VolkHaus Appraisals

April 4th, 2018 2:38 AM
It's been less than 10 years since the last financial crisis.  The company in the article below claims their new "non-prime" loans are safer than the previous "sub-prime" loans.  With 3-5% loans becoming more common, we are heading for another crisis.
The article below is from Housing Wire and can be found here  https://www.housingwire.com/articles/43015-carrington-mortgage-services-launches-subprime-lending-program?eid=417790648&bid=2056371

Carrington Mortgage Services launches subprime lending program

Claims manual underwriting process is safer than other non-prime programs

cash house two

Carrington Mortgage Services is launching a mortgage lending program that looks an awful lot like pre-crisis subprime lending, but the company claims that its new “non-prime” loans are much safer than the subprime loans of the mid-2000s.

According to Carrington, the program can make mortgages available loans to the approximately 100 million U.S. consumers who “have less than perfect credit.”

In a release, Carrington quotes a study from Experian that states that 21.2% of Americans have credit scores below 600.

And those are the types of borrowers that Carrington is targeting with this new program.

“For these consumers, especially in today's risk-averse lending environment, access to appropriate financing options can be a challenge,” the company said in a release. “Carrington has developed the expertise to qualify creditworthy borrowers with less-than-perfect credit, originate quality loans and service them.”

According to the company, its non-agency, non-prime loans are the “ideal solution” for borrowers that have “lower credit scores, high debt-to-income ratios, who are self-employed or who have had a recent credit event – such as foreclosure, bankruptcy, missed credit card or late mortgage payment – and may not be eligible for conventional or government loan product.”

Carrington’s loan program allows credit scores as low as 500. As stated above, “recent credit events” and a “history of late payments” are acceptable as well.

The loans are available for single-family homes, town houses and condos.

The program can be used for loans up to $1.5 million and cash-out refinances up to $500,000.

Additionally, Carrington said that for self-employed borrowers, bank statements are acceptable to verify income instead of IRS tax documents.

Carrington also said that it recently lowered its minimum FICO score requirement for Federal Housing Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs loans to 500 to “provide the widest possible range of opportunities to help underserved borrowers more easily become homeowners.”

Ray Brousseau, president of Carrington Mortgage Services, said that the company can safely underwrite non-traditional borrowers like these because of its experience.

?For years, we’ve built our business around serving underserved borrowers – those with credit scores or life’s events that make it difficult for them to get a mortgage or refinance loan,” Brousseau said.

?Because we manually underwrite each loan, we’re able to analyze an individual’s personal history, recognize their needs and responsibly lend to them,” Brousseau added. “Our clients, Realtor and broker partners bring us their challenging loans because they know that we know how to work with these borrowers to help them get their loans and keep them in their homes.”

According to Carrington, a borrower’s payment history is “one of the most important factors affecting a person's credit score and their ability to get a mortgage or refinance a loan.”

That’s where Carrington comes in, Brousseau said.

“Not all mortgage companies have the ability to offer loan products in a responsible way to those who don't fit into the traditional lending environment, and we don't want to see a return to the kind of careless lending practices that led to the foreclosure crisis back in 2008,” Brousseau said

“Carrington is an expert in underwriting and servicing challenging loans. We are one of the very few lenders nationally that can truly assist borrowers with low FICO scores and keep their loans performing at a high level,” Brousseau added.

“We’d like to be the lender of choice for otherwise qualified borrowers who have less than perfect credit scores, and for the real estate agents and mortgage brokers who work with them,” Brousseau concluded. “We believe there are millions of Americans who historically would have been able to qualify for a loan, but simply haven’t been able to get one since the Great Recession. And we believe they deserve a chance to achieve the dream of homeownership.”



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Posted by Charles Volk, SRA on April 4th, 2018 2:38 AMLeave a Comment

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March 5th, 2018 9:32 AM

Average metro Denver home sales prices pass $500,000

By   – Reporter, Denver Business Journal
Mar 5, 2018, 11:58am MST Updated 14 minutes ago

February saw the average price of a single-family home in metro Denver pass the half-million-dollar mark, according to the Denver Metro Association of Realtors market trends report, issued today.

The average price was $502,986, up almost 12 percent from February 2017.

“This may represent a psychological barrier for some homebuyers wishing to enter the market,” said Steve Danyliw, chairman of the DMAR Market Trends Committee. “Some good news for buyers was the month-end inventory.”

Steve Danyliw

The uptick in inventory can be attributed to the number of new listings in February — 4,638. That's over 5 percent higher than January.

"This is good news as we normally see a small seasonal decrease this time of year," Danyliw said.

Year to date, 5,939 homes have sold which is eight percent less than 2017.

The report also revealed that condos were spending more days on the market, increasing to 72 day this February. Last month it was 43.

Condos also saw an increase in listings, up four percent from last month.


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Posted by Charles Volk, SRA on March 5th, 2018 9:32 AMLeave a Comment

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March 5th, 2018 6:38 AM

Dodd-Frank replacement heads to Senate vote

Bill holds 20 co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle

congress

The Senate passed a motion Thursday to send one of the biggest rewrites of the Dodd-Frank Act to the floor for a vote, which is expected sometime next week.

Late last year the act, which was sponsored by Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, with nearly 20 co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle, was introduced in the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

The bill, S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, contains policies which would roll back or eliminate key parts from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Similar efforts have been attempted in the House of Representatives, but so far, to no avail. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s, R-Texas, Financial CHOICE Act, H.R. 10, passed the House and was sent on its way to the Senate for a vote.

However, as it only received partisan support, the bill died on the Senate floor.

This bill, because it has received more partisan support, could stand a chance of passing in the Senate. The bill would then be passed on for a vote in the House before making its way to the president’s desk.

An article by Elizabeth Dexheimer for Bloomberg explained:

Moderate Democrats, particularly those facing tough re-election this year, were key to advancing the legislation. The Senate bill would raise to $250 billion from $50 billion the asset threshold for banks to be subjected to stricter Federal Reserve supervision for systemically important financial institutions.

The housing industry, including the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Association of Home Builders and the Independent Community Bankers of America, previously voiced its support for the bill. Read more about that, here.





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February 26th, 2018 4:27 AM

New home sales unexpectedly plummet in January

Falls from decade-high pace set in 2017

house construction building

New home sales decreased significantly in January, falling from 2017’s decade-high pace, according to the latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Sales of new, single-family homes decreased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000 in January. This is down 7.8% from December’s rate of 643,000 and down 1% from January 2017’s estimate of 599,000.

“After the drop in existing home sales last month, additional weakness in new home sales is not what the market wanted or needed to see as we begin thinking about the spring home shopping season,” Zillow Senior Economist Aaron Terrazas said. “New home sales data in particular has proven to be fairly volatile, so it's possible some of this initially reported weakness may be revised in coming months.”

“It's also possible bad weather kept some buyers away earlier in the month,” Terrazas said. “And if we're stretching to find a silver lining, very modest gains in the West means activity didn't fall where it is arguably needed the most. Still, this report is undoubtedly disappointing.”

Back in December, new home sales decreased significantly from November, but stayed high enough to finish out the year with the highest pace of annual new home sales since 2007.

One expert, who served as Fannie Mae’s chief economist for more than 20 years, explained this decrease came as a shock to the housing industry as most analysts were expecting an increase.

“Most analysts had expected an increase in sales based on both rising mortgage purchase applications from the MBA’s weekly survey and little change in current sales at nearly the highest levels since 1999 from NAHB’s monthly housing market index survey,” Nationwide Chief Economist David Berson said.

Meanwhile, the median sales price of new homes sold decreased in January to $323,000, down from $335,400 in December. The average sales price came in at $382,700 for the month.

“Though both new home sales and prices dipped for the second month in a row, these lower prices don’t negate earlier price gains that have put new homes out of reach for the majority of buyers,” realtor.com Senior Economist Joseph Kirchner said. “This is disappointing given the importance of new construction in powering overall home sales.”

“Today's report provides further evidence that builders are slowly shifting toward more moderately priced homes,” Kirchner said. “The drop in sales may be due to saturation in the upper price range of the market, which should compel builders to follow the market and build more moderately priced homes.”

The seasonally adjusted estimate of new homes for sale at the end of January was 301,000, up from 295,000 in December. The months of supply at the current sales rate also increased, rising from 5.7 months in December to 6.1 months in January.

But despite January’s low numbers, one expert still remains confident in the role of new home sales in the housing market going into 2018.

“With inventory levels at nine-year highs, and demand supported by rising household incomes, new homes sales are set for a decent 2018,” Capital Economics Property Economist Matthew Pointon said.

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Posted by Charles Volk, SRA on February 26th, 2018 4:27 AMLeave a Comment

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June 14th, 2017 12:01 PM

Volkhaus Appraisal 
Appraisals are an important part of the homebuying process. A real estate appraisal establishes a property's market value – the likely sales price it would bring if offered in an open and competitive real estate market. Lenders require appraisals when buyers use their new homes as security for their mortgages. An appraisal provides the lender with assurance that the property will sell for at least the amount of money it is lending.

Don't confuse a comparative market analysis, or CMA, with an appraisal. A CMA is a sales report based on data entered into the multiple listing service, or MLS. Real estate agents use CMAs to help their clients determine realistic asking and offering prices. Appraisals are detailed reports compiled by licensed appraisers. An appraisal is the only valuation report a lender considers when deciding whether to lend the money.

An appraisal is also not the same thing as a home inspection. Home inspectors test appliances and outlets, check the plumbing and confirm that a home's heating and cooling system is working. Such information is helpful for the buyer to know before moving in. An appraiser, however, is only concerned with valuating a home.

About Appraisers and Appraisals

  • - Appraisers are licensed by states after completing licensing coursework and internship hours.

  • - The appraiser must be an objective third party, someone who has no financial or other connection to any person involved in the transaction.

  • - The property being appraised is called the subject property.

  • - In some cases, the buyer pays for the appraisal at the time of loan application. - - - Other times, the appraisal fee is added to the settlement statement and paid at the closing table.

What You'll See on a Residential Appraisal Report

Appraisals are very detailed reports based on an appraiser's on-site evaluation of a property as well as an evaluation of sales data.

 

Here are a few things they include:

 

  • - Details about the subject property, along with side-by-side comparisons of similar properties.

  • - An evaluation of the overall real estate market in the area.

  • - Statements about issues the appraiser feels are harmful to the property's value, such as poor access to the property.

  • - Notations about seriously flawed characteristics, such as a crumbling foundation.

  • - An estimate of the average sales time for the property.

  • - The type of area in which the home is located, for example, a development or stand alone acreage.

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Need more info? Give Volkhaus Appraisals a call at (720) 232-1075.



Posted by Charles Volk, SRA on June 14th, 2017 12:01 PMLeave a Comment

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