NAR worried about rising foreclosure rate

Group urges caution about 'exotic' mortgages

Wednesday, December 20, 2006Inman News
Pat Vredevoogd Combs, NAR

The National Association of Realtors has issued a statement to express concern "over the rising rate of defaults and foreclosures occurring in many areas around the country, and many Realtors believe that some families don't understand the risks of taking out 'exotic' mortgages."
Pat Vredevoogd Combs, NAR president, participated in a call this week with representatives for the Center for Responsible Lending and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and "urged consumers to make sure they understand the risks and rewards of all types of mortgages before they make a decision on a loan," according to the announcement.
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported this month that overall delinquencies on mortgage loans rose 28 basis points in the third quarter, to 4.67 percent, and the third-quarter delinquency rate for subprime adjustable-rate mortgages increased by 98 basis points compared to the second quarter and 267 basis points compared to third-quarter 2005.
The Realtor group has partnered with the Center for Responsible Lending to prepare a series of brochures for consumers to educate them about nontraditional and traditional mortgage products.
The latest brochure, released last month, offers tips to consumers on how to avoid predatory lending practices. That five-page brochure is titled "Shopping for a Mortgage? Do Your Homework First."
Combs said in a statement, "Foreclosures can lead to high vacancy rates, which in turn, can cause all homes in the neighborhood to lose value."
The Realtor group said in the announcement that foreclosures "are not only a disaster for families but also for communities. Problematic loans are often made in concentrated areas, and high foreclosure rates of single-family homes can seriously threaten a neighborhood's stability and a community's well-being."

MORTGAGE = HAPPINESS

Seeking happiness? An Australian researcher finds that making payments on a mortgage is a good way to feel better. Professor Bob Cummins of Deakin University told the Sydney Morning Herald that his studies of well-being have found that homeowners are more content than renters at all levels of income. Renters tend to be more footloose, Cummins said. Couples also find that holding a mortgage together increases their feeling of commitment. Oddly, events like the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States or the Bali nightclub bombing that killed scores of Australian tourists can also increase a feeling of well-being. "All of this created an amazing sense of external threat that Australia had not really had since World War II," Cummins said. "This kind of threat caused people to bond much better." But there's nothing like a mortgage, especially for couples. "They have a clear investment in their combined future. People who rent have not made that kind of mutual commitment," Cummins said.

Copyright © 2006 by United Press International

First-Timers Begin Looking At Houses Again

High home prices have helped drive many first-time buyers out of the housing market. Now, with prices falling in many areas, there are some signs that buyers are beginning to drift back.

The share of first-time home buyers dropped earlier this year to its lowest level since 1987, according to the National Association of Realtors. First-time home buyers now account for 36% of home purchases, according to a study released last month by the Realtors group, down from 40% in the three previous years.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116597804852548551-SsiEDRDB_1HXjkPe7uI6peCvHe4_20061219.html?mod=mktw

Thursday was a big day for online listings

As the market slows, numerous Web sites are offering Realtors new places to market their listings to prospective buyers. But Zillow isn't the only one who stepped up with an offering of this kind this week. HomeGain, which operates an online service to match consumers with real estate agents, on Thursday announced it would allow agents to post listings at its Web site, which gets millions of visitors each month. And HouseValues, an online lead generation source for real estate agents, also on Thursday announced it would enable its agent clients to push their listings out to the Google and Oodle search engines.Not long ago, these offerings were unheard of -- a lot of time and energy went toward keeping listings info in the hands of industry professionals only. There was Realtor.com and IDX for broker Web sites, and not much else.But times are changing, along with broker attitudes toward marketing listings to the world. The slow market could be the best thing that ever happened to consumer access to for-sale data. 2007 will be the year that listings make primetime: Google Base, Zillow, Oodle, Trulia, HomeGain, edgeio … lots of free marketing avenues for agents to woo in buyer clients.
--Jessica Swesey, Inman News