Fremont Real Estate and Beyond

When I was a not-so-wee lad taking real estate classes for my Broker's license (this was before the bubble burst), part of the requirements was to take a finance class.  I remember distinctly having a very heated discussion with another student about whether there was ever a better time to rent than buy.  I pointed out in New York and in many other prosperous countries in Europe, there were a lot of people who rented rather than bought and their economies weren't affected.  Others argued that, "The only direction home prices can go is up" and that "No one who ever owned real estate has ever lost money".  Obviously we've learned over the past half decade both arguments are not true.  There are still a lot of people who are underwater or barely treading after purchasing a home. This new WSJ article points out that many people currently are just 1 setback away from financial ruin. As I've told all of my clients-- -Talk to a lender and make sure yo

Very interesting interview this morning on CBS with Zillow's CEO.  Video can be found here-- http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/zillow-ceo-shares-new-rules-of-real-estate/ Interesting that they claim their "Zestimates" have on average an 8% error rate.  In our neck of the woods, it seems significantly higher. 

2015 could see an increase in more buyers.  The first wave of 7.3 million homeowners who lost their home to foreclosure or short sale during the foreclosure crisis are now past the seven-year window they conservatively need to repair their credit and qualify to buy a home. We'll see how things take off locally!

 Per the CAR Broker newsletter-- A controversial plan to use a municipality's eminent domain powers to seize properties in default has suffered a severe setback.  FHA, Ginnie Mae, and HUD now have no funds to insure, securitize or establish a federal guarantee of any mortgage or mortgage backed security that refinances or replaces a mortgage that was subject to eminent domain condemnation or seizure by a state, municipality or other political subdivision of the state.  The funding to allow such federal guarantees was removed in the Fiscal Year 2015 Omnibus Appropriations bill.  This should make it much more difficult to finance or resell any such securities under these programs. Such mortgage seizure programs were proposed by some companies that promised municipalities a portion of the proceeds when the mortgages were resold. Under the program, the defaulting or underwater homeowners would also be allowed to stay in their homes with the mortgage amount reduced. The C

A very unusual case from Chicago came out today regarding an MLS who sued one of their members for defamation.  The member requested information regarding the MLS's finances after suspecting some funny business and then complained via social media about the MLS's resistance to the request.  Remember--realtors pay a membership fee for access to the MLS's software and advice. I'm not a lawyer! I thought it was a very interesting case and wanted to share.  More info can be found here

The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau just started a section on the home buying process.  They have a calculator (in beta testing) to figure out what your mortgage interest rate will be as well as checklists so you understand the process. Check it out! http://www.consumerfinance.gov/owning-a-home 

Federal law states that lenders must disclose all costs and details relating to the mortgage a home buyer is obtaining.  If the lender does not disclose it's costs, a homeowner has up to 3 years to rescind the mortgage for failure to disclose and can do so by writing a letter instead of suing the mortgage company. More info--