The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 is Expiring

So what are other homeowners doing? Many homeowners that are considering a short sale or a loan modification have decided that instead of waiting for the market to come back they are opting to sell their house now and get out while the getting is good!  If you owe more than your house is worth, it will take years to break even. If you decide to sell your house BEFORE you break even, there will be debt that is settled by the lender. Pursuit of a short sale AFTER this deadline expires will be subject to additional tax liability.

photo credit: Richard Elzey

The National Association of Home Builders requested the Democratic and Republican polling firms of Lake Research Partners in Washington, DC and Public Opinion Strategies in Alexandria, VA to conduct a survey in early January in hopes of gleaning Americans' attitudes towards homeownership as well as housing policy issues facing our nation. Neil Newhouse, partner and co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies, explains, "The American electorate is sending a clear message that owning a home remains a cornerstone of the American Dream and preserving a federal commitment to homeownership is essential to maintain a thriving middle class and get housing and the economy back on track."

The survey polled 1,500 likely voters from key political "swing areas and is a follow-up to a similar national poll conducted last May. The survey found that three out of four voters (both renters and owners) believe it is "appropriate and reasonalbe for the federal government to provide tax incentives to promote homeownership." 84 percent of Democrats, 71 percent of Republicans, and 71 percent of Independents polled agreed with this statement. Two-thirds of polled voters affirm that the federal government should help home buyers to afford a long-term or 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. 73 percent of respondents oppose eliminating the mortgage interest deduction.

Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners, purports, "With the 2012 election season in full swing, candidates running for the White House and Congress would be wise to heed the will of the American voters, who have expressed broad support for government policies that encourage homeownership and oppose efforts to make it more difficult to get a home loan and to tamper with the moprtgage interest deduction."

Some other important stats from the survey:

• 96 percent of homeowners are happy with their decision to own. 84 percent of "underwater" borrowers (owing more on their mortgage loans than their homes are worth) still agree with this statement.
• 79 percent of owners would advocate purchasing a home to a friend or family memeber just starting out. 69 percent of underwater borrowers still agree with this statement.
• 74 percent attested that even with the crazy ups and downs in the housing market, owning their own home is still the best long-term investment they could possibly make.
• nearly 70 percent of voters who are not currently homeowners said it was still a goal of theirs to purchase and own their own home.

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3X Better results:

Realty Oasis has a High Rate Of Success closing Short Sales

Most Traditional real estate agents are good at helping you buy and sell a home under 'ordinary conditions (even that is questionable).  Assuming that the conditions of the homes value has maintained or increased and the mortgage is in good standing.

However, a Short Sales transaction is not 'ordinary. They are complicated and require extensive lending institution cooperation and expertise in working with professional bank negotiations. In a high percentage of situations, a real estate agent lacks the expertise, time and persistence to wrk a deal over a long and unpredictable time frame. Thats why Realty Oassis's success rate in Short Sales is over 3X times better than that of a typical agent. 75% to 23%*.

Typical Real Estate agents, if they have handled any transactions at all, may have only completed a few Short Sales. Realty Oasis often completes several per month. Experience and expertise is criticall in making the process work. Before you work with anyone on a Short Sale find out how many Short Sales they have successfully completed.

* Rate calculated by applying Realty Oasis's  short sale closings percentage (excluding cancellations, bankruptcy or foreclosure) from 1-1-2010 to 1-23-12 compared with industry success rate of 23% based on a USA today Article.

Here is a sampling of all shapes,sizes,house,condos,and price ranges:

photo credit: Images_of_Money

Many homeowners and real estate investors are asking if the housing market has hit its bottom yet. Will we ever see recovery? If so, when? Goldman Sachs Group released a statement in December 2011 proclaiming, "The home price bottom [is] in sight." If that is so, however, when will it start, exactly? National home price data seems to suggest that the worst is now behind us. Clear Capital, a real estate research firm in Truckee, California, explained that, "2011 saw a national decrease of 2.1% in home prices when compared with 2010." Yes, this is still a loss. However, a 2.1% decrease is rather paltry when compared to the double-digit drops we suffered in the preceding years. Dr. Alex Villacorta, the director of research and analytics at Clear Capital argues, "Overall, 2011 was a relatively quiet year for U.S. home prices compared to the last five years." He thinks that "the current balance the market has found will continue through 2012." 

If you are thinking of purchasing a home in the near future and you keep wondering if now is the right time for you to jump, remember that the comparatively "flat national average" is made up of metro markets that have been anything but "flat." Clear Capital advises, "Individual markets reacting to their local economic conditions continued to exhibit a wide range of performance levels in 2011, with only 12 of the top 50 metro markets returning year-over-year price movement that can be considered stable." What is meant by "stable price movement"? It means shifts and swings of less than 2.5%. Clear Capital believes that less than half of America's largest metro areas will reach stability in 2012, Denver among them.

Although this is good news for fellow Denverites, we still have to unload the troubling influx of distressed inventory still flooding the market.

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photo credit: Images_of_Money

After a half-decade of falling home prices and decreasing sales, some experts say that the single-family housing market is finally beginning to turn around. Some metropolitan communities report an increase in both home prices and home purchases. We've been in a housing depression since 2007 but we may be climbing out of it now. Barclays Capital analyst Stephen Kim argues that "the pieces for a housing rebound next year are beginning to fall into place." The CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, Jerry Howard, believes, "with the exception of really hard-hit markets, the vast majority is ready to turn around."

The CEO of Realogy, Richard Smith, suggests that we're not out of the recession quite yet. Smith thinks it's premature to assume this recovery will be a big one. While volume is improving, housing prices are still "under pressure," Smith argues.

The signs of recovery are finally being seen. For potential home buyers, rental prices are on the rise, which means that for the first time in many years, consumers are actually considering purchasing a house. Existing home inventory is at its lowest level in five years; inventory of new homes is at its lowest in 40 years; mortgage loan delinquencies have finally peaked; and possibly most importantly, job growth is increasing at last.

The National Association of Realtors says that existing home sales will probably go up another five percent in the next two years and that prices will increase two percent in these years, and four percent in 2014. While the recovery may not be immediate, the signs certainly tell us that the housing market is making a comeback.

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