Have We Finally Hit Bottom With Mortgage Interest Rates?

Tom Reddin thinks so:

Putting aside any major crises such as a new war, a further collapse of the European economy, or a major shock to the financial system, it is reasonable to expect a gradual increase in mortgage rates for the rest of 2013. If the economy continues to bumble along at a modest 2 percent growth rate, corporate profits will continue to grow gradually, and confidence will slowly but steadily continue to strengthen.

(via BND.com)

Related: We Keep Hearing That Mortgage Rates Have Hit Rock Bottom

Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/2013/03/07/2523137/tom-reddin-where-are-mortgage.html#storylink=cpy

We Need A Foreclosure Registry

St. Pete, Florida is attempting to set up a foreclosure registry where banks would be required to register foreclosed homes in their inventory and the agency responsible for upkeep.

We'll have to keep an eye on  St. Pete.  This is something that every state could use.  Property values for people in neighborhoods with foreclosures (pretty much every neighborhood has at least one these days) are negatively affected when these houses are left abandoned.  To say nothing of the value of the house itself.  It's heart breaking to see thousands of dollars of damage done to a house so vandals could steal a couple hundred dollars of copper.

Read the whole story here.

If you ever wanted to play on Marky Mark's old putt-putt course...

...and you happen to have $13 million lying around, you can now make that happen.  MSN Real Estate has a slide show of celebrity homes currently for sale.  I have to say that Zsa Zsa Gabor's house looks just as I would picture it.

Today's Tip: Pay Your Taxes

It seems so obvious, but I get enough calls about this from first time homebuyers, that it must need to be said.  When you buy a piece of property, make sure you pay your taxes.  If you've never owned a home, you might not be used to being proactive about your bills.  You're used to everything you owe coming in a statement to your house and if you forget, it comes again.  The problem with property taxes is that it may take the Revenue Commissioner a year (or more) to assess the taxes in your name.  The bill may be going to the previous owner.  Or the previous lender.  Or to no one at all.  You may never get a bill.

If you are a homeowner, make sure you know when property taxes are due in your jurisdiction (in Alabama property taxes are due October 1st and can be paid up to December 31st before they are late).  Call your Revenue Commissioner and make sure you know what you owe.  Even if you never receive a statement from Revenue Commissioner, you are still legally responsible for the taxes.  Even if your lender is escrowing for your taxes, it doesn't hurt to show an abundance of caution.  A call takes ten minutes and that's nothing against the inconvenience of a tax sale.

How Foreclosure Affects Your Property Values

When determining property values, appraisers take several factors into account.  One of those factors is recent sales price of comparable houses in your neighborhood.  It used to be standard practice to exclude foreclosure sales from these "comps".  However, since the foreclosure crisis, foreclosure prices - and the downward pressure they are exerting on the marketplace - cannot be ignored.  When foreclosures were an anomaly, their statistical value could be ignored, but in the current market, they are having a real effect on the value of non-foreclosed property.  A new report from the Center for Responsible Lending has put a number on that effect.  They are estimating that the current foreclosure crises has reduced home value for non-foreclosure houses by a total of two trillion dollars.

via Housing Wire

Foreclosure and Voting

Michele Lerner at HSH.com speculates about the effect the voters displaced by the current foreclosure environment will have on the election:

In every state, voter registration is tied to residency, but states vary in how a voter must establish their residency and re-register to vote. With some 1.3 million homes in some stage of foreclosure as of August 2012 and with approximately 3.8 million foreclosures already complete since September 2008, according to the market research firm CoreLogic, foreclosures could keep hundreds of thousands of voters away from the polls this November.

Foreclosures expected to deter thousands of voters via HSH.com

Mortgage Defaults Down

The economy will not experience significant recovery until the housing market improves, and the housing market will not improve until the downward pressure on prices caused by all the foreclosures on the market abates.  So it's a bit of good news that mortgage defaults are down.  Defaults in August were 1.4% in contrast to 1.92% a year ago.

via Housing Wire