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Foreclosure starts down, inventories up

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 1, 2011.

The number of homes in foreclosure continued to climb in January despite a drop in foreclosure starts, as foreclosure timelines continue to lengthen and foreclosure starts outnumbered foreclosure sales by three to one, data aggregator Lender Processing Services said.

LPS's January Mortgage Monitor showed foreclosure starts falling 11.4 percent from December to January and 20.1 percent from a year ago, to 230,023. That's down 29.1 percent from the recent peak of 324,651 foreclosure starts in March 2009.

While fewer homes are entering the foreclosure pipeline, it's taking them longer to get through it. Among homes in the foreclosure process in January, the average number of days delinquent was 507, up from 410 days in January 2010 and 319 days in January 2009.  more...

Avoid common money mistakes

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, March 1, 2011.
Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.mhprofessional.com/product.php?isbn=0071741658" target=blank>McGraw-Hill</a>.

Those deconstructing the Great Recession from the standpoint of "how did we get here?" in service of the aim of avoiding a repeat have astutely honed in on the role of flawed decision-making on the part of consumers in at least partially causing the crisis.

From buying too much house, too soon, with too little down and on screwy loan terms, to floating an unaffordable household lifestyle on credit cards, poor decision-making can -- and indeed has -- made and broken our household finances and our national economy.

As with weight loss, I've found that with personal finances, people tend to know what they should be doing, but often find their decisions and actions to be in opposition with these shoulds.

In an effort to both illuminate why people do the financial things they do -- especially the "bad" things -- and help us all make better financial decisions going forward, behavioral economist and finance professor Meir Statman has written "What Investors Really Want: Discover What Drives Investor Behavior and Make Smarter Financial Decisions."  more...

Best protection for garage water heater

By Barry Stone, Tuesday, March 1, 2011.

DEAR BARRY: We're buying a brand-new home with a water heater in the garage. It's installed on a raised platform, as required by code, but our home inspector says it needs further protection from vehicle impact. He says a steel post should be installed to keep a car from hitting it. The builder says the raised platform protects the water heater and meets code. Who is right? --Sandy

DEAR SANDY: According to the plumbing code, the builder is correct. According to common sense, the home inspector is more correct than the code. Here is why:

The plumbing code requires that a water heater in a garage be protected from mechanical damage in one of three ways: 1) by being installed behind a barrier; 2) by being elevated; 3) by being out of the normal path of a vehicle.

If the water heater in the home you are buying is installed on a raised platform, it complies with this code requirement. However, from the standpoint of truly adequate protection, a barrier such as a steel post (known as a bollard) would provide far better protection. The reason for this additional protection is simple.  more...

FHA concessions on seller concessions?

By Ken Harney, Tuesday, March 1, 2011.

There's some good news brewing at the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department that could save thousands of home sales in the months ahead. The final details aren't fully nailed down and a formal announcement is still more than a month away, but I can tell you about a broad outline taking shape that isn't likely to change.

It's all about seller concessions.

Last year the Federal Housing Administration announced that it intends to slash maximum seller contributions from 6 percent to 3 percent for purchasers using FHA-insured mortgages. Seller concessions or contributions are essential lubricants that make large numbers of FHA-financed home sales flow smoothly to closing. They make otherwise unaffordable deals doable.

Say you're negotiating on a house and the seller absolutely insists on getting a price of $150,000. Perhaps the buyer has struggled to come up with down-payment money and won't have the additional cash resources to pay for the settlement and loan origination expenses, which average about 4 to 5 percent in your area.  more...

Visit Re/Max at the Stop & Shop

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 1, 2011.
Flickr image courtesy of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hospi-table/2791981133/sizes/m/in/photostream/">hospi-table</a>.

Franchise real estate brokerage Re/Max of New England has opened its first office inside a Stop & Shop supermarket, the brokerage company has announced.

The brokerage signed an exclusive, five-year deal with Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., one of the largest supermarket chains in New England, in January 2010. With more than a dozen "micro" offices planned, the brokerage had originally intended to have the first office open within four months.

"Given the sluggish economy, we were diligent about choosing the location and broker-owner that would best fit our new model. We expect the opening of more micro-offices to follow in the coming months," said Christine George, spokesperson for Re/Max of New England.

The 250-square-foot office is located at 1600 Boston Road in Springfield, Mass.  more...

Google's new algorithm and real estate results Premium Content

By Gahlord Dewald, Tuesday, March 1, 2011.

Last week, Google rolled out a new algorithm change. For the past couple years most changes to the algorithm -- the bit of math and logic that determines who really is No. 1 for a given search term on Google -- have been fairly subtle. This new one is not.

Google says that results for more than 10 percent of the search queries are significantly different with this new algorithm.

While most of the press around this change has focused on large advertising-based business models such as Demand Media and AOL, any business that gains value from "long tail" searches will be affected by this change.

Real estate is an industry that gains value from long-tail searches -- those searches that are fairly specific (an example: "condos for sale in the old north end, burlington vt").

What this Google update is about  more...

Calculate tax bite of real estate buyout

By Benny Kass, Tuesday, March 1, 2011.

DEAR BENNY: My parents are both deceased -- mom died in 1999; dad passed in 2004. Their house now belongs to my brother and me, and my brother moved into the house in 2007. He is supposed to go to the bank soon and get a loan to purchase my interest in the house for $103,500, which is the amount we have agreed on.

I have been told by one tax preparer (not a tax lawyer) that I will not have to pay taxes on the amount because it will be an inheritance, but a loan officer at my credit union advised me that she thinks I will have to pay taxes.

I'd like your opinion on this. Please don't tell me to see a tax lawyer (I hate lawyers; they don't always help you and they drag their feet and charge you a bundle. This has been my experience with lawyers in the past, and I cannot stand the thought of having to go to another one! --Clara

DEAR CLARA: I am a lawyer and understand your concerns. However, I can assure you that all attorneys are not as bad as you think.  more...