Shirley Kistler's Real Estate Blog: Serving your Real Estate Needs in Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado Counties

The U.S. Treasury released statistics the end of July, 2010 for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) program.  The statistics showed that loans that have been permanently modified had a re-default rate to be around 2% – 5.9% 60 or more days past due after modification and 1.7% 90 or more days delinquent.  When those statistics came out, they received a huge outcry from analysts questioning the validity of these statistics. 

The Treasury pulled the numbers and re-evaluated the statistics after retaining a third-party consultant to provide independent validation.  A few weeks later, they corrected the re-default assessments as follows:  10% of six month old permanent modifications are 60+ days delinquent and 6% are 90+ days delinquent. 

Analysts say that’s still too low and the rates will surely go higher the longer the program is in place.  Up until six months ago, permanent modifications had been offered to only about 434,716 borrowers.  The Treasury has cancelled the temporary modifications of 616,839 borrowers. 

The analysts at Barclays are predicting a 60% re-default rate and Fitch Ratings projects 55-75%. 
 http://www.dsnews.com/articles/print-vie…

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With the Sacramento Real Estate market full of Short Sale Properties for Sale it is taking longer to close on the purchase of your new home.  Due to the vast number of short sale properties available, the banks are starting to back up again on the approval of short sale properties.

If you are unwilling to wait a minimum of 60-90 days for an approval of your offer then a short sale is NOT for you.   With the decrease of inventory available for sale in the Sacramento area, we are seeing an increase of multiple offers on our listings for sale.   We are also seeing quite a few buyers who are unwilling to wait for short sale approval.   This is the main reason we take BACKUP offers on our listings and ask that our buyers be held in backup position.  We have seen countless buyers who are in 1^st, 2^nd and even 3^rd backup position get their home.  Patience is the name of the game in the short sale process.  

If you are making an offer on a Short Sale Property, be prepared for a lengthy process.   Updates are sometimes hard to come by, but working with a diligent agent who is well versed in Short Sales will help make the process quite a bit smoother and sometimes quite a bit faster.

In the past 32 years working in the real estate industry, I have not experienced a 4-1/2 % interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate loan.   It is time to give a lot of thought to purchasing a  home in this market. 

Are you concerned that  home values may decline?   

Sure, it is possible but will you ever see 4-1/2% again?   That equates to $450 for every $100,000 in the purchase price of your home.  Can you rent for that monthly payment?  I doubt it.  Lets also not forget the tax benefits of owning your own home and the freedom of making your house a home for you and family.

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