Are Falling Home Prices Saving Marriages?

By Gino Blefari
President & CEO
Intero Real Estate Services, Inc.

You'll often hear people in the real estate business talk about how most home sales are triggered by life events: marriage, divorce, babies, job relocation. These are the standard igniters. But how do situations change when the housing market is slow? Read the whole story...

Intero Insider Video Series - featuring Steve Becerra from Intero Saratoga

This Intero Insider-Video Series brings you Steve Becerra, one of the top real estate agents at Intero Real Estate Services from the Saratoga office. Steve has been in the business for over 20 years and is an expert on the commercial real estate market, owning his own brokerage business for 10 years. Steve speaks with Intero COO Tom Tognoli and shares his knowledge about the current condition of the commercial market both locally and globally as well as giving us his insight about what to expect in the future
 

FHA gives jobless homeowners one-year break

News Flash from CAR (California Association of Realtors)

Beginning Aug. 1, the Federal Housing Administration will extend the period for unemployed homeowners to miss mortgage payments from four months to a full year, providing qualified homeowners with more time to find employment before the foreclosure process begins. Here are the "Cliff Notes"...

• The new Special Forbearance program falls under the FHA’s Loss Mitigation program, which FHA-approved servicers must participate in. 
• The extended grace period only applies to FHA-backed loans and homeowners in the government’s foreclosure prevention program, the Making Home Affordable Program (MHA).
• In addition to extending the forbearance period and removing the up-front hurdles for borrowers, the FHA also reemphasized its requirement that participating servicers conduct a review at the end of the forbearance period to evaluate the borrower for all additional, applicable foreclosure assistance programs and notify the borrower in writing whether or not he/she qualifies for any other available option.
• If the borrower does not qualify for any foreclosure assistance option, the servicer must provide the borrower with the reason for denial and allow the borrower at least seven calendar days to submit additional information that may impact the servicer’s evaluation.
• Housing and Urban Development, which oversees FHA, hopes private lenders and government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will adopt a similar policy.

For additional information on the program, including eligibility and requirements, please visit http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/.

The full story is here.

California Economist comes to Intero

We had Carole Rodoni in the Saratoga Office recently giving her economic and housing forecast…check it out.  The whole thing is about an hour, but worth it. She speaks on The Two Americas: The San Francisco Bay Area & The Rest of the Country. Here' the first of three videos:





And here's links to the other two video segments:

Part 2
Part 3

Being FICO wise

By Chris Moles, Brokerage Counsel, Intero Real Estate, Inc.

A recent study shows that foreclosures and short sales have a similar immediate impact on a property owner’s Fair Issac Company (FICO) Score.

Data from the three major credit reporting agencies suggests that a typical distressed homeowner with a FICO score of 620 was likely to see his score fall to between 575-595 after either closing a short sale or defaulting to foreclosure. The same study suggested that those with a score of 720 could expect a drop to between 570-590 and those with a score of 780 could expect a drop to between 620-640. The manner of parting with the property did not seem to affect the average FICO drop, indicating that a short sale is not “better” for a person’s credit score than a foreclosure.

Those secondary credit considerations that some use to justify selling short (like trying to “settle a debt” or “work with the bank”) are not factored into the strict FICO equation. Therefore, short sales and foreclosures are weighed the same – each is a "failure to pay as agreed.”

Giving FICO advice
These results simply reinforce the real estate agent’s duty to manage the client’s expectations and not give financial advice. Short sale listing agents do not exist to give credit advice. Rather, they exist to facilitate the client’s decision to sell short and avoid foreclosure. Whether the client should sell short or strategically default is ultimately a choice that the client must make with his own professional legal and/or financial advisor.

Of course, if advising clients on FICO matters, real estate agents should always disclose that short sales and foreclosures have the same general effect on the client’s FICO score. It is not accurate to say, “a short sale will have a less detrimental effect on your credit score than a foreclosure.”

Weekly Webcast from Realty Times

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"Flip" by Another Name

Here's an article about "investors" buying foreclosured properties and selling them quickly - once repairs have been made and the property can qualify for government-sponsored guarantees or conventional financing. Team Patereau says this is not new - it's the very common practice of flipping. It happens in Gilroy and the surrounding area regularly.

We should all say a big "Thank You" to these investors who have the cash to take distressed properties off the market, more cash to fix them up, and the time to have their cash tied up until a new homeowner, oftentimes a first time buyer, can be found.

Real Estate Is This Summer's Biggest Blockbuster for Buyers

Summer is almost here – typically a busy season for home sales. But, what about this year? Will high gas prices and the rising cost of just about everything else from inflation dampen a typically active time of year in real estate? We're on shaky ground, but could there be a better market for buyers? I don't think so. Let's look at what we know...

Realtor Nationwide Open House Weekend Opens Doors to Home Ownership

Team Patereau will be hosting open houses both Saturday and Sunday. We'll be at our Eagle Ridge listing as well as our Church Street listing. Please stop by to see these beautiful homes. Both are well priced and the owners are motivated. Hope to see you at one or both. And, remember, even if you own your home, you may be able to teall a friend or family member about one of the homes that will be perfect for them.

The Intero Insider says, "Know Your Market..."

By Gino Blefari
President & CEO
Intero Real Estate Services, Inc.

Want to know the best strategy for selling a house regardless of how the economy is doing? It's dead simple: Know your market.

Part of knowing your market is knowing where your market is – where it ends and begins, because your market is not your city, your state or your region. Your market is your neighborhood. It's your school district. It's even your street and block. Here's the rest of the story...