St. George Down Payment Assistance Program is Back!

The City of St. George's down payment assistance program is back and is
better. They have cut it down to $6,000. That will allow more people to benefit from the funds. $6000 is really about all that is needed anyway. Funding will be available in July. Although they are starting to take applications. Please let me know if you or someone you is interested. Call Paul 435-313-6708

Bloomington Hills - Little Valley Area Zone Change

Important: Progressive Contracting, Inc is applying for a zone change in the Bloomington Hills, Little Valley, Knolls area. They want a zone change in order to continue aggregate mining operation. How will this affect our home values, the noise levels in our neighborhood, and the traffic due to the construction vehicles moving in and out of our neighborhoods. If you would like to find out more information there will be a meeting at Little Valley Elementary on March 30th at 5:30 pm. Or you could call Progressive contracting and ask for John Wilson at 435-682-6662
To view specific area they are trying to change zoning. Click on Title of this post

2011 Economic Future for St George

The Economic Summit flew into the Dixie Center with the newly acquired Life Flight helicopter and ended with the official ribbon cutting ceremony at the new St. George Airport.
Lecia Langston, Regional Economist with Department of Workforce Services assured everyone that the economy is definitely starting to rebound. She cautions not to look for the inflated 10 percent annual job growth recorded during the height of the boom in Washington County, but more realistically to a growth rate of 4 to 5 percent over the next couple of years.
Vardell Curtis, CEO of Washington County Board of REALTORS stated that this year should be very good for first-time home buyers to shop. The three main ingredients that affect buyer affordability are mortgage rates, house prices, and income. With the first two at or near cyclic lows, buyer affordability is at the highest level in decades. The National Association of Realtors Affordability Index for the third quarter of 2010 reported one of the most affordable buying markets since the inception of the index in 1971. Curtis also stated that changes will be slow and subtle and there will be no big surprises in 2011.
Keynote Speaker, Dr. Charles Sorenson, spoke on the growth of the Intermountain Healthcare system. Most recently, the cancer treatment center added some of the best in radiation equipment in the state, and this year, the new Life Flight Helicopter was placed into operation.
Guest Speaker, Jerry Atkin, Chairman and CEO of SkyWest Airlines shared the story of the company’s humble beginnings to it’s present success
Today the airline boasts a fleet of over 700, serving both the western and eastern U.S., as well as three overseas charter lines.
The Summit’s “What’s Up Down South” presenters talked about future projects that will impact the economy in Washington County for the next 18 months. Local companies undergoing expansion efforts, bringing more employment opportunities into the community included; Cox Trucking, Design to Print, Red Rock Commons, ContactPoint, Healthcare Insight, Manufacturing U, and Dixie State College.
Litehouse, maker of salad dressings, snacks and other food products announced it would be setting up new operations in the Hurricane Industrial Park as part of their company-wide expansion efforts. New to Southern Utah, they plan to hire 60—70 employees in their first year of operation and as many as 100 over the course of the next three years.
Czarnowski Display Services, another new company expanding into the area will be providing approximately 50 new jobs when they begin their operations. A manufacturer of trade show exhibits and affiliated services will be locating in the Fort Pierce Industrial Park as they continue to service trade shows around the globe.
Along with Mayor, Dan McArthur, Governor Gary Herbert praised the airport’s opening. Governor Herbert stated that the St. George airport will be a catalyst of continued economic development and expansion in the State of Utah. “This is a great day for the history of St. George,” said Mayor McArthur. - Dixie Center and the Spectrum

Buying a home now is a no-brainer

Question No. 1: Is now the time to buy?

Question No. 2: Is buying a house a good investment?

The first answer is easy: With a few exceptions, if you have 20% to put down and good credit, now is a great time to buy. That's been the case all year, and I'd argue that we're probably closer to the end than to the beginning of the really great time. Let me explain.

Back in January home prices had dropped 28% from their peak. More important, interest rates were at historical lows. By locking in a mortgage for 15 or 30 years on a value-priced home, you were getting an incredible deal, even if home prices decreased. (I took my advice and bought a New York City apartment.)
Most (and least) affordable cities to buy a home

At the time, I thought that prices and rates were more likely to rise than fall. I was half right: Home values have been inching up since the spring, but mortgage rates, incredibly, dropped further.

By August (the latest numbers available) the median home price had risen 1% over a year ago, but 30-year rates had dropped a half-point to 4.5%. Assuming 20% down and a 30-year mortgage, the total cost of owning a median-priced home is now down $16,000 from a year ago.

Home values may waffle over the coming year, but because Americans take out such large, long mortgages, rates are what really matter. And I am more likely to grow hair than see 30-year mortgage rates drop below 4%. It's far more likely that rates (and the cost of ownership) will rise.

Now for question No. 2: Is a house a good investment?
CALCULATOR: How much home can you afford?

First, it depends on what you mean by investment. If your definition is strictly about dollars returned, a house probably won't be a great use of your capital. If you bought the median-priced house today with 20% down, to recoup your total costs (and I'm not including property taxes and maintenance here) over three decades, the home's value would have to rise about 3% a year.

That's likely, but you'll almost certainly (we all hope) do much better than that in the stock market. The fact is, however, that that's the normal case for housing; the booms that began after World War II and in the late 1990s were the exceptions.
0:00 /2:38Buying a $250K house for $40K

Of course, there are places where you might do better. I bought my condo in Manhattan, a small island that, by virtue of the business done on it, has a sustained demand for property. And smaller, energy-efficient housing in cities or inner suburbs around San Francisco or Chicago is likely to be in higher demand than big, outer suburban homes with long commutes to Las Vegas or Atlanta.

According to urban and environmental planning professor William Lucy of the University of Virginia, this move toward urbanization in American housing is the reversal of a trend that's been in place since 1945. Keep it in mind when making your buying decisions.

That said, the key point to remember is this: Buying a fairly priced home at today's rates may be the best deal you will ever get. And who knows? It may even turn out to be a good investment. CNN Money

St George, Utah Safest City to Live In US

Being in a safe community is one of the most important factors that buyers consider when purchasing a home, condo or any other type of real estate. So where are America's most secure places to live? The Farmers Insurance Group of Companies has released its third annual ranking of top 20 'Most Secure U.S. Places to Live'.

Bert Sperling, a database expert with http://bestplaces.net, compiled the Farmers rankings based on data from 379 U.S. municipalities. Factors such as crime statistics, unemployment rates and risks of environmental hazards, terrorism threats, natural disasters and extreme weather conditions, were taken into consideration.

The communities were divided into three groups - large metropolitan areas (above 500,000 residents), mid-size cities (between 150,000 and 500,000 residents), and small towns (fewer than 150,000 residents).

According to the survey, the most secure community to live in the U.S. among large metropolitan areas are the adjacent communities of Boise City and Nampa (both in Idaho), which topped all large metro areas. Located among the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the area has one of the lowest unemployment rates and enjoys a wonderful climate.

Among the Mid-size cities, those with a population between 150,000 and 500,000, the safest community to live is Las Cruces, New Mexico. Las Cruces was the first among mid-size cities in low unemployment rate and favorable climate categories.

St. George in Utah topped all small cities with populations of 150,000 or fewer in the survey. The city has 110,515 residents who enjoy a mild climate, clean air and low annual precipitation. It also has the lowest crime rates of all the 379 communities surveyed. St. George stands first in employment rate among the 138 small towns in the Farmers study.

For more information visit www.numberonecity.com

How Much Home Can You Afford?

When people decide to buy a home, the monthly payment is a crucial factor. That’s why one of the most important questions that potential buyers consider is: How much home can I afford?
Affordability is a combination of home price, interest rate, and down payment. And with rates at historic lows, homebuyers have the opportunity to get more for their money….but if rates go up even a little bit they could miss out.
Here’s a simple formula that drives that point home. In simple terms, every 1 percent increase in home loan rates decreases the buying power of an individual by 10 percent in home price. This means that if you qualify for a home priced at $200,000 today and home loan rates increase 1 percent, the amount you could qualify for would be reduced to approximately $180,000 to maintain the same payment.
If you could benefit from moving to a new home, don’t let this time pass you by. By making a move now before home prices or rates increase, homebuyers can get more for their money and still get the payment they’re comfortable with. And, for those people who are thinking about refinancing, today’s situation provides you with the opportunity to reduce your house payment.

A Bargaining Asset….Most people make the mistake of initiating their quest for a new residence by searching for homes they like. However, the correct place to start is to determine how much you can afford—and that means meeting with a loan officer to get pre-approved for a loan. When you work with your loan officer to get pre-approved, the lender will review your income and assets and the terms of the loan to determine the actual loan amount you will most likely qualify for. This instantly lets you know what your actual budget is.
When you begin home shopping, knowing what you can afford from the outset sets the scope of your home-buying strategy and will help you and your real estate agent better focus your efforts to find the best home for your money.
In a real estate market such as this one, your pre-approval letter becomes an incredibly powerful bargaining tool. While it is generally accepted that the current real estate market is a buyer’s market, home sellers are still being cautious about accepting offers, because so many buyers’ funding can best be described as “tenuous.” The last thing they want is an offer from a seller that doesn’t truly have the necessary funding.
With a pre-approval letter, the seller can have complete confidence that the offer you make will be one they can rely on. That kind of peace of mind can often result in a very happy transaction for buyer and seller alike.
Information courtesy of Jeanne Fenwick-Wall/WJ Bradley Mortgage Capital Corp.

Local Foreclosure News

Although the region has experienced thousands of foreclosures among all property types, it is believed that the region is poised to experience a sustained flood of distressed properties hitting the market until about 2013, according to Allan Carter of SUTC Developer Services. He further states that banks halted a number of foreclosures in recent months amid growing fears that saturating the market with additional distressed properties would result in further price drops.
Washington County’s foreclosure rate was 4.15 percent in July, surpassing the national average of 3.13 percent and the Utah rate of 2.22 percent for the month, according to the most recent data available from CoreLogic, a California-based real estate research group.
While thousands of distressed properties are set to hit the market, Carter said investors and individual buyers would likely absorb the additional inventory, as bargain pricing drives demand for bank-owned properties in Southern Utah. “There are enough people that are aware of the home sales going on,” he said. “I don’t think you’re going to see prices go down in St. George even with the influx of additional properties.”
Scott Kerbs/Spectrum

FORECLOSURE SUSPENSION

Bank of America is halting foreclosure proceedings in all 50 states after revelations that paperwork wasn't being closely examined.
The nation's largest bank will stop foreclosures beginning Saturday, October 9th, a week after announcing it would suspend action in 23 states. The bank said it won't end the moratorium until a review of its practices is complete.
Congressional leaders have called for a suspension of all foreclosures following the discovery of problems with "robo-signers," middle managers who sign affidavits allowing banks to repossess homes that are in default without fully reviewing the documents.
Several managers have admitted in depositions that they signed off on thousands of foreclosures without looking at much more than the date on the forms.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based lender is the first to stop proceedings in all 50 states. J.P. Morgan Chase and Ally Financials GMAC Home Mortgage division have put foreclosures on hold in about half of the country.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Oversight Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), along with other lawmakers including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have called for a halt of activity in their states and nationwide.
Attorney General Eric Holder said earlier this week that the mortgage division of the Financial Fraud Task Force is investigating the problems.
By Vicki Needham/On The Money—The Hill

Is It Better To Buy Or Rent?

Until recently, the perennial real estate question of whether to rent or buy was dead. During the boom years, the question was largely irrelevant as people refused to pay ever increasing prices for already expensive real estate. But now that national home prices have slid substantially and potential buyers are being more cautious, the debate has been reinvigorated.
Unlike home prices, rents tend to rise or fall just a few percentage points each year. Economists generally hold that anything below 15 times the annual rent is a buyer-friendly city.
Individual circumstances matter—people in higher tax brackets, for example, may get more bang for their purchase buck because they are able to deduct more interest costs and property taxes. And, once people purchase, their home-buying costs tend to be fairly stable. Fixed-rate loans don’t go up (although taxes and maintenance costs can.) Rents usually do.
Buyers often feel more invested in their communities, more likely to put down roots, make friends and join local organizations. Home ownership often brings them pride and joy. CNN

NATIONAL HOUSING SURVEYS

Fannie Mae released its latest National Housing Survey and found that consumers have a mixed outlook on housing. The majority of consumers surveyed (67 percent) continue to believe that housing is a safe investment.
Nearly half (47 percent) think that home prices will hold steady over the next year while nearly one-third (31 percent) think prices will rise.
70 percent think this is a good time to buy a house, compared with 64 percent in a similar survey that Fannie Mae conducted last January.
These findings indicate the return of a more balanced and realistic approach to housing. This approach may weigh on the housing recovery in the near-term, but over time, it should help to build a stronger and healthier market focused on sustainable homeownership. fanniemae.com

General Elections on November 2nd

General Elections are on November 2nd. Voting will be for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, U.S Senate, House of Representatives, Judicial Retention, and State School Board.

Things Happening in Our Area

1.Huntsman World Senior Games Starts October 4th runs till October 16th
2.What Women Want Expo October 22nd and 23rd
3.Sons of Utah Pioneers October 21st-23rd .
4.General Elections November 2nd.
5.Thriller will play at Tuacahn on October 22nd through October 30th

The average interest rate for a 30-year loan was 5 percent over the last 12 months. The average over the last 10 years was 6.13 percent. The highest rate since January 1964 was 18.45 percent in October 1981. The lowest rate since January 1964 was 4.71 last December. That is some history lesson. No matter how you slice it, today’s home prices and mortgage rates represent an HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY that cannot be ignored. Whether you are seeking to purchase a home or refinance, now is your chance. Information courtesy of Jeanne Wall/WJ Bradley Mortgage Capital Corp.

REHAB A HOME WITH HUD’S 203(k) PROGRAM

Most mortgage financing plans provide only permanent financing. That is, the lender will not usually close the loan and release the mortgage proceeds unless the condition and value of the property provide adequate loan security. When rehabilitation is involved, this means that a lender typically requires the improvements to be finished before a long-term mortgage is made.
When a homebuyer wants to purchase a house in need of repair or modernization, the homebuyer usually has to obtain financing first to purchase the dwelling; additional financing to do the rehabilitation construction; and a permanent mortgage when the work is completed to pay off the interim loans with a permanent mortgage.
The Section 203(k) program was designed to address this situation. The borrower can get just one mortgage loan, at a long-term fixed (or adjustable) rate, to finance both the acquisition and the rehabilitation of the property. To provide funds for the rehabilitation, the mortgage amount is based on the projected value of the property with the work completed, taking into account the cost of the work. To minimize the risk to the mortgage lender, the mortgage loan (the maximum allowable amount) is eligible for endorsement by HUD as soon as the mortgage proceeds are disbursed and a rehabilitation escrow account is established.
The Section 203(k) program is HUD’s primary program for the rehabilitation and repair of single family properties (to be eligible, the property must be a one to four family dwelling that has been completed for at least one year). Homes that have been demolished, or will be razed as part of the rehabilitation work, are eligible provided some of the existing foundation system remains in place.
Many lenders have successfully used the Section 203(k) program in partnership with state and local housing agencies and nonprofit organizations to rehabilitate properties. These lenders, along with state and local government agencies, have found ways to combine Section 203 (k) with other financial resources, such as HUD’s HOME, HOPE, and Community Development Block Grant Programs, to assist borrowers.
The Section 203(k) program is an excellent means for lenders to demonstrate their commitment to lending in lower income communities. HUD is committed to increasing homeownership opportunities for families in these communities. www.hud.gov

Homeowners Current on payments but Negative Equity get help

The Obama Administration on Tuesday unveiled a new plan to help homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.
The program targets between 500,000 to 1.5 million negative equity mortgages, where the homeowner owes more than his or her home is worth.
The first initiative of the program is for homeowners who are current on their mortgages but at risk of default because of sinking home values, the Journal said.
Under the program, banks and lenders will write off the home's value to less than the value of the property and then hand off the reduced loan to the government. The program essentially refinances underwater homeowners into loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration.
About 11 million mortgages or 23 percent of U.S. households with a mortgage are in a negative equity position, according to CoreLogic.

Little Valley Area Building Plans for High Density Housing

Bonneville Builders of Salt Lake City has plans to build high-density housing in the Little Valley area. It has been rejected twice by the city. However, Bonneville Builders wants to be heard before the City Council. No date has been set for the meeting, but after speaking with Bonneville Builders they plan on continuing to try and get approval. The area they want to build the high density housing is next to Little Valley Elementary and Sunrise Ridge Intermediate. You might be wondering, "What is high density housing?"
High Density Housing definitions from the web
* An apartment, or flat, is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. Such a building may be called an apartment building, especially if it consists of many apartments for rent. Apartments may be owned by an owner/occupier or rented by tenants.
* Over 60 dwellings per hectare and generally five stories or more high, for example apartment buildings.
What is the reasoning for the high density housing? To build more affordable housing.

More questions to consider?
How will this affect our market values?
What type of housing will this be? Apartments? Townhomes? SFD?
What will the price range be?

I am very curious about how this will play out in the future and I will keep you up to date on this process. If you should have any further questions please call me at (435) 313-6708.

The two pictures are of homes in the Salt Lake City area, in the subdivision Daybreak. Bonneville Builders said, the homes would be similar to the homes in this subdivision
If you are interested in Real Estate in St.George, Utah please call me at 435-313-6708 or visit my website at: http://www.paulsellsdixie.com/

FANNIE & FREDDIE

The government’s twin housing behemoths—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—cannot simply be cut lose from government support. Like animals kept too long in captivity, Fannie and Freddie will not be able to survive in the wild. This is something that supporters of Fannie and Freddie have right - government support is absolutely necessary for their existence. But that doesn’t mean we should continue the government life-support.
In fact, there is good reason to end government support for the agencies and let them wither away. The truth is that there is nothing that Fannie and Freddie do that private companies couldn’t do better—except provide an illusory subsidy for homebuyers. And there are far better ways to subsidize housing than propping up Fannie and Freddie.
Fannie and Freddie are supposed to make housing more affordable by buying up mortgages and providing guarantees for mortgages that conform to the guidelines developed by bureaucrats. Mortgage lenders are willing to make loans at cheaper rates when part of the risk of default is absorbed by someone else.
That’s it. That’s really the only way that Fannie and Freddie save homebuyers money—by taking on the risks of making mortgages that would otherwise sit with the lenders. The lenders then pass on the savings to homebuyers by providing mortgages at slightly lower rates.
But if Fannie and Freddie are just big insurance companies for mortgage lenders, there’s no reason that this couldn’t be done by private markets. Insurance is a huge business in the United States. And mortgage insurance is, in fact, available from private companies.
The main advantage Fannie and Freddie have is access to cheap capital. Even before they were put into government conservatorship, Fannie and Freddie could borrow money from debt investors at rates far cheaper than private competitors because they enjoyed the implicit guarantee of the United States government. Debt investors assumed—correctly, it turns out—that if these companies got in trouble, the U.S. taxpayer would assure that they could pay off their debts.
Now that they have access to government bailout capital, the advantage is even larger. Last quarter, Fannie owed $1.9 billion in dividends to the Treasury. It couldn’t make the payments, so it requested $1.5 billion from the Treasury to pay back the Treasury. For real. That’s what happened.
Access to cheap, government guaranteed debt and equity means that Fannie and Freddie can provide guarantees to mortgage lenders far cheaper than any private company can. And that’s the source of the subsidy for homebuyers: Fannie and Freddie undercut competition by providing mortgage insurance far cheaper than the market allows for private companies.
Absent the government guarantee and attendant cheap funding, there would be no reason for Fannie and Freddie to exist. They’d no longer be able to undercut private competition. In all likelihood, the leaner, more efficient private competitors would clean their clocks.
Fannie and Freddie would die—or be transformed into ordinary companies with no special role to play in the housing market.
Unfortunately, we do not know how to cut Fannie and Freddie off from the government guarantee. Prior to the crisis, government officials often insisted there was no guarantee of Fannie and Freddie—but no one believed them and the officials turned out to be either mistaken or lying.
Now—after the bailout—the government lacks all credibility on Fannie and Freddie. As long as they exist, Fannie and Freddie will enjoy a competition killing advantage that will undermine any attempt to create a healthy mortgage market not dependent on government subsidies. By John Carney, Senior Editor, CNBC.com
To read more of this article go to .www.cnbc.com

FORECLOSURES EXPECTED TO RISE

St. George—While Washington County real estate experts are citing a temporary decline in foreclosure activity this summer, banks are expected to claim distressed properties with renewed focus in the fall, with 3,000 additional residential foreclosures anticipated during the next 12 months.
Amid widespread economic and financial instability, some lenders have reduced their foreclosure activity in Washington County, said Allan Carter, director of Developer Services for Southern Utah Title.
“The foreclosing lenders are baffled on how to solve the problem,” Carter said, with many residents unable to make their mortgage payments. “They’ve taken a little bit of a reprieve in Washington County.”
County property records support Carter’s theory, with approximately 192 notices of default, the first step in the foreclosure process, recorded in Washington County from July 1 to July 29 among all property types, representing a significant drop from the 293 default notices documented during the same period last year.
From July 1 to July 29, Washington County recorded 118 foreclosures among all property types, essentially remaining flat with last year’s figure of 121.
Although the decline in default notices offers a welcome breather from the inflated level of activity experienced in recent months, Carter said the decline is little more than a temporary respite, expecting lenders to return in full force this fall in an effort to claim their assets.
“We expect that the aggressive nature of foreclosures will pick up steam as we get into the fall and winter,” he said. “Lenders are back off vacation, the unemployment picture isn’t changing significantly and they have to capitalize their banks by getting rid of this inventory.”
Carter said Washington County’s foreclosure rate is likely to reach its peak in 2011, with another 3,000 residential foreclosures anticipated in the next 12 months.
“It will be one of the largest years for foreclosures,” he said of 2011.
Kathy Nielsen, President of the Washington County Board of Realtors, said she also anticipates continued foreclosure activity in the coming months.
Jeremy Larkin, a local Realtor with Keller Williams Realty, said the recent decline in foreclosure activity is an encouraging sign for the market, although he does not expect the region’s continued difficulties with bank-owned properties to subside anytime soon. “I hope that this thing gets under control in the next 12 to 18 months,” he said.
Although activity has temporarily subsided this summer, Washington County is on pace to surpass 2009 foreclosure figures, according to county records.
The county recorded 882 foreclosures among all property types this year, from January 1 to July 29, a noticeable increase from the 716 recorded during the same time frame in 2009.
In only 7 months, Washington County has surpassed the total number of foreclosures recorded in 2008.
This year’s foreclosure total is destined to grow this fall when lenders resume aggressive foreclosure activity with a renewed sense of focus, Carter said.
“We really expect to see foreclosures run unimpeded,” he said.
By Scott Kerbs/The Spectrum

MORE CHANGE IS COMING

They say the only constant is change... And more change is coming, as the sweeping Financial Regulation Bill was passed by the Senate last week and will be signed by President Obama in short order to become law. So what does this change mean... and how will it impact home loan rates? Here's what you need to know.
The Bill calls for a new consumer protection agency and prohibits Banks from taking risky bets. While those things are important, it's also important to realize that this legislation... over 2,000 pages worth... amazingly does nothing to address the core reasons for the financial collapse. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are completely left out of this legislation. The credit rating agencies, who may have played the largest role in the financial collapse, also go unmentioned.
In fact, when former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan was asked about the Financial Regulation Bill, he noted that this was the first time the Fed was not asked to write a regulation of this kind. He also said that there are "unintended consequences" in every page of this bill.
What all this will mean for our economy and home loan rates remains to be seen... which is why now is the perfect time to act, while home loan rates continue to be some of the best they have ever been!
Banks seem to be creating two classes of troubled homeowners. Those who are falling behind in their payments are being allowed to stay in their homes longer because lenders are reluctant to ad to the glut of foreclosed homes on the market. At the same time, lenders are stepping up repossessions to clear out the backlog of bad loans.
On average, it takes about 15 months for a home loan to go from being 30 days late to the property being or foreclosed and sold, according to Lender Possessing Services Inc., which tracks mortgages.
The number of homeowners that received a legal warning that they could lose their homes in the first half of the year climbed 8 percent from the same period last year. But the rate dropped 5 percent from the last six months of 2009, according to RealtyTrac, which tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions.
About 1.7 million homeowners received a foreclosure-related warning, between January and June. That translates to one in 78 U.S. homes.
Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate in the first half of the year. Arizona, Florida, California and Utah were among the other foreclosure hotbeds.

REAL ESTATE TRENDS & FORECASTS

At a recent luncheon of the St. George Chapter of the Women’s Council of Realtors, Vardell Curtis, Chief Executive Officer of the Washington County Board of Realtors, talked about real estate trends and forecasts. The following are some of the highlights of Vardell’s presentation:
Pending home sales have risen for three consecutive months, reflecting the broad impact of the home buyer tax credit and favorable housing affordability conditions. The forward-looking indicator rose 6 percent to a level of 110.9 based on contracts signed in April, from an upwardly revised 104.6 in March, and is 22.4 percent higher than the same month last year. The tax stimulus, combined with improved consumer confidence and low mortgage interest rates, are contributing to the surging sales. The housing market has to get back on it’s own feet and now appears to be in a good position to return to sustainable levels even without government stimulus, provided the economy continues to add jobs.
“The economy grew at a slower rate than originally reported in the first three months of the year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which suggest inflation will remain tame in the near term,” stated Frank Nothaft, chief economist for Freddie Mac. He continued by saying, “As a result, mortgage rates held at historic levels this week. In fact, rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages set another record low for the third week in a row.”
It remains a very attractive time to refinance a mortgage or buy a new home or foreclosed property, while recognizing that one in four U.S. homeowners is “underwater” on their mortgages...owing more than the home is worth. Mortgage rates could move higher later this year if global investor anxiety declines.
The Utah market is rebounding slowly. While some sectors of Utah’s economy are slowing heading toward the rebound track, real estate is still not there yet. And some local analysts predict it may be a while before it finally finds its way back onto the road to stability. The commercial real estate market may not even begin to recover until next year.
On the residential side, declining home values have pushed housing prices back to much more affordable levels. The lower end of the market (under $300,000) is recovering. We’ve probably seen a bottom or very close to a bottom in that part of the market. The middle part of the market is “a little bumpy” with the higher end “going to remain in a mess for some time to come.” There is just too much high-end real estate in the state….and we just don’t have people with the incomes and fundamentals that can support those higher payments.
Prices on the more expensive unsold inventory are falling more dramatically – on a percentage basis—than any other segment of the housing market. Eventually, the market could see more foreclosures or sort sales as those properties are no longer financially viable for their owners.
According to newly released data from CoreLogic on foreclosures for the St. George area, the rate of foreclosures among outstanding mortgage loans is 4.24 percent for the month of April, an increase of 1.04 percentage points compared to April 2009 when the rate was 3.2 percent. Foreclosure activity in St George is higher than the national foreclosure rate which was 3.20 percent for April 2010, representing a 1.04 percentage point difference.
Perhaps the best news for Washington County is progress in the residential housing market. Sales are booming as the market continues to adjust to more realistic prices. In addition, preliminary data for the first two months of 2010 shows approved home permits almost doubled the number permitted for the same months in 2009. Information courtesy of Vardell Curtis, CEO, WCBR