By Tara Nelson

One of the first things many homebuyers look for are the unmistakable signs of something called ‘pride of ownership.’ As a whole, it’s a relatively intangible concept: there are just homes that have it - reeking of their owners’ love and meticulous care for the property — and homes that, well, don’t.

I’ve watched firsthand as buyers who like a cute home that is in generally good shape literally talk themselves into looking at a more homes once they start to notice one rickety gate, which snowballed into a nitpicky laundry list of little, tiny fixes the seller had left undone. The challenge is that between deciding whether and when to sell, staging, interviewing agents and determining a list price, it can be tempting for homeowners to fall into the trap of deferring maintenance on a home they might sell soon.

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Article by: JIM BUCHTA , Star Tribune

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac want lenders to act within 30 days of getting a short sale offer.

The short sale process could get a lot quicker starting this summer under new rules that will require lenders to respond to offers within a month.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation’s two largest mortgage backers, will implement the guidelines on June 15. The changes require mortgage servicers to make a decision within 30 days of receiving a short sale offer. They also must consider requests for pre-approved short sales within that same timeframe.

If the lender needs more than 30 days, it must give borrowers weekly status updates and a decision within 60 days of the initial application. This extension gives lenders more time to determine the value of the property or to get the approval of a mortgage insurer.

The moves are aimed at streamlining the short sale process, which often takes months to complete. Faster response times could help thousands of local homeowners. During March, there were 4,084 short sale listings in the Twin Cities area.

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5 Real Estate Rules of Thumb: Fact or Fiction?

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson

We humans have a natural craving to simplify the complex. This same instinct, which explains why legends, films and fairytales from every culture tend to boil down to heroes vs. villains, also explains why so many buyers and sellers desperately seek rules of thumb for making the often scary, rarely simple decisions they face.

Reality check: your real estate transaction is not a children’s story. Grown-up life is complicated, as are money matters and relationships. Since real estate involves all three (being a grown up, money and relationships), smart buyers and sellers should cast a suspicious eye at super simple real estate rules of thumb.

Let’s take a handful of the most persistent ones head on, and decipher which of them are fact, and which are fiction.

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February pending sales up 9.2% from year ago

By Inman News

The National Association of Realtors is predicting existing-home sales will jump 7 to 10 percent in 2012 to the highest level in five years, based on an "uneven but higher sales pattern" so far this year.

Pending home sales fell a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent from January to February, which was up 9.2 percent from the same time a year ago, NAR said today in releasing its latest Pending Home Sales Index.

Last week, NAR reported a similar trend for existing-home sales, which were down 0.9 percent from January to February, but up 8.8 percent from a year ago.

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By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The housing market is flashing signs of health ahead of the spring buying season.
Sales of previously occupied homes are at their highest level since May 2010. More first-time buyers are making purchases. And the supply of homes fell last month to its lowest point in nearly seven years, which could push home prices higher.
Sales have now risen nearly 13 percent over the past six months. While they are still well below the 6 million that economists equate with a healthy market, the gains have coincided with other changes in the market that suggest more sales are coming.
"The trend is clearly upward," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that re-sales increased 4.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million.
Single-family home sales rose 3.8 percent. And the number of first-time buyers, who are critical to a housing recovery, increased slightly to make up 33 percent of all sales. That’s still below 40 percent, which tends to signal a healthy market.
One concern is that the market is still saturated with homes at risk of foreclosure, which can lower home prices generally. Those increased to make up 35 percent of sales.
But the supply of homes on the market has plunged to 2.3 million, the lowest level since March 2005. At last month’s sales pace, it would take more than six months to clear those homes, consistent with a healthy housing market. Fewer homes on the market could help boost prices over time.
Most economists said the January report was encouraging, especially when viewed with other recent positive housing data.
Mortgage rates have never been lower. Homebuilders are slightly more hopeful because more people are saying they might be open to buying this year — and they responded in January to that interest by requesting more permits to construct single-family homes.

"The rise in existing home sales in recent months adds to the indication from housing starts, building permits, and homebuilder sentiment that the sector has improved modestly since the middle of 2011," said John Ryding, an economist at RDQ economics.
Much of the optimism has come because hiring has picked up. More jobs are critical to a housing rebound. In January, employers added 243,000 net jobs — the most in nine months — and the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, the lowest level in nearly three years.
Analysts caution that the damage from the housing bust is deep and the industry is years away from fully recovering. Since the bubble burst, sales have slumped under the weight of foreclosures, tighter credit and falling prices.
Many deals are also collapsing before they close. One-third of Realtors say that they’ve had at least one contract scuttled over the past four months. That’s up from 18 percent in September.
Realtors say deals are collapsing for several reasons: Banks have declined mortgage applications. Home inspectors have found problems. Appraisals have come in lower than the bid. Or a buyer suffered a financial setback before the closing.
Sales rose across the country in January. They rose on a seasonal basis by nearly 9 percent in the West, 3.5 percent in the South, 3.4 percent in the Northeast and 1 percent in the Midwest.

By Brian O’Connell

NEW YORK (MainStreet) – Growing signs of improvement in the housing market could draw more buyers in the coming months, and although the rules of the game haven’t changed much, the big question for anyone returning to the housing market – or getting into it for the first time – is what are the long-term lessons to be learned from the recent housing downturn?

In fact, all the key lessons are things buyers and borrowers should have known before the housing crash – the crash just underscored how important they were. Even if the market does improve this year, as many experts predict, it’s not likely to strengthen fast enough to offset the damage homeowners do when they make basic mistakes.

Lesson 1: Buy the cheapest home that will serve your needs for the next seven to 10 years. As we’ve seen, home prices can and do fall from time to time. That may be rare on a nationwide basis, but it happens quite often in individual markets. The more expensive your home is, the more you will lose if the market turns south.

Also, the recent downturn highlights a fact well known among experts but resisted by many homeowners: Homes are not always a very good investment. Even when there is not a downturn, in the average year home appreciation barely beats inflation, and mortgage interest, insurance, taxes, maintenance and other costs can turn a home into a money loser. It can be much more profitable to own a modest home and invest the savings in something more promising.

Lesson 2: Plan to stay put for a good, long while. Traditionally, experts assumed that the average homeowner could break even in four or five years. During that time a home could be expected to gain enough value to offset the various costs of buying and selling, making owning better than renting. But price gains could be small and intermittent during the next few years, pushing the breakeven period to seven, eight, even 10 years.

Lesson 3: Stick with a simple mortgage, like the standard 30-year fixed-rate loan. This is kind of a no-brainer right now, as lenders aren’t offering the exotic types of loans that got people into trouble in the mid-2000s – things like subprime, interest-only and pay-what-you-want loans. But as conditions improve, lenders could again offer unique products that could backfire.

Borrowers who can stomach some risk and don’t expect to keep their loans for decades might take a look at straightforward adjustable-rate loans, like five- and seven-year ARMs that don’t start rate adjustments until the initial period is over. But to make any ARM an acceptable risk, you must be certain you can afford the largest payment it could possibly require.

Lesson 4: Spruce up your credit rating. While this has always been a good practice, it is especially so now that lenders are so jittery. The borrower with a top-notch rating is likely to get a much lower mortgage rate than someone with a so-so rating.

Lesson 5: Don’t go overboard on home improvements. For many years, studies have shown that major improvements like new kitchens and bathrooms do not add as much value to a home as they cost. Improvements are lifestyle expenditures, not investments.

Rates will likely stay below 5% for at least the first half of the year, industry experts say.

By Amy Hoak of MarketWatch

Mortgage rates should remain low in 2012, especially in the first half of the year, according to the predictions of several industry watchers.

“We may spend the entire year below 5%,” said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com, referring to the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

Rates may even fall to new lows early this year, particularly if the European debt crisis hits a crescendo, McBride added.

Already, rates are sitting at record lows. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.91% for the week ending Jan. 5, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates. That ties the record for the lowest rates that have been in the history of the survey. In contrast, the highest average was 18.63% set in 1981, according to Freddie Mac.

In general, the financial troubles in Europe, combined with the Federal Reserve’s pledge to keep short-term rates on hold at least through 2013, will keep mortgage rates from rising significantly, McBride said.

Europe’s woes have caused a “flight to quality” among investors, sending their money in the direction of U.S. bonds, which has the effect of lowering mortgage rates. The Fed’s short-term rate policy also reduces long-term rates, since long-term rates “reflect expectations of where short-term rates will be in the future,” he said.

Lately, consumers have been conditioned to expect low rates. Last year, the 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgage had its lowest annual average on record at 4.66%, according to Bankrate.

According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year mortgage averaged 4.5% in 2011; the lowest weekly rates on record were posted toward the end of the year.

But whereas rates fell in the second half of 2011, they are expected to rise at least somewhat during the second half of 2012, said Frank Nothaft, chief economist of Freddie Mac.

“Operation Twist is scheduled to remain in effect until June,” Nothaft said. The intent of Operation Twist, or the Federal Reserve’s Maturity Extension Program, is to push — and keep — long-term interest rates low, which means rates should stay low for the first half of the year, he said. The Fed plan, announced in September, involves buying long-term securities and selling $400 billion in short-term debt.

But the Fed hasn’t made a commitment on whether it will extend the program beyond the June cutoff, Nothaft said.

Economic outlook
An improving economy could also cause rates to rise.

Rates on a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage are expected to average 4.2% in the first quarter of 2012, and should average 4.8% by the fourth quarter, according to Freddie Mac’s forecast.

Meanwhile, HSH Associates, a publisher of consumer loan information, predicts conforming, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages will remain between 3.85% and 4.85% throughout 2012.

“Things appear to be improving domestically. The economy, employment, the housing market are showing signs of warming,” said Keith Gumbinger, vice president at HSH.

While the troubles of 2011 will certainly carry over into the new year, at least some upward emphasis on mortgage rates is expected “as things start to look a little more rosy,” he said.

But those who aren’t as optimistic about the growth of the economy have different rate forecasts. For example, Fannie Mae’s chief economist, Doug Duncan, expects rates will stay relatively flat all year, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rising to 4.1% or 4.2% at the most by the fourth quarter.

The low-rate environment means that even people who have been improving their credit quality for the past five years may have a shot at scoring some of the lowest mortgage rates in history — and they may add sales to the housing market in the process, Duncan said.

Some mortgage market watchers also think that lenders may be more willing to work with borrowers with good but not great credit in the year ahead, as the housing market and economy show some signs of improvement and lenders look to grow their business.

“I don’t see credit becoming appreciably easier. But I think what you will see is more lenders willing to dip their toes into the waters of 700 and 720 credit-score consumers,” McBride said. “You may end up, as a consumer, seeing more lenders at the table for those that have good credit scores and not just those who have great credit scores.”

But despite continued favorable mortgage rates, don’t expect great strides in the housing market just yet. The economy is still weak and unemployment is still high — two strong headwinds pushing against housing demand, even though affordability is so high, Nothaft said.

“Consumer confidence is still relatively low. And what a low reading for consumer confidence means is that consumers are nervous about their economic well-being,” he said. “If you’re feeling ill at ease, you will be reluctant to buy something that costs $200,000 to $300,000 and commit to monthly payments for 30 years.”

February Buying Advice: See what homebuyers put on their ‘must-have’ lists — and which features they realized they didn’t need.

By Melinda Fulmer of MSN Real Estate

Just as most of us have a list of traits that are non-negotiable in a spouse, every house hunter has a list of things he or she wants in a house. Of course, these features and amenities won’t necessarily ensure a match that stands the test of time.

We asked our readers to tell us what they love most about their current home and what, in hindsight, was clearly just a passing fancy. In this month’s Buying Advice, we’ll look at the real-estate love letters they wrote and compare them with what buyers are shopping for today.

We’ll also check in with the latest home-sales data that hint at a bottoming market and answer a question that many first-time homebuyers have: "Where do I start?"

Finding the perfect house
It doesn’t take a mansion to satisfy most of our readers over the long haul. Indeed, for many of those responding to last month’s query, it was the small conveniences — a laundry area near the bedrooms or a spacious closet — that helped ensure long-term love.

However, the one thing that seemed to bring the most satisfaction was a bright open space, no matter the square footage:

"Of all the houses that I have built/purchased/leased, the one issue that stands paramount is openness — large windows and an open-concept interior home plan," said reader Alan Sadler via email. "There is nothing more depressing than walls, walls and more walls."

Jane Curkendall agreed, putting at the top of her list for her next home an "open floor plan" where the kitchen and family room are together, "lots and lots of light" and "lots and lots of windows." Maybe that’s because she wound up spending so much time in her current home’s sunroom addition. "This is where our office is, and where we hang out," she said in her email.

Large windows with a nice view can make up for a home’s shortcomings, readers said.

"Our home is flooded with warm light for most of the day," said reader Ralph Banks from New York, via email. "We also still enjoy the water views out of some of the windows of our home after living here for 27 years."

Carrie Douglas, a buyer, said she is looking for "pleasant outdoor vistas visible from the windows" in her next home, as long as it also includes an up-to-date kitchen and plenty of storage space.

Also high on our readers’ lists were comfort-adding features such as central air conditioning and heat.

"Of all the improvements we have made to our house throughout the nine years in it, this has been by FAR the best investment," said Carmen Munoz, a reader from the New York area. "Our home is always at comfortable temperatures and there is so much less maintenance involved with this system than with our old … gas boiler/window A/C."

Also high on our readers’ lists of must-haves were generous kitchen cabinet storage, large closets, good-sized bedrooms and a level backyard that’s easily accessible for entertaining.

One thing Munoz said was a mistake in retrospect was the mother-in-law suite she was determined to have when she bought her home. "It has created strife within our family because people think it is OK to come stay there for extended periods of time," she said. This rarely used space has raised her heating and cooling bill, she said.

Housing-market snapshot: Sales continue to rise; prices continue to dip. But is there light at the end of the tunnel?
Existing-home sales continued to rise in December, swelling 3.6% to 4.61 million, from a downwardly revised 4.39 million in December 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median existing-home price dipped 2.5% from the previous year to $164,500.

While that may not sound that encouraging, economists see a glimmer of hope in the numbers. December marked the third straight month of sales increases and a 5% uptick from November.

"The pattern of home sales in recent months demonstrates a market in recovery," said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist. "Record low mortgage interest rates, job growth and bargain home prices are giving more consumers the confidence they need to enter the market."

The total housing inventory at the end of December dropped 9.2% from November to 2.38 million homes for sale — a 6.2-month supply at the current pace — down from a 7.2-month supply in November.

Economists such as Mark Fleming from CoreLogic are now saying that 2012 should be the year the housing market starts to turn the corner as the prices for nondistressed homes begin to stabilize.

Housing sales could see a further boost this year, analysts say, as homeownership begins to look better than renting. A recent report from Capital Economics shows that the median monthly mortgage payment of about $700 is close to even with the median monthly rent, making the move to homeownership much more attractive — especially in the face of rising rental rates.

However, at least one market watcher says talk of a recovery is still premature. Lance Roberts, CEO of StreetTalk Advisors, said he doesn’t believe the market correction is over, given the high levels of debt that some consumers are still struggling with; the high number of owners who have negative equity in their homes and therefore have little ability to move; and the combination of unemployment and underemployment that is making it impossible for many to save for a down payment or qualify for a loan.

"The bottom line is that until we see a substantial REAL recovery in employment … there will be no recovery in housing," Roberts said in his X-Factor Report.

By: John Riha HouseLogic.com

Every square foot of your home is valuable. Here are seven storage solutions that take advantage of underutilized nooks and crannies. And just for fun, we did some back-of-the-napkin calculations based on the average price per square foot of a U.S. home ($81)—so we could attach a theoretical value to the bonus space.

Stairway to Storage Heaven

Tuck pull-out drawers under sturdy stairs. They’re ideal for stashing extra linens and seasonal items. Each drawer provides about two square feet of storage. If you really could calculate this on a value per square foot realized, that’s roughly $162 worth of extra space per drawer!

It Came from Below!

Basement crawl spaces or open areas under apartment floors can be lined with shelves and outfitted with folding stairs to hoard anything. A finished 10-square-foot crawl space uncovers about $8,100 of space value and can even lower your energy bills.

Sleep-Away Storage

Not enough room for a Carrie Bradshaw closet? No problem. This mattress lifts to reveal a hidden compartment great for stashing bulky blankets. It could save you about $200, the price of a linen cabinet, and it provides about 20 square feet or about $1,587 of extra storage space.

Locker Room

Gain more kitchen space without a costly remodeling job. Reclaimed high school gym lockers sport a new use as built-in pantry compartments. These add 18 cubic feet or $243 in square feet of extra space.

Hidden Litter

Some things are best left hidden, and kitty’s business is one of them. An inexpensive, storage cabinet doubles as a rest stop for this tabby, who enters and exists via a small framed opening. Store the litter box and all its accoutrements in one spot and gain about $205 worth of storage space.

Overhead Room

Give your storage space a lift—overhead areas, such as narrow hallways, make an ideal place for floating shelves and cabinets. You could gain up to 2.5 square feet, valued at $203 of space, in no time!

Seasonal Stash

Keep wrapping paper out of sight but not out of mind by suspending it from your closet ceiling on a simple cradle of wire. It’s easy to reach but won’t get torn or creased. In a closet that’s 6 feet wide by 2 feet deep, this trick makes 12 more square feet of storage worth about $972.

Here’s a look at price trends and how they differ between distressed and nondistressed homes.

By Nick Timiraos of The Wall Street Journal

Home prices are falling again, but some analysts see a silver lining because the prices of homes that aren’t selling out of foreclosure have been holding steady.

CoreLogic reported that home prices in October declined by 1.3% from September and by 3.9% from a year before. A separate index released in early December by LPS Applied Analytics showed that home prices in September had dropped by 1.2% from August

"Many housing statistics are basically moving sideways," said Mark Fleming, chief economist at CoreLogic.

Still, the CoreLogic index shows an important emerging trend in which home prices — excluding distressed sales — are stabilizing.

What’s the difference between distressed sales and nondistressed sales?
Unlike traditional owners, banks are often faster to cut prices in order to unload properties quickly — or what are called "distressed" sales. The upshot: The more homes being sold by lenders in any given month, the faster prices tend to fall.

This was clear throughout the initial years of the housing bust. Prices declined most sharply in 2008 as banks dumped foreclosed properties at fire-sale prices. Owner-occupants are less likely to list their homes for sale in winter, too, which means that each winter prices drop because distressed sales account for a growing share of sales.

Are prices of distressed homes falling at the same rate as nondistressed homes?
That’s been the case up until recently. While home prices overall were down 3.9% from one year ago, prices excluding distressed sales were down just 0.5%. In September, total prices were down 3.8% from one year ago, but nondistressed prices were down 2.1%.

This shows that while price declines are resuming, they are not yet falling from one year ago for nondistressed homes. In fact, during the first nine months of 2011, prices of nondistressed homes remained relatively stable, with year-over-year declines between 2% and 3%.

Analysts at Barclays Capital, in a report published in early December, called this "the most important trend in the housing industry right now."

Why would any stabilization of nondistressed prices matter?
If it’s true that prices of nondistressed homes are stabilizing, even as distressed homes continue to fall in price, it would mean that a distressed home is "increasingly being seen as a poor substitute for a nondistressed home," writes Stephen Kim, a Barclays housing analyst. He says it’s possible that the "bifurcation between distressed and nondistressed homes will only widen with the passage of time."

Won’t the overhang of foreclosures put pressure on nondistressed prices anyway?
That’s all too possible. More than 2 million loans are in some stage of foreclosure, and it may be too early to argue that those won’t in some way affect the sale prices of nondistressed homes. For one, homes that sell out of foreclosure at significantly lower prices could be used by appraisers as "comparable" sales, which may make banks less willing to lend at an agreed sale price for a nondistressed home.

In certain markets where many homes are selling out of foreclosure, it’s hard to simply set aside distressed homes. "You can’t deny the fact that if half of homes that sold in San Diego in a given year were distressed, that is the trend," said Kyle Lundstedt, managing director at LPS.

What could happen if this trend holds up, with distressed prices falling and nondistressed prices staying flat?
It could stabilize something else: homebuyer confidence. "There is nothing that strikes fear in a homeowner’s heart than to hear that his home value has declined," Kim writes. "But if it was home-price trends that got us into this funk, it stands to reason that a recovery in sentiment will be similarly ushered in once price declines have abated — which is precisely what the CoreLogic price data shows us."