83% of Americans believe it is a bad time to sell a house

Fannie Mae's latest nationwide survey shows 83% of Americans believe it is a bad time to sell a house even though 78% of Americans believe home prices will remain flat or increase over the next year.  This would seem to be in line with a National Association of Realtors report for July that the national median existing-home price for all housing types was $182,600 in July, up 0.7 percent from a year ago.  Of course real estate markets are local and in the Orlando area the median price of all existing homes combined sold in August 2010 decreased 21.95 percent to $99,900.

The number of homes that sold during August of this year that were neither short sales or REO listings was 2,662, a decrease of over 18% from the August 2009 numbers of 3,270 according to my research of the MID-Florida MLS.

It may take a massive reduction of distressed inventory and a measureable uptick in housing prices before the non-distressed home seller will start to gain any sense of confidence in the real estate market.

Photo credit by uhuru1701

Fannie Mae Review May Lead to Increase in Florida Condo Sales

This month Fannie Mae announced that it would begin a detailed review of hundreds of condo projects in Florida in an effort to make them Fannie Mae eligible. The Fannie Mae team will be reviewing criteria that includes:

• Occupancy
• Association dues
• Financial Stability
• Property condition

Florida’s condo market could certainly use this boost. Condo sales throughout Central Florida have been seriously impacted by market conditions experienced the past few years.

If you are interested in purchasing a condo and would like to find out if the condo project is Fannie Mae approved give me a call. 407-304-0255

Related Florida real estate blog posts on condos

Fannie Mae allows renters of foreclosed homes the opportunity to stay in their homes

Fannie Mae allows renters of foreclosed homes the opportunity to stay in their homes

If you are renting a Fannie Mae owned home and the home has been foreclosed on or been deeded-in-lieu of foreclosure, you have options that include staying in the home.

Fannie Mae Rental Policy

The Fannie Mae rental policy applies to tenants who live in any type of single family housing including:

• 2-4 unit properties
• Condos
• co-ops
• Manufactured housing
• Detached homes

The homeowner association must not prevent rentals in the community. A real estate broker or a property management company will manage the property for Fannie Mae. Renters will have the option of a payment if they wish to move to other housing or can sign a month-to-month lease.

For additional details you can call 1-800-7FANNIE (1-800-732-6643).

Related Florida real estate blog posts on Fannie Mae

Homeowners facing foreclosure may be able to remain in their homes

Fannie Mae has started a program called Deed for Lease™, created with the goal of keeping homeowners who would otherwise lose their home to foreclosure and alternative way of remaining in the home.

Homeowners who qualify and agree to give their home back to the lender via a deed in lieu will then be allowed to lease back the home at a payment in line with the current market. Other considerations in order to participate include:

• Home must be primary residence
• Rental rate cannot exceed 31% gross income
• 12 month lease period
• Inspection of the property to determine house has been maintained

To find out if you have a loan that qualifies for the Deed for Lease™ program contact your mortgage service. For additional information visit Fannie Mae.

Related blog posts about Fannie Mae

Florida home loan modification - Fannie Mae

As part of the Administration's Making Home Affordable program loans owned by Fannie Mae could be modified by steps that include reducing the interest rate, increasing the payment time period, or principal forbearance.

In order to be considered for modification you will need to be living in the home as your personal residence and originated the mortgage before January 1 , 2009.

You can call Fannie Mae or your lender to find out if your loan is a Fannie Mae loan. The number for Fannie Mae is 1-800-7FANNIE. Or you can look up your loan here.

To learn more about this program including additional eligibility requirements, visit Making Home Affordable.


Related Florida real estate views:

The time it takes to close a short sale transaction

Fannie Mae sells homes

How do I buy a Fannie Mae home?

Search for homes

Q: I understand Fannie Mae sells the homes they acquired through foreclosure, deed in lieu of foreclosure, or forfeiture. How can I buy one of these homes?

Fannie Mae sells single-family homes, condominiums, and town houses. Fannie Mae sells their homes 'as is". You must use the professional services of a real estate agent to make an offer and buy a Fannie Mae home. Right now according to information on the Fannie Mae website there are over 200 Fannie Mae homes for sale in Orlando and 90 in Kissimmee.

Contact me to find out about Fannie Mae homes in your area.


Related Florida real estate views:

Sen. Barack Obama views on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout

I am relocating to Orlando and wonder if it possible to buy a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in Orlando for less than $200,000?

First time home owner money available

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac to receive help from The U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve

The plan calls for extending credit and lending funds if needed.

Fannie Mae increase conforming loan limits

In a recent press release, Brian Faith, Managing Director of Fannie Mae stated;

Fannie Mae will begin temporarily purchasing loans beyond the company's prevailing conventional loan limit in the designated areas.


Related Florida real estate views:

Builders say Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac have failed

Fannie Mae CEO offers suggestions to unleash housing demand.


- Greg Staker Watson Realty Corp. 407-304-0255

Builders say Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac have failed

In a press release dated March 6, 2008 the CEO of the National Association of Home Builders stated:

“At a time when the housing market needs them more than ever, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have failed to adequately respond to the mortgage crisis,” Jerry Howard, executive vice president and CEO of NAHB, told members of the Senate Banking Committee. “Rather than aggressively pursue market solutions, they are hunkering down to shore up financial results and shareholder returns – and are even taking steps that will further burden struggling mortgage borrowers.”

Read the entire press release.


Related Florida real estate views:

Fannie Mae increase conforming loan limits

Fannie Mae CEO offers suggestions to unleash housing demand.

Buyers are choosing fixed rate mortgages


- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Fannie Mae CEO offers suggestions to unleash housing demand.

In a speech to Annual Chamber of Commerce "State of American Business" Conference, CEO Daniel Mudd offered suggestions to help unleash the “latent demand for housing.”

He offered three groups of potential buyers the industry should try and reach;

New Americans. Mr. Mudd commented that there have been over 8 million new Americans in the last 10 years and that this is the fastest growing population. Even if a small percent of those “new Americans” purchased a home it would help boost the housing market.

Veterans. His thoughts are that the VA home buying programmed should be “beefed up” to make it easier for the men and women of our armed forces to purchase a home.

Minority families and communities. The minority home ownership gap must be closed.

Mr. Mudd has made several good points. It is my opinion that real estate agents and realty companies individually and as a group, have not taken full advantage of the opportunity to address the critical need of educating, assisting and promoting the benefits of home ownership to those groups. This would seem to be an obvious win-win for everyone.

From a purely selfish standpoint, the increase of buyers would go a long way to offset the challenges now facing real estate agents throughout Florida and most of the country. It appears that some of us ignored the slow dwindling of buyers in the market place due to the amazing appreciation of home values over the past several years. With the demand side of the real estate market shrinking for some, it was ignored or masked as we watched our profits rise by the sheer increase of volume.

What better way to restore the health of the industry and help thousands of Americans enjoy home ownership at the same time than to implement changes to our our model as suggested by Mr. Mudd.

Daniel Mudd’s entire speech can be found by visiting here.

Related Florida real estate views:

Fannie Mae increase conforming loan limits

Builders say Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac have failed

National real estate market nowhere near the bottom?

- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255