The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, released their 2009 Mortgage Loan Fraud (MLF) study which found the number of mortgage fraud suspicious activity reports (SAR’s) filed in 2009 grew 4 percent compared to 2008.

California Top State for Mortgage Fraud Suspicious Activity in 2009

In terms

Continue reading... California at top of list in 2009 for Mortgage Fraud Reports

1. Six Charged with Wire Fraud Based on $20 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme A 10-count indictment has been unsealed charging six individuals with...
2. Mortgage Fraud Trend Down; Still $14 Billion in 2009 Losses Dennis Norman Worst Street In America for Mortgage Fraud is...
3. Former Mortgage Broker, California Woman Plead Guilty to Mortgage Fraud Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of...

Dennis Norman

This week I attended an event at the St. Louis Association of REALTORS® in which Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of REALTORS® was the featured speaker and gave his take on the housing market as well as his housing market outlook.

Dr. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist NAR

“Stimulus Had to End”

Echoing

Continue reading... Housing Market Outlook and Forecast

1. Housing Recovery Dependant on Inventory Reduction Dennis Norman Housing is stabilizing but excess inventory and...
2. Deutsche Banks’ Weaver says housing market has not hit bottom yet Dennis Norman Before the sub-prime mortgage implosion Karen Weaver...
3. Foreclosures and Short Sales Dominated the U.S. Housing Market in 2009 It’s not surprising, that according to Zip Realty foreclosures and...

These rules could derail some closings for buyers who rack up purchases or even take out new store credit cards before their home sales have closed.

Part of the LQI requires

Continue reading... Fannie Mae Tightens Underwriting Standards

1. FHA Tightens Standards Dennis Norman FHA Announces Policy Changes to Address Risk and...
2. Fannie Mae Cracking Down on ‘Strategic Defaults’ Dennis Norman Last month I wrote about a new policy...
3. Fannie Mae Issues Guidelines For HAFA Short-Sales and Deed-in-Lieu UPDATE- June 2, 2010: The National Association of REALTORS obtained...

This morning S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for May was released showing that the annual growth rates in 15 of the 20 Metro Area’s their reports cover improved in May compared to April 2010. The 10-city composite is up 5.4 percent from the year before and the 20-city composite is up 4.6 percent from

Continue reading... Case-Shiller; Housing market not in any form of sustained recovery

1. Case-Shiller Report Has Some Good News On Housing Market; Not Out of The Woods Yet Though Dennis Norman This morning the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for February...
2. Home Prices In Most Metro Areas Improved in April But Do Not Show Signs of a Sustained Recovery Dennis Norman This morning S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for April was...
3. Housing Market Shows Narrowing Decline, Slowed Recovery Dennis Norman Home Prices Exhibit “Improving Declines” (sounds rather oxymoronic,...

Asking this question now is about like asking a newly divorced person their thoughts on marriage….nonetheless in challenging times many of us reflect upon our past investment decisions, investment philosophy, etc and see what can be learned from our past to help us in the future.

Is the American Love Affair with Home

Continue reading... Is a home a good investment?

1. Investment-Home Sales Fell 15.9 Percent in 2009 Dennis Norman According to a Survey conducted by the National...
2. Survey shows shift in consumer real estate decisions; more making move for the better Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman Relocation.Com conducted a survey in June...
3. Not All Home Improvements Lead to Higher Value Dennis Norman Homeowners looking to upgrade or sell their home...

Yes, the headline is correct….New home sales in June were up 23 percent from May, but unfortunately the revised May annual new home sales rate of 267,000 was the lowest rate of sale on record therefore even after a 23.6 percent increase it only brought June up to 330,000 new homes, a rate

Continue reading... New Home Sales Increase 23 percent to Second-Worst Rate on Record

1. New Home Sales in US through October; UP 5.1 percent OR DOWN 24.1 percent from a year ago, take your pick Dennis Norman This morning the U.S. Department of Commerce released...
2. New-Home Sales Crash In May after Sugar-Rush of Tax Credit Sales Dennis Norman Last month after the new home sales reports...
3. New home sales up slightly in August; Prices down 7 percent for the month Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman This morning the U.S. Department...

Multiple Offers and Homes Selling for prices ABOVE list price?  Is this a reprint of a post from 2005?

Nope.  Believe it or not, this is exactly what was in a report released this morning by Zip Realty.    The report is based upon home sales activity in the second quarter of this year

Continue reading... Best Real Estate Markets in the U.S? Nine of Ten Zips are in California

1. Some Housing Markets Getting Hot Again Dennis NormanZip Realty’s “Home Hunter” Report for 4th quarter 2009...
2. The best cities in California and Florida to invest in real estate Dennis Norman By: Dennis Norman Today SmartZip, Inc. released it’s...
3. What will be the best real estate markets in 2010? How about the worst? Dennis Norman As 2009 quickly draws to a close...

Continue reading... Home Prices Are Not Recovering

1. Home Prices Increase From November-to-December – First Time Since 2004 Dennis Norman Radarlogic Housing Market Report Shows First November-December...
2. House prices increase in June in 23 of 25 metros; Move-up home sales picking up pace Dennis Norman According to the Housing Market Report that was...
3. US home prices increase 3.1 percent in 3rd quarter; down 8.9 percent from a year ago Dennis Norman This morning the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for September...

Last month I said that I expected to see some elevated numbers in the existing home sales report for May and June since this report would reflect the actual closing of the home purchases from buyers that raced to buy before the April 30th home-buyer tax credit deadline.  Even though Congress has extended

Continue reading... Closing of Tax Credit Induced Home Purchases Prop-Up Market in June

1. Home Sales Fall Slightly in May; Still Propped-Up By Tax Credit Deals Dennis Norman May and June Sales Expected to Remain Elevated...
2. Existing Home Sales Jump in March – Market shows signs of leveling off Dennis Norman According to the latest report from the National...
3. December home sales plummet but 2009 finishes stronger than 2008 Dennis Norman NAR’s “seasonally-adjusted” numbers show sales down 16.7 percent...

Last week I said that in my real estate career I’ve not seen a time that lower interest rates didn’t spur some sort of activity in the market.  Finally, it happened, at least a little.   According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending July

Continue reading... Record-Low Interest Rates Spur Refinancing; Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Increase Slightly

1. Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Last Week Plummet; Interest Rates Decrease Slightly Dennis Norman The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly...
2. Interest Rates Increase Slightly; Home Loan Applications Rise Again This Week Dennis Norman The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly...
3. Mortgage interest rates drop slightly-Mortgage applications increase Home-buyers mortgage activity increases from week before…down from a month...