New taxes on forgiven mortgage debt to hit owners

By Ilyce Glink

(MoneyWatch) Soon homeowners facing a short sale or foreclosure will have to pay federal income tax on any portion of the loan that is forgiven unless Congress intervenes.

The Mortgage Debt Relief Act Congress, passed in 2007, will expire at the end of the year. For the past five years, homeowners who conducted a short sale, are in foreclosure or restructured their mortgage and had part of the principal balance forgiven didn't have to pay any income tax on the forgiven debt.

But starting in 2013, homeowners who short sell their $150,000 home for $120,000 will have to pay taxes on the $30,000 worth of debt that was forgiven, because the federal government considers it income, even though homeowners never actually put any of this "phantom" income in their pockets.

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The legislation was initially passed to help homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage when the housing market crisis first began. But the market is still far away from recovery and real estate agents and legislators alike have argued that homeowners are still struggling and need relief.

"Homeowners facing a short sale or foreclosure are already in financial distress and are most likely unable to pay additional taxes," said Moe Veissi, president of the National Association of Realtors, in an e-mail. "These individuals have suffered through an economically devastating short sale or foreclosure of their home, and in many instances are unable to pay additional taxes, which only adds to their overall burden."

NAR is lobbying Congress to extend the tax relief past the 2012 deadline. Several legislators have introduced bills in both the House and Senate that would extend the tax relief.

The senate bill introduced by Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan would extend tax relief through 2013, while a House bill sponsored by Republican Representative Tom Reed of New York would extend the relief a year and another bill sponsored by Democratic Representative Charles Rangel, also of New York, would extend it two more years.

Though the three bills vary on how long they will continue the tax relief, they are all nearly identical in their goal to keep forgiven debt from a short sale, foreclosure or refinancing untaxed. All three bills have gone to committee. If the House and Senate are unable to come to an agreement, millions of homeowners could potentially wind up paying income tax on their mortgage deficiencies.

 

Thanks Wisconsin!

By Terry Brown

No matter if you are for or against Governor Scott Walker, you've got to admit the citizens of Wisconsin helped the Real Estate industry on Tuesday.

We've seen millions of dollars in CASH spent on properties over the past 24 months - people moving their money out of CDs, the Stock Market, and other lame investments to take advantage of the SALE that Real Estate has had going on...    This latest election is going to get people off the fence and join the run on Real Estate, while the great properties are still on sale.   

People need high confidence before they will buy properties - confidence that values will go up, not down.    When States get their financial house in order like Wisconsin has, it gives them confidence that the country is not going to end as they know it.    I expect other States to start the same process of pushing back to expenses that were agreed upon years ago that the States could never afford.    Just as I've said you should not buy a home you cannot afford, so should the States not try to afford expenses they cannot restrain.    Everyone should live within their means - especially OUR Government.

Look to see BUILDERS start building again.   This will create JOBS.    Like many have been saying for a while now, GOVERNMENT cannot create jobs - but they can get out of the way of them.    Now that business people see a glimmer of light from the State-house, they will bet their own money that the economy is ready to go - and a magical event happens:  trickle down economics.    Everyone starts making money.   If you currently own a home, send a thank-you letter to someone you know in Wisconsin, as they just made your home more valuable.    If you are a buyer - buy sooner than later, as prices are heading up.

Those on the sidelines receiving Government assistance that truly deserves it doesn't have to worry about their state government going broke and not sending out checks as the coffers are soon going to be full again as people will be working and paying taxes.    Those states that do not have their financial act together can surely expect a change in folks in charge this November - as people WANT financial stability from their Government.

There was a movie about 2012 and how it was portrayed as the year life comes to an end, perhaps they have it partially correct:   Life as being physically irresponsible as a politician may finally be coming to an end.    Let's only hope this is the case.

TB

Tumbling Homeownership Marks a Return to Normal

 By Chris Farrel

For anyone who owns a home, the past six years have seemed anything but normal. Nationally, home prices are down some 35 percent in that time, and in some cities the drop was almost double that figure. Even with some recent signs of improvement, the housing market is likely to bounce along the bottom for a long time.

Yet in one sense, we’re returning to normal. The homeownership rate in the first quarter of 2012 fell to 65.4 percent. It is now at 1997 levels, 3.6 percentage points below the peak reached in the bubble years—and coming closer to what you might call a natural rate for the U.S. economy.

The share of U.S. dwelling units occupied by owners was remarkably stable from 1900 through 1940, in the mid-40 percent range. Then it jumped to 55 percent in 1950, and to the 60-plus percent level starting in the 1960s. World War II veterans and their families bought homes, and policy legislators encouraged this by actively promoting housing, lavishing such tax breaks on owners as the mortgage interest deduction. The homeownership rate was relatively stable again from 1970 (62.9 percent) to 1990 (64.2 percent).

The embrace of housing ran even deeper. Giant subsidized institutions such as Fannie Mae (FNMA), Freddie Mac (FMCC), Ginnie Mae, and the Federal Home Loan Banks supported home buying. The mortgage industry giants helped create and expand the securitized mortgage market, building an enormous money pipeline between homeowners and the global capital markets. Washington made ownership even more attractive in 1997 by eliminating capital gains on the first $500,000 in profit at sale for joint filers, and $250,000 for single filers. Regulators in the early 2000s cheered the democratization of credit as bankers and their Wall Street partners ginned up all kinds of loans targeted at low-income borrowers, from no-doc mortgages to option ARMs.

As we all know, the ranks of homeowners swelled in the 2000s. Money flooded the market until the rate peaked at 69.4 percent in 2004. The bubble burst two years later. “The way we got to nearly 70 percent was to call a lot of people who had no equity in their homes ‘homeowners,’” says Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California.

Homeownership still has its attractions. America is aging, and older folks like the relative security that comes from owning. A home offers roots in a community. Owners also don’t have to worry about landlords raising the rent on them. A home becomes more affordable for many aging Americans as their incomes and wealth increase. For example, even after the dreadful experience of the past several years, the homeownership rate for those 65 and older was 80.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012, essentially unchanged from the 80.8 percent level for the same time period in 2005. In sharp contrast, the rate of those 35 and under was 37.9 percent in the first three months of 2012, down from 43.3 percent seven years earlier.

Fundamental social and economic trends suggest we won’t go back to the near 70 percent homeownership rate. Badly burned bankers and their regulators are more conservative in their practices. Families have changed in ways that will dampen the desirability of owning. Couples are getting married later. Far more important, the average worker has less job security today. Everyone feels they live on a high-wire act as corporations routinely downsize, right-size, reengineer, and overhaul their operations. And that was before the high unemployment rates of the worst labor market since the Great Depression. Laid-off workers have learned the hard way that they need to have the kind of financial freedom that comes from renting.

“We have encouraged people to buy homes, even though we don’t have great job security in the U.S.,” says Dean Baker, economist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. “Given what we know about job insecurity you wouldn’t expect a high homeownership rate.” Adds Green: “In the end, a 64 percent to 65 percent homeownership rate is likely where we will be for some time to come.”

Of course, there’s nothing new about changing family structure and rising job insecurity. Washington and the banking industry were simply having too much fun and profit to pay attention. We’ve all learned the hard way that owning any asset—home, stock, or other—is riskier than promoters believed or ever let on.

Fannie and Freddie Set Timeline Requirements for Short Sales

By: Carrie Bay

Beginning June 15, real estate agents working with distressed homeowners whose loans are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should expect to receive a decision on a short sale offer within 30-60 days.

The GSEs issued new guidelines Tuesday that fall under the Servicing Alignment Initiative rolled out last fall and aim to bring greater transparency to the short sale process and expedite decisions related to these pre-foreclosure sales.

Not only is a short sale an effective foreclosure alternative when home retention is no longer an option, but it keeps homes occupied and helps to maintain stable communities, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

Addressing real estate practitioners’ No. 1 complaint about short sales, FHFA directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to establish a new uniform set of minimum response times that servicers must follow in order to facilitate more efficient short sale transactions.

The GSEs’ new short sale timelines require servicers to make a decision within 30 days of receiving either an offer on a property under the companies’ traditional short sale programs or a completed Borrower Response Package (BRP) requesting short sale consideration, whether it’s through the federal government’s Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) program or a GSE program.

If more than 30 days are needed, servicers must provide the borrower with weekly status updates and come to a decision no later than 60 days from the date the BRP or offer was received.

According to the GSEs, this 30-day add-on will provide some leeway for servicers who may need more time to obtain a broker price opinion (BPO) or a private mortgage insurer’s approval for a short sale. All decisions must be made within 60 days.

In the event a servicer makes a counteroffer, the borrower is expected to respond within five business days. The servicer must then respond within 10 business days of receiving the borrower’s response.

The GSEs plan to use the new short sale timelines to evaluate servicer compliance with the Servicing Alignment Initiative.

Edward DeMarco, acting director of the FHFA, says the GSEs new borrower communication and timeline requirements for short sales “set minimum standards and provide clear expectations regarding these important foreclosure alternatives.”

GSE servicers must comply with the new minimum communication time frames for all short sale evaluations conducted on or after June 15, 2012, although servicers are encouraged to begin implementing the new requirements sooner.

“I applaud Fannie and Freddie for finally coming out with real guidance with real world timelines for their servicers,” commented Anthony Lamacchia, broker/owner of McGeough Lamacchia Realty Inc., which specializes in short sales. “There is no question that this will help short sales and the market as a whole.”

Last year Freddie Mac completed 45,623 short sales, a 140 percent increase since 2009. Fannie Mae’s short sale completions shot up by 101 percent over the same period, totaling around 79,800 in 2011.

6 tips for a painless closing. Closing on a house can be joyful or horrific. Follow this advice for a smooth settlement.

By Polyana da Costa 


You finally found the house of your dreams. You signed a contract and got approved for a mortgage. You've even hired the movers. Now comes the most important part: the closing.

In an ideal world, closing should be a mere formality, where homebuyer and seller sign on the dotted lines, exchange checks for the keys and shake hands. But this isn't an ideal world, which means that if you and the professionals you hired don't prepare, your closing could be a disaster.

Here are six tips for ensuring your closing goes smoothly.

1. Ask questions
Knowing what to expect and communicating with all parties involved in the deal are key to a successful closing, says Neil Garfinkel, a real-estate attorney at Abrams Garfinkel Margolis Bergson LLP in New York.

A week before closing, "talk to the people who are representing you, and tell them you'd like to spend a couple of minutes to discuss what to expect," Garfinkel says.

Don't be afraid to bother your loan officer or your real-estate agent, says Jeff Richardson, a real-estate agent at Alliance Bay Realty in Newark, Calif.

"Stay on them," he says. "Ask them 'Do you have everything you need?' Don't assume everyone knows what they are doing."


2. Anticipate human error
Richardson says he recently represented a buyer whose closing failed because of missing loan documents. The buyer was a co-signer on his brother's mortgage, and the lender had requested 12 canceled checks showing that the brother, not the buyer, was paying the old mortgage. The buyer could come up with only eight checks, and the loan officer said that would be enough. That was weeks before closing.

"I kept saying that wasn't going to work," says Richardson, who also has worked as a mortgage broker. "The requirement is 12 checks. How can eight checks be sufficient?"   Three days before closing, the lender said it couldn't issue the loan without the 12 checks, and the deal was canceled.

"Sometimes people don't know as well," Richardson says. "I asked his loan officer, 'How can you give someone an approval letter when you don't have all the documentation?' And his answer was, 'Well, now I learned it.'"

3. Review loan documents in advance
One way to ensure all is going as planned is to tell the lender that you want to review the documents before closing, or ask your attorney to do so.

By law, you have the right to review the closing-settlement statement, or the HUD-1 form, at least 24 hours before closing. Compare that form to the good-faith estimate you received when you applied for the loan.
"You should have everything you are going to sign before you sign it," Richardson says. "A lot of people don't do that. When they get to closing, they are nervous, and they just want to sign and get the keys. That's how people get in trouble."

4. Take a check
Another reason to review the loan documents in advance is so you know how much money you must bring to closing. And yes, you will need a check at closing, most likely a certified one.

Many buyers are so anxious and excited that they forget they need to stop at the bank to get the check.
Using a wire transfer is an option, but it may delay the closing, says Rafael Castellanos, a managing partner at Expert Title Insurance Agency in New York.

"Some people think a wire transfer is faster, but the closing won't happen until they have actual confirmation that the wire hit," Castellanos says. "Depending on the time the transfer was made, it could be a huge problem."

The buyer must also bring photo identification and a copy of the homeowners-insurance policy, as well as the good-faith estimate, the HUD-1 statement or both, in case there are discrepancies.

5. Take the day off
A smooth closing may take less than 30 minutes, but you won't know for sure if your closing will go as planned until it's done.

"There may be delays, especially if you are closing at the end of the month," says Rob Nunziata, president of FBC Mortgage in Orlando, Fla. "Sometimes, people have to sit there for hours and say, 'I've got to get back to work.'"

Trying to close during your lunch break is a bad idea, Castellanos says.
"Imagine you get these delays, and you are on your lunch hour," Castellanos says. "Now you're hungry, you're frustrated and you're late. That's a pretty bad combination."

6. Expect the unexpected — including typos
You're at the closing table. You're told everything is good to go. All you need to do is sign.

You must double-check the numbers on the mortgage note you are signing, even if you have received the HUD-1 form before closing.

"One of the biggest holdups in closing is when the mortgage documents are incorrect," Castellanos says. "Sometimes, you have to correct the interest rate, or the amount is wrong and you need to fix it."
Because of a simple typo, your loan documents may need to be sent back to the lender to be redone.
To prepare for these unexpected delays, borrowers should try to schedule their closings for earlier in the day. And don't wait until the last day on the contract to close.
"You shouldn't get to that line, especially when you are buying a foreclosure or short sale," Richardson says.

RE/MAX Survey of 53 Metros Finds Home Prices Up Again

By: Esther Cho

According to a March 2012 housing report released by RE/MAX, home prices have risen for the second month in a row now on a year-over-year basis. The RE/MAX report included 53 metro areas and found the median price in March was $184,525, a 7.3 percent price increase from February, and a 5.8 percent increase from a year ago in March 2011. A consecutive increase on a year-over-year basis has not occurred since August 2010, according to the report.

Also, according to the March report, of the 53 metro areas, 36 experienced year-over-year price increases, with 10 seeing double-digit gains including Detroit, Michigan (+22.8 percent); Miami, Florida (+21.8 percent); St. Louis, Missouri (+18.5 percent); Phoenix, Arizona (+18.2 percent); Atlanta, Georgia (+13.7 percent); and Orlando, Florida (+12.7 percent).

“Although we don’t expect home prices to rise in every market at the same rate, the worst is definitely behind us, and a slow, steady recovery is taking hold,” said Margaret Kelly, CEO of RE/MAX.

March home sales surged 25.4 percent compared to February and rose by 1.5 percent a year ago. RE/MAX attributed the significant increase to good weather, low interest rates, attractive pricing, and improving consumer confidence.

Of the 53 metro areas included in the March survey, 33 experienced a year-over-year increases in sales, 17 of which saw double-digit growth including Wilmington, Delaware ( +41.8 percent); Omaha, Nebraska (+30.6 percent); Providence, Rhode Island (+26.6 percent); Tulsa, Oklahoma (+26 percent); Chicago, Illinois (+23.7 percent); and Milwaukee, Wisconsin (+21.4 percent).

For homes sold in March, the average number of days on market was largely unchanged at 101, two days less than February’s average and three days less than the year ago average.

The average inventory of homes on the market in March dropped 2.8 percent from the previous month of February and 23.2 percent from March 2011. The drop in March marks the 21st consecutive month inventories have fallen.

The months supply dropped to 5.3 months compared to February’s 6.6 month supply and the 7.1 month supply in March 2011. Months supply is the number of months it would take to clear a inventory at the current rate of sales. A six-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers.

RE/MAX was founded in 1973 by Dave and Gail Liniger, real estate industry visionaries who still lead the Denver-based global franchisor. RE/MAX is a real estate franchisor with the a global reach of more than 80 countries.

California Home Prices Going Up, Inventory Down, C.A.R. Reports

By: Esther Cho

After 16 months of year-over-year declines, median home prices in California posted a gain, according to the California Association of Realtors.).

The median price of a single-family home for March 2012 was $291,080, a 1.6 percent increase compared to a revised $286,550 for March 2011, and a 9.2 percent increase compared to February’s median price of $266,660. The month-over-month increase was the largest since March 2004.

When breaking up prices by specific regions, the San Francisco Bay area was an exception, seeing a year-over-year decrease of 1.6 percent, but a 9.1 percent month-over-month increase.

“In areas, such as Los Angeles and Riverside counties, where the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) wants to implement the REO bulk sale pilot program, inventory is running at levels well below the long-run average,” said C.A.R.

VP and chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young. “These low inventory levels demonstrate that the pilot program is not necessary in California.”

The pilot program involves the sale of government-owned REOs in bulk to institutional investors who will convert them into rental properties. According to C.A.R., in California, the program would call for the sale of more than 600 Fannie Mae-owned foreclosed homes in Los Angeles and Riverside counties.

Recently, 19 California congressmen sent a letter to Edward DeMarco, acting director of FHFA, asking him to make California an exception to the program.

C.A.R. reported that California’s housing inventory declined, with the Unsold Inventory Index for existing, single-family homes down to 4.1 months in March, compared to a revised 5.4 months in February and a 5.4 month supply in March 2011.

Los Angeles county had a 4.3 month supply, and Riverside county had an even lower number, with 3.8 months of inventory.

San Mateo and Santa Clara counties had notably low inventories as well, at 2.4 and 2.5 months, respectively.

Not only is California’s housing inventory down, but according to C.A.R., it takes less days to sell a home there, with the time it took to sell a single-family home dropping to 53.1 days in March 2012, compared to 58.9 days in February and 57 days for March 2011.