Toni’s Real Estate blog: LALivingNow.com

Housing economists have long held that the housing rebound, when it comes, will be uneven. The markets that benefit first will be the ones with the strongest core dynamics; places where house prices never got out of hand, cities where a diverse and progressive employment base drives job creation, towns that continue to draw population despite the economic recession.

Now that the housing recovery is nearly upon us–most economists expect a full-fledged recovery to begin this year–it’s time to figure out which markets will be the front-runners. Based on last year’s performance, especially the level of building permits pulled in the fourth quarter, it’s already clear that some markets are poised to grow at a faster pace this year than others in 2010.

List: 20. Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA

Market Health Indicator: 30.0

2009 Total Building Permits: 1,966

2010 Building Permit Forecast: 2,076

19. Greenville-Mauldin-Easley, SC

Market Health Indicator: 31.6

2009 Total Building Permits: 1,591

2010 Building Permit Forecast: 1,918

18. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX

Market Health Indicator: 33.1

2009 Total Building Permits: 26,569

2010 Building Permit Forecast: 29,703

17. Wilmington, NC

Market Health Indicator: 33.6

Total Building Permits: 1,827

2010 Building Permit Forecast: 1,925

16. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA

Market Health Indicator: 34.4

2009 Total Building Permits: 3,821

2010 Building Permit Forecast: 10,156

15. Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach-Conway, SC

Market Health Indicator: 36.0

2009 Total Building Permits: 1,758

2010 Building Permit Forecast: 1,898

Click here to see full article and find out the rest of the cities

Many homes in the Los Angeles area have begun going back up in price.  We can safely say, as a whole, we’ve seen the bottom.  There might still be individual circumstances where you will find a bargain, but this would be true for any market.  If you are thinking of buying at all, now would be the time (at or near the bottom) and time is running out for the government home buyer tax.

According to Zillow’s Real Estate Market Reports for December 2009, Los Angeles home values were up 0.1% compared to November 2009 and down 2.5% compared to December

Zillow Home Value Index

More Los Angeles Home Values

http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-Los-Angeles-home-value/r_12447//?scid=emm-2007241FeblocalReproCity-bab

Compare Cities Near Los Angeles

A snow sculpture created after “Venus de Milo” by Elisa Gonzalez at her home in Rahway, New Jersey. Gonzalez and her two children created the snow sculpture, and were later visited by the local police who told them that a neighbour had complained about the statue and that they needed to cover it up or knock it down. They didn’t want any problem with the police so they covered it up with clothing.

Freddie Mac documented a decline in mortgage rates during the week ended March 4, with 30-year fixed home loans slipping to 4.97 percent from 5.05 percent and 15-year interest averaging 4.33 percent.

Also, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its index of home loan applications jumped 15 percent during the week ended Feb. 26. Refinancing activity was up 17 percent, and purchase demand rose 9 percent.

Source: Kansas City Star (03/05/10)

Fannie Mae admitted last week that it needs another $15.3 billion from the federal government to stabilize its finances.

Fannie, which is controlled by the federal government, is making financial progress. It reported a fourth-quarter loss of $16.3 billion, including $1.2 billion in dividend payments to the Treasury Department, as compared to a loss of $25.2 billion in the same period in 2008.

Fannie’s problems stem from a continuing stream of bad loans, with 5.38 percent of its single-family loans more than 90-days delinquent, up from 2.42 percent in 2009.

Source: CNNMoney, Tami Luhby (02/26/2010)

 Foreclosure postings for several high-profile North Texas properties caused commercial real estate loan default filings to surge this month.The properties scheduled for forced sale by lenders at next month’s foreclosure auctions in Dallas-Fort Worth represent a total of more than $900 million in debt.

About 250 properties, including office buildings, hotels, shopping centers, warehouses and commercial land, are posted for the March sale, according to statistics from Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service.

The two largest foreclosure filings were for the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas, with $183 million in debt, and the Mosaic apartment buildings in downtown Dallas, which had $66.5 million in original mortgages.

It was the second month that the Four Seasons has been threatened with foreclosure. Owners of the Irving hotel and the downtown apartment high-rise both say they are still in talks with lenders.

Other large properties scheduled for foreclosure next month include an almost 300,000-square-foot office building at 2370 Performance Drive in Richardson’s Telecom Corridor. The building had an original loan amount of $30 million.

The Sheraton Dallas North hotel in Farmers Branch and a shopping center at the Dallas North Tollway and Windhaven Parkway in Plano were also posted for foreclosure by lenders.

March’s commercial foreclosure sale will be the largest so far in the current real estate cycle.

Not all properties posted for foreclosure wind up being sold by the lender. In many cases, the borrower continues to negotiate with the mortgage holder. And sometimes the parties reach agreements to avoid foreclosure.

The U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, in partnership with the Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network, launched PreventLoanScams.org, a new Web site to prevent loan modification scams.
The Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network developed the Web site to provide homeowners with a single destination to report alleged scammers. Complaints filed online are added to a national complaint database and forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement agencies for review. The Network estimates that the Web site will assist approximately 50,000 homeowners affected by scams. Additionally, HUD has directed its local fair housing and housing counseling grantees to begin reporting alleged loan modification scams via the Web site.

A lawsuit over secondhand smoke that went to trial this week in Boston will decide whether the real estate practitioner who represented the now-unhappy buyer is liable for damages over smoke that is wafting from a neighboring apartment.While secondhand smoke has been a target of many lawsuits, a lawsuit that alleges that the real estate professional representing the buyer can be held liable for failing to inform her that there could be secondhand smoke is a first in Massachusetts and, possibly, anywhere.

Real estate associate Joseph DeAngelo and Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty, with whom he’s associated, deny that Alyssa Burrage, who suffers from asthma, asked any questions about smoke in the condo before she purchased it.

“DeAngelo never made any misrepresentations, or any representations at all, concerning the source of the alleged smoke smell,’’ DeAngelo’s lawyer, Jay S. Gregory of Boston, said in the filing.

The smoker, who lives in the apartment below, and the condominium association were also sued and settled to avoid a trial.

Richard Daynard, chairman of Northeastern University’s Tobacco Products Liability Project, which tracks secondhand smoke litigation nationally, said the outcome of this lawsuit could have broad repercussions.

Source: Boston Globe, Jonathan Salzman (02/09/2010)