What Do You Need To Apply for a Mortgage?

We haven’t talked financing in awhile and with peak buying and selling season getting underway, I thought it was important to revisit

What can you do now, to make applying for a mortgage easier? photo © Franck Boston – Fotolia.com

some important things to remember when applying for home financing.

The list below are all items that you will need in order to finalize your loan and in many cases in the current marketplace, you will need most of these to get pre-approved.  Before you even start looking for the perfect house,  it is important to get pre-approved. This helps you know what the bank is willing to loan you and it reassures a seller when you make an offer on their house.  So go on and start gathering the things on this list. It will make the process less stressful knowing you have a few days to get it together than to wait until you have found your dream home and have to rush to find everything quickly!

Keep in mind, your lender may require additional documents, but this is a good starting point! AND if you are applying for the loan with someone else these documents need to be supplied for EVERYONE on the application!

Driver’s License and Social Security Card 

These two may seem obvious, but many people forget about their Social Security Card, banks will want a copy of yours along with your driver’s license.

Landlord Information

If you are renting now, you will need to supply all contact information for your landlord.

Income Information 

There are four big ones in this group.

1.  Your most recent pay stubs for the past 30 days.

2.  Two months worth of banking and asset statements.

3.  Signed Federal Income Tax Returns (every single page) for the last 2 years.

4.  Two years worth of W-2 forms from all employers.

Do you want to see what is currently available? Click here and search the area’s housing inventory!

Read Full Post »

Foreclosures fall in 62% of US cities

Source: CNNMoney

Foreclosures fell in nearly two-thirds of the nation’s largest metro areas during the third quarter, according to RealtyTrac Thursday. The recent data suggests the housing market is beginning to rebound. Photo: Robyn Beck/APP/Getty Images

Foreclosures fell in nearly two-thirds of the nation’s largest metro areas during the third quarter, according to RealtyTrac Thursday.

With 62% of the nation’s 212 largest markets seeing foreclosure activity shrink during the latest quarter, the ongoing decline is yet another sign that the housing market is starting to stabilize.

During September, foreclosure activity in 58% of the major metro markets had even dropped below September 2007 levels.

The numbers indicate that “most of the nation’s housing markets are past the worst of the foreclosure problem,” Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac’s vice president said in the report.

Major cities like San Francisco, Detroit, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Diego saw foreclosures fall by double-digit percentages of 26% or more.

Stockton, Calif., which saw a 21% decline in foreclosures, still managed to claim the nation’s highest foreclosure rate, however. “That foreclosures there are still the highest in the country speaks to how severe the problem was,” said Blomquist.

Other California cities in the top 10, all posted year-over-year declines of between 22% and 34%.

Yet, there are still some trouble spots, particularly in Florida.

Blomquist attributed Florida’s problems to the after effects of the robo-signing scandal. Florida is a “judicial state,” where foreclosures get processed through the courts. Lenders hesitated to bring foreclosure cases before a judge until they were confident their paperwork would stand up to the stepped-up scrutiny that followed the scandal. But now that new rules have been put in place through the $25 billion mortgage settlement, they are playing catch-up.

Of the metro areas with the 20 highest foreclosure rates, all are still in California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida, with two notable exceptions. Chicago saw a 34% jump from a year-ago, and had the ninth highest foreclosure rate. Atlanta had the 15th highest rate. The good news there: Foreclosures fell 20% year-over-year.

Read Full Post »

Why Home Prices are Rising from the Wall Street Journal

Nick Timiraos of The Wall Street Journal Developments blog recent post titled, Five Questions: Why Home Prices Are Rising, is a great read concerning real estate today. Success in real estate varies by each local market, but the three points below apply to the current market in Atlanta.

Prices in July were 1.2% above their year-ago levels. Photo credit: Associated Press

Home prices through July posted their largest year-to-date rise since 2005, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index covering 20 major metropolitan areas.

Prices rose by 5.9% from the end of last year, according to the index, compared with a 0.4% gain for the same period last year and a 2.1% gain in 2010, when tax credits fueled a burst of home sales activity.

Are price gains limited to one segment of the market—say, foreclosed properties?

Not really. Data from real-estate firm CoreLogic show that the increases are being felt across all segments of the market. Overall median home prices in August were up by 12% from one year ago, as are median prices of existing homes that aren’t distressed sales.

Median prices of bank-owned foreclosures were up by 3%, while median prices were flat on short sales, where banks approve the sale of a house for less than the mortgage-debt that’s owed. Median prices of new homes, meanwhile, are up by 6%.

There are still a lot of foreclosures. How could prices be rising?

While foreclosures are still high by historic standards, the share of bank-owned foreclosures that are selling is down sharply over the past few years. Listings of foreclosed properties are down by 24% from one year ago and by more than 45% from two years ago.

While sales of foreclosed properties, which typically sell at a discount, have fallen by about 20% from one year ago, sales of traditional homes are up by 16% from one year ago, according to Ivy Zelman, chief executive at research firm Zelman & Associates. Prices, then, are rising not only because supplies of homes for sale are down, but demand is up.

Are banks strategically holding properties off of the market?

There’s little evidence that banks have seen an increase of marketable, or ready-for-sale, foreclosed properties sitting on their books. It’s true that there are still millions of properties that are in the foreclosure process or where borrowers have missed a couple of mortgage payments, and it’s unclear when or how aggressively banks will move those properties through the foreclosure process. In many cases, lenders and other mortgage companies that handle foreclosures have struggled to meet certain state requirements governing foreclosures. But the actual volumes of foreclosed properties that are sitting on banks books are down by around 24% from one year ago.

Read Full Post »

Buy or Rent? CNNMoney says in Atlanta to buy

Should you buy or rent a place to live?

Deciding whether to buy or rent depends on several factors. Among them: where you live, how long you plan to stay in your home and how home prices compare to rents in the area.

Zillow crunched the numbers for CNNMoney to figure out how long a new homebuyer would have to own their home before it would make better financial sense to buy. It’s at this “breakeven horizon” that total rental costs would exceed the total cost of home ownership.

In three-quarters of the U.S., that horizon is three years or less, according to Zillow’s chief economist, Stan Humphries.

To make these calculations, Zillow accounted for the costs associated with buying a home, including the down payment and transaction costs (such as commissions and fees), mortgage payments, property taxes, maintenance costs and tax deductions, among other things. It then compared that with rental costs, including monthly payments and commissions and adjusted the numbers for inflation and forecasted home value and rental price increases.

Here’s how the nation’s 10 biggest cities fared.

1. New York City – Rent

2. Los Angeles – Rent

3. Chicago – Buy

4. Dallas – Buy

5. Philadelphia – Buy

6. Washington, D.C. – Buy

7. Miami – Buy

8. Atlanta – Buy

Median home price: $176,200

Median rent : $1,950

Breakeven time: 5.9 years

Foreclosures have plagued the south Atlanta area recently. The metro area saw increases in foreclosure activity during each of the first half of this year.

Now pockets of the market have short sales and bank-owned properties aplenty — creating bargains. The median home price in Atlanta has fallen to well below $180,000, which, combined with low mortgage rates, has made buying a great deal in most intown communities.

But, as in most cities, it all depends on where you buy. In a depressed town like Jonesboro, where incomes is about 50% lower than the state average, you could breakeven in just over a year. But if you opt to purchase in the established Druid Hills area, it could take closer to seven and a half years.

9. Boston – Rent

10. San Francisco – Rent

To see the details for each metro area, click here to view the CNNMoney slideshow.

Read Full Post »

‘Normal’ Home Sales Soar

While sales of distressed properties – foreclosures and short sales – have shrunk since the first of the year, a surge in sales of “normal” non-distressed properties has pushed total home sales through June 4.5 percent higher than last year even though buyers face tight credit and low inventories.

With attention focused on extraordinarily tight inventories that have restricted sales during the past six months, marketshare of non-distressed homes are at their highest level since August 2008, a sign of strengthening demand from buyers realizing their time has come to act before prices increase further due to a slowly improving employment picture and greater consumer confidence.

Walk to everything from this sought after street in Virginia Highlands. 890 Drewry Street has been totally renovated with an addition to include a beautiful master suite with large walk-in closet and master bath. Click on the image for more photos and information from Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty.

During the January to June period, the number of non-distressed sales is up 15 percent over the same period last year, according to CoreLogic.

The increase in non-distressed sales is strengthening prices. Excluding distressed sales, home prices nationwide increased on a year-over-year basis by 3.2 percent in June 2012 compared to June 2011. On a month-over-month basis excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 2.0 percent in June 2012 compared to May 2012, the fifth consecutive month-over-month increase., according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

Both supply and demand are playing a role in the decline of distressed sales and the increase in normal sales. In June, the distressed share of sales fell to 21 percent, the lowest level in almost four years. The months’ supply of distressed properties has been steadily decreasing over the first half of the year and now stands below seven months, equaling the same level of the supply of active listings.

Increased competition for the limited inventory of non-distressed property listings helped push the average home sales-to-listing price ratio to 95.6 percent in June, the highest in three years, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey.

HousingPulse reports that median time on market to sell a non-distressed listing fell sharply in June to 11.7 weeks, a drop of a full week from the May reading of 12.7 weeks. As recently as March, the non-distressed property time on market had been 14.0 weeks. The June 2012 time on market for non-distressed listings is the lowest in over two years and substantially below the June 2011 reading of 15.0 weeks.

Source: RISMedia

Read Full Post »

Metro Atlanta’s home bidding wars return

Prices are low, but so is inventory — catching some buyers unaware.

Bidding wars are occurring with desirable homes that feature good public schools, nearby amenities and competitive prices. This home in Milton’s White Columns neighborhood is currently listed by Andrea Cueny for $559,000. Click on the image for more photos and information.

In an age of high foreclosures and rock-bottom home prices, bidding wars are breaking out for some metro Atlanta homes.

The hot competition is spurred by shrinking inventory and a run on homes with one or more desirable traits, such as good public schools, nearby amenities and competitive prices. Buyers also want homes in fully developed subdivisions and in locations that have maintained values, such as Buckhead, south Forsyth County and trendy intown neighborhoods.

Those seeking such homes have been caught unaware.

The competition for homes started in early winter as homes sales rose, and the bidding peaked in March, though multiple bids are still happening.

Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution

Read Full Post »

Sellers’ Asking Prices Jumped in May

Source: Wall Street Journal

Median asking prices hit their highest level in 2½ years in May, the latest sign that sellers are feeling brighter about their prospects amid slimmer pickings of homes listed for sale.

Median asking prices rose to $194,400, up 1.9% from April and 3.2% from one year ago, according to data released Wednesday by Realtor.com. Meanwhile, home listings increased by 2% from April, a slower-than-normal seasonal jump, and they stood 20% below their levels of year ago.

Reduced competition for sellers is making it easy for them to push the envelope on price. Compare May’s report with that of one year ago, when median asking prices in May 2011 fell by 1.6% from April 2011.

Meanwhile, the median amount of time that homes listed for sale had been on the market fell to 83 days, down by 9.8% from one year ago.

Here’s a closer look at the report:

Inventory: The number of homes for sale fell in all but two of the 146 markets tracked by Realtor.com on an annual basis, with inventory rising by 5% in Philadelphia and by 19% in Shreveport, La.

Nearly half of all markets saw a 20% year-over-year drop in the number of homes listed for sale, led by Oakland, Calif. (down 56.6%); Fresno, Calif. (48.8%); Bakersfield, Calif. (48.6%); Phoenix (44.7%) and Seattle (42.7%).

On a monthly basis, around three quarters of markets say inventories rise in May.

Prices: On an annual basis, asking prices fell in 24 markets, led by Reading, Pa. (down 5.4%); Allentown, Pa. (5.3%); and Milwaukee, Wis. (5.2%). The largest year-over-year jumps in median asking prices were reported in Phoenix (up 32.6%), Santa Barbara, Calif. (30.1%), and Chattanooga, Tenn. (up 24.1%). Median prices can overstate big swings because they may instead reflect a change in the mix of sales.

Median list prices fell on a monthly basis in just 17 markets, led by Daytona Beach, Fla., and Asheville, N.C. (down 1.4%), and were unchanged in another 35. They rose from April’s levels by 19% in Santa Barbara, Calif., and by 10% in Oakland.

The Realtor.com figures include sale listings from more than 900 multiple-listing services across the country. They don’t cover all homes for sale, including those that are “for sale by owner” and newly constructed homes that aren’t always listed by the services.

Click here to use the Wall Street Journal interactive graphs in order to compare figures for metro areas throughout the US.

In Metro Atlanta

FMLS recently released the May 2012 active inventory data for Metro Atlanta.

Active inventory level for Residential Single Family Detached continues to drop with 22,142 active listings as of the end of May 2012 vs. 33,860 active Residential Single Family Detached listings as of the end of May 2011. This represents drop in active inventory for Residential Single Family Detached of 35%.

Active inventory level for Residential Single Family Attached continues to drop with 3,883 active listings as of the end of May 2012 vs. 6,477 active Residential Single Family Attached listings as of the end of May 2011. This represents drop in active inventory for Residential Single Family Attached of 40%.

There were 11,466 new listings entered for all property types in May 2012 vs. 12,895 new listings entered for all property types in YTD May 2011. Total new listings entered for all property types in YTD 2012 was 58,081 vs. 65,216 new listings entered for all property types in YTD 2011.

Read Full Post »

Shortage of homes for sale creates fierce competition

With housing inventory at a low, would-be buyers are scrambling to bid on homes before they’re even listed, and real estate agents are vying to represent the few sellers that do exist.

The newest problem for the slowly improving housing market isn’t a shortage of serious buyers, it’s a shortage of good homes.

Only blocks from Atlanta/Midtown’s Piedmont Park, this renovated home located at 356 6th Street has beautiful hardwood floors and an exposed hardwood ceiling in this cozy living room. No longer on the market, it was offered at $415,000 by Andrea Cueny of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty. Click on the image to search for homes for sale in Atlanta’s intown neighborhoods.

Would-be buyers are packing open houses and scrambling to make offers on properties before they are even listed. Bidding wars are erupting. And real estate agents are vying fiercely to represent the few sellers that do exist.

Housing inventory has sunk to levels not seen since the bubble years. The number of American homes with a “for sale” sign hit 2.5 million in April, the lowest number for an April since 2006, according to the National Assn. of Realtors.

David Dennick, who lives in Echo Park and works as a television editor, has been searching for a home with his wife, Denise, for about two months. The couple have already bid on three properties. They are hoping to find a home for less than $525,000, which is $25,000 more than they originally had hoped to spend.

“It is much more competitive than we thought,” said Dennick, standing in the entrance of an Eagle Rock open house on a recent Sunday. “It is just frustrating because we thought we would really be able to buy a house; we are a middle-class family.”

The sharp drop in inventory along with rock-bottom interest rates have helped stabilize even some of the hardest-hit markets, including the Southland, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami. Some real estate professionals are concerned that the lack of inventory might turn off potential buyers, stifling the recent recovery.

Located in ideal Alpharetta swim/tennis neighborhood with award winning schools, this renovated home located at 4210 Breckenridge Court has beautiful hardwood floors and a dream kitchen. No longer on the market.Click here to search for homes for sale in Alpharetta. 

The much-predicted foreclosure wave that was expected to dump more homes onto the market has not materialized. Fewer borrowers are entering default, and banks are better managing the properties they do have on their books.

In addition, professional investors bankrolled by private equity firms and hedge funds are pouncing on bank-owned homes, often turning them into rentals.

A dearth of new construction also is constraining supply. In April — the most recent month for which figures are available — the number of completed new single-family homes available for sale stood at 46,000, the lowest level since the Census Bureau began keeping track in 1973. Some 70,000 were under construction, also near historic lows.

The inventory problem has been exacerbated by the plunge in home prices since the go-go years. Many people who bought at the top of the cycle are so deeply underwater, they can’t get the price they need to sell and are therefore not bothering to put their homes on the market.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Read Full Post »

10 US Metros with Greatest Drop in For Sale Inventory

U.S. housing market trends tracked by Realtor.com show a trifecta of promise: a shrinking number of homes on the market, fresher inventory, and an increase in median list price.

In 146 metros tracked by Realtor.com, the number of for-sale listings was down 21 percent in March compared to a year ago. All but two markets — Philadelphia and Hartford, Conn. — saw listing inventory decline, and 78 markets registered declines of 20 percent or more.

Nationwide, the median number of days a home had been on the market was down nearly 20 percent, to 89 days, and median list price was up 5.6 percent, to $189,900.

1. Oakland, CA
2. Bakersfield, CA
3. Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
4. Fresno, CA
5. Miami, FL
6. Fort Lauderdale, FL
7. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
8. Atlanta, GA

9. Orlando, FL
10. Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA

Data collected and analyzed by Realtor.com through March 2012. Includes single-family homes, condos, townhomes and co-ops. Source: InmanNews

Read Full Post »

2011 Atlanta Real Estate Outlook from Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty

David Boehmig, President and Founder of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby's International Realty

A message regarding the 2011 real estate forecast for Atlanta from the president of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty.

Welcome 2011! Every housing professional I meet – from builders and developers to REALTORS® and brokers is enthusiastic about this year and the return of a stable and growing housing market across the country.

Prices are favorable; interest rates are at an all time low; and at Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty we see the year ahead emerging as a period of transition for the Atlanta housing market. Buyers and sellers alike will realize new opportunities during this time.

What makes this year different and our outlook more positive? Available inventory and interest rates. Our local home inventory levels have fallen from last year’s outrageous peaks to a more reasonable and manageable 11 months supply of homes for sale. While this level is still higher than what we prefer, it helps stabilize market values, prices and perceptions. We still have a ways to go before we enjoy our customary trend of modest appreciation rates in Atlanta, but things are moving in the right direction.

With every market transition, we find new opportunities to capitalize on shifts in buyer behavior. As the general economy shows signs of growth, we’ll see a number of potential homebuyers prepare to move forward with new home purchases. The market volatility of the past few years, coupled with high unemployment, has served to create some pent up demand for homeowners looking to relocate, right size or expand. This is good news for sellers, who may have been waiting to put their homes on the market.

Additionally, market analysts and experts tell us that interest rates will begin to climb again this year, a further incentive to get buyers off the fence and ready to purchase. Long-term interest rates will begin to rise as our economy moves toward recovery. Buyers will benefit from the combination of soft prices and the most favorable interest rate market that we have seen in decades.

Looking for some professional guidance about the sale of your current home, or the purchase of your next one? Please let me know.

Please click here for another article about the 2011 Atlanta Real Estate outlook and the maximum buying opportunity.

Read Full Post »