Glass houses for sale
Check out the fotos plus links to the listings with lots of fotos. CA, AZ, MI, TN, SC and TX plus links to MT and NY at bottom of article.
My comment: for most of the past 30 years I lived on an estuary of San Francisco Bay and never closed the window coverings in the rear of the house. Nobody there but birds and a few boats passing by. I moved off the water 5 years ago and really miss it!! I want an glass house!!
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The good news: Negative Equity Rate Now in Single Digits
Excerpt:
Owners of more than three-quarters of a million U.S. homes regained equity in those homes during the second quarter of 2015. CoreLogic said on Tuesday that there are now approximately 45.9 million homes with positive equity, 91 percent of all mortgaged properties in the country.
The 759,000 properties that rose out of negative equity during the second quarter leaves approximately 4.4 million properties, 8.7 percent of all mortgage properties underwater, that is the outstanding mortgage balance exceeds the value of the home. There were 5.1 million homes or 10.2 percent or mortgaged properties underwater at the end of the second quarter of 2014.
My comment: more people can refi or sell their homes. More appraisals needed.
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More good news: Mortgage Credit Standards Are Easing, According to Lenders
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON, DC - Fannie Mae's third quarter 2015 Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey™ reveals that more lenders report easing of mortgage lending standards across all loan types. Conducted in August 2015, the survey asked senior mortgage executives whether their lending organization's credit standards have eased, tightened, or remained essentially unchanged for GSE eligible, non-GSE eligible, and government loans during the prior three months. Notably, the gap between lenders reporting easing as opposed to tightening over the prior three months jumped to 20 percentage points and 18 percentage points for GSE eligible and non-GSE eligible loans, respectively-reaching new survey highs of "net easing." In addition, the share of lenders who expect their organizations to ease credit standards over the next three months ticked up this quarter for both GSE eligible and non-GSE eligible loans.
"For the first time in seven quarters, we see a pronounced increase in the share of lenders, particularly medium- and larger-sized lenders, reporting on net an easing of credit standards in both the GSE eligible and non-GSE eligible loan categories.
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Now, the bad news: Almost 30% of all homes nationwide lost value in past year - location, location, location
Excerpt:
In Baltimore, 48.1 percent of homes decreased in value over the past year.
Hot markets in the West had fewer homes losing value in August than they did a year ago.
The U.S. Zillow Home Value Index grew 3.3 percent year-over-year in August, to $180,800.
It's said that a rising tide lifts all boats. But the hyper-local reality of the real estate market means that in many communities nationwide, some boats are getting swamped, even as the tide rises around them.
Almost 30 percent of all homes nationwide (27.9 percent) lost value in August from a year earlier, all while median U.S. home values overall continued to rise steadily, up 3.3 percent year-over-year to a U.S. Zillow Home Value Index of $180,800.
Not all markets are experiencing the recovery evenly. As a result, some big metro markets had a relatively large share of homes lose value over the past year, while others had precious few.
Of the largest 35 metro markets covered by Zillow, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia all had more than 40 percent of homes lose value year-over-year in August. On the other hand, Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Portland all had less than 10 percent of homes lose value over the past year. Denver, which continues to be the hottest large real estate market in the county, had a scant 1.5 percent of homes lose value over the past year.
My comment: another reason why lenders need appraisers. National stats are great, but appraisers know which local markets, and market segments, have decreasing prices.
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2015 Mobile App Business List
Source: Appraisalbuzz.com
Excerpt:
Here are a two:
Road Warrior Route Planner: (RoadWarrior, LLC)
Free to download for all devices. Monthly subscription plans may apply
Average Rating 4.3 / 5 stars
As appraisers you have most likely had to run all over town doing appraisals in different areas, taking pictures in others, and running the occasional mid day errand. This app allows you to plot all of your stops first thing in the morning then plots a route to help you waste the least amount of time backtracking. Save gas, time, and patience by preplanning a route for yourself.
Google Drive: (Google, Inc.)
Free to download for all devices
Average rating 4.4 / 5 stars
While we included this in last year's article on apps to download we thought we should include it again because of the additions they have made for the smartphone app. Now you can scan documents, edit or sign PDFs and store or email it all from your phone. The desktop app allows you to collaborate on spreadsheets, PowerPoint's, and Word documents all at the same time.
Click here for more!!
