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Consumer Confidence Is Lifting New Home Sales

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According to a new report by The Wall Street Journal, the housing market is beginning to see signs of improvement, and much of that has to do with the current growth in consumer confidence.

As the paper points out, new home sales have picked up significantly from last year, with one builder – Taylor Morrison Home Corp. – reporting a 30 percent increase from last year.

“I’ve got to tell you right now, I feel pretty good about what we see in the market in January and how everybody is reacting,” Larry Nicholson, CEO of Ryland, told the paper earlier this month. “I see a lot more positives this year before the Super Bowl than I have in the past, quite a few.”

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News

Brooklyn’s Most Expensive Real Estate Listing Hits the Market

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A four-floor townhouse in Brooklyn just hit the market for $40 million, making it the most expensive listing ever in the New York City borough.

According to CNBC, the 17,500-square-foot home boasts 16 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms and is currently divided into eight separate units.

The seller, Jeff Keil, is reportedly a retired banker and bought the property in 1991 for $2.3 million.

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News

Google Launches Mortgage Calculator

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Google can now help you out in your mortgage-related endeavors, as the search engine has just launched a brand new mortgage calculator.

According to CNBC, the calculator can help you figure out how much mortgage you can afford, or switch tabs and input the required info, and it’ll tell you the total cost of your mortgage and monthly payments.

“Preparing for homeownership just got a bit easier,” Google announced on Tuesday. “Starting today you can ask Google things like ‘How much can I borrow at $200 a month?’ or ‘At 5% APR how much can I borrow over 10 years?’ You can even adjust the mortgage amount, interest rate, mortgage period and more to see which financial options fit your needs.”

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All About Insurance

PMI Better Than Expected at Protecting Taxpayers

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The Urban Institute revealed on Tuesday that private mortgage insurance is even more effective than originally predicted at protecting Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the American taxpayers from losses.

PMI is paid by homeowners who are not able to put down at least 20 percent of the value of their home loan at the time of purchase.

“In every issue year examined, when loans experienced a credit event, private mortgage insurance did its job and kept the losses for high-LTV loans generally below the losses experienced by lower LTV loans,” bloggers Laurie Goodman and Jun Zhu explained. “In fact, in every issue year, mortgages with the highest LTV (>80) had a significantly lower loss severity than the middle LTV mortgages (60-80) and, in all but the latest three years, lower severity than mortgages with the lowest LTV (≤60). This pattern holds true even for loans originated near the peak of the market (2006), even though severity was much higher for these loans as they ultimately experienced greater home price depreciation.”

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All About Insurance

Report: One Third of Americans Don’t Know Their Mortgage Rate

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According to a new report by CNBC, more than a third of Americans don’t know their mortgage interest rates.

Reporter Diana Olick says Monday morning’s finding is not surprising, however, considering that – during the housing boom – many people didn’t even know whether they had a fixed or adjustable rate mortgage.

“If you don’t know your mortgage rate, especially today with falling rates and new government-backed loans that are cheaper than they were before, you could be missing out on thousands of dollars on annual savings,” Olick said.

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News

Mortgage Serious Delinquency Rate Declines in December

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Freddie Mac reported on Friday that the Single-Family serious delinquency rate dropped in December to 1.88% from 1.91% the month before.

A seriously delinquent mortgage is one that is “three monthly payments or more past due or in foreclosure.”

Bill McBride, blog writer for Calculated Risk, noted that although the rate is declining, the “normal” serious delinquency rate is under 1%.

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Credit

Report: Majority of Consumers Have Subprime Credit Scores

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The Corporation for Enterprise Development released a new report on Thursday, which revealed that many Americans are still struggling to improve their credit, despite a growing job market and overall better economy.

“In the world of consumer credit scoring, if you mess up, it’s a seven- to 10-year penalty,” explained John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education at CreditSesame.com.

As a result, these consumers often see their loan applications denied, or if they are borrowing, they don’t get to take advantage of the same low interest rates that borrowers with better scores are offered.

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News

Pending Home Sales Closed Out 2014 with Largest Drop of the Year

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According to Mortgage News Daily, the National Association of Relators revealed on Thursday that the rate at which contracts were signed to purchase homes in December was down 3.7 percent from November. It was also the largest drop since December 2013, when it fell 5.8 percent.

“Total inventory fell in December for the first time in 16 months, resulting in fewer choices for buyers and a modest uptick in price growth in markets throughout the country,” explained Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “With interest rates at lows not seen since early 2013, the strength in existing-sales in upcoming months will largely depend on the willingness of current homeowners to realize their equity gains from the past couple years and trade up.”

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News

Rural America Suffering Silent Housing Crisis

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As The Atlantic points out in a new report published on Wednesday, it’s not just the big cities – like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco – where affordable housing for low-income families is difficult to come by.

In fact, according to the news source, rural America is suffering its own affordable housing crisis, as many of the homes available to low-income families are in terrible condition.

“When we are looking at areas that are most challenged economically we’re also finding some of the most challenging housing conditions,” says David Dangler, the director of Rural Initiatives at NeighborWorks America.

Sheila Crowley, president of the National Low-Income Housing Coalition added, “Much of the affordable-housing stock in rural housing areas is old and in need of repair. Many of the people who live there don’t have the resources that they need in order to keep the houses in good repair.”

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News, Tips & Advice

Millennials Seeking Smaller Homes, Greater Details

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The National Association of Home Builders revealed on Monday that there are several characteristics in a home that will become more and more sought-after as millennials begin to enter the housing market.

For one, desired home will get a little smaller, while laundry rooms and home technology will become more prevalent.

“Builders will build whatever demand calls out for,” NAHB Assistant Vice President of Research Rose Quint said.

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