A Big Headache: Where’s The Note?

I’ve written a couple of posts where MERS electronically kept track of notes rather than recording the title at the required county recorder offices throughout the U.S.  Now, it is not only becoming a problem but a headache for many states.

Real estate agents may also now be required to issue a disclosure to buyers when purchasing a short sale or foreclosure indicating there could be a “cloud” on the title in regards to not only first but also second mortgages.

I haven’t heard of it becoming a problem here in Oregon because we weren’t as involved in the sub-prime mortgage market as many other areas. However, it takes one person to test the validity of their foreclosure to bring the problem to the forefront.  We may still see a wave of issues here locally as well.  You can read more about it here.  There are many states that are having lots of problems because of the electronic tracking that MERS initiated.  I wonder who thought of that great idea??

Laws are written for a reason.  To determine chain of title, it has always been that a transfer of deed needed to be recorded along with the note, in the appropriate county.  Afterall, that’s what closing is – recording. 

Somewhere, someone got the idea to by-pass that law, make a lot of money and just keep track of the note rather than processing the required and necessary recording.  Now it’s coming back to haunt everyone from title companies, lenders, attorneys, courts, real estate agents and not to mention sellers and buyers.  Just one more chapter in this foreclosure crisis that everyone now is becoming aware of and we’re probably not through yet.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.  Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Market Update: Bank-Owned vs. Short Sale Stats, What Housing Bust? + PDX Best Neighborhood

CNN just reported that Oregon in comparison to the rest of the U.S., is doing better than most:

Street Sign

“Portland is the shining example of smart growth. In 1973, Oregon passed an urban growth boundary law, which required that each of the state’s municipalities set a line in the sand on which open land could be developed.

The policy is credited with fostering Portland’s excellent reputation as an attractive, livable city — but it may have been too successful. Population growth has been so robust that some residents have complained about too much congestion in its core. And some building has been pushed out into nearby areas, such as in adjacent Washington, that have less strict policies. Meanwhile, home prices in Portland recorded a more than 86% gain from 2000 through the middle of 2007. The median, at $255,000 during the second quarter of 2009, is well above the national average of $174,000.”

PORTLAND NEIGHBORHOOD “BEST NEIGHBORHOOD” IN 2009

Ladd’s Addition in SE Portland has been named one of the “Great Neighborhoods in America for 2009″.  The American Planning Association (APA) announced the country’s 10 Great Neighborhoods, 10 Great Streets, and 10 Great Public Spaces for 2009 through the organization’s Great Places in America national program.  Ladd’s Addition ranked #6 out of the 10 Great Neighborhoods. 

BANK-OWNED vs. SHORT-SALE STATS

The chart below shows activity from 9-1 to 9-30-09 from RMLS™ for the three areas my blog covers – RMLS™# 147 Lake Oswego, RMLS™#147 Lake Oswego, RMLS™#148 West Portland and RMLS™#151 Tigard.  I wanted to see the comparison of bank-owned properties vs. short sales in those three areas.  There were fewer active foreclosure listings than short sale listings in all three areas.  However, there were more than twice as many foreclosures that sold and closed than short sales here locally.  Bottom line, it’s the bank-owned properties that represented the better deals that buyers wanted to purchase.

According to the Oregon.live blog, the (National Association of Realtors®) NAR said that early signs from an consumer survey yet to be released indicate that first-time home buyers accounted for more than 45 percent of home sales during the past year. A separate survey shows that distressed homes accounted for 29 percent of transactions in September. (via Calculated Risk)

SHORT SALES

West Portland led the group with the highest number of short sales listed at 31 and 6 sold, Lake Oswego followed in second place with 22 short sales listed  but only 1 sold, then Tigard with 20 short sales listed and 6 having sold.  West Linn had the fewest number of short sales listed at 18 and 0 sold.

FORECLOSURES

West Portland again led the group and had 15 foreclosures that sold and Tigard was in second place with 12 bank owned properties that sold, West Linn had 5 foreclosures that sold whereas Lake Oswego had only 2 that closed.  According to a REALTrends Report, it states that foreclosures will drop off next year due to national and local economic conditions-including a reviving economy, slowing house price depreciation, and tighter underwriting of recent loans-will lead to a decline in foreclosures in 2010.

(c) Betty Jung 2009

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.  Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Buying Bank-Owned Property – Foreclosures=No Disclosures

The other day I wrote a post on property disclosures but wanted to expand that post in regards to bank-owned properties.  Our Oregon Association of Realtors® has this to say about ORS 105.465 and property disclosures:

In most cases, residential property sellers in Oregon must provide a Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement to each residential buyer who makes a written offer.  The form used by the seller is mandated by state law.  The seller’s representations regarding the property are based upon the seller’s actual knowledge at the time the disclosure statement is made and are not the representations of any financial institution that may have made or may make a loan pertaining to the property, or that may have a security interest in the property, or any real estate licensee engaged by the seller or buyer. Licensees are not responsible for misrepresentations by the seller unless they know of the misrepresentation and fail to disclose it. 

A buyer should carefully review the seller disclosures and verify, or ask their licensee to verify, any statements of concern.  REVIEW OF THE SELLER’S PROPERTY DISCLOSURE STATEMENT IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL INSPECTIONS. 

Here in Oregon, sellers may claim an exclusion and are not required to complete a property disclosure under ORS 105.470 only if they qualify under the statute in these instances:

• The first sale of a dwelling never occupied, provided that the seller provides the buyer with the following statement on or before the date the buyer is legally obligated to purchase the subject real property: “THIS HOME WAS CONSTRUCTED OR INSTALLED UNDER BUILDING OR INSTALLATION PERMIT(S) #___, ISSUED BY_____.”
• Sales by financial institutions that acquired the property as custodian, agent or trustee, or by foreclosure or deed in lieu of foreclosure.
• Receivers;
• Personal representatives;
• Trustees;
• Conservators; or
• Guardians.
• Sales or transfers by governmental agencies. [1993 c.547 §7; 1995 c.198 §1; 2003 c.328 §5]

From Phyllis Harb in Los Angeles come these interesting scenarios which are happening in our local Portland real estate market with bank-owned properties as well:

1)  A homeowner contacts their lender for a loan modification, they complete the necessary paperwork and to validate a lower value might provide the lender with information regarding the condition of their home.  The lender denies the loan modification; the homeowner loses their home through foreclosure.

The lender lists the home with a local Realtor© as a foreclosure. The new buyer moves in and was never informed of the former owner’s claims (or even written reports) regarding the condition of the home.

2)  A home is listed with a local Realtor© as a short sale.  A buyer is found and escrow is opened.  This buyer conducts a thorough inspection of the home.   After the inspection, the buyer asks for a credit and the inspection report is forwarded to the lender. The lender/seller refuses to renegotiate and the buyer does not complete the sale, the homeowner loses their home through foreclosure.  The new buyer moves in and was never informed of the written reports regarding the condition of the home.

3)  A homeowner has major damage to their home caused by fire, flooding, mudslide or ???.   Their insurance carrier pays a claim, and because the claim is over a specified dollar amount the check must also be endorsed by the homeowner and the lender.  The check is endorsed, the lender has a record of the claim.  The homeowner later loses their home in foreclosure. A new buyer moves in and was never informed of the written reports regarding the condition of the home.

Just be aware that the house you thought was a deal because it was a bank-owned foreclosure, may become the nightmare money-pit you never wanted or could afford and; ultimately, isn’t such a good deal afterall.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Market Update: Unemployment & Delinquencies in Portland

UNEMPLOYMENT

I’m not here to debate how bad the unemployment figures are.  The recent report was worse than expected and we continue to lose jobs.  Until the job market improves, I personally don’t think our housing market will improve.  There are ”housing experts” saying that this is the worst unemployment picture since the Great Depression.  The job report shows the unemployment rate now stands at 9.8 percent- highest level hit since 1983.  Another 263,000 jobs lost last month.  Larry Summers recently stated that jobs are a lagging indicator and are 2 months behind a recession ending and the Administration won’t consider that a recovery has taken place until the job market improves.

Economist – Bill Conerly has said:

“One last comment on unemployment:  look carefully at the historic pattern and you’ll see that the unemployment rate is a lagging indicator, meaning that it starts to improve after the overall economy is already improving.  As such, it does not prevent the economy from improving.

If high unemployment prevented a recovery from recession, then we never would have recovered from our first recession.  But we’ve recovered from it, and from every other recession.

There are plenty of things to worry about.  The high unemployment rate preventing a recovery is not one of those things.”

CBS News reported the other evening that any recovery is being clouded by the jobs report.  If you’ve been reading my blog you know my concern about economists missing the mark and not knowing this recession was coming.  Now comes a new book that says more or less the same thing.  The economists should have seen this financial crisis coming and I’m not the only one who feels this way.

DELINQUENCY RATE  AND FORECLOSURES IN PORTLAND

First American Core Logic ranks Portland as still having a low delinquency rate.  Portland is considered to be a “Type 2″ which means a relatively low mean delinquency rate – well under 10% with little or no mass in high delinquency neighborhoods.  Portland, Seattle and Charlotte, NC are in this “Type 2″ model.

First American CoreLogic also reports that Portland and Oregon continue to fare better than the national average but the picture is still bleak. Portland’s foreclosure rate in August was 1.8 perecnt, up from .7 percent a year ago. The Oregon foreclosure rate was 1.8 percent and the national average was 2.9 percent. The 90-plus-day delinquency rate in Portland and Oregon was 4.8 percent and nationally it was 7.1 percent.

Housing Wire  says when the 60-plus day delinquency and serious delinquency trends were plotted against the foreclosure rates, delinquencies were shown to accelerate faster than foreclosures as loan servicers increase loan modifications and other workout efforts and moratoria cap the foreclosure rates.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com.

Re/Max Co-Founder Presents Short Sale Proposal To H.U.D. Secretary Donovan

PRESS RELEASE:

Denver, CO. September 10, 2009 — RE/MAX Chairman and Co-Founder Dave Liniger met with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan on Friday. They had a conversation on a variety of topics related to the current state of the real estate market, but focused primarily on recommendations for streamlining the Short Sale process.

“We feel strongly that if Short Sale transactions can become more like normal real estate transactions, we can make significant headway in reducing the number of vacant and foreclosed homes on the market,” Liniger said. “Because most homeowners aren’t aware that they have this option and loan servicers haven’t made it a priority, we feel that the federal government should facilitate an effective national initiative.”

Also present at the meeting, held in Secretary Donovan’s office, were FHA Commissioner Dave Stevens and Laurie Maggiano of the Treasury Department’s Chief of Homeowner Preservation Office. Accompanying Dave Liniger to Washington was RE/MAX Senior Vice President, Mike Ryan.

A Short Sale can occur when a lender allows a homeowner to sell a home for a price that is less than what is owed on the mortgage, if the homeowner is experiencing a financial difficulty that would make monthly mortgage payments a significant burden. Unfortunately, nearly 70% of homeowners facing foreclosure never list their home for sale, even though a Short Sale has many benefits over a foreclosure.

RE/MAX has made assisting such families a high priority and has undertaken a comprehensive, targeted agent training program. In March, Liniger set a goal of having 7,500 RE/MAX Sales Associates earn the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) designation by the end of the year. The actual number has already passed 7,000 and represents 62% of all CDPE agents in the United States.

Surveys show that after earning a CDPE designation, agents are twice as likely to be able to keep families in their homes. With the CDPE designation, agents are also able to cut the time in half that it takes to close a Short Sale. The average CDPE agent closes about 10 Short Sale transactions a year.

“Secretary Donovan has a very good understanding of how Short Sales can help this market, and he was certainly open to our specific recommendations, especially in the area of agent training and public awareness. We’re expecting an announcement will soon be made about procedures to facilitate a streamlined Short Sale process,” Liniger added.

Short Sales could be the best solution for homeowners who are facing a foreclosure, have been turned down for a loan modification, or who have lost their job and can no longer make their mortgage payments. Homeowners who find themselves in one of these difficult positions should contact a real estate professional who is specifically trained to handle Short Sales to find out how the process could result in a positive outcome. A CDPE agent is especially aware of this critical process.

A streamlined Short Sale process could benefit the entire real estate marketplace and offers a much better alternative to foreclosure. Lenders often experience greater losses taking a home to foreclosure, neighborhoods suffer greater losses in home values with foreclosed homes, which are often vacant, and homeowners sustain more severe damage to their credit as the result of foreclosure.

The real estate market will not recover until the number of foreclosures is reduced and home prices start to rebound. An efficient Short Sale process can have a significant impact on foreclosures, which remain at record high levels. RE/MAX hopes that a standardized, national Short Sale process will soon be in place to promote a lasting housing recovery.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).