the wasserblawg

Many are first time home buyers trying to squeak "under the wire" in hopes of closing contracts before November 30 th - the sunset date for the Federal First Time Home Buyer's Tax Credit. The impending deadline presents some unique challenges for Buyers and Sellers. That November 30th deadline comes smack dab at the end of the Thanksgiving day weekend. (What genious in Washington did that?) That means a host of closings are being scheduled for Friday the 27 th and Monday the 30 th the last two possible days to get closings done. Will the title companies and lenders cancel all holiday vacations and work at full capacity to get these closings done expeditiously, or will be have to sit for hours at the closing table while closers handle multiple simultaneous closings? Will loan officers and processors get files to the underwriters with time enough for review and to satisfy conditions before the inevitable holiday slowdown, or will some Buyers be disappointed when there ...

New Report Predicts How, & Where its Happening We may be done with the recession, but there is still a lot of pain left for the mortgage industry and for property values in distressed areas. A new report predicts increases in mortgage fraud ahead for states with high foreclosure rates. When fraud risks rise, increased foreclosure activites follow. Nevada has the highest mortgage fraud risk, California Arizona and Florida. Chicago notwithstanding, Illinois risks trail the national average. An abundance of distressed borrowers, oversupply of foreclosed properties, and relaxed lender valuation guidelines (??) all seem to be fueling new schemes. Most involve property valuation fraud. A trend towards undervaluing REO and short-sale properties is noted, but m ost often values are falsely overstated so that borrowers can extract more equity from properties. Increased reports of inflated appraisals continue "with a vengeance", ( the National risk index is up 25% in the ...

Cook County real estate professionals will soon need to follow new protocols and procedure in the reporting of property transfer taxes due in their client's transactions. The new EZ Dec system is said to be going live next week, and in the new year, it will become the only way to do so. Transfer taxes are assessed against just about every real estate transaction. The State, County, and City each levy a tax based on the sales price. In 2008, the City tax was famously increased to give a new revenue stream to the CTA. At present, we file three separate forms - one to pay each transfer tax. Frankly, the process is a collosal pain. The forms each ask for a whole lot of common information, but each form is (predicatbly enough) worse than the next. The County gets all the data it needs in a 2 page form. The State form runs 4 pages. The City's 7. Data idata input is sloppy, often inaccurate. I cannot even begin to speculate how cumbersome it is for the tax revenue agents to unsp...

The Cook County Clerk's Office has released the 2008 annual property tax rates . The state has set out the equalization factors. Look forward to the County treasurer's letter soon folks. Property tax bills will be due December 1st. The Sun Times reports that, on average, Chicago landowners can expect to see a collective 6.04 %increase from last year. Across Cook County, property owners will pay 4.2% percent more. Property taxes are computed using four factors: A property's assessed value (look it up here .); The property tax rate (check it out here .); The state equalization factor of 2.9786 (aka the "multiplier") up 4.74 % from last year; and Applicable exemptions (described here ) Homeowners exemptions (available to anyone who lived in the property as their principal residence as of 1/1/08) can vary based on the property's location and any increase in assessed valuation over the three year assessment cycle, but the minimum homeowners exemption increase...

At the same time that conventional lenders are starting to show interest in the Chicago condo market, FHA seems to be pulling back a little bit. On Friday, FHA announced plans that will tighten many lending standards, some outline below. This action is thought to be a pre - emptive effort as FHA will soon notify Congress that its capital reserve ration is dropping below 2% - the minimum threshold mandated in the legislature. Under the announced changes: Refinance loans will require tighter income & asset verifications and quality controls Appraisals will be required whenever a borrower wants to add closing costs to the transaction. Mortgage brokers will be prohibited from ordering appraisals, but will not be required to use appraisal management companies. (changes here are consistent with the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, or HVCC ). Appraisal reports will only be valid for 4 months, down from 6. There are a couple of less restrictive changes proposed too: Appraisals will be po...

Some mortgage lenders are dipping their toes back into the Chicago condo market, a development that could re-ignite local sale transactions. In recent weeks, I have learned of at least two different programs targeting area home buyers who do not want to make large down payment. Mark Johnson at US Bank is offering a 97% LTV program. Vassili Sakkas at Wells Fargo recently turned me on to his company's new 95% loan products. Yes, you read that right. At least two lenders are offering conventional, low down payment loans to Chicago are home buyers. Chicago are condo buyers (and sellers) have faced a pretty tough challenge of late. The only game in town have been FHA guaranteed loans. The underwriting has been tough. Not all condominium buildings qualify for loans, let alone buyers. The return of conventional lending alternatives should re-engergize the market. At least it will offer Buyers some new choices. Please let me know if you hear of other lenders offering comparable product...

Well, what else would you do if the volume of your business is down, and if the pricing scale for your product is tied to real estate sales prices , and the stockholders & financial rating services are upset that the dividends are being cut? Raise the rates! Chicago Title has announced another fee increases (The third in the last 15 months). The new fees go into effect October 1. I understand that Greater Illinois Title has announced a fee increase as well. Watch for the rest of the still viable title companies to follow suit soon. Compare title rates on my web site, here .