Fannie Mae Reports Decline in Business

Fannie Mae Reports Decline in Business

 

 

 Fannie Mae reported further contraction in its book of business for February—the second this year and the third in as many months—as new business acquisitions dropped to a five-year low.

According to the enterprise’s monthly volume summary for February, business shrank at a compound annual rate of 1.4 percent, bringing the book’s total growth rate for the year to -2.4 percent.

As of the end of the month, the book’s total value was approximately $3.15 trillion.

The decline in business was accompanied by a slight dip in new acquisitions, which totaled $29.3 billion for the month. The last time new business acquisitions were that low was January 2009, when they totaled $28.8 billion.

Also down once again was the single-family serious delinquency rate, which ended the month at 2.27 percent—the lowest since November 2008. The multifamily delinquency rate, meanwhile, edged up 1 basis point to 0.11 percent.

Fannie completed 10,837 loan modifications in February, totaling 23,402 year-to-date.

 

 

BARBARA SMALL TEAM: Specializing in Short Sales and Foreclosures. Dedicated in walking you through your Short Sale and Foreclosure process. “My team and I have one goal and that is to help you reach yours”.

-barbara 

Source: dsnews.com

Berkshire Hills Completes Acquisition of BofA Branches in Central New York

Author: Carrie Bay 

 

 

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc., announced Tuesday that its banking subsidiary, Berkshire Bank, has completed the previously announced acquisition of 20 retail bank locations from Bank of America, effective January 17, 2014.  As a result of the transaction, Berkshire acquired approximately $450 million in deposits and $4 million in loans as of January 14, 2014, bringing the total number of branches in Berkshire’s footprint to 91 across New England and New York.

The newest branches are located in the eastern and central New York cities of Amsterdam, Cairo, Chatham, Glens Falls, Greenville, Hudson, Ilion, Johnstown, Little Falls, New Hartford, New Lebanon, Queensbury, Utica, West Winfield, and Whitesboro.

Chairman and CEO Michael Daly stated, “We are thrilled to welcome the customers and employees of these branches to ‘America’s Most Exciting Bank.’ Our expanded footprint in New York will benefit both existing and new customers through enhanced convenience and active community support.”

Berkshire has approximately 91 full-service branch offices in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, providing personal and business banking, insurance, and wealth management services.

 

 

 

I have been a realtor since 2005. I have worked extensively with homeowners who are having problems making their mortgage payments. I have saved many families from foreclosure and I take that responsibility seriously. I work with first time homebuyers as well as seasoned pros. I have been certified as an CDPE (certified distress property expert). I have also received the designation for investors CIAS. I would love to help you achieve you real estate goal.

-Barbara Small

Source: dsnews.com

How to Rehab a Property in the Proper Order Part 1

When buying property for rehabilitation, it is important to do your house clean-up and repairs in the proper order. You don’t want to get ahead of yourself or waste time and money on the project. These steps are a good order of process to follow when house rehabbing, with a few extra specifics. Of course you will find small repairs in between these steps but they are very minor.

1. Secure the place by putting new lock sets in at least one entry door, and barricade the other exterior doors and windows that will not lock. From this point forward you need to know that your tools, building materials, and future improvements are safe from vandals.

2. Notify the police department right away that you are cleaning up the property and would like extra patrol. They are always willing to do this because house rehabbing makes for a nicer looking neighborhood which draws better residents and that makes their job easier. Leave all exterior lights on 24/7 so everyone can have good visibility of the exterior of the home.

• Consider leaving a dog to roam around in the front and back yard. Bring your kids over to play in the back yard. Consider having a worker sleep over. By making the unit a little habitable, vagrants will not be roaming around your property looking for something to steal.

3. Do a quick clean up of the debris on the outside of the home. There are two important reasons for this:

4. Always do the home remodeling work to the interior of the home before doing any noticeable work on the exterior. The only exception is the roof. If it is actually leaking, we should try to cheaply patch it to get by until the interior is nearly done. Do not use an obnoxious tarp.

5. Decide if we need to order replacement windows or keep existing. Allow time for replacement windows to ship.

6. Hang some fabric over the windows. You do not want to attract attention to our house rehabbing activities. It is not that you plan to do substandard work. WE just want to be able to do our house rehabbing work efficiently without unwarranted inspections causing delays.

7. Do a clean out of the interior. All items to be replaced with the exception of lighting and windows, needs to go. This needs to be done in a fashion that doesn’t draw attention.

8. Talk to the garbage collector on pick up day. Offer to pay him to take the bulk of trash. This money is paid directly to the collector. Ask him how much it will take for him to take it all. For about $60.00 he may even call a second truck to get it all. Don’t put the trash out until the collectors will be there to take it. we don’t want to look like you are making things worse.

9. Repair and reassemble. Start with the mechanicals. Most of these systems work fine for the most part. Most of the repairs are minor unless the home is still on fuses, or the plumbing was frozen. The upgrade to circuit breakers is a must. Do not do this unless you are capable. Safety first.

10. Prep the walls, ceiling, and trim for painting. Hang the light fixtures from the junction box with a piece of wire, but leave the power hooked up. Clean off any dirt and grease from the walls and ceilings. Pull any nails and fill the holes. we can use our spackle on trim also, and then sand smooth. If the windows are being replaced, it’s ok to get paint on them. Even if we keep them, paint them and then scrape the glass clean after the paint dries. This gets the window glass totally clean with little effort.

BARBARA SMALL TEAM: Specializing in Short Sales and Foreclosures. Dedicated in walking you through your Short Sale and Foreclosure process. “My team and I have one goal and that is to help you reach yours”.

-barbara 

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Rehab-a-Property-in-the-Proper-Order

The housing market made it to 61 percent “back to normal” in May, according to the latest Housing Barometer from Trulia.

May’s percentage is the first time the recovery has passed 60 percent since the crash. April’s barometer was 54 percent. A year ago, the barometer was at only 35 percent.

The monthly report measures three key housing market indicators—construction starts, existing-home sales, and the delinquency-plus-foreclosure rate—to track how quickly the market is recovering to its normal, pre-bubble state.

All three metrics improved in May, with starts and sales rising and the delinquency/foreclosure rate falling.

According to the May report from the Census Bureau, starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 914,000, up 7 percent from April but still below February and March. On the sales side, the National Association of Realtors reported a 4 percent increase in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million. Overall, starts are about 43 percent back to their normal level of 1.5 million, while sales are 82 percent back to normal.

Meanwhile, the share of mortgages in delinquency or foreclosure dropped to 9.13 percent in May. The combined rate is 57 percent back to normal.

“The recovery has reached full-fledged teenager status, with awkward, sudden growth spurts and parents—the Fed—who now threaten to take away its allowance by winding down measures that pushed mortgage rates down to historic lows,” said Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia. “Before long, the recovery should make it into adulthood, but it will face some grown-up challenges in the next couple of years: still-tight mortgage credit for many borrowers, a slow jobs recovery for young adults, and unaffordable housing in large coastal markets.”

If you’ve been thinking of selling your home, I tell everyone that this is the perfect time because house prices are up and interest rates are low and demand is high.

If you’re thinking of buying a home, this is the perfect time because interest rates are low and prices are on the way up.  It’s better to act now before the home you love is out of your reach.

-barbarasmall

 

Source:http://www.dsnews.com/articles/housing-market-61-back-to-normal-2013-06-28

Are distressed homes worth it? Part 1

 

 

Short sales and foreclosurescan seem like great bargains, but hassles and hidden costs may make these unconventional purchases more trouble than they’re worth.

Homebuyers are finding that the battered real-estate market offers just as many opportunities for headaches as for bargains.

Seth Grotzke and his wife, Crystal, both 25, recently bought a bank-owned two-bedroom, two-bathroom town house in Edina, Minn., for $110,000 — when similar homes in the same development were selling for as much as $131,000. But exactly one day before the scheduled July closing, the Grotzkes learned there was a second, unpaid mortgage. Because of the foul-up, the couple was forced to live in Grotzke’s boss’s basement for more than a month. They finally closed on Aug. 31.

“We knew there would be title issues, but none that would last for that long,” says Grotzke, an assistant pastor. He adds that buying a foreclosed property is a way for God to “teach you patience.”

Lots of homebuyers are learning about patience these days. In August, nearly a third of overall housing sales were distress sales, according to the National Association of Realtors. That was up from 18% in March 2008, when the association began tracking such sales. The figure includes both foreclosures and so-called short sales, in which the lender agrees to accept less than the full balance of a mortgage in order to unload the property.

In some parts of the country, such as Bakersfield, Calif., Las Vegas and Lakeland, Fla., distressed properties constitute half or more of all sales. So far this year, there have been nearly 411,000 sales of U.S. properties in some stage of foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac, which publishes a national database of homes in default, auctions and bank-owned homes.

Those numbers aren’t making it any easier to buy distressed property. Bidding wars are erupting for the lowest-priced foreclosures. Experienced investors with cash are elbowing aside first-time buyers who need mortgages. And banks generally sell property “as is,” without the defect disclosures that are required of other owners. Short-sale buyers, for their part, often face delays of weeks or months as they wait to hear back from lenders — and from the institutional investors who bought securities based on the mortgages.

“Those headaches, troubles and hassles could be avoided if only we can reach out to those homebuyers and offer them our services. I know how hard it is to lose a home and even more difficult to see your hardly earned money stuck in a real estate without any use. The Barbarasmallteam specializes in short sales and foreclosures. Just reach out our hand, lets’ talk.” – Barbara Small

Source: MSN real estate