By Phil Fernandez ATTOM: About 1.5M to 2M homeowners are already in some kind of forbearance, and the CFPB has now paved the way for proceedings to begin on vacant homes. NAPLES, Fla. – Fewer zombies are on the streets these days, and not many more are expected by Halloween. However, the ghastly man-initiated creations could reappear in a big way next year. In this case, we’re talking zombie foreclosures, which are foreclosures of vacant properties, often abandoned by owners who couldn’t keep up, and sometimes resulting in decay and lower property values for neighborhoods. The ongoing home-price boom has roared
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Jung Getty / Getty Images The percentage of built-for-rent land sales is predicted to double or triple in the next few years; in Fla., demand is rising in St. Cloud, Pensacola and Port Charlotte. NEW YORK – Investors are pouring in millions to create more built-for-rent single-family communities. It’s fueling a land rush to find open land. “Land brokers dealing in residential parcels traditionally sell to developers and builders who are planning communities in which people buy homes,” Forbes.com reported. “Now, they are starting to see a growing share who are buying land to build rental single-family communities.” Greg Vogel,
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Survey: 30% of buyers said they paid more than expected on their home due to competition; of those who paid more, 32% said it was $52K or more over the asking price. SAN FRANCISCO – Nearly a third of buyers – 30% – say that, to triumph in a competitive offer situation, they paid more than they anticipated on their home purchase. Of those who did, 32% paid $52,000 or more over the asking price, according to the Homebuyer Sentiment Index conducted by Qualia, a digital real estate closing platform. The survey reflects about 1,000 consumer attitudes over home buying.
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NAR: Over 50% of real estate clients are interested in sustainability; one-third of agents helped a client buy or sell a property with green features this past year. WASHINGTON – As builders achieve more innovations in the sustainable home sector, real estate professionals need to take steps to ensure they don’t get left behind. The National Association of Home Builders estimates that the number of single-family builders reporting at least 61% of their projects as “green” will increase from 31% in 2015 to 44% in 2022. Real estate agents surveyed by the National Association of Realtors earlier this year reported
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Lending Tree: 88% of 2,500 consumers polled said they’d rather own a home than rent; but 48% of renters fear they’ll never be able to buy. CHARLOTTE, N.C. – According to a survey of 2,500 consumers from LendingTree, 88% of respondents said they’d rather own a home than rent, but 48% of renters say they worry about whether they’ll ever be able to buy. According to the respondents, down payment barriers, home prices being too high, and difficulty qualifying for a mortgage due to a low credit score are the biggest concerns and obstacles to homeownership. The research notes that
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NAR ranked five Gulf and Atlantic coastal cities in Fla. as strongest in the U.S. based on all commercial market segments and a range of indicators. CHICAGO – Florida boasts five of the top 10 markets with the strongest commercial markets – a ranking that includes the apartment, office, industrial, retail and hotel sectors – according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) Commercial Market Conditions Index rankings for the second quarter of 2021. NAR’s index measures a metro area’s economic and demographic conditions (e.g., employment, wage growth, population growth, etc.), as well as several commercial market indicators (e.g., vacancy
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By Kerry Smith Foreclosure listings will likely only come from owners in trouble before the pandemic because the amount of equity owners can access has risen 40% year-to-year. Of U.S. homeowners in forbearance, 98% have at least 10% home equity; during the Great Recession it was only 40%. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – According to Jacksonville-based Black Knight Inc.’s July 2021 Mortgage Monitor Report, homeowners “tappable equity” – the amount over a base 20% equity that they’re about to take out – has soared over the past year. According to Black Knight Data & Analytics President Ben Graboske, continued heat in the
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By Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy Move-up buyers have unique challenges, and more may be landing with iBuyers because they can fairly easily buy one home and sell another home on the same day. NEW YORK – Michaela Johnson, an elementary school teacher in Meridian, Idaho, decided it was finally time to put her starter home on the market in May 2020. The space was starting to feel cramped. For two months, she had taught online from her bedroom during the first wave of the pandemic while her three children, ages 12, 10 and 8 learned remotely from various corners of the
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By Kerry Smith The economy appears balanced if mortgage rates are an accurate reflection. This week’s average 30-year, fixed-rate loan rose only slightly from last week’s 2.87%. MCLEAN, Va. – Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey found little movement. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 2.88%, virtually the same as last week’s 2.87% – and for that matter, virtually the same as the 2.86% one year ago. “While the economy continues to grow, it has lost momentum over the last two months due to the current wave of new COVID cases that has led to weaker employment, lower spending and
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By Kerry Smith Buyers who close after Oct. 1 and need flood insurance should understand upcoming flood insurance changes. The new rating system is property-specific and not yet published, but 12% of Fla. homes will see at least a $120 yearly increase. Buyers may be able to assume a seller’s policy and rates, however. ORLANDO, Fla. – The yearly rates for flood insurance policies under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) will change on Oct. 1. For most Florida homes, rates will be roughly the same as they are now; for about 1 in 5 Florida homes, they’ll go down.
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