Crazy!  All glass…

Date:April 2, 2012 | Author:Laura Vecsey

For Major League Baseball players who face a 162-game regular season after spring training and before the October playoffs, “play ball” means at least six months away from the ol’ family homestead — or sleek, waterfront mansion.

In anticipation of the 2012 season’s official start, Forbes magazine recently listed Baseball’s 10 Highest-Paid Players, which included Derek Jeter, Ichiro Suzuki, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. While three of these players are members of the high-payroll New York Yankees — who put four on the top paid in baseball along with pitcher CC Sabathia — the rest of the stars have been made millionaires courtesy of big-league teams around the country.

Read more….

Rents keep rising as home prices stagnate

By Les Christie @CNNMoney April 5, 2012: 4:36 PM ET

“Buying a home is more affordable than renting now in almost every part of the United States,” said Jed Kolko, chief economist for Trulia.Read More….

Finally! For all of you that have underwater mortgages and cannot refi under traditional methods this will be a godsend.

From SFGate
Jean McGuinness has excellent credit, makes a good income and has never been late on a mortgage payment for the Alameda house she bought eight years ago.

She could save several hundred dollars a month by refinancing at today’s low interest rates, now around 4 percent – compared with the 6.375 percent she pays. “Refinancing would be fantastic,” said McGuinness, a single mom who does accounting and office management. “It would be money in my pocket for extracurricular activities and camps and sports for my son.”

But she cannot get a refi because she owes $500,000 and her home’s value has fallen to $450,000. Lenders shun such “underwater” homes as too risky since there is not enough collateral if the homeowner defaults.

Millions of people nationwide share her predicament, trapping them in high-interest mortgages. If they could refinance, they’d have more cash flow, creating a stimulus effect that economists compare to a long-lasting tax cut.

Now the pressure is on in Washington to help them with a widespread refi plan.

President Obama told Congress last month that he wants to help “responsible homeowners” refinance, saying it would “give a lift to an economy still burdened by the drop in housing prices.”

Last week, a bipartisan coalition of 16 senators, including Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California, wrote to the administration urging swift action on a refi plan.

“A huge floodgate would open up” if underwater refinancing were broadly available, said Fif Ghobadian, a broker at Guarantee Mortgage in San Francisco. “It would provide the help that lowering interest rates cannot do alone. Someone who’s been making payments at 7.5 percent religiously but cannot qualify to refi – boy, would that 4 percent make a huge difference in their life.”

Ghobadian said about 40 percent of the people who call her for refis cannot qualify because they don’t have enough equity in their houses.
250,000 in Bay Area

In the Bay Area, more than a quarter-million homeowners were underwater in the second quarter, according to real estate information service Zillow. Nationwide, 15.3 million homes were upside down. Those who have less than 20 percent equity in their homes also have trouble refinancing.

At the same time, about three-quarters of mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are at interest rates above 5 percent, and almost 38 percent are above 6 percent. Experts say it’s evident that those homeowners would refinance at the low rates if they could.

How might a program be structured?

In fact, a program already exists that provides guidelines to lenders for refinancing some Fannie- and Freddie-backed underwater mortgages. It’s called HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program), it’s been around for two years, and it’s resulted in about 800,000 refis, far short of the 5 million originally aimed for. Only a fraction of those were homeowners who were deeply underwater.

The program’s main obstacle has been the lenders themselves. Worry about issues such as being forced to take responsibility for refis that default (known in the industry as “buybacks”) has made lenders reluctant to issue HARP mortgages, industry observers said.

What’s in the works would likely expand HARP to make it more palatable to lenders and more usable by a broader swath of homeowners.

“Changes (being contemplated) would address several HARP obstacles,” said Erin Lantz, director of the mortgage marketplace for Zillow. “The industry now makes it hard for people to qualify. The process would be more streamlined.”
Discussion points

Here are some key criteria being discussed:

– Applicants: Even with a big federal push, many underwater homeowners still won’t qualify. Many may be too far underwater, perhaps owing twice as much as their house is worth. Some may have blemished credit or inadequate income.

Read More…

RISMEDIA, December 14, 2010—The number of price-reduced homes on the market this November increased dramatically compared to the same time last year, rising 24.1% according to ZipRealty’s Price Reduction Index, a monthly review of MLS-listed properties in 26 markets surveyed by the real estate brokerage.

San Diego, Calif. shows the most dramatic change in price-reduced inventory, doubling from 2009 (5,396 listings) to 2010 (10,794 listings) with a 108.4% change. Three other California districts have also seen a huge year- over-year increase in the amount of reduced inventory, including San Francisco (100%), Orange County (91%), and Los Angeles (79%).

For the second straight month, total inventory dropped with November seeing a 3.8% decrease as compared to October. The percentage of inventory that has been reduced edged up 0.1% as the number of price-reduced listings fell at a slightly slower rate of 3.7%.

“Typically, November is a slower month for sales,” said John Oldham, Director of Marketing for ZipRealty. “Inventory peaked in September and has dropped over the last two months. The increase in price-reduced listings is evidence that sellers are still trying to find the right price point to get the property to sell.”

While some homeowners may wait until after the holidays to sell; those selling now are listing homes for lower prices as the median list price dropped 2.8% from October to $234,484.

Highlights of ZipRealty’s November index include:

-Nearly half (48.4%) of listed homes in November included at least one price reduction, an increase of 24.1% over last year and 0.1% over October

-Compared to November 2009, price-reduced inventory grew by over 75% in five major markets: San Diego, San Francisco, Orange County, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas

-Inventory dropped 3.8% and the number of price-reduced homes on the market fell 3.7% compared to October

-The median list price dropped by 2.8% from October to $234,484, and the average percentage of price reduction amount to list price rose to 7.6% in November, a 1.7% change from October

-In 17 of the 26 markets surveyed, listings have experienced an average of two price reductions

-In 11 markets, more than half of homes for sale in November included at least one price reduction: Jacksonville, Phoenix, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, Baltimore, Orlando, Seattle, Orange County, Boston, Philadelphia, and Las Vegas.

Source

That was quick!

$75M mansion near Orlando selling ‘as is’

Report from SFGate

Cheapest house in Hillsborough for sale right now is 1050 Merner Rd at $889900.

For those “Party of Five” show lovers….

First it was the house where “Junior”, the film in which our Governor demonstrated his “pregnant man” act, was shot — now another San Francisco home used as a key location, this time in a TV series, is slated to go on the block.

According to SocketSite, the elegant Victorian at 2311 Broadway was the “Party of Five” house and it will appearing on an MLS near you imminently.

The 1994 series, in which five siblings are left to fend their own way in the world when their parents are killed by a drunk driver, was a launch pad for several well-known actors, including Jennifer Love Hewitt, Matthew Fox and Neve Campbell.

The home last swapped hands in 1999 for $5,400,000. Details yet to be released on the price tag ten years on.

From sfgate.com