In September of 2012 the number of foreclosures in the U.S. was down from 83,000 in September 2011 to 57,000. Complete foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis in 2008 there has been 3.9 million completed foreclosures in the U.S.

According to CoreLogic’s latest National Foreclosure Report for September, there were 57,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in September 2012, down from 83,000 in September 2011 and 59,000 in
August 2012. Prior to the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month between 2000 and 2006. Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 3.9 million completed foreclosures across the country.

Approximately 1.4 million homes, or 3.3 percent of all homes with a mortgage, were in the national foreclosure inventory as of September 2012 compared to 1.5 million, or 3.5 percent, in September 2011. Month-over-month, the national foreclosure inventory was down 1.1 percent from August 2012 to September 2012. The foreclosure inventory is the share of all mortgaged homes in any stage of the foreclosure process.

“The continuing downward trend in foreclosures along with a gradual clearing of the shadow inventory are signs of stabilization and improvement in the housing market,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Increasingly improving market conditions and industry and government policy are allowing distressed homeowners to pursue refinancing, loan modifications or short sales rather than foreclosures.”

“Homes lost to foreclosure in September 2012 are down 50 percent since the peak month in September 2010 and 22 percent less than the beginning of the year,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “While there is significant progress to be made before returning to pre-crisis levels, the trend is in the right direction as short sales, up 27 percent year over year in August, continue to gain popularity.”

Highlights as of September 2012 include:

• The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in September 2012 were: California (108,000), Florida (92,000), Texas (59,000), Georgia (55,000) and Michigan (51,000). These five states account for 47.7 percent of all completed foreclosures nationally.

• The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in September 2012 were: South Dakota (20), District of Columbia (58), Hawaii (436), North Dakota (583) and Maine (625).

• The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Florida (11.5 percent), New Jersey (7.3 percent), New York (5.3 percent), Illinois (5.2 percent) and Nevada (4.9 percent).

• The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Wyoming (0.5 percent), Alaska (0.7 percent), North Dakota (0.7 percent), Nebraska (0.9 percent) and South Dakota (1.1 percent).

These numbers are signs of stabilization in the market. The U.S is going in the right direction although there is still more progress to be made in order to reach the numbers before the financial crisis in September 2008.

Source: World Property Channel, CoreLogic

The number of foreclosures in the U.S. per month decreased from 83,000 in September 2011 to 57,000 in September 2012. This signifies improvement in the housing market, but there is still a long way to go before we have completed recovered from the housing meltdown in 2008. Before September of 2008 the number of foreclosures in the U.S. per month was 21,000.

Home foreclosures fell in September, pushing the nation’s inventory of distressed properties lower. Still, America is a long ways off from foreclosure activity levels set before the housing crisis. Total inventory, as a result, is not shifting greatly.

The number of completed U.S. foreclosures reached 57,000 in September, down from 83,000 a year earlier and slightly lower than August levels, CoreLogic said.

A month earlier, the nation saw 59,000 foreclosures, suggesting distressed activity levels continued to subside last month.

In the years leading up to the housing meltdown, foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month. That figure is still a long ways off with today’s foreclosure pace well above the 50,000 foreclosures a month pace, according to CoreLogic.

In the past four years, the nation lost 3.9 million properties to foreclosure. By September, 1.4 million homes, or 3.3% of all mortgaged real estate, remained in the foreclosure inventory. That compares to 1.5 million in the pipeline a year earlier.

For the last year, the rate of homes in foreclosure did not shift much, as a total. For example, in August 2011, about 1.3 million homes, or 3.2% of all homes with a mortgage, sat in foreclosure inventory. That inventory rate did not change year-over-year when looking at August 2012 data.

“The continuing downward trend in foreclosures along with a gradual clearing of the shadow inventory are signs of stabilization and improvement in the housing market,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.”Increasingly improving market conditions and industry and government policy are allowing distressed homeowners to pursue refinancing, loan modifications or short sales rather than foreclosures.”

September foreclosures fell 50% from the peak reached in September 2010 and remain 22% lower when compared to the start of 2012.

“While there is significant progress to be made before returning to pre-crisis levels, the trend is in the right direction as short sales, up 27% year over year in August, continue to gain popularity,” added Nallathambi.

You can see how much progress the U.S. has made, and how much more progress the U.S. needs to make. In order to recover from the housing crash in September 2008 the U.S. still needs to decrease these numbers about 36,000, but at least we are headed in the right direction.

Source: HousingWire

Common sense should not influence your business decisions. People may doubt a business decision because they are trying to use, “Common Sense,” but that could be a huge mistake. In the business industry all ideas are relative. Meaning every manner of thinking has strong points and weak points and that nothing is set in stone.

There is no such thing as common sense. At least, there is no such thing as common sense that should influence you in a business decision.

When I began the process of founding Rakuten, I had more than one person advise me not to go into e-commerce. Many people told me the concept of the Internet mall was over, that shoppers were not interested in it. How did they know? It was, I was told, common sense.

They were wrong about Rakuten, about e-commerce, and about the value of common sense

In fact, the only real truth in business is that all ideas are relative. Every manner of thinking has some strong points and some weak points. Nothing is ever set in stone. This is the nature of our world.

What’s important, therefore, is to progress forward while constantly adapting to new situations. Consider a child, just learning to walk. That child will often stumble. The act of walking requires that one must lose balance and then regain it – putting one foot in front of the other. By repeating this process, you move forward. Progress in society or business moves much the same way. There is a constant forward motion, stumbling, regaining balance. Nothing is ever finished or fixed. Therefore, no one can ever declare his or her idea absolutely right. There is no absolute. Only the evolution of ideas.

Be suspicious of common sense and those who cite it to convince you to avoid progress. Do not fear going against common sense. Ideas evolve while being constantly adapted.

In order for your business to succeed you must not use common sense when making decisions. You might have to stumble along the way in order to grow.

Source: LinkedIn

The latest evidence of a steady housing recovery is that home prices in almost all U.S. cities rose in the last month. This increase of 2 percent from July is at a higher rate than it has been. Las Vegas alone rose .9 percent.

Home prices rose in nearly all U.S. cities last month, the latest evidence of a steady recovery in housing.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller index reports that national home prices increased 2 percent in August compared with the same month a year ago. That’s the third straight increase and a faster pace than in July.

And prices in hard-hit Las Vegas rose 0.9 percent, the first year-over-year gain since January 2007.

The report also says prices rose in August from July in 19 of the 20 cities tracked by the index. Prices had risen in all 20 cities in the previous three months.

Seattle reported a small decline of 0.1 percent in August from July. Prices are still 3.4 percent higher than a year ago.

The housing market is slowly but steadily recovering from a couple years ago. These numbers are just evidence, and hopefully mean that the rate of increase will continue to grow in upcoming months.

Source: MSNBC

Unfortunately home sales decreased for the 4^th month in a row in Las Vegas. Foreclosure re-sales were at its lowest level since September 2007. The reason that the Las Vegas housing market continues to drop is that people owe more money on their current homes than what they are worth. On the upside, the housing market of Las Vegas showed relatively short times on the market.

Home sales continue to drop in Las Vegas for the fourth month in a row while median sale prices saw an increase year-over-year.

September sales were 13% below average of homes sold during all months of September since 1994, and were also the lowest for that month since September 2007 – 3,054 homes were sold, according to DataQuick.

In September, 4,090 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in Las Vegas. This is down 15% from August and down 12.8% the year prior.

Foreclosure resales were at the lowest level since September 2007, which is at 19.2%. The month’s figure dropped from 21.8% from August and 56.3% a year prior.

Overall, the report suggests that the housing market in Las Vegas continues to drop because people owe more money on their current homes then what they are worth. Consequently, people aren’t able to list their homes for sale at a profit.

DataQuick has also noted that the median price paid for all new and resale homes and condos sold in September was $137,000. This was the highest since the median sales price in June 2010, which was $139,000. The median sales price did edge up 3% from August and rose 19.1% from a year prior.

The upside of the housing market in Las Vegas is with relatively short times on market, which is at a high since the housing boom. In September, 7.2% of all homes sold on the open market were sold within a six-month period. This reflects a 6.4% improvement from August and a 3.6 increase from a year prior.

In regards to the overall market for September, mid-to-high cost homes saw an increase on a year-over-year basis while low-end sales saw a decline.

Homes selling for less than $100,000 fell 37.4% from year ago levels. Home selling for less than $200,000 also fell 20.4% from year ago levels. However, homes for more than 500,000 rose 19.4% from a year prior.

The rise from mid-to-high level homes increased the overall median, with a 19.1% annual rise.

Home owners in Las Vegas owe too much money on their current homes, preventing them from selling their homes for a profit. This is the reason for the decrease in home sales. Even though there was a decrease in home sales, the time that a house shows on the market is relatively low in Las Vegas.

Source: HousingWire

Evidence of a recovering housing market has been easy to spot. Some economists believe that this recovery will be slow and steady, while others believe it might turn into another housing boom. If the rebound in the housing market is prominent it could have a ripple effect and help other areas of the economy. An increase in the housing market could also increase employment rates, because it provides jobs to many.

The long-battered housing market is finally starting to get back on its feet. But some experts believe it could soon become another housing boom.

Signs of recovery have been evident in the recent pick ups in home prices, home sales and construction. Foreclosures are also down and the Federal Reserve has acted to push mortgage rates near record lows.

While many economists believe this emerging housing recovery will produce only slow and modest improvement in home prices, construction and jobs, others believe the rebound will be much stronger.

Barclays Capital put out a report recently forecasting that home prices, which fell by more than a third after the housing bubble burst in 2007, could be back to peak levels as soon as 2015.

“In our view, the housing market had undergone a dramatic over-correction during the prior five years, resulting in pent-up demand for housing purchases that would spark a rapid rise in housing starts,” said Stephen Kim, an analyst with Barclays, in a note to clients.

In addition to what Kim sees as a big rebound in building, he’s bullish on home prices, expecting rises of 5% to 7.5% a year.

Construction is expected to be even stronger, with numerous experts forecasting home construction to grow by at least 20% a year for each of the next two years. Some believe building could be back near the pre-bubble average of about 1.5 million new homes a year by 2016, about double the 750,000 homes expected this year.

“We think the recovery is for real this time around,” said Rick Palacios, senior analyst with John Burns Real Estate Consulting. “If you look across the U.S. economy right now, there are only a handful of industries looking at 20-30% growth over the next 4-5 years, and housing is one of those.”

Home builder stocks are up 162% in the last 12 months, led by a 250% jump at PulteGroup (PHM). Other leading builders including DR Horton (DHI), Toll Brothers (TOL), KB Home (KBH) and Lennar (LEN) have all seen their stocks more than double over that time. New orders at publicly-traded builders are up 30% since January, according to Kim.

Palacios said stocks in other sectors, from manufacturers of drywall to flooring to kitchen and bath fixtures, have all more than doubled as well this year.

The housing rebound can have a ripple effect that could help get the entire economy growing at a much stronger pace, which will add to more demand for housing.

“That turn in the housing market is occurring now and it should become a boom by 2015. It will be powerful enough … to lift the entire U.S. economy,” said Roger Altman, chairman of Evercore Partners and former deputy Treasury secretary, in a column for the Financial Times.

Altman said he expects housing will add 4 million jobs to the economy over the next five years, as pent-up demand for home purchases drives building and and home prices higher.

Seeing the housing market recover is evident. We will have to wait and see if the recovery will be slow and steady or a strong boom. Many benefits could come from a housing boom. The housing market recovery could help other areas of the economy, like employment rates, increase as well.

Source: CNN

JP Morgan Chase bank announced a record quarterly profit on Friday, which was helped by a surge in mortgage refinancing. Revenue for the bank rose 6 percent, and revenue for the mortgage loans shot up 29 percent. Low interest rates and help from the government convinced many homeowners to refinance instead of buying new homes.

JPMorgan Chase, the country’s biggest bank, reported a record quarterly profit Friday, helped by a surge in mortgage refinancing. CEO Jamie Dimon said he believed the housing market “has turned a corner.”

The bank made $5.3 billion from July through September, up 36 percent from the same period a year ago. It worked out to $1.40 per share, blowing away the $1.21 predicted by analysts polled by FactSet, a provider of financial data.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $25.9 billion, beating expectations of $24.4 billion. Earnings were also helped because the bank set aside less money for bad loans — $1.8 billion, down 26 percent from a year ago.

Revenue from mortgage loans shot up 29 percent. About three-quarters of that was from people refinancing, rather than buying new homes. Low interest rates and government help encouraged homeowners to refinance.

A Federal Reserve survey earlier this week found that a stronger housing market helped economic growth in almost every part of the country. Home sales are up, prices are rising more consistently in most places, and builders are more confident.

Dimon noted that the bank was still seeing a high level of souring mortgage loans, and said he expects high default-related expenses “for a while longer.” And he noted homeowners are still struggling under mortgages they can’t afford, saying the bank was working to modify those loans.

The bank gave few details on the surprise $6 billion trading loss that dominated its previous earnings report. It did mention that a credit portfolio moved to the investment bank from the chief investment office, which was responsible for the bad trade, “experienced a modest loss.”

The bank set aside an extra $684 million for legal expenses. Chief financial officer Doug Braunstein said the reserves were related to “a variety of issues,” and not just a lawsuit filed last week by the New York attorney general over mortgage-backed securities sold by Bear Stearns. JPMorgan bought Bear Stearns as it veered toward collapse in 2008.

Dimon said he couldn’t predict how much the bank would have to spend in the future.

“Obviously we’re in a litigious society,” he said on a call with reporters. “We have a lot of mortgage suits coming and others. … Hopefully it will come down over time but we can’t promise you that.”

The number of employees was up about 1 percent over the year. But it fell about 1 percent compared with the previous quarter. The bank shed about 3,300 jobs to 259,550.

Dimon said he believed the number of workers would continue to come down, partly because the bank will need fewer people to handle problem mortgages but also because the company would continue to look for efficiencies.

He declined to give specifics on how bonus season might play out early next year. “The company’s doing quite well, and we want to pay our people fairly and properly as we always have,” he said.

Dimon also declined to answer a question about what the board of directors might decide about his own pay. Some had speculated it would be cut because of the trading scandal.

“I would never tell you what our board of directors does, OK?” Dimon said. He was paid $23 million last year, mostly in stock awards.

JPMorgan’s investment banking unit earned more in fees for underwriting stock offerings and debt offerings, which could signal that wary companies and investors are more willing to get back into the market.

Debit card revenue fell, which the bank attributed to new rules crimping the fees that banks charge stores whenever customers pay via debit card.

JPMorgan stock was down 22 cents in premarket trading at $41.88. The stock was as low as $31 in early June, after the bank announced the trading loss, which later ballooned to $6 billion.

The bank’s revenue was slightly lower, $25.1 billion, when adjusted for a controversial accounting rule that penalizes banks when the bonds they issue to investors look safer and rise in value.

The theory behind the rule, in place since 2007, is that it would cost banks more to buy those bonds back from investors. The rule has been sharply criticized by the banking industry, including by Dimon, and could be phased out as early as next year.

The housing market has turned a corner. A Federal Reserve survey found that a recovering housing market improved economic growth. Home prices and sales are up, and builders are more confident.

Source: Yahoo