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Watch Out! Here comes another barrier to the housing recovery

We may not have seen the last of the foreclosure property next door. For the last month the government has issued the HVCC (Housing Valuation Code of Conduct). This was a code that required the appraiser of the property to be acquired separate from the lender. Along with this is a long line of requirements that are time dated. If you miss filing or mailing out paperwork just one day late, neither Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac will buy the loan. It has been causing many deals to fall thru right before closing.

The code was effective as of the first of May. It was the result of the State of New York and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo against Washington Mutual. In the lawsuit, Washington Mutual was allegedly sending business to appraisers that would give them the value they needed on properties. What came out of it was a laundry list of regulations that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agreed to follow.

Las Vegas Not So Lucky When it Comes to Foreclosures

The foreclosure rates in many states across the country have finally started to show a declining trend. However, not every state in the country has been so fortunate as to see such a drop. The "luckiest" state in the country, Nevada, has been a hot bed for foreclosures. The foreclosure rates in Nevada have been in the top ten across the country for the past two years. This has continued well into the first quarter (and now going into the second quarter) of 2009. There were close to 9,000 notices of default filed in the month of May. This represents the second highest month this year with only March having more notices (over 10,000). Notice of default for a mortgage is the first step in the foreclosure process. Looking further down the foreclosure process line, there were over 3,000 homes that reached repossession stage in May. There were only 2,500 in April. This represents a 20 percent increase from month to month. Foreclosure filings were on the upswing, as well. These numbers rose close to 6 percent in May with this number eclipsing 17,000.

Foreclosures Continue to Rise as Unemployment Does the Same

While the foreclosure rates across the country continue to rise, home prices are finally starting to ebb back to purchasable levels, there are other factors that are having an even more dramatic effect on the real estate and residential housing market. Unemployment rates and built up consumer debt (in credit cards and otherwise) are putting potential homebuyers in a position where they can t afford to buy a home. This is not a good sign for the economy as the nation needs home sales to pick up and for real estate to gain in value again.
The foreclosure crisis that has gripped this country over the past two years has been troubling for everyone. Now that we are starting to see this pattern change, (or at least slow down) there needs to be other signs of recovery that appear.

Foreclosure Listings

Foreclosure listings are up this year but unfortunately, home sales are not. We are now in the mist of what has always traditionally been the biggest buying season of the year for homes. First-time home buyers were not the main reason for this. The biggest reason for the summer boom has been current home-owners looking to upgrade. It goes without saying that most people today are not looking to upgrade anything. In fact, many are just trying to hold on to what they got.



Another reason for the lack of buyers is that the housing market decline has made it difficult if not impossible for them to sell their current house. Thus they are not able to upgrade even if they wanted or needed to do so. Coldwell Banker Real Estate, one of the biggest real estate firms, has expressed disappointment at the lack of buyers this past spring and early summer. We cannot expect to see growth in the housing market if people are unable to sell their current home because it is underwater.

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