Housing Action this week at Federal Level

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Congress is being encouraged to do things differently with regard to the Housing Market in order to stimulate recovery. Here's the WSJ video report:

Know risks when forgoing inspection contingency

Team Patereau is working with a Buyer who watches every penny and would like to forego the cost of home inspections.  This person is knowledgable about the property and familiar with the neighborhood, and has met the current homeowners. We are cautioning that there are hidden conditions that need to be tested by a professional, but in the end it is optional. Today we saw this article from Inman News about home inspections and we are sharing it with our Buyer, and you.

Know risks when forgoing inspection contingency - Surprise defects can compromise a homebuyer's deposit

By Dian Hymer, Monday, January 2, 2012.Inman News®

Think again if you're considering buying a home without having it inspected. This particularly applies to first-time buyers who have little, if any, experience with home defects and repairs. Even professionals can make mistakes when buying homes without having them thoroughly inspected.

In one example, an experienced contractor bought a home to fix up and resell. The contractor looked over the property carefully before he bought it, but he did not have it inspected by an impartial home inspector.

After the contractor took possession of the property, he discovered that the furnace was shot and required replacement. The cost of a new furnace was not included in his renovation budget.

Here's the full article

More Sellers Turn to Real Estate Agents to Sell Their Homes

According to the study just released by the National Association of Realtors, the method most used to sell a home has changed in recent years. A higher share of sellers are relying on the expertise of real estate agents and brokers to sell their home, rather than trying other methods.


• From 1991 to 2011 the share of home sellers who used a real estate agent or broker to sell their home increased from 77 percent to 87 percent.

• Over the same time period, the share of sellers who sold their home as For-Sale-By-Owner decreased from 19 percent to 10 percent.

• Sellers use real estate professionals to help them sell their home in a reasonable timeframe, to market their home to potential buyers, and to price the home competitively.

• The video below has the NAR Manager of Member and Consumer Survey Research, Jessica Lautz, reporting the highlights of the latest Home Buyer and Seller Profile, including demographic data, share of first-time home buyers, and what has changed since the 2010 Profile.

2012 California Real Property Tax Deductions

By Chris Moles
Brokerage Counsel
Intero Real Estate, Inc.

The 2012 tax season is on the horizon, and Californians will be greeted with a duty to itemize any real property tax deductions we wish to claim. The purpose of this writing is to introduce basic deduction guidelines. Click here for the rest of the article.

Barclays analyst sees housing rebound coming in 2012

Barclays Capital analyst Stephen Kim predicts a housing recovery buoyed by improving jobs numbers and the fact prices for nondistressed homes will have stabilized without government support. Here's Kim's complete report.

Preparing to Be A Homeowner Again

Tara-Nicholle Nelson writes in Inman News:

Homeowners facing foreclosure seem to be desperate to buy again. ... My advice is almost always this: Slow down! Most legitimate loan programs now impose a three-year-plus waiting period after a borrower loses a home to foreclosure, even if they would otherwise qualify for a mortgage based on their credit score, income and assets. Here are my four suggestions for how you can wisely use that waiting period to recover from a foreclosure -- these steps also do double duty in terms of setting you up for success and sustainability the next time you buy a home.

 Here are the 4 steps to buy again after foreclosure | Inman News.

Congress Votes to Increase the Limit of FHA Mortgages

By Chris Moles
Brokerage Counsel
Intero Real Estate, Inc.

In October of this year, the limits for FHA loans dropped from $729,750 to $625,500. As a result, the National Association of Homebuilders and the National Association of Realtors® have estimated that 5.3 million homes lost their eligibility for conforming loans and nearly 670 counties saw their loan limits decline.

In a victory for the real estate industry, Congress has voted to restore the former limits. The bill was signed by President Obama on November 22nd.

The Politics

A number of interest groups have pushed for more free-market policies and against government support to the housing market. Those groups, which include the Club for Growth and Heritage Action for America, play a large role in the House Republican conference and can influence campaign funding. As a result, 101 House Republicans voted against restoring the limits. 20 House Democrats opposed the measure as well.

Those members of Congress who opposed the provision seized on the FHA’s annual actuarial report released earlier this week, which said the agency has a 50 percent chance of needing to seek taxpayer aid to bolster its insurance fund. Many fear that federally backed loans are a root cause of the current housing crises. They claim these loans allow buyers to purchase more house than they can realistically afford and they claim the loans force taxpayers to take risks that private lenders avoid.

As a result, many in Congress want to restrict the role of government in housing by reducing the limits that the government will insure mortgages.

The Result

This legislation restores the federal loan limits to their pre-October levels and extends the threshold through 2012.

From our house to your house...

U S Becoming "Rentership Society" Reports Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley released a report just a few weeks ago saying now is a great time for institutional investors to snap up distressed single-family homes and turn them into long-term rental units. The company says the properties don’t compete with the classic apartment rental property, so investors don’t have to worry about cannibalizing their multifamily rental investment portfolios to take advantage of the huge opportunities in single-family rental property ownership. What’s more, Morgan Stanley doesn’t see this shift to rentership as a temporary waypoint while the country sorts out its housing problems; it sees this as a fundamental shift in how the United States will define itself into the future. Watch the video, then read the full article.

Getting Your Home Ready to List

Here's an article from Realty Times with tips for getting your home ready to list for sale. The one I particularly like is about bathrooms: "The bathroom is one area to really take a close look at before you list your home... If your grout is worn or dirty, spend the money to get it cleaned and sealed or do it yourself. This can be a tedious task but it will help when it comes time to sell your home. Get rid of any countertop clutter like electrical cords and items that somehow wound up in the bathroom but have no reason to be there. Add a couple of mildly fragrant candles and roll your towels (like the hotels do) and set them on a counter or in a basket; it'll give it that welcome feeling -- like visiting a spa." Here's the complete article.