Real Estate News

Its folksy-looking cover is familiar to most people who have searched for a home to buy. Indeed, The Real Estate Book, the regionally distributed listings magazine, is a hallmark of the house-hunting process. But the India-based company that owns the publication, as well as many other titles such as Apartment Finder and New England Home, is having a crisis of its own. Today, Network Communications Inc. of Bangalore announced it had signed a fourth extension with lenders as it continues its attempts to restructure its debt. Network defaulted on a $9.4 million interest payment in June after failing to secure a new loan to replace an existing credit line that expires in November. The firm, whose total debt is about $296 million, has suffered the decline of two industries, advertising and real estate.

Move over Tim Allen. Another '90s-vintage celebrity -- Robert Van Winkle, aka America's first white rapper, Vanilla Ice -- will star in his own home improvement show. "The Vanilla Ice Project," ten half-hour episodes beginning Oct. 19 on the DIY network, hopes to sell audiences on unscripted laughs from the drama and suspense that ensues when a former rapper rocks a tool belt and a nail gun. You might even learn how to renovate your existing home for profit.

This could be a good thing for both the ever-developing, home-makeover-loving America and the rehabbed, recovered, pop-culture icon. Nearly 20 years after he slid and pumped through his signature hit "Ice Ice Baby," you could say Van Winkle is reinvented. For this gig, the MC's traded in his microphone for a drill and proves that this married father of two can be rather helpful around the house.

But what does Ice know about maximizing home values in Palm Beach, Fla.?

Homeowners are slashing prices more drastically and more frequently, according to recently released data from ZipRealty. The average price reduction is now 7.1 percent of list price.

List prices dipped about $19,000 in August compared with July, across the 26 markets studied. On average, sellers made two price cuts during that time.

Seven cities saw price reductions on more than half of their inventory, with Jacksonville, Phoenix and Minneapolis on top with 55 percent, 54.4 percent and 52.4 percent, respectively.

"Earlier in the year we saw sellers being aggressive with their pricing, but not reducing as much," says Leslie Tyler, vice president of marketing for ZipRealty. "What we are seeing now is that the trends are reversing."

With the seeming desperation of home sellers, and the continued drop in mortgage rates, buyers are in a very good position. But the plunging rate at which buyers are applying for mortgages tells a different story, which might explain sellers' attitudes.

Fannie Mae won't fade away so easily -- at least not before it strikes some fear into sluggish loan servicers. The company has announced that it will penalize loan servicers who take too long to process foreclosures that clearly don't qualify for a short sale or loan modification. The fines will be based on a formula that considers: the outstanding balance left on the loan; the rate of return for investors in the mortgage-back securities supported by the loan; and the length of delay, among other criteria. Every state has a prescribed foreclosure-completion timeline, which can vary from as little as 60 days, in states such as Georgia and Texas, to up to 300 days, in states such as New York and New Jersey. The measure is being taken to decrease the number of vacant homes with delinquent mortgages that are being held off the market (known as "shadow inventory") which pull down home and rental prices. According to Fannie's quarterly report, about 450,000 single-family loans securitized into mortgage-backed securities were seriously delinquent or in the foreclosure process as of June 30 -- nearly 5 percent of the 9 million guaranteed by Fannie.

In the spirit of recovery, check out foreclosures for sale in your area.

Would you give blanket consent for your real estate agent to share information with the other party's agent in a home purchase, as long as both agents work for the same broker? That's permitted under a New York State law given final approval this week.

New York's new law will allow buyers and sellers of all dwellings to sign, in advance, just one catchall consent form agreeing to dual agency representation for any property. A dual agency relationship is when both the seller's agent and buyer's agent represent the same brokerage. And under existing law, buyers have had to sign a new form before each showing of any property in which a dual agency relationship exists.

Arguments can be made for whether the new law, effective in January, benefits the broker's agent, the seller or the buyer. In theory, it is meant to make disclosures more transparent for the buyer. But unless a buyer is willing to skip seeing quite a few properties, or chooses to use an agent from a small boutique brokerage, he or she just might not be that much better off.

It's time to find some patience because home sales aren't likely to rebound significantly this selling season, new mortgage data indicates.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported a 37 percent drop in applications for home loans last week compared to the same week in 2009.

Even though the weekly survey -- an index measuring mortgage volume -- was up a seasonally adjusted 1.8 percent from the previous week, experts warn that the continuing low levels of mortgage applications could mean a prolonged recovery for home sales numbers.

Waning applications is an indicator that home sales are unlikely to increase in August or September, Michael Fratantoni, MBA's vice president of research and economics, said in a press release.

But there's one good piece of news for the consumer: With interest rates historically low (and amazingly falling even lower), buyers are racing to take advantage of refinancing options.

It seems implausible -- even impossible -- yet here we are again. For the 10th time in the last 11 weeks, conventional mortgage interest rates dropped to a new historic low. The average 30-year fixed rate hit 4.32 percent for the week finishing Sept. 2, a drop from the previous week's 4.36 percent, according to Freddie Mac. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to an average of 3.83 percent, down from last week's 3.86 percent. Unbeatable rates may encourage trigger-shy buyers to take a shot at homeownership this fall after the late-summer slump.

The federal government's Home Affordable Modification Program has a lot of work left to do if it hopes to catch up to the private sector. HAMP, with its promise of helping up to 4 million homeowners avoid foreclosure, completed 36,695 modifications in July. In the same period, private mortgage programs completed 120,351 – more than three times the federal program's rate. The numbers were tabulated by Hope Now, a private sector consortium of servicers and other mortgage counselors who offer alternatives to HAMP. So why is it that so few homeowners are taking advantage of the government's mod program? It's not for lack of trying: Including both HAMP and private program figures, servicers completed 1.13 million modifications so far this year -- a far cry from 4 million, and that's not counting the thousands who have dropped out of the program.

A Newport Beach, Calif., house once owned by actor John Wayne has come on the market for $2.263 million. To appreciate what a marketing boost it is to be able to claim that the Duke slept here, you need to know that Orange County, where Newport Beach is located, is the region that gave us Richard M. Nixon and where the GOP comes home to roost.

Among Orange Countians, John Wayne is a conservative god whom they named an airport after. The Texas Republican Party asked Wayne to run for national office more than once, an idea that Ronald Reagan was probably glad the Duke took a pass on.

While it's not known how much time Wayne spent at the house, books on the Hollywood icon recall him playing poker, bridge and backgammon, among other games, at the nearby Big Canyon Country Club.

After a gloomy month of frightening housing numbers, a ray of sunshine cut through the clouds. The Pending Home Sales Index for contracts signed in July rose 5.2 percent from June, according to the National Association of Realtors. While this is a 19.1 percent fall from last July's home sales numbers, economists had predicted a drop of 1 percent for this July. The new increase indicates that the housing decline following the end of the homebuyer tax credit incentives was nearing its end. It is hoped historically low mortgage interest rates and affordable housing prices will help the ailing housing market recover in the coming months.

In other good news, 17 major markets saw price increases in the latest monthly report. Find out how your market measures up.