Foreclosures dip in St. Louis region; HUD relaxes rules for quick resale

HUD’s actions will help speed foreclosure sales and protect against predatory flippers.

With the housing industry still facing recovery challenges in 2010, there is some good news in the St. Louis area. Foreclosure activity from December to January declined by five percent, according to RealtyTrac. This is the second straight month that action on foreclosed property decreased here. Nationally 23 percent of homeowners owe more than their house is worth, while in our area that total is 15 percent.

Considering the continued foreclosure crisis, neighborhood stabilization and access to affordable housing is on HUD’s fast track. The agency has expanded access to FHA mortgage insurance and allow for quick resale. This change is a temporary one but will give buyers the ability to resell the home within 90 days.

HUD secretary Shaun Donovan emphasized the new policy has very strict boundaries to make certain that predatory practices such as reselling at inflated prices to unsuspecting borrowers won’t happen. “The FHA has an opportunity to fulfill its mission by helping many homebuyers find affordable housing and contribute to neighborhood stabilization,” he says.

The criteria is limited to these general factors:

• 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 for purchase program.

Learn more about this opportunity. Contact your St. Charles County Real Estate SCHNEIDER agent and visit the HUD website for detailed information.

Written by Myra Vandersall

Home Sales Up

St. Charles existing home sales increase 16.3 percent in October; first time homebuyers make a huge difference

Consumers are responding to federal government stimulus programs and have an eye out for foreclosed properties for investment

First-time homebuyers have been out there in force, accounting for 47 percent of the homes purchased between July 2008 and June 2009. That group represents the largest share of first-time buyers in more than 18 years. These buyers have also helped the St. Louis region real estate market score an increase of 27 percent for October 2009 in comparison to October 2008, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Charles County sales increased 16.3 percent with the median home price of $168,000.

Our local market pretty much mirrors the national scene–pending home sales are up again for the eighth consecutive month, the longest streak since 2001. The National Association of Realtors keeps track of such things; the gain was 6.1 percent to 110.1 percent.

All of this activity shows that federal stimulus packages such as the $8,000 tax credit for first time buyers are working. The plan was scheduled to end on November 30 and that pumped up the October sales.

Now that the tax credit program has been extended through June 2010 and has been expanded to include repeat homes buyers with a $6,500 credit, we’ll have even more time to stabilize a recovering market.

The time to start looking for your next home is now–it could be just around the corner or in the next town over. Spend your winter months planning and investigating the housing market in your target area. Some investors and single-family purchasers are looking into buying foreclosed properties as a way to plan for the future and see their investments increase over the next decade.

A recent Move.com homeownership survey released this month shows that the number of consumers interested in investigating in real estate has doubled since March 2009. And, affordability and foreclosures are the top reasons why buyers are making home purchases.

Potential foreclosure buyers expect to pay 20 percent or less than market price for a foreclosure and 57 percent of these buyers will live in the property. Foreclosures are a very unfortunate consequence of the economy meltdown we experienced, but buyers can give new life to foreclosed homes and help enhance the neighborhood living experience.

St Louis Makes the Top 10!

Best Cities for Finding Opportunity Where are the best cities to live in the United States if you want to work hard and get ahead? Forbes magazine examined the nation’s 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas and based on the number of Forbes' 400 best big companies and 200 best small companies that are headquartered in each, it identified what it considered places with the most opportunity. The magazine says it took this route because the best big companies provide opportunities for those who seek to be employees, and the rate of success of small businesses indicates how the area treats entrepreneurs. Here are the top 10:
1. Houston 2. Dallas 3. Minneapolis 4. Pittsburgh 5. Boston 6. Washington, D.C. 7. Austin
8. St. Louis 9. Kansas City, Mo. 10. New YorkSource: Forbes, Lauren Sherman (06/19/2009)