Change of Address, to notify the IRS of your address change.

arizona homes sale, arizona house, arizona real estate, az houses, az real, az real estate, for sale by owner,FSBO, gilbert arizona, gilbert az, gilbert real estate, home for sale in arizona, homes for sale in san tan valley az,homes for sale in san tan valley az san tan valley arizona arizona homes sale home for sale in arizona real estate az real estate arizona arizona real estate san tan san tan heights homes in az for sa,homes for sale valley, homes in az for sale, houses for sale,houses in Arizona for sale,how to sell my home, johnson ranch, queen creek, queen creek arizona, queen creek az,real estate arizona, real estate az, san tan, san tan heights,san tan valley arizona, san tan valley real estate, Selling my home, short selling my home,valley homes sale, where is san tan valley az