Archive for the 'Knoxville Short Sales' Category
The Federal Reserve’s Relationship To Mortgage Rates
December 15th, 2009 categories: Buyers, General, Knoxville Short Sales, Market Trends, Sellers
The Federal Open Market Committee meets today for the last time in 2009. It’s a 2-day meeting and the Fed is expected to leave the Fed Funds Rate near 0.000 percent.
But that doesn’t mean mortgage rates won’t change.
See, a major misconception among the public is that the Federal Reserve sets mortgage rates. That’s false. Mortgage rates are based on the price of mortgage-backed bonds.
As an example, since 2000, the Fed Funds Rate and the 30-year fixed rate mortgage have been within 1 percent of each other at times, and as far apart as 5 percent at others.
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Foreclosure Activity Falls For The 4th Straight Month
December 10th, 2009 categories: Buyers, General, Knoxville Short Sales, Market Trends, Sellers
Since peaking in July 2009, national foreclosure activity has dropped through 4 consecutive months.
On a month-to-month basis, November’s foreclosure activity fell another 8 percent.
However, national foreclosure activity continues to be dominated by a minority of states.
As reported by RealtyTrac.com, more than half of November’s foreclosure-related activity sourced from just 4 states:
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Gov’t Put’s Heat On Mortgage Industry
December 1st, 2009 categories: General, Knoxville Short Sales, Market Trends, Sellers
The Obama Administration is putting the pressure on the mortgage industry to help out more homeowners who may be facing foreclosure. Treasury Department officials said Monday they will step up pressure on the 71 companies participating in the government’s $75 billion effort to stem the foreclosure crisis. They will be asking for daily reports from these companies in order to monitor the progress.
The biggest problem for the homeowners is understanding the paperwork that needs to be completed for the lender. 
“Borrowers must understand the urgency of getting their completed paperwork in so they do not miss out on the opportunity for more affordable mortgage payments,” said Phyllis Caldwell, who recently was named to lead the Treasury Department’s homeownership preservation office.
“The documents were confusing. Borrowers did not understand the process wasn’t closed until the documents came in,” Sanjiv Das, chief executive of Citigroup’s mortgage unit, said earlier this month. “Even when the documents came in, they were not always complete.”
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Will There Be Any Foreclosure Deals Left In Knoxville Or Area’s Of The Country??
November 13th, 2009 categories: General, Knoxville Short Sales, Market Trends
For the eighth straight consecutive month, national foreclosure activity in the U.S. was dominated by a small set of states.
As reported by RealtyTrac.com, more than half of October’s foreclosure-related activity came from just 4 states:
- California
- Florida
- Illinois
- Michigan
The remaining Top 10 states in terms of total foreclosure activity included Arizona, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, New Jersey, and Maryland.
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What Does It Take So Long To Close A Short Sale In Knoxville??
November 13th, 2009 categories: Buyers, General, Knoxville Short Sales, Market Trends, Sellers
This an GREAT question that I’m asked all the time by buyers and sellers of Knoxville homes that are involved in a Short Sale.
While short sales offer homebuyers discounted deals, they also create headaches for bargain shoppers.
Knoxville Short sales often require several months to close. Why is that?
First, lenders – banks and mortgage companies – must review the request for a Knoxville area short sale and dig deep to verify that a homeowner truly can’t pay the mortgage. If a lender agrees to a short sale, it also agrees to take a loss on the loan.
With massive increases in the number of Knoxville foreclosures and Knoxville short sales, lenders across the United States fight just to keep up with the paperwork.
The lenders are overwhelmed with Short Sales right now. Any many of these lenders change the rules all the time on what paperwork they need to process a Short Sale. I have found that lenders lose the paperwork that I send to them all the time. So we have to resend it in many cases 2 or 3 times.
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Is The Knoxville Buyers Market Over??
October 30th, 2009 categories: Buyers, General, Knoxville Short Sales, Market Trends, Sellers
Can You Still Get A Good Deal In The Knoxville Real Estate Market??
At some point in their lives, every home buyer in America has wondered “Is now the best time to buy a home?” In this 3-minute video, NBC’s The Today Show does a good job of answering the question.
The conclusion? Yes, but not if you’re going to overpay.
Some of the video’s tips include:
- On what types of homes can you get the best prices
- What you can learn from looking in a seller’s closet
- How to identify a desperate seller
The piece also goes negative on short sales, noting the amount of time required to buy one. Short sales typically do take longer to close versus a ”traditional” purchase, but that doesn’t mean they should be avoided.
There’s plenty of bargains in the short sale arena, too.
In Knoxville you can still get a “good deal” you just need to educate yourself. Pockets of opportunity remain, however, and the focused home buyer can still find a “good deal”.
I have a program to help make you home search easier call TheBuyer411.com It is free and my clients have found it very useful in their home search
If I can help you in any find in your search for a Knoxville home let me know. Call me at 865-675-8326 or Rick@TheBigOrangePress.com
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Foreclosures Concentrate In Just 4 States
October 15th, 2009 categories: Buyers, Knoxville Short Sales, Market Trends, Sellers
For the seventh consecutive month, foreclosure activity in the U.S. was dominated by a tiny subset of states.
As reported by RealtyTrac.com, more than half of September’s foreclosure-related activity occurred in just 4 states:
- California
- Florida
- Nevada
- Michigan
These states represent just 22.05 percent of the total U.S. population.
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The Geographical Concentration Of Foreclosures
September 10th, 2009 categories: Buyers, General, Knoxville Short Sales, Market Trends
Once again, the country’s foreclosures are concentrated in just a few states.
As reported by foreclosure-tracking company RealtyTrac.com, more than 50 percent of the country’s foreclosure-related actions in August occurred in just four states:
- California : 25.76 percent
- Florida : 17.4 percent
- Michigan : 5.4 percent
- Nevada : 5.0 percent
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Foreclosures Continue To Concentrate Across Just 3 States
August 14th, 2009 categories: Knoxville Short Sales, Market Trends
Foreclosure-tracker RealtyTrac reports that the number of foreclosures nationwide rose 7 percent on a month-to-month basis last month.
However, 3 states dominated the foreclosure list, tallying more foreclosures between them than the rest of the country combined.
- California : 30.0 percent
- Florida : 15.7 percent
- Arizona : 5.4 percent
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Foreclosures Still Concentrated In Just A Few States
July 16th, 2009 categories: General, Knoxville Short Sales, Market Trends
For the fourth consecutive month, the country’s foreclosure activity was dominated by a small number of states.
As reported by RealtyTrac.com, more than 50 percent of the country’s foreclosure-related actions in June concentrated in just 3 states:
- California
- Florida
- Nevada
The states rounding out the Top 10 include Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Texas, Ohio, Illinois and Colorado.
Meanwhile, June’s reported foreclosure figures are consistent with the data from earlier this year, suggesting that the foreclosure remedy plans put forth by the government and by lenders can barely keep pace with the national default rate.
Foreclosure-related actions nationwide are up 5 percent from May.
The silver lining in data this negative is that foreclosures are creating tremendous buying opportunities for the right buyers. Because foreclosed homes tend to sell at a discount versus non-foreclosed homes and because mortgage rates are low, home sales are showing strength in a multitude of markets because of ample supply at relatively cheap prices.
Distressed homes accounted for one-third of all existing home sales in May.
Search the complete June 2009 foreclosure report for yourself, including foreclosure heat maps and other trends on the RealtyTrac website.
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