Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Firm: Calif median home price rises in month
Firm: Calif median home price rises in month
By JACOB ADELMAN Associated Press Writer
Posted: 04/16/2010 05:07:26 AM PDT
Updated: 04/16/2010 05:07:27 AM PDT
San Ramon —The median home price in California increased 14 percent last month from March 2009, its highest year-over-year increase in more than four years, a tracking firm reported Thursday.
The increase was driven by a boost in sales in expensive coastal markets and a drop in lower-cost inland communities, San Diego-based MDA DataQuick said.
The median for the state rose to $255,000 from $223,000 in March 2009. Last month's median was up about 2 percent from $249,000 in February.
It was the state's fifth consecutive month of year-to-year price increases after more than two year of declines, and it's highest percentage year-to-year increase since November 2005.
But DataQuick president John Walsh cautioned that the data revealed a shift in the sales mix toward higher-end homes, not an across-the-board increase in prices.
"It's a statistical quirk," he said. "A variety of data indicate prices in many communities have more or less flattened out or risen modestly, while they remain soft in others."
DataQuick said nearly 37,300 homes were sold in March, up almost 33 percent from February.
The firm stressed that it is normal for sales to rise sharply between February and March. Increases in that period have averaged almost 37 percent since DataQuick began keeping records in 1988.
The firm also said sales were up 3 percent from about 36,200 in March 2009.
Statewide foreclosures comprised nearly 41 percent of all resales last month, their lowest level since November 2009, DataQuick said.
In the nine-county region of Northern California, sales jumped about 11 percent to 6,990 in March from a year earlier. That figure rose 5 percent to more than 20,000 in a six-county region of Southern California.
The median home price in Northern California increased 31 percent to $380,000 last month from $290,000 in February 2009, reaching a three-year high. In Southern California, the median price rose 14 percent to $285,000, up from $250,000 in the year-ago period.
Walsh said the future stability of the state's housing market would depend heavily on the strengthening of the broader economy, which faced several risks.
"Government housing stimulus is fading, and there are threats from higher mortgage rates, more distressed properties hitting the market and continued job losses," he said.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Alert, Alert ! ! ! Undisclosed Short Sale Payments May be Illegal!
San Ramon, CA - Undisclosed payments in short sale transactions, especially those paid outside of escrow, may violate the law, including RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act), laws against loan fraud, and licensing laws. Short sale agents have increasingly reported to C.A.R. (Calirforina Association of Relators) about requests for agents and their clients to pay junior lienholders and others, oftentimes outside of escrow.
One common scenario is when a short sale seller's senior lender authorizes a payment of $3,000, for example, to extinguish a junior lien, but the junior lender demands that the buyer pays an additional $9,000 outside of escrow. Not only would it be risky for a buyer to pay outside of escrow, but concealing this additional payment from a federally-insured senior lender may constitute loan fraud, which is a crime punishable by 30 years imprisonment plus a $1 million fine (18 U.S.C. section 1014). Furthermore, omitting from the HUD-1 Statement any charges paid at settlement by either a buyer or seller may violate the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) (Appendix A to 24 C.F.R. Part 3500). Depending on the specific circumstances, carrying out these payment requests may also violate other laws and regulations, and an agent's participation in the scheme may be subject to license revocation by the Department of Real Estate or other disciplinary action.
Agents and their clients are encouraged to file any complaints regarding fraudulent activities to the proper authorities, including the following agencies:
- Attorney General's Office
California Department of Justice
800-952-5225 Phone
http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/mailform.htm - Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
HUD Office of Inspector General Hotline (GFI)
800-347-3735 Phone
http://www.hud.gov/offices/oig/hotline
Via: (Realegal® is published by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, a trade association representing more than 175,000 REALTORS® statewide. )
If you have questions regarding a Short Sale please contact Sam Parwiz 925-219-5144 or samparwiz@gmail.com.
