The biggest source of funding for low-down-payment condo mortgages, the Federal Housing Administration, has revamped controversial rules that caused thousands of building across the country to lose their eligibility for FHA financing.
The revised guidelines, which were issued Sept. 13 and took effect immediately, should make it easier for a large number of homeowner associations to seek certification by the FHA. Without approval of an entire development, no individual unit can be financed or refinanced with an FHA mortgage.
The previous rules prohibited FHA insurance of units in buildings where more than 25 percent of the total floor space was used for commercial or nonresidential purposes. Yet many condominiums in urban areas have lower floors devoted to retail stores and offices that generate revenues that help support the entire project. The revised rules allow exceptions of up to 35 percent commercial use, and provide for additional case-by-case exceptions to 50 percent or higher.
The Community Associations Institute, the condo industry’s largest trade group, is predicting that the relaxed FHA rules will spark home sales and helps tens of thousands of condominium communities begin to recover from the housing slump.
The new rules also offer greater flexibility on investor ownership. In existing developments, one or more investors are now allowed to own up to 50 percent of the total units provided that at least half of the units are owner-occupied. The previous rule required that no more than 10 percent of units could be owned by a single investor.
The median price of a new home rose a record-breaking 11.2 percent in August, reaching $256,000. That marks the highest level since March 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Wednesday.
The price of new homes in August soared 17 percent compared to last year at this time.
The number of new-homes that sold in higher price ranges — $400,000 or more — rose significantly in August.
“This reflects the fact that people who are able to buy homes right now are those in higher-income ranges who have cash and equity on hand, while first-time buyers are having a tougher time getting qualified for a mortgage,” says David Crowe, the National Association of Home Builders’ chief economist.
As prices rose, inventories of new homes in August remained at record lows. It would take 4.5 months to clear the houses on the market at August’s sales pace, the Census Bureau reported.
Single-family home sales mostly held steady in August, remaining at two-year highs. Sales slipped 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 373,000.
On a regional basis, new-home sales in August soared 20 percent in the Northeast, 1.8 percent in the Midwest, and 0.9 percent in the West. New-home sales declined 4.9 percent in the South in August.
“New-home sales in August effectively tied the pace they set in the previous month, when they were the strongest we’ve seen in more than two years — so this is really a continuation of the good news we’ve been getting on the housing front,” says Barry Rutenberg, NAHB chairman. “Looking at the big picture, sales have been trending gradually upward since the middle of last year as favorable interest rates and prices have driven more consumers to get back in the market for a newly built home.”
More housing reports released on Tuesday showed home prices on the rise. The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported that U.S. home prices increased 3.7 percent from a year ago in the 12-month period ending in July.
FHFA’s home price index is now at about the same level it was in June 2004. However, it’s 16.4 percent below the peak reached in April 2007. To calculate its housing index, the FHFA uses purchase price data on mortgages owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
Also on Tuesday, S&P/Case-Shiller released a report also showing home prices on the rise for the fourth consecutive month and at their highest level in nearly two years. S&P/Case-Shiller report measures home prices in 10-city and 20-city composite indices. In its 20-city index, S&P/Case-Shiller reported home prices up 1.2 percent compared to a year earlier.
“The news on home prices in this report confirm recent good news about housing,” David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, told The Wall Street Journal. “Single family housing starts are well ahead of last year’s pace, existing home sales are up, the inventory of homes for sale is down and foreclosure activity is slowing. All in all, we are more optimistic about housing.”
Last week, NAR reported that the median price on existing-homes rose 9.5 percent over year ago levels. The median home price in August is $187,400.
The increase to the sales price in August was the strongest since January 2006 when median home prices had risen 10.2 percent higher than what they were a year ago.
The National Association of REALTORS® will release its pending home sales report on Thursday.
SACRAMENTO — Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced the arrest Thursday of four suspects who have been charged with securities fraud, conspiracy and elder abuse for operating a Ponzi scheme that bilked dozens of investors of over $2.3 million.
The arrest declaration alleges that Gold Country Lenders, a real estate company in Grass Valley, engaged in a pattern of theft and fraud-related crimes for more than eight years. Investor funds were used to make interest payments to earlier investors or for projects in which the company’s owner had a financial interest.
“These defendants exploited their personal relationships with these victims and emptied their bank accounts,” Attorney General Harris said. “Schemes that target the elderly are especially heinous, which is why prosecuting fraud and elder abuse needs to remain priorities for law enforcement.”
Philip Lester, 65, and Ellen Lester, 65, who are married, surrendered to custody, and Susan Laferte, 58, and Jonathan Blinder, 58, were arrested on Thursday in Nevada County.
Philip Lester, CEO of Gold Country Lenders, and Laferte, the firm’s CFO, are being charged with 66 felony counts of elder abuse, securities fraud and conspiracy. Laferte is Philip Lester’s sister. They were booked at the the Nevada County Jail, with bail set at $600,000 each.
Ellen Lester is being charged with two felony counts of conspiracy and securities fraud and was booked at the Nevada County Jail with bail set at $50,000. Blinder is charged with four felony counts of securities fraud and was booked at the Nevada County Jail and released on bail.
From January 2003 to June 2011, Gold Country Lenders sold securities on specific real estate development projects, promising investors annual returns of 8 to 12 percent. These investments were supposedly secured by a first or second deed of trust on the property. In fact, some of the promised deeds of trust were never recorded, while others were recorded but subordinate to other loans, or were diluted by the repackaging and overselling of shares.
In October 2010, the Attorney General’s Office launched an investigation in response to complaints filed by numerous investors.
The arrest affidavit alleges that investors were not told that Philip Lester had a partnership interest in some of the development projects he sold to investors, or that some of the land targeted for development had significant toxic waste issues. Many of the victims are elderly and had known and trusted the defendants for many years.
Unbeknownst to investors, their investment funds were used to make interest payments to earlier investors or for purposes other than the development project they had invested in. For example, victims’ funds were diverted to purchase and operate the Auburn Valley Country Club, a prestigious golf course and clubhouse where the Lesters resided.
Agencies that assisted in serving today’s arrest warrants include the Grass Valley Police Department, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Corporations.
“Protecting consumers and investors is at the forefront of the Department of Corporation’s mission,” said California Corporations Commissioner Jan Lynn Owen. “The Department of Corporations works diligently to strongly enforce and uphold California’s financial laws to the fullest extent.”
The Attorney General Office’s Special Crimes Unit conducted the investigation. The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, which was formed in May 2011 to investigate and prosecute crimes related to mortgage, foreclosure and real estate fraud.
Copies of the complaint and arrest declaration are attached to the electronic version of this release atwww.oag.ca.gov
After years of having too many homes and not enough buyers, real estate agents in California now have the opposite problem – too many buyers and not enough homes for sale.
The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) reported Monday that its statewide inventory of unsold homes index for existing, single-family detached homes fell to 3.2 months in August from 3.5 months in July and 5.2 months in August 2011.
The index reflects the number of months needed to sell the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate. A six- to seven-month supply is considered normal. When the number goes higher, inventory is plentiful and it’s considered a buyer’s market. When the number goes lower, the advantage goes to the seller.
Declining inventory helps explain why the statewide median price of an existing, single-family detached home rose to $343,820 in August, up 3 percent from July and up 15.5 percent from August 2011, according to C.A.R.
Nationwide, the inventory of homes for sale also has declined. In July, there was a 6.4-month supply of homes compared with 9.3 months in July 2011. The current number is in line with the long-term average, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. However, NAR also acknowledges there are “acute shortages” in places such as California, Arizona, Nevada, and parts of Florida.
Also constraining supply is the fact that so many homeowners are underwater – or owe more than their homes are worth – and unable to sell without taking a loss. As prices rise, more homes will increase in value, but it’s going to take time. Meanwhile, there are still a lot of homes that are not likely to come onto the market.
At some point, the balance will tip, but it’s hard to predict when. When banks decide prices are high enough, they will start unloading houses they have been sitting on, according to the chief economist for Trulia.
The number of homes for sale in the last year is falling the most in California, with eight of the top 10 biggest drops in inventories in the last year from metro areas in the Golden State. Many California metros are also seeing asking prices on the rise in the last year, too.
Nationwide, inventories of for-sale homes continues to remain at historic lows with 1.84 million units for sale in August, which is down from 18.68 percent compared to a year ago, Realtor.com reports in its August housing data report.
“Low inventories, combined with stable list prices, suggest that the overall market may be poised for additional growth,” according to a Realtor.com release of the August housing data on 146 markets.
The following markets have seen the largest decreases to their inventories in the last year:
1. Oakland, Calif.: -58.35%
2. Stockton-Lodi, Calif.: -45.03%
3. Fresno, Calif.: -43.13%
4. Sacramento, Calif.: -42.24%
5. Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.: -41.75%
6. Bakersfield, Calif.: -41.36%
7. San Jose, Calif.: -41.10%
8. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.: -41.07%
9. San Francisco: -40.15%
10. Atlanta: -37.02%
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine Daily News
The Holbrooke Hotel Early Years Downtown Grass Valley
Smoking in the public area of the “Downtown Core of Grass Valley will be prohibited if an ordinance is passed by the City Council on September 25, 2012
The background information and reasoning behind the proposed ordinance is as follows:
“According to the 2010 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report, How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease, even occasional exposure to secondhand smoke is harmful and low levels of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke lead to a rapid and sharp increase in dysfunction and inflammation of the lining of the blood vessels, which are implicated in heart attacks and stroke.
The Surgeon General’s report, and many others like it, constitute indisputable evidence that establishing 100% smoke free environments is the only effective way to fully protect the population from the harmful effects of exposure to secondhand smoke. Smoke is not easily contained in designated smoking areas, especially outdoors. The smoking of tobacco is a form of air pollution, a positive danger to health, and a material public nuisance. The need to breathe smoke-free air should take priority over the desire to smoke.
Chapter 8.20 (City Ordinance) currently regulates smoking in a variety of public places. This ordinance would add to the list of places where smoking is prohibited all City-owned property, municipal parking lots, and public streets and sidewalks within the Downtown Core. “Downtown Cores is shown on the attached pdf file. This proposed amendment would decrease the amount of second hand smoke that travels into public spaces from adjacent areas where smoking is currently allowed, and would further assist peace officers who enforce the smoking ordinance downtown by providing clear direction as to the places where smoking is not permitted.”
The above information was provided by John Foster, Chief of Police, City of Grass Valley.
This video shows breathtaking images of several of this year’s wildfires, including point-of-view aerial footage from specially-equipped California National Guard Blackhawk helicopters dropping hundreds of gallons of water on flames. It also takes viewers along with Cal EMA Secretary Mark Ghilarducci, California National Guard General David Baldwin and CAL FIRE Director Ken Pimlott as they visit a special “helitack base” near the massive Ponderosa Fire in Tehama County. There’s also footage from a strategy session with federal and state coordinators at a regional emergency operations center in Redding, Calif. Officials also included an interview with two residents of Manton, California who were evacuated from their homes, expressing the grim reality of destruction caused by the Ponderosa Fire.
For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:
John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com
English: Ordinary sausage making in Hungary Magyar: Hagyományos kolbászkészítés Magyarországon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“SAUSAGE, BRATS AND BEER” AND A “CLASSIC BARBECUE COOK-OFF” – PART OF THE FESTIVITIES AT THE DRAFT HORSE CLASSIC WEEKEND
“Sausage” event on Saturday, September 22; “BBQ Cook-Off” on Sunday, September 23
In between Draft Horse performances at the Nevada County Fairgrounds, September 20 – 23, take time to visit two tasty events happening on the grounds during the weekend – “Sausage, Brats and Beer” and a “Classic Barbecue Cook-Off.”
On Saturday, September 22, there’s a “Sausage, Brats and Beer” showdown, where six top chefs are paired with a sausage manufacturer to create incredible sausage dishes, and you get to sample the results. The challenge begins at 1 pm, with food sampling from 2 – 5 pm.
On Sunday, September 23, from 1:30 – 4 pm, watch as barbecue experts show off their cooking skills at the “Classic Barbecue Cook-Off.” Once they’re done cooking, you get to taste the treats – ribs, chicken, pulled pork tacos, sandwiches, brisket and a variety of delicious barbecue.
Tasting tickets will be sold at both events, and beer and beverages will be available. Additionally, live entertainment will be provided on Sunday by The Dyin’ Breed Band.
In addition to these two tasty events, the Harvest Fair is bustling with activities during the weekend, including live entertainment, Art at the Classic, Treat Street goodies, a clogging jamboree, a Western Trade Show, and visits to the barns.
The Draft Horse Classic and Harvest Fair runs September 20 – 23 at the Nevada County Fairgrounds. There are six performances featuring the magnificent Draft Horses – Thursday and Friday at 6:30 pm, Saturday at 10 am and 6:30 pm, and Sunday at 10 am and 4 pm.
For tickets to the Draft Horse Classic performances, or for details about the Harvest Fair activities, visit NevadaCountyFair.com or call (530) 273-6217.
For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:
John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com
