Tennis on the Ave – February 19, 2010
Street Closures and Parking Restrictions

February 17, 2010: The section of Atlantic Avenue between NE/SE 1st and 2nd Avenues will be closed to vehicular traffic on Friday, February 19, 2010, from 5:30 pm until 8:00 pm, for “Tennis on the Ave”, a special event that literally brings tennis to the streets of Downtown Delray Beach. In addition, parking spaces in this area will be blocked off beginning at 2:30 pm.

“Tennis on the Ave” features champions John McEnroe and Ronald Agenor who will participate in a tennis exhibition on the street’s makeshift court. Festivities begin at 6:00 pm followed by great tennis action at 6:15 pm. The event is free and open to the public.
CITY OF DELRAY BEACH MEDIA RELEASE

Current homeowners buying a house between Nov. 7, 2009, and April 30 and who have used the home being sold or vacated as a principal residence for five consecutive years within the last eight can qualify for the $6,500. It seems less is known about the repeat buyer credit. This incentive was added when the original $8,000 tax credit for qualified first-time buyers, which expired Nov. 30, was extended.

Houses purchased for $800,000 or less are eligible for repeat buyers. Single buyers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples up to $225,000 may receive the maximum tax credit for both repeat and first-time purchases. The credit decreases for buyers who earn between $125,000 and $145,000 for single buyers and between $225,000 and $245,000 for home buyers filing jointly. The amount of the tax credit decreases as his/her income approaches the maximum limit. Buyers earning more than the maximum are not eligible for the credit. If a binding written contract to purchase is in effect April 30, the purchaser will have until July 1, 2010 to close.

The 2009 credit for first-timers helped jump-start the sagging home market in the summer and fall, data show. Walt Molony, a National Association of Realtors (NAR) spokesman, said two million existing-home sales in 2009 could be attributed to the $8,000 first-time buyer credit. Although it is too early to measure the credit’s effect on sales so far this year, Molony said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun believes it will add 1.5 million sales to the tally.

The repeat-buyer credit was added to appease builders, who said the original did not offer enough time to purchasers of new houses, which take at least six months to build, to close on them. New homes accounted for only 7% of the tax-credit-based sales, Molony said.

The National Association of Homebuilders’ Donna Reichle said, “We hear builders saying they are getting inquiries, but that’s all so far. According to our economists, it’s way too early,” Reichle said. “If you look back at the passage of the original $8,000 credit and impact on housing starts, it took a couple of months, and that was in the spring as well.”

Moody’s Economy.com chief economist Mark Zandi says the credit will boost sales “modestly,” however, by 300,000, with one-third trade-up buyers. “I don’t expect the credit to be extended again,” Zandi said. “Each time it is extended, it becomes less effective and thus more costly.”

David Krieger, senior vice president and general manager of Coldwell Banker Preferred in Philadelphia, says he believes that “a very large increase in our listing inventory in January is a result of the $6,500 credit.” Still, the $8,000 first-time credit remains the chief reason his company’s home sales were 33% higher last month than in January 2009, he said.

Typically, repeat buyers are better off financially than first-timers, so a lot of repeat buyers realize from the start they don’t qualify for the credit, Weichert Realtors agent Alec Schwartz said. “What they do realize, and what is getting more sellers to list, is that they understand that there are plenty of first-time buyers who qualify for the $8,000 credit out there, and they have a much better chance of selling their house and buying a new one than before,” said Schwartz, Liv Mansfield’s agent.

This is also true in the region’s new-home market, said Wayne Norris, regional sales manager for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence. “Builders have experienced increased activity in recent months” attributable to the $6,500 credit and “the fact that many potential buyers were able to sell their houses” to those taking advantage of the first-time buyer credit,” he said. The sense of urgency to make the tax-credit deadline and fears of rising interest rates will push new-home sales higher in the spring, Norris said.

(c) 2010, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

READ THIS, THEN CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN!!!!

Streamlined loan modification rules meet with skepticism

TAMPA, Fla. – Feb. 8, 2010 – Amid criticism that loan modification programs aren’t working, the federal government is pushing lenders to streamline efforts to lower mortgage payments for troubled borrowers.

Frustrated homeowners, however, fear new documentation requirements won’t address their concerns and may add to the headaches of trying to obtain a modified loan.

“We need help,” said Steve White, a Tampa homeowner who has been trying to get his loan modified since May. “I can’t get anyone on the phone, and when I do, 10 different people tell me 10 different things.”

The demand for modified mortgages is great in Florida and the Tampa Bay area, which are among the nation’s highest areas with foreclosures. Homeowner frustration is backed up by the low number of modifications – less than 10 percent of proposed trial adjustments in Tampa have been made permanent.

The recent rules are supposed to change that.

The Obama administration said that starting June 1 borrowers will have to prove they qualify for the modification up front.

Currently, borrowers are prequalified on the phone and placed into a three-month trial period. During that period, the lender collects paperwork and financial information from the borrower. Under the new requirements, two pay stubs and other paperwork must be submitted before payments can be lowered.

The change follows a recent Treasury Department report showing nearly 300,000 homeowners could lose their modified mortgage agreement because paperwork wasn’t turned in or showed they no longer qualified.

The report also showed that just 4 percent of the nation’s applicants under the government’s foreclosure-prevention program have received permanent help.

The government’s program aims to keep more homeowners in their homes, but borrowers and housing counselors say the modification process is as cumbersome as ever. It can take months to get a response from the lender, they say, and lenders routinely misplace paperwork, don’t return calls and don’t explain rejections.

“No one really knows why this happens at banks, whether it’s a book keeping error or it’s intentional to shake down borrowers,” said Shari Olefson, a real estate lawyer with Fowler, White and Boggs, noting that she consistently hears that lenders lose paperwork.

One thing is for sure, though, she said: “These new numbers show that the government’s program isn’t a solution that’s working.”

Some borrowers have even received modifications only to have the offer rescinded later.

Jeffery Feig, of Sarasota, sought a modification for five months and was approved last March. His payment was cut in half, but Bank of America called two months later to say it changed its mind. The only explanation was that he hadn’t sent necessary financial paperwork, something he disputes.

“They wouldn’t have approved me in the first place if they had not received all the paperwork,” Feig said. “Since then, I’ve sent the paperwork again, and my attorney has sent the paperwork. They always say they didn’t receive it.”

Feig’s story was recently published in The Tampa Tribune, and his attorney, Ryan Snyder of Sarasota, said he has since received nearly 50 phone calls from homeowners in similar situations.

In Tampa, Jeff Kops said his lender, also Bank of America, sent him a loan modification packet offering a lower payment. He agreed, sent the paperwork back and started paying the lower amount. But a few months later, the bank said it could no longer honor the modification because of a problem with the notary on the paperwork.

Kops said the lender looked at the paperwork again and offered him a monthly payment that was $500 higher than the previous offer.

At least 12,044 active trial adjustments have been granted in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area. But only 1,159 homeowners have received a permanent modification.

Anthony DiMarco, an executive vice president at the Florida Bankers Association, said lenders want to help borrowers avoid foreclosure but that they are overwhelmed and are “learning as they go along.”

Sylvia Alayon, a vice president with Ft. Lauderdale-based Consumer Mortgage Audit Center, said the government’s changes are a move in the right direction and could help more people in trial modification receive permanent help.

“This is good because it won’t give as many people false hope,” she said. “In the past, lenders placed people in the three-month trial period and then told them later they don’t qualify.”

Homeowner Rachelle Roach, of Carrollwood, isn’t as optimistic. She said she’s thankful that the government is taking a closer look at the modification program’s failures but doesn’t think the new changes will help borrowers like her.

Roach tried to modify her loan with Wells Fargo last year and said it was a “paperwork nightmare.” She said the bank always ended up misplacing paperwork, requesting more and then denying her requests.

Roach lost her job as a nutritionist and now makes less than half her former salary. Her home is now worth less than half what she paid in 2006. She said she’s depleted her savings and sold some of her belongings to pay mortgage payments.

“I was rejected twice, and I think it’s because I’m not behind on my mortgage,” she said. “I’m being penalized for trying to do the right thing. This is why so many people just walk away.”

Copyright © 2010 Tampa Tribune, Fla., Shannon Behnken. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

FHA announces policy change addressing risk and strengthen finances. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) today outlined future changes to the FHA home loan program. The changes first were proposed last month by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Shaun Donovan. Rising defaults on FHA loans have led to the FHA’s cash reserves falling below federally mandated levels. FHA officials hope that policy changes will ensure borrowers have a stronger equity position and are less likely to default.

Changes include:

Raising the up-front mortgage insurance premium: The premium for Mortgage insurance premium (MIP) will be increased to build up capital reserves and bring back private lending, its currently at 1.75 percent and will rise to 2.25 percent. HUD is expected to release a Mortgagee Letter on Jan. 21 making the premium increase effective in the spring. The first step will be to request legislative authority to increase the maximum anual MIP that FHA can charge.
Update the combination of FICO scores and down payments for new borrowers: New borrowers will be required to have a minimum FICO score of 580 to qualify for the FHA’s 3.5 percent down payment program. New borrowers with less than a 580 FICO score will be required to put down at least 10 percent. FHA expects this to take effect in early summer after it goes through the normal regulatory process.
Reduce allowable seller concessions from 6% to 3%: The agency is lowering the maximum permissible level to 3 percent from its current 6 percent limit. FHA expects this to take effect in early summer after it goes through the normal regulatory process.
Increase enforcement on FHA lenders: Publicly report lender performance rankings to complement currently available Neighborhood Watch data. This will be available on the HUD website on February 1. of this year. This change will make information more user-friendly and hold lenders more accountable.

WASHINGTON – Feb. 3, 2010 – Now is the time for homeowners contemplating a sale to spruce up their properties for what Mike Larson of Weiss Research calls a potentially vibrant home-selling season.

10 cheap (mostly) ways to make a property more attractive to shoppers:

1. Improve first impressions. Touch up the paint on the front door and other areas that buyers see first.

2. Clean up the landscaping. Trim hedges and trees, and plant some annuals in the flowerbeds.

3. Paint the interior. A coat of light yellow or cream with contrasting white woodwork looks fresh and clean.

4. Refurbish the floors. Buff the hardwoods. Install new carpets – or at least get them professionally cleaned.

5. Take care of the big problems. If the house needs a roof or the front stoop is crumbling, get them fixed.

6. Buy warranties. Putting appliances under warranty gives homebuyers a secure feeling.

7. Improve energy efficiency. New windows or improved insulation tell a potential buyer that the seller is on top of things – plus they come with tax benefits.

8. Replace light fixtures. Updated fixtures, especially at the entrance way and in the foyer, create a good first impression.

9. Buy a stove. Homeowners whose kitchen isn’t top of the line can jazz it up for a few hundred dollars by buying a new stove, which gives the room a fresh feel.

10. Tidy up the bathrooms. Get rid of mildew, recaulk and replace stained sinks.
Source: U.S. News & World Report, Luke Mullins (01/21/2010)

Tax Credit Quick Facts

Extends the First-Time
• Home Buyer Tax Credit of up to $8,000 until April 30.
•Expands the credit to grant up to $6,500 credit to current home owners purchasing between November 7,
2009 and April 30.
• May be applied to primary residences, including: single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops.
• Each home buyer’s tax credit is determined by two additional factors: price of the home and buyer’s income.
• As long as a written binding contract to purchase is in effect on April 30, the purchaser will have until July 1 to close.

FHA relaxes anti-flipping rule

WASHINGTON – Feb. 2, 2010 – Effective yesterday, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) started providing mortgage insurance for some home purchases in which the seller bought the property and held it for less than 90 days.

The agency changed what is known as the “anti-flipping rule” to speed up sales of renovated homes in communities with too many bank-owned and foreclosed homes, says FHA Commissioner David H. Stevens. Waiving the 90-day rule encourages private investors to buy vacant properties, fix them up, and quickly sell them to buyers who are eligible to buy them using FHA financing.

FHA’s change “is going to be absolutely terrific” for first-time homebuyers hoping to take advantage of the tax credit, says Bobby Taylor, an associate with Coldwell Banker Mountain West Real Estate in Salem, Ore.

The waiver is limited to sales that meet the following general conditions:

• All transactions must be arms-length, with no identity of interest between the buyer and seller or other parties participating in the sales transaction.

• In cases in which the sales price of the property is 20 percent or more above the seller’s acquisition cost, the waiver will only apply if the lender meets specific conditions.

• The waiver is limited to forward mortgages, and does not apply to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) for purchase program.

• Specific conditions and other details of this new temporary policy are in the text of the waiver, available on HUD’s website: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/waivpropflip2010.pdf.

Source: Washington Post (01/30/2010)