Why areas with good jobs have hard-to-afford homes

WASHINGTON –It's the new career trade-off:

Around the country, areas with the strongest job markets increasingly have some of the costliest homes. And areas with the most affordable homes lack a solid base of middle-class jobs that attract workers.

College graduates and younger families have been clustering in coastal cities such as New York, San Francisco and Seattle, where incomes are generally ample and solid middle-class jobs plentiful. Yet studies and government data show that homes in these areas have become prohibitively expensive — driven up in part by demand from the very residents who find homes there too costly.

Read more... http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/2014/12/13/areas-good-jobs-hard-afford-homes/20373463/

Barclays: New Fannie, Freddie mortgages will take business from FHA

The government-sponsored enterprises officially announced Monday the introduction of new, lower down payment mortgages.

And already the mortgage industry is reacting, with one analyst arguing that the boost to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could come at the expense of the Federal Housing Administration.

Read more...  http://www.housingwire.com/articles/32277-barclays-new-fannie-freddie-mortgages-will-take-business-from-fha

All I want for Christmas is a mortgage

Black Friday 2014 may be over, but holiday home shoppers still have something to look forward to in the form of less stringent mortgage standards. Although shopping for a mortgage may not be as exciting (or dangerous) as competing for that one 42-inch flat-screen TV remaining on the store shelf, the recent loosening of mortgage qualification guidelines is a gift that promises to keep on giving for homebuyers and the economy at large.

Read more...  http://www.inman.com/2014/12/05/all-i-want-for-christmas-is-a-mortgage-2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+inmannews+%28Inman+News+-+Headlines%29&utm_content=FaceBook

Luxury Home Sales still Ascendant as Buyers Shift

Redfin, the large national real estate firm based in Seattle, is reporting that, while sales of homes costing over $1 million is still outpacing the rest of the market, the source of these sales is changing.  The company says that the luxury housing market, which was the first segment to recover after the housing crisis, continues strong, driven by a record high stock market, low interest rates and by foreign investors.

Read more...  http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12032014_luxury_home_market.asp

Investor Overlays Expected to be Reduced; Rise of Niche Products

I still own a typewriter. But Discover Home Loans conducted a national survey of more than 1,000 recent homebuyers and found that most homebuyers believed they were better buyers due to technology. The survey discovered that 89% of respondents used some form of online technology to help them in the home buying process, 76% felt technology made them a more knowledgeable home buyer and 69% said technology made them more confident. About half of respondents said that using technology saved them money and 92% said it saved them time. For Realtors out there, almost three quarters (74%) said it's essential for their real estate agent to be tech savvy and 42% of buyers working with agents said they did most of the work to initially find properties. And heck, most of the millennials haven't even hit the market yet!

Read more...  http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/12012014-penguin-commercials-nina.aspx

Want to Pay Off Your Mortgage Early? Not So Fast

Most of us want to keep our financial ducks in a row. Many of us work hard at it, living below our means, establishing emergency funds, saving and investing for retirement, and paying off or staying out of credit card debt. It's easy to think that it would be smart to pay off your mortgage early, and many financial experts recommend having it paid off by retirement. After all, the thought of having mortgage payments looming over you while you live on a more limited income can be unsettling. Give the decision some thought, though, because there are some reasons you may not want to rush to pay that loan off.

Read more...  http://www.fool.com/how-to-invest/personal-finance/credit/2014/11/28/paying-off-your-mortgage-in-a-hurry-not-so-fast.aspx?source=ehesitrf0000001

Home Values: 5 Best Markets For Q3 2014

Home values were up 4.9 percent nationally from the third quarter of 2013 to the same period of 2014, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. See the five best markets where prices went up fastest.

Read more... http://www.bankrate.com/finance/real-estate/home-values-best-markets-2.aspx

New HUD Head Castro Pushes Nationwide Homeownership

After joking that he's older than his twin brother by a minute, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julian Castro launched into his speech before the Bipartisan Policy Center Housing Summit. The new head of HUD put an emphasis on homeownership, as opposed to renting, while also praising the efforts of the bipartisan committees since he took office. He also discussed visiting New Orleans and Indiana to see schools built post-Katrina and to chat with veterans about housing issues.

Read more...http://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news54401/new-hud-head-castro-pushes-nationwide-homeownership

A Penny Saved Is Far Easier Than a Penny Earned

The saying "A penny saved is a penny earned" has often been misattributed
to Benjamin Franklin." He didn't say it quite like that, but whomever first
coined the now-famous version of the phrase is even more on the money
today. These days, the reality is that you need to earn far more than a
penny...

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2014/09/06/a-penny-saved-is-far-easier-than-a-penny-earned/

Old resort site to feature multimillion-dollar homes

New homes soon will go up on the former site of the Mountain Shadows resort in Paradise Valley.

Cullum Homes plans to build 40 multimillion-dollar houses on the eastern edge of the 68-acre site at 56th Street and Lincoln Drive. The $100 million development is called the Village at Mountain Shadows.

Read more... http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/real-estate/catherine-reagor/2014/08/09/old-resort-site-feature-multimillion-dollar-homes/13820045/

Zillow and Trulia have become the status quo and are ripe for disruption

There is a lot of doom and gloom out there about Zillow's plans to buy Truila, and some anger, too. As a real estate agent, I find it perplexing that Zillow and Trulia's customers are real estate agents — not homebuyers or sellers.

Real homebuyers and sellers don't care about you or about your website. They just want to buy or sell a home.

Read more... http://www.inman.com/2014/08/08/zillow-and-trulia-have-become-the-status-quo-and-are-ripe-for-disruption/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+inmannews+%28Inman+News+-+Headlines%29

Real Estate Market Trends: International Home Buyers Cashing in on U.S. Market

All real estate is local, an industry maxim states, but a new real estate market trends report issued by the National Association of Realtors finds that "a significant share of home purchases are made by people whose primary residence is outside of the U.S."

For the period April 2013 through March 2014 total international sales have been estimated at $92.2 billion, an increase from $68.2 billion from the previous comparable period. In 2014, nearly 60 percent of reported international transactions were all cash, compared to only one-third of domestic purchases.

Read more...http://millionairecorner.com/Content_Free/Real-estate-market-trends.aspx

Stagnant Arizona wage growth hurting home sales, renters - Phoenix Business Journal

Existing home sales in the West were off 7.3 percent in June from a year ago and 2.3 percent nationally, according to new figures out today. This comes after other statistics already this month showed Phoenix with the biggest slowdown among major U.S. markets in home asking prices between June 2014 and June 2013.

Laggard wage gains are also not keeping up with rent prices, making it harder on some tenants and putting some downward pressures on multifamily rates.

Read more... http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/business/2014/07/stagnant-arizona-wage-growth-hurting-home-sales.html?page=all

Don't Believe Housing Numbers: These Homebuilder Stocks Could Go Higher (DHI, HOV, PHM)

Homebuilders took a hit when the National Association of Homebuilders, or NAHB, reported a surprise drop in new home construction for last month. Housing starts plummeted 9.3% in June and May data was revised lower. This was in contrast to expectations for new construction of 1.02 million on a seasonally adjusted annual rate, or SAAR, slightly above the 1.0 million reported in May.

Read more.. http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/07/23/dont-believe-housing-numbers-these-homebuilder-sto.aspx

Rent Prices Inch Up in Second Quarter Nationwide

The median entry-level rent prices for the nation went up by 1.44 percent
in the second quarter of 2014, according to Apartment Guide data.

As of April 1, 2014, the nationwide median entry-level rent price was $765;
it had increased to $776 by June 30.

Read more...
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5570390?&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000036

Chandler sees boom in multifamily housing

 
For the first time in at least 20 years, more apartment and condominium units than single-family homes are going up in Chandler this year.

It’s a trend that is likely to continue as Chandler moves toward build-out (see graphic at bottom of story), but city leaders recently got together to discuss whether that is consistent with their vision for the city.

“I have been concerned about how many apartments we have coming in,” said Councilman Jeff Weninger, echoing other City Council members. “A lot of them make sense and there’s special circumstances. ... But we have to be careful in the future, especially changing from other uses to the multifamily use, that we have the right balance because we could be affecting things for years to come.”

Read more...Chandler sees boom in multifamily housing

Revenue skyrockets as sales of state land strengthen

Aided by the improving economy and land prices, the Arizona State Land Department has brought in more revenue recently, a trend that is likely to continue as the state auctions off more land, including prime property in Phoenix’s Desert Ridge area.

The trust has seen revenue skyrocket from land sales and leases as the economy and land prices have bounced back. The State Land Department brought in more than $318 million in fiscal 2013, which ended June 30 — a near 60 percent jump from the previous year, which saw revenue of a little more than $200 million, according to a department official.

Read more...Revenue skyrockets as sales of state land strengthen

Arizona’s lost homeownership

 
The Phoenix area, Maricopa County and Arizona posted the biggest estimated declines in U.S. homeownership rates in their categories in recent years, confirming that metro Phoenix was in important ways the national epicenter of the housing crash.

Newly released Census Bureau data shows the metro area, the county and the state swung from slightly above-average homeownership from 2007-09 to slightly below-average rates in the 2010-12 period.

Read more...Arizona’s lost homeownership

Phoenix-area foreclosed owners could get thousands

Foreclosures generally don’t have an upside. But more than 1,000 owners who lost their metro Phoenix properties may be eligible to get back thousands of dollars in cash.

Rising home prices mean that houses taken back by lenders are selling for much more — sometimes more than what the borrowers owed. Excess proceeds of sale occur when a foreclosed property goes to auction and sells for more than the amount owed on it.

After the lender is paid off, the remaining money goes to the Maricopa County Treasurer’s Office. It remains there for three years.

Read more...Phoenix-area foreclosed owners could get thousands

Frank Lloyd Wright’s archives net millions, records indicate

 
How much are the Frank Lloyd Wright archives worth?

“Priceless,” says Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation CEO Sean Malone, when posed with the question.

The exact financial components of a deal that permanently relocated the legendary architect’s vast archives from Scottsdale’s Taliesin West to New York City remain unknown. A non-disclosure agreement related to the September 2012 acquisition effectively silences the parties involved.

Read more...Frank Lloyd Wright’s archives net millions, records indicate

Experts offer tips to prevent ID theft

 
Anyone worried about falling prey to identity thieves should think like a wildebeest hoping to elude lions on the plains of Africa: You want to stick near the middle of the pack, remain vigilant and make sure you can outrun your neighbors.

Experts meeting at a recent fraud and privacy conference in Phoenix gave a gloomy assessment of ID theft, noting that the number of crimes continues to rise as crooks find more ways to gain access to Social Security numbers, bank accounts and other sensitive personal information, often doing so by penetrating the defenses of banks, utilities, retailers or government agencies.

Read more...Experts offer tips to prevent ID theft

Smaller home developments gain traction in Scottsdale

Perhaps it is the wave of the future in Scottsdale — small developments on small lots throughout the city.

A dozen new-home developments, none of them bigger than 66 units, are in the works in the city. A few have kicked off construction, and others are still going through the city’s approval process. All of them are on tight sites, averaging a little over 25 acres.

Read more...Smaller home developments gain traction in Scottsdale