Real Estate Week in Review - with a new format

Christina Lazrak - mistakes to avoid with your mortgage application

Wondering why your loan application was turned down ? Very often, I am approached by Chelmsford condos and home buyers, and hear that their mortgage application was rejected. Often times, these Chelmsford homeowners were pretty sure they had the paper work in order and were busy browsing through the Chelmsford open houses and property listings.They were busy touring open houses in the Chelmsford, Tewksbury area. Then, they recieve the news about their mortgage application.

Here are some common mistakes to avoid in your mortgage application. contact me if you need some assistance with your application process or selecting a loan consultant that can help you.

Nine Mortgage Mistakes to Avoid | Fox Business

Realtor Christina Lazrak shares mortgage news on borrower behavior

A recent study conducted by TransUnion has revealed that, when faced with credit card, auto loan, and mortgage debt, the typical troubled borrower is most likely to let their mortgage payments slip. Four million indebted borrowers were surveyed (that's a lot of dinner-time phone calls!), and a mere 9.5% of those were delinquent on auto loans, while 17.3% were delinquent on credit card payments.  Nearly 40% of the borrowers polled were behind on their mortgage, opting instead to pay auto and credit card loans.


A typical loan regardless of its purpose took 42 days to close in March, about the same as in February but down three to five days from December. The majority of loans that went through Ellie Mae were 30-year fixed-rate loans but 20% were 15 year and about 4% were ARMs. The average loan closed in March had a FICO score of 749, an LTV of 77% and a DTI of 23/35. (Loans that were denied had an average FICO of 699, 85% LTV, and a DTI of 27/43.)


More from Mortgage News Daily

Realtor Christina Lonigro asks do you know the10 best U.S. cities for real-estate investors?

Great slide show on where to invest in real estate now from CBS Marketwatch

Christina Lazrak Real Estate News you can use

News that may help Chelmsford, Lowell, MA Home buyers from Christina Lazrak

Sunset over Waikiki !

Real Estate Sentiment

Nearly half of consumers polled in Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey in March expect higher rental prices in the year ahead. And 33% expect home prices to rise in the year, the highest percentage recorded in more than a year. Forty-four percent think their personal finances will get better over the next year.

As a result, 73% of the 1,000 Americans polled think it’s a good time to buy a home. More from Marketwatch.

Ron Peltier, the executive building Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A)’s real-estate brokerage by acquisitions, said he expects a rebound in U.S. home sales as banks liquidate seized properties after settling foreclosure-misconduct claims. From Bloomberg

Home Loans

Potential buyers in the Chelmsford, Lowell, Tewksbury, MA area, please contact me if you need assistance on your FICO scores.  Home loans closed by banks and mortgage lenders in February had borrowers with a credit score of 750, up from 740 six months earlier, and an average loan-to-value ratio of 76%. The average denied loan had a credit score of 699 and a loan-to-value ratio of 83%. Story from WSJ

Home Builders

KB Home (KBH) slashes its quarterly dividend to $0.025/share from $0.0625. This cuts the yield on the stock from nearly 3% to 1.2%. 

Foreclosures

The number of foreclosure filings in the USA is continuing to fall, dropping 16% year-on-year in Q1 according the latest numbers from market monitoring service RealtyTrac. “There are hairline cracks in the dam, evident in the sizable foreclosure activity increases in judicial foreclosure states over the past several months, along with an increase in foreclosure starts in many judicial and non-judicial states in March.”

“The dam may not burst in the next 30 to 45 days, but it will eventually burst, and everyone downstream should be prepared for that to happen—both in terms of new foreclosure activity and new short sale activity.” The five states posting the largest monthly increases in foreclosure starts are:

1. Nevada: Up 153%

2. Utah: Up 103%

3. New Jersey: Up 73%

4. Maryland: Up 53%

5. North Carolina: Up 47%

Realtor Christiina Lazrak -Real Estate News - Independent Foreclosure Review

Real Estate news you can use - Chelmsford,MA homeowners, buyers and investors  from CBS Moneywatch

The Independent Foreclosure Review has been poorly publicized, and many consumers don't realize it's an option. The review is conducted by an independent agency and gives homeowners the opportunity to request a review of how their lender conducted the foreclosure of their primary residence.The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) recently extended the deadline for submissions until July 31, 2012. 

To be eligible for the Review, interested parties must meet these three criteria:

• Their mortgage loan was serviced by one of the participating mortgage servicers.
• Their mortgage loan was active in the foreclosure process between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2010.
• The property was the borrower's primary residence.

More on the Independent foreclosure review here

Q&A: What you need to know about real estate now - CBS News

Will housing market crash ? News you can use from Christina Lazrak

Great article from Andrew Jeffrey over at Minyanville

"Shadow inventory," the supply of potential foreclosures in the pipeline at banks like JP Morgan (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Citigroup (C), is approaching 10 million homes. And with the settlement between big mortgage servicers and state attorney generals over the robosigning debacle behind us, it is true that lenders are again foreclosing at rapid rate.

But what about demand? Buyers of foreclosed homes are literally lining up at auctions to outbid each other

Five Reasons The Housing Market Will Not Crash (Again) | Business News | Minyanville.com