Wilmington NC Real Estate Guide

There has been a  positive development for the real estate industry that was announced earlier this week by the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. corporations. Specifically, the Business Roundtable’s Housing Working Group – which is chaired by Realogy CEO Richard A. Smith – issued a set of recommendations for the White House and Congress that are aimed at jump starting the housing market in order to stimulate a broader economic recovery.

This is particularly timely as it comes right on the heels of my recent visit to Capitol Hill and Coldwell Banker Legislative Week. The Business Roundtable’s recommendations are as follows, similar to what I was proposing during my recent meetings:

Keep mortgage interest rates at historically low levels (below 5 percent) for at least one year;
Expand the current First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit incentive from the lesser of 10 percent of the purchase price of the home or $8,000 to a higher limit of either 10 percent or $15,000 for all homebuyers, remove the income restrictions and include all primary residence purchases for one full year;
Conduct a thorough review of current foreclosure mitigation and loan-modification programs in light of rising loan-modification re-default rates;
Make permanent the current temporary conforming loan limits; and
Continue to review and strengthen government efforts already underway to review and refine mortgage lending practices.
“We believe targeted, demand-side solutions – such as the ones Business Roundtable is recommending today – will provide a critical next step for a housing recovery that will help create jobs and boost the economy as a whole,” said Smith in the Business Roundtable’s press release.

Coldwell Banker applauds the Business Roundtable for its proactive efforts to reinvigorate the U.S. housing market, and we are proud of the leadership role our parent company, Realogy, has taken in this regard.
As  we all know, this would be great news for our Wilmington, NC real estate market. We are experiencing an increase in contracts, but sales activity on homes for sale in Wilmington, NC  above $300,000 still remain very slow.

For more detailed information about the housing market in Wilmington, NC, please contact me directly kay@cbbaker.com or 910-232-0363.

Realtors are asking for a buydown on the rate to 4.5%

With a new President on January 20, 2009, just exactly what does this mean to the housing market. No one knows for sure exactly what this will mean, but, we are hearing pleas from Realtors nationwide. The National Association of Realtors and Realogy Corporation, a global provider for real estate and relocation, have both submitted a proposal to Congress for a federal buy down of the interest rates to 4.5%. “There are millions of credit-worthy people ready to jump back into the housing market, but they need to be motivated,” said Realogy President and CEO Richard A. Smith. “In our view, the incentive of substantially lower mortgage rates would directly stimulate the housing market — both in sales volume and price — and thus accelerate the overall U.S. economic recovery.” They are proposing that the buy down could be funded from the $700 Billion federal plan to put liquidity back into the markets. The buy down proposed would apply to the purchase of all homes under $1 Million Dollars. The NAR is also asking for a temporary $7500 tax credit for all buyers. There is also a request to make permanent the FHA limits to $729,750.

Realogy Corporation conducted a survey amongst their 2300 independently owned and operated real estate companies such as Century 21 and Coldwell Banker and the brokers unanimously stated that they predicted an increase in home sales if the interest rates were in the 4.5% range.

With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at Obama’s plan for the future.
Since the economy won’t wait until January 20th, plans for another economic stimulus package are already in the works. Obama has also mentioned a housing stimulus to include a 90 freeze on foreclosures. He also wants to implement the recently passed rescue plan and the Hope for Homeowners Act. This means the Treasury, HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and all of the banks and loan servicers who benefit from the rescue bill will continue to coordinate broad mortgage restructurings and loan modifications for struggling homeowners. No one knows for sure exactly how this will be implemented or what it even looks like yet.

Obama has also promised to repeal the 2005 bankruptcy bill. A controversial measure, this will allow judges to alter mortgage terms during a bankruptcy, providing more protection for struggling homeowners.

Obama is expected to create a 10% universal mortgage interest credit for those who don’t currently itemize. This means about $500 in savings for 10 million American homeowners.

During the campaign, Obama blamed the financial crisis on lax government regulations, so look for tougher regulations, new criminal penalties for mortgage fraud violators, more funding for enforcement programs, more detailed loan disclosure laws, new counseling programs and other consumer protections, including a new Home Obligation Made Explicit (HOME) score (kind of like a new APR calculation) to help borrowers better understand and compare mortgage costs during the mortgage process.

So it does sound like some good options for the housing market are in the works. That is good news for the real estate market in whole.

Please feel free to email me at kay@cbbaker.com with any questions you may have. You can also search for Wilmington NC Real Estate right here or www.cbbaker.com.