MORTGAGES – It’s official: Most banks (56.3 percent) have tightened lending standards on subprime mortgages and a few (14.3 percent) have done the same to traditional ones, according to survey results released on Monday by the Federal Reserve.
You can read more about liquidity, ALT-A loans, and what’s happening in the market by lending experts serving the Naples real estate market.
BANKRUPTCY – HomeBanc Mortgage Corp., which partnered with real estate firms, declared bankruptcy Friday and fired most of its 1,100 employees. It’s shuttering 22 branches and 139 kiosks in real-estate and builders’ offices. According to the company Web site, it had 29 real estate partnerships in Florida.
FHA LOANS – Subprime mortgage problems have renewed interest in FHA mortgages. After a three-year slump, applications for FHA loans jumped 76.8 percent between December 2006 and June 2007, even though the overall housing market was slowing.
REAL ESTATE INVESTING – It sounds easy: Invest in foreclosed properties with little or no risk of losing your own money, then grow rich. But in reality, just like other forms of investing, profitably buying and selling real estate takes research, knowledge, experience, money and time.
The allure of foreclosed properties to a would-be real estate investor is nearly irresistible: Buy valuable properties for pennies on the dollar with little or no risk of your own money, work when you feel like it, and grow rich.
Countless seminars and how-to books promise to turn even the most novice buyer into a high-powered real estate investor through the magic of foreclosed homes. The trouble is that the dream of instant, safe, trouble-free wealth often turns out to be like most things that sound too good to be true – a scam. If easy money was to be made, everyone would be getting rich off of foreclosures.
REAL ESTATE MARKETS THROUGH-OUT FLORIDA ARE NOT THE SAME – The value of midsize and large homes declined more in the last year than the value of small single-family residences. Of the top six “most-depreciating metropolitan areas,” Zillow.com says that three are in Florida – NAPLES, BONITA SPRINGS, AND ESTERO ARE NOT LISTED – but these areas are: Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla. (-16.4 percent); Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay, Fla. (-14.3 percent); and Daytona Beach, Fla. (-12.5 percent).
The value of single-family homes smaller than 1,200 square feet fell by just 1 percent, according to Zillow. Meanwhile, values of midsize homes between 1,200 and 1,900 square feet fell an average of 3.1 percent, and homes larger than 1,900 square feet declined 2.8 percent.
Tomorrow’s news will state the figures for Naples, Bonita Springs and Estero for comparison.