Buying Foreclosure in Florida

How to beat the competition and buy Florida foreclosure

Finding a bank-owned home for sale these days is hard enough. Actually buying one is an even bigger problem.   Last year the supply of bargain-basement, foreclosure homes shrank, as banks temporarily stopped trying to repossess properties to review possible paperwork errors.

Start with your best offer: This isn’t 2007 or 2008, when sales were sluggish and sellers were thrilled with any offer. Demand creates bidding wars. Read more on how to buy foreclosed homes in Florida.

USDA to help thousands of rural homeowners refinance and lower payments

There is a USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) pilot loan program that could help tens of thousands of rural homeowners refinance in 19 states including Florida.

The program, which was first announced Feb. 1, 2012. It allows underwater homeowners in rural areas to refinance their homes with lower interest rates, similar to a program President Barack Obama announced earlier this month – although  the USDA’s program does not rely on the approval of Congress.

To be eligible for the USDA refinance program, homeowners must have either a direct loan with the USDA or a USDA guarantee on a commercial bank mortgage.

Officials say the new program will cut through red tape normally seen with bank refinancing and save borrowers hundreds of dollars a month. To be eligible, borrowers must have made their mortgage payments on time for 12 consecutive months. There are more than 20,000 borrowers eligible in Florida and some 237,000 nationwide, according to the USDA, all in rural areas.

 He said that if more underwater loans are refinanced, then fewer homeowners will face foreclosure.

Under the new pilot program, a homeowner could knock three or four percentage points off their mortgage interest rates if they refinance and appraisals, inspections or credit reports are not required.

Orlando Real Estate Weekly Report-median price goes up by 8.9%

Orlando Home and Condo Sales -Week of February 12, 2012

Single-family existing Orlando homes for Sale

• Sales of single-family homes in the greater Orlando area increased to 315 during the week of Feb 12, from 201 the week prior
  
• The median price of single family homes in Orlando increased to $125,200, a change of 8.9%
• The number of single-family home foreclosure transactions increased to 60 last week, from 49 the week of Feb 5
  
• The number of single-family home short-sale transactions increased to 105 from 63 the week prior
  
• Single-family inventory decreased by 80, and now sits at 9,858

Orlando Condos, townhomes, and villas- Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake

• Sales of  Orlando condos, townhomes, and villas increased to 107 during the week of Feb 12, from 77 the week prior
  
• The median price of Orlando area condos, townhomes, and villas increased to $75,000, a change of 10.1%
• The number of condo, townhome, and villa foreclosure transactions increased to 30 last week, from 23 the week of Feb 5
  
• The number of condo, townhome and villa short-sale transactions increased to 32 from 29 the week prior
  
• Condo inventory decreased by 30, and now sits at 2,374

Florida real estate Existing-home sales rise again in January, inventory down

Florida’s housing market reported gains in median sales prices and a reduced inventory of homes for sale in January, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors.

In both the statewide single-family and condo-townhome markets, pending sales are higher and the statewide median sales price rose – up 5.3 percent to $129,000 for single-family homes and up 18.8 percent to $95,000 for condo-townhomes

The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less. Sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes, according to housing industry analysts.

See OrlandoReal Estate in the greater Orlando area including Winter Park real estate and  Lake Mary homes for sale.

Top Mortgage Lenders for 2011

Who were the biggest lenders in 4Q in 2011 for home loans?

According to MortgageDaily.com’s 2011 Mortgage Lender Ranking, Industry-wide production during all of 2011 was around $1.3 trillion, falling from approximately $1.6 trillion the previous year. And the government’s role in residential finance was reduced last year.

Fourth-quarter mortgage originations by all lenders were an estimated $381 billion, up from approximately $317 billion closed three months earlier.

The biggest fourth-quarter lender was Wells Fargo, which reported that volume climbed to $120 billion from the third quarter’s $89 billion.

The number 3 spot went to Bank of America, who  saw production fall more than any other top-ten lender as it quit correspondent lending.

U.S. Bancorp gave the best performance, where production climbed 51 percent.

Top 4Q originators

1. Wells Fargo
2. Chase
3. Bank of America
4. Citi
5. U.S. Bancorp


There were $206 billion in loans insured by FHA last year, giving FHA a market share around 16 percent, down from 19 percent in 2010.

Loans purchased or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac accounted for approximately 74 percent of 2011 business – lower than the 78 percent share a year earlier.

The government owns FHA and controls Fannie and Freddie, putting the country on the hook for around 90 percent of mortgages originated last year. However, that was lower than the approximately 97 percent government market share in 2010.

Wells Fargo dominated annual rankings despite an 8 percent decline. Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo were responsible for about half of all production during 2011.  PHH saw annual production rise 6 percent, the best annual performance of any top-ranking lender.

Top 2011 lenders

1. Wells Fargo
2. Bank of America
3. Chase
4. Citigroup
5. Ally
6. PHH
7. U.S. Bancorp
8. Quicken
9. Flagstar
10. BB&T

Based on mortgage servicing portfolios, including third-party servicing, mortgages owned and home-equity assets, Wells Fargo’s $1.822 trillion portfolio was the biggest.

Top 2011 servicers

1. Wells Fargo
2. Bank of America
3. Chase
4. Citigroup
5. Ally
6. U.S. Bancorp
7. PNC
8. PHH
9. SunTrust
10. OneWest

From: Florida Realtors®

More short sales being closed on--now some lenders offer seller incentives

More short sales are being sold as lenders are getting more flexible than before. And some banks are allowing financial incentive to owners for choosing short sales when loan modification fail.  The interesting thing is that although a few owners are even getting cash to complete the short sale, the financial incentives  are random and infrequent.

Here are some of the lenders offering selling incentives for short sales as reported by USA TODAY:

• JPMorgan Chase went national with short-sale incentive offers last year, paying up to $35,000 in some cases.

• Bank of America is testing incentives from $5,000 to $25,000 in Florida to see if they should be expanded to more states. The Florida program began fall of 2011

• Wells Fargo’s incentive offers range from less than $3,000 to $20,000.

Short sales can save lenders money compared with the expenses involved in completing foreclosures. In states like Florida where foreclosures go through the courts, 50 percent of loans in foreclosure are more than two years past due.

In Orlando real estate, there were more short sales completed in 2011 than the year prior. Last  year, there were 6,981 single family homes sold as short sales in the Orlando Real Estate market. 

 

Shopping for Homeowners Insurance- Rates go up

The Tampa Bay Times reported last summer which insurance companies homeowners insurance rates were being raised in Florida:

 On the rise-State Farm is being allowed to raise homeowners insurance rates in Florida 18.8 percent on average. That includes a 20 percent increase for the most common, nontenant homeowners' policies; a 15 percent decrease for renters; and a 3 percent decrease for condominium unit owners. Here's a sampling of some of the steepest rate increases approved by Florida regulators since early 2010.

Insurer	Rate increase
State Farm	18.8 percent
Allstate (Castle Key Indemnity)	17.8 percent
American Mercury Insurance	24.8 percent
Hartford Insurance	24 percent
Homewise Insurance Co.	28.8 percent
Northern Capital Insurance	29 percent
Florida Peninsula Insurance	19.8 percent
Tower Hill Preferred Insurance	21.3 percent

Source: Florida Office of Insurance Regulation

That leaves many of us to shop for affordable but good and reliable homeowners insurance. And while there might be some relatively cheap insurance for us Floridians (relative being the key word), what you don't want to do is purchase insurance from companies that are not poised to handle a large scale risk event like we had back in 2004.

This weekend, I did some research to find reliable online tools and information to help homeowners like me, and Orlando area home buyers like my clients, choose wisely when shopping for home owners insurance. Here is what I found and you can access this information to make a smart choice on buying home owners insurance in Florida.

Homeowners Insurers' Risk of Ruin-The Herald-Tribune obtained copies of confidential documents filed in June by Florida property insurers with the Office of Insurance Regulation. These records and ratings show how well homeowners insurance carriers are prepared to withstand a 100-year loss.  The site also provides information on financial strength and premiums.

The ones to avoid- The article allows you to see portions of the actual filings from Florida's six riskiest property insurers, including Universal Property and State Farm. In each case, read the notes to understand what these reports mean.

Search by County-See who is writing new homeowners insurance policies, who is dropping policies, top property insurers and information about hurricane risk by Florida county. Changes are from June 2010 to January 2011.

No red flags list- The Herald-Tribune also published a list of Florida home insurers with no red flags. They provide company details, such as year the company was formed, who owns it and where the company is located, funds set aside, numbered of polcies. Based on this report, the one that stands out is Florida Farm Bureau Casualty, the Gainseville-based Florida Farm Bureau Casualty member of the Southern Farm Bureau family. It is considered one of the most stable and well-capitalized Florida-only insurance companies, according to the Herald Tribune.

Other Insurance Related Articles-

State Farm- Herald-Tribune investigation finds Florida's largest insurer has found an easier way to profit from homeowners desperate for coverage.

The new insurance game: sending billions overseas

Reinsurance firms profit as reserves dwindle, with two-thirds of property insurance premiums now leaving Florida as unregulated payments to largely offshore reinsurers ... READ MORE