From the President of the CA Assn. of Realtors

"President Signs Historic Housing Bill!!

Thank You to Everyone Who Has Worked So Hard to Increase Loan Limits!

This morning President Bush signed the "Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008." For the past several years, C.A.R. and the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® have aggressively lobbied for Congress to pass numerous provisions found in this historic bill. Many of you participated in these efforts by communicating with your Members of Congress.

Thank you to all of you who responded to these Calls-for-Action. Your efforts have made a difference. This federal housing bill is a significant move in the right direction for California homeowners. It will aid in stabilizing our economy and help stem foreclosures, while also providing support to first-time homeowners.

The legislation will assist an estimated 400,000 homeowners facing foreclosure, many of whom reside in California, by allowing them to refinance their current mortgages with a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed loan. The bill also will permanently increase FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac loan limits in high-cost areas.

The bill permanently increases the conforming loan limit to $625,500. C.A.R. has long advocated for higher conforming loan limits. In February, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 was signed, temporarily raising the conforming loan limit in high-cost areas to $729,750 from $417,000 until December 31, 2008.

Although we would have liked Congress to make permanent the current $729,750 loan limit, C.A.R. is pleased with the new permanent loan limit of $625,500. It will allow California homeowners to refinance their loans into safe affordable loan products and allow first-time home buyers to enter the market.

The new loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the greater of either $417,000 or 115 percent of an area’s median home price, up to $625,500. The new FHA loan limit will be the greater of $271,050 or 115 percent of an area’s median home price, up to $625,500. Both new loan limits will be effective at the expiration of the economic stimulus limits on December 31, 2008.

C.A.R. also supports the following bill provisions:

• A temporary increase in mortgage revenue bonds to refinance subprime mortgages.
• New regulator for Government Sponsored Enterprises to restore investor confidence in GSE loans and help the market and economy stabilize.
• First-time home buyer tax credit, which allows first-time home buyers to receive a tax refund worth up to 10 percent of a home’s purchase price, up to a maximum of $7,500. The refund serves as an interest-free loan and the homeowner is required to repay it in equal installments over 15 years.
• Temporary raise in the loan limit for the Veterans Affairs home loan guarantee program to the same level as the economic stimulus limits until the end of 2008.
• Adjustment to the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980 (FIRPTA), allowing sellers to provide the non-foreign affidavit to a qualified closing entity and not just the buyer.
• The setting of minimum requirements for mortgage originators, which mandates fingerprinting of loan originators and establishes a nationwide loan originator licensing and registration system. The requirements do not apply to those only performing real estate brokerage activities unless they are compensated by a lender, mortgage broker, or other loan originator. States will have the ability to implement more stringent laws.
• The creation of a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund to help cover the cost of the FHA rescue plan for the first five years and develop affordable housing in subsequent years.

Other provisions in the legislation:

• The Treasury Department’s proposal to create a federal backstop program to insure the financial well-being of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
• The FHA’s inability to insure loans that utilize a seller-funded down-payment assistance program. Down-payment assistance from family, employers and other nonprofits is still allowed.
• The Community Development Block Grant Programs’ $4 billion allotment for communities to purchase and refurbish foreclosed homes.

C.A.R. wishes to thank those California Members of Congress who supported the bill:

Senator Barbara Boxer, Senator Diane Feinstein, and Representatives Joe Baca, Xavier Becerra, Howard Berman, Mary Bono Mack, Ken Calvert, John Campbell, Lois Capps, Dennis Cardoza, Jim Costa, Susan Davis, David Dreier, Anna Esho, Sam Farr, Bob Filner, Elton Gallegly, Jane Harman, Mike Honda, Duncan Hunter, Barbara Lee, Jerry Lewis, Zoe Lofgren, Dan Lungren, Doris Matsui, Howard "Buck" McKeon, Jerry McNerney, Gary Miller, George Miller, Grace Napolitano, Nancy Pelosi, Laura Richardson, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Linda Sanchez, Loretta Sanchez, Adam Schiff, Brad Sherman, Hilda Solis, Jackie Speier, Pete Stark, Ellen Tausher, Mike Thompson, Maxine Waters, Diane Watson, Henry Waxman and Lynn Woolsey.

Thank you everyone for your efforts in support of this bill!"

Fed Drops the fed funds & discount rate

Press Release

Release Date: April 30, 2008

For immediate release : from: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20080430a.htm

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower its target for the federal funds rate 25 basis points to 2 percent.

Recent information indicates that economic activity remains weak. Household and business spending has been subdued and labor markets have softened further. Financial markets remain under considerable stress, and tight credit conditions and the deepening housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters.

Although readings on core inflation have improved somewhat, energy and other commodity prices have increased, and some indicators of inflation expectations have risen in recent months. The Committee expects inflation to moderate in coming quarters, reflecting a projected leveling-out of energy and other commodity prices and an easing of pressures on resource utilization. Still, uncertainty about the inflation outlook remains high. It will be necessary to continue to monitor inflation developments carefully.

The substantial easing of monetary policy to date, combined with ongoing measures to foster market liquidity, should help to promote moderate growth over time and to mitigate risks to economic activity. The Committee will continue to monitor economic and financial developments and will act as needed to promote sustainable economic growth and price stability.
Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Donald L. Kohn; Randall S. Kroszner; Frederic S. Mishkin; Sandra Pianalto; Gary H. Stern; and Kevin M. Warsh. Voting against were Richard W. Fisher and Charles I. Plosser, who preferred no change in the target for the federal funds rate at this meeting.

In a related action, the Board of Governors unanimously approved a 25-basis-point decrease in the discount rate to 2-1/4 percent. In taking this action, the Board approved the requests submitted by the Boards of Directors of the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Cleveland, Atlanta, and San Francisco.

FICO Scoring System Gets Redesign

Fair Isaac Corp., the company that devised the ubiquitous FICO credit scores, announced this week that it plans to roll out a suite of tools designed to predict future default risk.

Fair Isaac says the new products will predict how lenders can offer even more debt to consumers without taking on undue risk.

The update revamps the old credit-scoring formula so that it penalizes consumers with a high debt load more than the earlier version. FICO 08 should increase predictive strength by 5 to 15 percent, according to Fair Isaac's vice president of scoring, Tom Quinn.

FICO 08 is also expected to do a better job of determining which consumers with past defaults are "more on the road to recovery and should have more of a higher score," Quinn says.

The new index can look at three consumers with a 700 FICO score and determine which of the three could take on additional debt without defaulting, according to the company.

Source: Star-Tribune, Kara McGuire (01/22/08)
Daily Real Estate News | January 30, 2008

Mortgage Rates Inch Up

Daily Real Estate News | February 1, 2008

Mortgage Rates Inch Up

Following four consecutive weekly declines, Freddie Mac reports a jump in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to 5.68 percent during the week ended Jan. 31 from 5.48 percent the prior week.

The 15-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 5.17 percent from 4.95 percent over the same time span.

Meanwhile, the five-year adjustable mortgage rate edged up to 5.32 percent from 5.13 percent; and the one-year ARM climbed to 5.05 percent from 4.99 percent.

Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft attributes the recent gains to an uptick in 10-year Treasury bonds.

Source: San Jose Mercury News (Calif.), Martin Crutsinger (02/01/08)

Higher loan limits almost a reality- legislation update

"Yesterday, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed HR5140 – an economic stimulus package that includes a temporary increase in the conforming loan limit and the upper threshold for FHA loan programs to as much as $729,750 in high-cost areas. The temporary increase would last only until the end of 2008. The bill would also restrict Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration from guaranteeing or purchasing loans above 125 percent of the median home price for a given area. That means that the existing $417,000 conforming loan limit for mortgages eligible for purchase by Fannie and Freddie would not increase in areas where the median home price is $333,600 or less. The problem of course, is that as of right now, no one knows what the median home price is in different markets because this data has never been published by HUD!

Therefore, it would be up to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to determine the median home price for different housing markets "as soon as practicable," but no later than 30 days after passage of the bill, relying on existing commercial data where needed. In other words, if median home prices in your marketplace are $336,000 or less, this bill won't really affect you; and there's no way to tell if median home prices in your area are higher than $336,000 until HUD publishes this data. Nevertheless, jumbo relief is certainly on the way for places like California where median home prices are certain to be above $336,000.

Now, the loan limit for FHA loan programs is between $200,160 and $362,790, depending on the county where the property is located. The proposed higher limits for FHA loan guarantees are set to expire at the end of this year, unless Congress passes other legislation intended to modernize FHA programs by introducing risk-based pricing and lowering down-payment requirements.

House leaders thought they had reached an agreement with the Bush administration to include FHA modernization as part of the stimulus package, but they agreed to continue working on that issue separately at the administration's request, according to the AP.

In order to make higher limits a reality, the next step is for the Senate to pass the bill and for the President to sign it into law. The target date for final passage set by the White House and Congressional leaders is February 15."

FED CUTS RATE TO AVOID PANIC

The Fed cut interest rate to 3.5% according to the LA (and NY) Times.

This is an effort to avoid panic in the face of a plunging stock market and fears about a US recession.

The federal funds rate is the interest rate that banks charge each other. It is an indicator towards where mortgage rates will go... There are scheduled meetings to assess and evaluate rate policy- but this change comes outside of a regularly scheduled meeting in which one member was absent, and the vote was not unananimous, according to the article.

Also, according to the Times:
~ The Fed hinted that it is ready to keep cutting interest rates if necessary in order to reverse the U.S. and global slide.
~ Policy makers worry falling markets will cause financial institutions to sell assets and reduce lending even further
~ The central bank has also made changes to the discount rate, which "has been lowered by three-quarters of a point to 4%."
~ The Fed started auctioning off short-term loans to banks to pump $ into the system and keep banks lending

Here is a link to the Fed's official statement.

Existing Home Sales to Trend Up in 2008

Quite honestly, I found this on another blog, submitted by Tom Ferry (real estate agent coach), posted on Tue, 12/18/2007 - 3:54pm. Buyers sitting on the sidelines should read this NOW. It is long, but worth it.

"...This is an article taken from the National Realty News which I thought would be interesting to each of you as to where the Housing Market stands and where the market is going. It's a long article ... but as someone who is [looking into the future of real estate for personal investment]...you are going to want to read this. ...

Existing Home Sales to Trend Up in 2008

Written by National Association of Realtors
Monday, 10 December 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Existing-home sales are projected to trend up in 2008, with pending home sales showing a slight near-term rise, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors®. However, a recovery for new-home sales is unlikely before 2009.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the worst part of the credit crunch has already worked its way through the data. 'The unusual mortgage disruptions that peaked in August were clearly seen in lower home sales that were finalized in September and October, so the market was underperforming,' he said. 'Now that mortgage conditions have improved, some postponed activity should turn up in existing-home sales over the next couple of months, and I expect sales at fairly stable to slightly higher levels.'

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in October, increased 0.6 percent to an index of 87.2 from an upwardly revised reading of 86.7 in September. It was the second consecutive monthly gain, but remained 18.4 percent below the October 2006 index of 106.8. 'The broad trend over the coming year will be a gradual rise in existing-home sales, but because sales are exceptionally low in the final months of 2007, total sales for 2008 will be only modestly higher than 2007,' Yun said.

The PHSI in the Northeast jumped 16.0 percent in October to 80.6 but is 11.1 percent below a year ago. In the West, the index rose 8.4 percent to 87.3 but is 16.9 percent lower than October 2006. The index in the Midwest slipped 1.4 percent in October to 85.5 and is 11.7 percent below a year ago. In the South, the index dropped 7.8 percent in October to 91.6 and is 25.3 percent below October 2006.

'The improvement in the Northeast reaffirms a trend apparent for some months now that shows signs of recovery, noteworthy because that was the first region to slump, and the gain in the West indicates some easing of interest rates for jumbo loans,' Yun said. 'Lawmakers need to understand that raising the loan limits on FHA and GSE-backed conventional loans will markedly improve mortgage availability.'

Existing-home sales are likely to total 5.67 million this year, the fifth highest on record, rising to 5.70 million in 2008, in contrast with 6.48 million in 2006. Existing-home prices should be down 1.9 percent to a median of $217,600 for all of 2007, and then rise 0.3 percent to $218,300 in 2008.

'Home price growth in the vast affordable midsection of America will help raise the national median existing-home price slightly in 2008. I then expect price appreciation to return to more normal patterns in 2009, perhaps rising one or two percentage points above the rate of inflation,' Yun said.

'Even with a modest decline in the national aggregate price this year, it’s important to keep in mind that nearly two-thirds of the metro areas in the U.S. are showing price increases,' he said. 'The apparent disparity results from fewer sales in high-cost markets, so a change in the mix of sales is dragging down the national median home price.'

Areas showing healthy price gains include disparate markets such as Gary-Hammond, Ind.; Binghamton, N.Y.; Corpus Christi, Texas; and Spokane, Wash. 'We can’t emphasis enough how much local conditions vary, even within a given area, so it’s important for consumers to make decisions based on local market conditions.'

New-home sales are forecast at 788,000 this year and 693,000 in 2008, down from 1.05 million 2006; no sustained improvement is seen for new homes until 2009. Because builders have correctly adjusted production, housing starts, including multifamily units, will probably total 1.36 million this year and 1.16 million in 2008, down from 1.80 million last year. The median new-home price is projected to drop 3.0 percent to $239,100 for 2007, and then decline another 0.2 percent to $236,600 in 2008.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is estimated to rise slowly to the 6.4 percent range by the end of 2008, with additional cuts in the Fed funds rate lowering short-term interest rates. Growth in the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) should be 2.1 percent in 2007, down from a 2.9 percent growth rate last year; ... The unemployment rate is likely to average 4.6 percent for 2007, unchanged from last year, but rise to 5.0 percent in 2008. Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, will probably be 2.8 percent this year and 2.7 percent in 2008, down from 3.2 percent in 2006. Inflation-adjusted disposable personal income is estimated to grow 3.1 percent this year, the same as in 2006, and then grow 2.2 percent next year.
End of Article"

Thanks for reading this article...again. Let me know what you think!

Paige Fingerhut
Realtor (R), and
Reverse Mortgage Specialist

Beach Equities