Foreclosure Trends

Igor Mosyak asked:


The loan modification process can assist homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure to stay in the homes that they love. If you are experiencing temporary financial hardship and have fallen behind on your mortgage payments, then you need to understand the options that are available to you and your family. Talking with a professional foreclosure consultant can help you to understand your rights and to develop a solid action plan to stop your pending foreclosure.

Here are just a few of the topics that you can discuss with your foreclosure consultant:

Developing a feasible plan for loan repayment

You may have experienced a setback recently that has caused your lender to file a Notice of Default against you. It is OK. There is still time to intervene and stop the foreclosure from ever happening. Time is of the essence though. You need to be proactive and get in touch with a foreclosure consultant as soon as possible in order to maximize your potential to successfully stop the foreclosure. You can discuss realistic repayment possibilities and the foreclosure consultant can then approach your lender’s loss mitigation team on your behalf.

A loan from the Federal Housing Authority:

Your foreclosure consultant is an expert at helping you obtain a loan from the FHA to cover the delinquent amount of your mortgage payments and bring your loan current. There will be no interest or payments on this loan from the FHA until your mortgage is refinanced or your home is sold. You must be between 4 and 12 months behind on your mortgage payments in order to receive the FHA loan.

Loan modification:

Your foreclosure consultant will work with your lender to get your loan modified and bring it current. This will involve several aspects including

Partial payment of the amount delinquent;

A letter of hardship explaining your legitimate reasons for falling behind on your mortgage payments;

Relevant financial statements presented to the lender;

Pay check stubs;

W-2;

Tax return form copies;

Banking statements;

and more as required by the lender…

It’s important for you to realize that just because you desire to enter into the loan modification process doesn’t mean that the lender will be willing. You must convince the lender that modifying your loan is in their best interest. It is the goal of the lender to minimize their own losses for the long run – nothing more. It is all just a singular component of the loss mitigation process to them. For that reason, it is also very important to act immediately. The loan modification process is time-consuming and needs to be initiated as promptly as possible in order to maximize your chances to stop your foreclosure.

If you are facing foreclosure and need assistance in dealing with your mortgage lender, there is help available. Just visit us at Stop Foreclosure Help Today and you can be on your way to successfully stopping your pending foreclosure and being able to relax again. We are always here for you.



WILLIAM

The Global Property Guide asked:


Asian property markets, though still relatively unaffected by the credit crunch, will soon be affected by inflation and higher interest rates, warns the Global Property Guide, because of rising food, fuel and other commodity prices.

“Higher food, fuel and other commodity prices affect the housing market negatively in several ways,” says Prince Christian Cruz, senior economist at the Global Property Guide.

“At the micro level, households may postpone their decision to purchase a new house or spend on renovation if they anticipate higher prices. At the macro level, higher food and fuel prices push inflation up. Monetary authorities typically raise key interest rates to stem inflationary pressure,” Cruz explains.

Asian households are particularly vulnerable to recent rises in food prices. The price of rice, the staple in Asian diet, has risen by more than 90% during the last year to March 2008, according the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The price of other food also has increased significantly. Wheat was up 160% in March 2008 on a year earlier; soy bean oil by 104%, corn by 37%, and sugar by 26%.

Food prices are a key component in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Their proportional weight ranges from 28% in Singapore, to 33.2% in China, to almost 50% for urban workers in India. High food prices will persist until 2009, according to reports by the FAO, World Bank and the International Rice Research Institute.

The price of almost all commodities is increasing, not only food. The price of light sweet crude oil surged to US$115 a barrel in April 2008, up almost 80% from a year earlier. NYMEX crude oil has been above US$100 per barrel since March 2008.

Many Asian economies which have recently experienced residential real estate price surges such as China, Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong and India (all of which registered double-digit house price increases in 2007) are under significant inflationary pressure (see table).

Higher inflation and interest rates

Monetary authorities typically raise interest rates to combat inflation. They can also increase the cash reserve ratio (CRR) of banks or sell bonds or other financial instruments to reduce money supply.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised the cash reserve ratio by 50 basis points in two stages to mop excess liquidity and contain inflationary pressures. The CRR will be 7.75% effective April 26 and 8% by May 10, 2008.

The RBI, similar to other central banks in Asia, left key interest rates unchanged during the first half of April.

However, most analysts indicate the key rates might be hiked in May if inflation continues to be above the official targets

Fears of interest rate hikes cropped up in several Asian countries, particularly in Indonesia and China.

High interest rates affect housing markets in two ways:

1. By discouraging investment and consumption and causing the economy to slow, higher interest rates reduce people’s willingness to spend on housing

2. Higher interest rates discourage borrowing for housing loans.

“The situation is unfortunate because most Asian housing markets have not yet fully recovered from the effects of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis,” Cruz notes.

“Even with strong house price gains in 2007, property prices in Asia are still below their pre-Asian Crisis peak levels. Despite 31% nominal rise in the over-all residential property price index, Singapore’s prices are still about 10% to 20% below their pre-Asian crisis peak level in real terms,” adds Cruz.

“In the Philippines, even with the 15% increase in condominium prices in 2007, it is still about 47% below its peak level in real terms,” he continues.

The housing markets most likely to be affected by monetary tightening seem to be China, India, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand, which have experienced the largest increases in inflation.

Will Asia tango together?

“With global financial markets interconnected, the world’s economies tend to move together. The synchronicity was observed with the global housing boom - never before in recorded history did so many countries experience so much house price growth all at the same time,” Cruz notes.

“The housing market slowdown may also be synchronized,” he adds. “Inflationary pressures are likely to cause Asia’s central banks to raise interest rates, and slow their housing markets,” he says.

However convergence will not be universal. Where currencies are pegged to the US, housing markets are likely to diverge somewhat from the global adjustment.

Countries such as Hong Kong and the Gulf must follow US interest rates. Unless those countries re-peg their currencies, their central banks cannot raise interest rates. This may lead to higher inflation including in the housing market.

###

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Economics Team:

Prince Christian Cruz, Senior Economist

Phone: (+632) 750 0560

Cell: (+63) 917 735 2228

Email: prince@globalpropertyguide.com

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Matthew Montagu-Pollock Phone: (+632) 867 4220

Cell: (+63) 917 321 7073

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info@globalpropertyguide.com



GERALD

Joseph Kenny asked:


Despite aggressive interest rate cuts by the Federal Government to maintain jobs and even a stimulus package sent out to assist with finances, consumer confidence is still lingering around its lowest level in close to two decades. With everything much more expensive now and the dollar still staggering to keep up against to the Euro, consumers are more likely to remain pessimistic about the economy and market landscape until at least sometime next year, and this fact is something that hurts the housing market the most more than anything else.

Indeed, a combination of the mortgage crisis and weak consumer confidence will cause the real estate market to suffer extensively throughout the year, hitting the industry with a double blow that squeezes it from both ends. The mortgage mess has led to an enormous number of foreclosures that have brought thousands of homes to the market, while a weak response from consumers means that these homes won’t be sold anytime soon.

Lynn Franco, leading director of the Consumer Research Center of TCB, or The Conference Board, has commented on the issue and said that consumer confidence is at the weakest it has been in 17 years. The Conference Board is recognized as producing the Consumer Confidence Index, a representation of the optimism consumers feel towards the economy which is measured by their activities of spending and saving.

In regards to the latest CCI evaluations, Franco believes that the current values look troubling in terms of where the economy is heading overall, and especially in regards to the housing market. She says that what with the way consumers are feeling apprehensive towards the market, not only concerning current circumstances but also future possibilities, they will most likely put off such an enormous purchase until they start to believe that things are at least a little more stable in the economy.

There was a report by the CCI in early 2007 that recognized a swelling of consumer confidence at the time, something that influenced economists to predict that the rest of the year would witness a turnaround for the real estate industry. However, this never happened, and in fact, consumer confidence went down considerably for the remainder of the year.

Inflation has had a considerable impact on consumer spending too, and especially in regards to real estate. With the cost of fuel prices and food at the level they are currently, very few people are willing to commit to the opportunity of buying a home, seeing it as a risky maneuver that can significantly burden them financially. Furthermore, employment is seen as something that is at risk for people across the nation, with job layoffs a very real threat currently for hundreds of individuals. When taking these aspects and seeing the big picture, it comes as no surprise that the housing market is suffering through one of the toughest times in decades.

Even though homes may been cheaper now than they have been in years, buyers are sitting on the sidelines still because they fear that their credit scores aren’t good enough to warrant finding a loan that can purchase them a home. Others are simply waiting it out and wanting to see how low prices are going to drop until they feel there’s a good enough opportunity to take the plunge into purchasing a new home.



ALFREDO