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Wells Fargo Names Orange County and LA as Distressed Markets 2007-11-05 14:22:51 Wells Fargo Home Equity is planning on moving the Orange County and Los Angeles, California home markets from “soft” to “distressed” in its underwriting guidelines for home equity loans.  This move restricts underwriting guidelines by an additional 5% in terms of loan to value guidelines for home equity loans.  While the change hasn’t been made yet; it has been deemed imminent by internal folks close to the situation.  This would cap all second mortgage liens at 85% combined loan to value in those counties.  Stable and soft market LTV maximums are at 90%. This comes on the heels of the recent Goldman Sachs report that stated that California home values could be overpriced by as much as 35-45%.  We’ll have more on that report later. Share This ...

Ladies, if marriage is your goal, postpone home ownership 2007-11-05 14:11:09 This will teach me to surf around strange websites at odd hours of the day…… Single Female Seeking Home Ownership, Part 1 From Boundless Webzine, a website from Focus on the Family. You may also be interested in Part 2. Here’s a quote: I am saying that the attitude of extreme independence that characterizes many of the decisions young singles make today “? about real estate and lots of other things “? is incompatible with Christian marriage. ...

Toronto Real Estate Market 2007-11-05 05:52:23 Best October ever pushes 2007 toward a strong finish The Greater Toronto Area resale housing activity set a new record for the month of October Toronto Real Estate Board President Maureen O’Neill reported today. With 7,915 transactions, activity was up 10 per cent over the previous best for the month, set in 2003. Sales were also up 15 per cent over last October. October’s strong performance has pushed year-to-date activity 12 per cent ahead of last year. “There is every indication that 2007 will be a banner year for resale housing activity in the Greater Toronto Area,”� said Ms. O’Neill. “The effects of the City of Toronto’s new land transfer tax will definitely be felt in 2008 but we are also confident that consumers will continue to see the value of real estate as a solid long-term investment.”� Prices also rose in October to an average of $394,646, a four per cent increase over the previous month. In Pickering (E13), overall activ ...

IndyMac Tightens Screws on Brokers 2007-11-05 05:46:44 Thanks to a friend for the tip.  IndyMac Bank is changing its broker approval process and re-certification process for existing brokers.  The move is an effort to improve the quality of their wholesale originator partners.  Here are the details:  In an effort to promote the highest quality of business, IMB is changing approval and re-instatement standards. All new and re-activated broker applications begininning (sic) November 15th, 2007. IMB will now require $250 non-refundable application fee to sign up as a broker. IMB will now require $250 non-refundable applicationeview fee to be re-instated if suspended for inactivity Minimum Fico standard for all approved or re-instated brokers will be 620 Brokers will have to have a minimum 25% ownership in company AND be involved in day-to-day operations Most of you are probably expecting me to lob another comment in as to how this is just another step down the path of broker elimination; but I’m going with a different theo ...

Montreal Gazette Article Shows Agents and MLS are Falling Behind… 2007-11-05 04:21:47 A great article from this Saturday’s Montreal Gazette talks about Real Estate on the internet. The article points out that “The problem with too many real estate search sites, including the Canadian Real Estate Association’s MLS website, is they offer too little information to satisfy a sophisticated user.” The article also mentions ByTheOwner.com’s French site…”the site www.duproprio.com, where vendors can sell their properties commission-free. The best thing about the site is all its sold properties are listed with price and the number of listing days included.” Another great point which signals a bright future for ByTheOwner.com is that “Generation Y, the so-called babies of the baby boomers, are technologically advanced, able negotiators and independent thinkers” and that this group of people “prefer to do plenty of research and make their own decisions.” The entire article can be seen by clicking here : Mont ...

Who is responsible for paying a commission when one is represented as a buyer’s agent? 2007-11-05 01:13:56 The seller usually pays the commission for both buyer and seller. If the property is listed through the MLS, the seller pays the buyer’s agent commission. (more…) ...

‘Cozy’ or tiny? How to decode real estate ads 2007-11-04 23:22:14 Barbara Corcoran tells what the 12 most overused words really mean. Reading the classifieds can be like reading in a foreign language, or worse, a formula for certain disaster  - overzealous words in real estate advertising can make even a snake pit sound attractive. Don’t panic. Real estate expert Barbara Corcoran decodes some of the language and abbreviations to put you well on the way to buying and selling the home of your dreams. The most misleading words in real estate (and what they really mean) 1. Cozy (too small) 2. Charming (too old) 3. Original condition (appliances are 50 years old) 4. Needs TLC (it’s a dump) 5. Conveniently located (noisy) 6. Desirable neighborhood (this little house has been way overpriced because the neighborhood has some snob appeal) 7. Efficient kitchen (too small to fit two adults) 8. One-car garage (you can drive your Chevy in, but can’t get out) 9. Peek at the park/river/mountains (if you angle your mirror just so) 10. Useable lan ...

DineAround on November 14th, 2007 2007-11-04 17:50:07 ...

Why I (Heart) SF - A Heat Wave in November 2007-11-04 17:39:24 What the hell is a heat wave doing in San Francisco in November? Well, maybe it’s not a heat wave per se, but it’s no doubt at least a warmth wave! I mean, I vaguely remember playing in a kiddie pool back in “winter” of 1980 (and maybe there’s even a photo in the old family album, but I’m not about to post it publicly… even if I was an adorable kid!), but jeesh… I like the fact that fall weather here feels like fall weather… And that I don’t have to dig out “summer clothes” this time of year. I mean , I’m a San Franciscan! (Which by the way means that I get to complain about the weather anytime it’s not a perfect 72 degrees with a hint of a breeze at the perfect moment.) Really, I don’t even own summer clothes! So this unusually warm “fall” weather has me discombobulated. Do I bring a jacket or not? And what exactly is going on here? Is it global warming? Or is it just ...

Other online real estate sources 2007-11-04 12:53:48 Realtor.com is the official site of the American National Association of Realtors, and part of a larger organization called Move.com. According to their Web site, Move.com provides consumers with the real estate content, decision support tools, and professional connections they need before, during, and after a move. Move.com is a publicly traded company that operate several other real estate-related Web sites in addition to Realtor.com. The relationship Realtor.com has with NAR allows them access to many, though not all, of the active for sale listings in the country. Typically, Realtor.com will receive listing information directly from the more than 900 MLSs across the U.S., though in some areas (like the Toronto Real Estate Board) the brokerage may have to submit a feed to them in order to have their listings displayed. Realtor.com is the most visited real estate site on the internet (possibly the second most visited if Google broke out their real estate traffic separately). They ...

Limited Jumbo Loan Access Perils CA Market 2007-11-03 20:40:54 An important article in Market Watch this weekend focuses on the still-hurting jumbo loan market is beginning to impact the California housing market.  In parts of California (like Orange County) nearly 50% of all mortgages written are jumbo home loans (loan amounts north of $417,000).  In San Francisco more than 60% of loans are of the jumbo variety.  Lack of access to these loans has in part led to a huge drop off in home purchases in the state; and puts downward pressure on prices as home owners can no longer qualify for huge loan amounts. Data shows that the jumbo market, which traditionally has an interest rate spread above conforming rates of .25%, is currently about .75% above conforming rates.  Additionally, jumbo loan qualification has become more stringent, as lenders have eliminated stated income loan types and now require proof of income and assets before qualifying borrowers for large loan amounts.  These two changes have made homes in the most-popular California area ...

How People are Spending Their Home Equity 2007-11-03 18:00:01 So I went to a Home Goods store with my wife and mother-in-law for no good reason and was blown away by the amount of CRAP in there.  I mean there is stuff everywhere of exceptionally questionable value.  The aisles were packed with people piling this stuff up in to their carts; and I didn’t see too many people paying with cash at the register.  I walked out disgusted.  I thought of the millions of dollars in refinanced equity cashed-out and spent on this exact stuff; with millions of homes going in to foreclosure because of unsustainable debt.  And for what?  This junk!  It makes me sick to my stomach.  How long until these firms start posting massive losses due to the lack of consumer spending power that’s been fueled by these last few years? Share This ...

Ontario housing market forecast 2007-11-03 03:07:06 The latest Ontario housing forecast says resale and new home starts will continue to reach record levels through 2008. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says demand for multi-family homes will be a key force in provincial housing activity. CMHC predicts Ontario resale volumes will hit 214,350 this year and 206,250 units next year. CMHC also predicts prices for existing homes in Ontario will grow about 6.2 per cent this year and by about 3.3 per cent next year. ...

Citi CEO to Resign After Bank Threatened with Liquidity Issues 2007-11-02 19:06:37 Citi CEO Charles Prince is about to loose his crown as head of Citi after the company saw about 20% of its market value wiped out amidst billions of dollars of write downs related to bets made on subprime mortgage-related debt.  This is the second high-profile CEO to step down in a week - surely not surprising when billions of dollars were wiped clear off the books of these giants.  You can’t just have that kind of money disappearing with out having heads roll. Prince had it especially tough after reports arose that the company may need to cut its dividend to retain liquidity.  That’s a really, really, big problem.  It’s one thing for Countrywide to cite liquidity concerns as they are primarily a mortgage play; but Citi is a true global banking institution.  You can’t even compare the Countrywide crisis to this one. From Market Watch: The stock dropped especially hard on Thursday, when analysts at CIBC sparked concern the bank may have to cut its dividend ...

October ends but wasn’t a scary finish! 2007-11-02 06:32:00 In fact it was another busy month for real estate in Red Deer. It was very similar to October 2006. There was a total of 100 Single family homes sold in October 2007 compared to 101 in 2006. The similarities continued with the average sale price. The average sale price for 2007 single family homes was $338,856 and in 2006 it was $333,138. Our growth has slowed to a point where we’ve caught up to ourselves. As previously discussed the median sale price has been quite static for 2007 hovering around the $330,000 mark for the better part of the year. The median list price was in fact $329,900 fro October 2007. October median price for sold properties List Price: Sale Price: Sales Volume: DOM Single Family 329900 320000 100 29 Half Duplex 269900 264900 20 35 Town House 269900 255000 16 32 Apartment Units 197500 194000 11 21 Other 4 Total 305000 298500 151 Increased competition is still the number one challenge facing sellers today. All challenges have ...