Throughout the nine-county region, about 18 percent of all homes with a mortgage – or 205,819 homes – were underwater as of June 30, according to real estate service Zillow.com. That’s a big comeback from just 15 months earlier, when negative equity peaked both locally and nationally.

In late March 2012, almost a third of Bay Area homeowners with mortgages – 31.2 percent, or 355,879 homes – had loans larger than their house’s value.

About one-third of homes are owned outright with no mortgage; they are excluded from the percentage rates.

“The Bay Area is getting out of negative equity at a much faster pace than anywhere else in the country,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow. “It was a huge percentage point decrease there. Nationally the decrease is much smaller.”

Nationwide, the negative equity rate is 23.8 percent of mortgaged homes, Zillow said.

Home prices surge

Most of the gains are because of a surge in home prices as local real estate markets have grown heated. A smaller share stems from underwater homes changing hands, either as foreclosures or short sales, thus wiping out their negative equity.

The report comes as Richmond – among the areas most underwater – considers taking the radical step of invoking eminent domain to forcibly seize underwater mortgages and slash their principal to restore some equity to the homeowners. Richmond says the goal is to prevent foreclosures and stabilize neighborhoods.

Being underwater has huge implications for a homeowner, particularly when combined with a financial shock – death, divorce, job loss or mortgage payments resetting higher, for instance.

People who have equity in their homes, the largest asset for most Americans, generally have more consumer confidence.

“Homeowners feeling like they are richer in home values does translates to them feeling a bit ‘spendier’ on the consumer side of their expenditures, which will strengthen broader economic recovery,” Humphries said.

Not surprisingly, negative equity is most prevalent in areas that were ravished by foreclosures. The Solano County communities of Vallejo, Fairfield and Suisan City have underwater rates above 47 percent of mortgaged homes.

The Contra Costa towns of Pittsburg, Richmond, Antioch, Hercules and Oakley have rates well above 40 percent. Some Oakland ZIP codes also have high rates.

Even more relevant, in those areas it’s not just that many homes are underwater, it’s that they are deeply underwater, with significant percentages owing more than twice their home’s value. That means homeowners in those areas are unlikely to reach positive equity for many years.

By contrast, in the affluent areas of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties, not only are far fewer homeowners underwater, most are underwater by smaller percentages. That means they have hope that the rising market will lift them into positive equity within a short time frame.

Underwater homes are among the reasons the real estate market has faced a limited supply of inventory.

“You’re still not seeing folks who bought in 2006 selling now because they’re not above water yet,” said Kevin Kieffer of Keller Williams Realty in Danville.

Fewer short sales

As equity continues to rise, more homes should hit the market.

“Our expectation is that a lot of people recently freed from negative equity will start to sell their homes, which will ease inventory constraints,” Humphries said.

The decrease in underwater homes is also borne out in far fewer short sales – homes sold for less than is owed on the mortgage.

“Short sales have dwindled down to hardly anything now,” Kieffer said. “There are only four active (short sale listings) in central (Alameda) county.

“The banks are not pushing hard for short sales the way they once were. I think they’re waiting to ride out this market for the upside. They don’t want to have to go through the expense of a short sale.”

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Bay-Area-leads-in-underwater-mortgage-rebounds-4772598.php

Throughout the nine-county region, about 18 percent of all homes with a mortgage – or 205,819 homes – were underwater as of June 30, according to real estate service Zillow.com. That’s a big comeback from just 15 months earlier, when negative equity peaked both locally and nationally.

In late March 2012, almost a third of Bay Area homeowners with mortgages – 31.2 percent, or 355,879 homes – had loans larger than their house’s value.

About one-third of homes are owned outright with no mortgage; they are excluded from the percentage rates.

“The Bay Area is getting out of negative equity at a much faster pace than anywhere else in the country,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow. “It was a huge percentage point decrease there. Nationally the decrease is much smaller.”

Nationwide, the negative equity rate is 23.8 percent of mortgaged homes, Zillow said.

Home prices surge

Most of the gains are because of a surge in home prices as local real estate markets have grown heated. A smaller share stems from underwater homes changing hands, either as foreclosures or short sales, thus wiping out their negative equity.

The report comes as Richmond – among the areas most underwater – considers taking the radical step of invoking eminent domain to forcibly seize underwater mortgages and slash their principal to restore some equity to the homeowners. Richmond says the goal is to prevent foreclosures and stabilize neighborhoods.

Being underwater has huge implications for a homeowner, particularly when combined with a financial shock – death, divorce, job loss or mortgage payments resetting higher, for instance.

People who have equity in their homes, the largest asset for most Americans, generally have more consumer confidence.

“Homeowners feeling like they are richer in home values does translates to them feeling a bit ‘spendier’ on the consumer side of their expenditures, which will strengthen broader economic recovery,” Humphries said.

Not surprisingly, negative equity is most prevalent in areas that were ravished by foreclosures. The Solano County communities of Vallejo, Fairfield and Suisan City have underwater rates above 47 percent of mortgaged homes.

The Contra Costa towns of Pittsburg, Richmond, Antioch, Hercules and Oakley have rates well above 40 percent. Some Oakland ZIP codes also have high rates.

Even more relevant, in those areas it’s not just that many homes are underwater, it’s that they are deeply underwater, with significant percentages owing more than twice their home’s value. That means homeowners in those areas are unlikely to reach positive equity for many years.

By contrast, in the affluent areas of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties, not only are far fewer homeowners underwater, most are underwater by smaller percentages. That means they have hope that the rising market will lift them into positive equity within a short time frame.

Underwater homes are among the reasons the real estate market has faced a limited supply of inventory.

“You’re still not seeing folks who bought in 2006 selling now because they’re not above water yet,” said Kevin Kieffer of Keller Williams Realty in Danville.

Fewer short sales

As equity continues to rise, more homes should hit the market.

“Our expectation is that a lot of people recently freed from negative equity will start to sell their homes, which will ease inventory constraints,” Humphries said.

The decrease in underwater homes is also borne out in far fewer short sales – homes sold for less than is owed on the mortgage.

“Short sales have dwindled down to hardly anything now,” Kieffer said. “There are only four active (short sale listings) in central (Alameda) county.

“The banks are not pushing hard for short sales the way they once were. I think they’re waiting to ride out this market for the upside. They don’t want to have to go through the expense of a short sale.”

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Bay-Area-leads-in-underwater-mortgage-rebounds-4772598.php

Even though home building is on the rise, home builder stocks have gotten creamed over the last 3 months, including PulteGroup, KB Home and DR Horton.

(Read more: He’s not buying a house—why is Obama on Zillow?)

—By CNBC’s Diana Olick. Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick.

Questions?Comments? facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100964905

She also added that the president was part of a LinkedIn town hall meeting with CEO Jeff Weiner and a Facebook chat with CEO Mark Zuckerburg, although those were not specifically about social media companies but about the broader economy.

(Read more: Higher mortgage rates, easier credit?)

Zillow employees have contributed to the campaigns of several Democrats, including Obama, although the company does not have a PAC, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Rascoff, in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawkbox,” said the interview makes “perfect sense” and is part of Zillow’s mission to empower its users, which now number 60 million.

“It’s an unprecedented opportunity to connect our audience at Zillow directly with the president,” he said. “We are a fantastic platform to connect directly with consumers.”

—By CNBC’s Diana Olick. Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick.

Questions?Comments? facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC

Editor’s note: Posts from Zillowblog.com are sometimes republished on NBCNews.com.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100946724

Buying a home is a nasty, arduous and blessed task. It’s further complicated by the glaringly obvious fact that nobody makes any money until you buy. The feeling that you are so much meat waiting to be ground into sausage rarely goes away.

I should know. I am in the process of moving from the lovely state of Wisconsin to sunny California—specifically, the San Francisco Bay Area. There are, shall we say, some bracing differences in the two real estate markets, and not just in terms of price. (Did you say the actual ground beneath your feet sometimes … moves?)

Big Market For Real Estate Apps

Luckily for me and everyone else in the market, there are many useful real estate apps available across all major smartphone platforms. In fact, there are so many good real estate apps that it can be hard to choose the best one.

This shouldn’t be too surprising. The housing market in the U.S. is valued at about $10 trillion. Numerous companies are eagerly hoping to carve out a slice of this sizable American pie—and garner your loyalty—by helping you choose among the 70 million homes located throughout the country.

Zillow, for example, recently began airing this television commercial.

Having viewed nearly as many apps as properties in my ongoing search for a home, I can recommend these three: Trulia, Zillow and Redfin.

They each provide you with an abundance of listings and include the most important details of nearly every home displayed. Each app can text new listing alerts directly to your phone. You can also search for properties using the smartphone’s GPS, or input an address or city into the app’s search bar.

All three are available on iPhone, iPad and Android, and are all free. All three also have companion websites, with additional layers of information available, such as school rankings and property taxes. 

1. Trulia

Trulia is my favorite of the bunch, with a simple, intuitive design and ample listings of properties for sale and rent—along with links to open houses and agents. You can search by city or address, although I found it most useful to let the GPS service provide a map of all nearby homes for sale (within my specified criteria). As you drive through an area, the map can adjust, updating the homes quickly as your position changes.

With Trulia, it’s also very easy to set-up notifications and to save your searches. These may be linked to their website, so you can review your favorites on your laptop later. 

Trulia’s app often displays a small ad-sized listing of an agent across their map. At the beginning, this is helpful. After you’ve selected an agent, it becomes annoying. I would have been happy to pay about $2 for the app, say, to ditch these ads.

Trulia makes it a snap to get turn-by-turn directions to any property listed, and to quickly text your spouse of your latest find. You can also sort listings by price, features (e.g. number of bedrooms), and by “newest” listing – which can be very useful to know.

Use Trulia and you’ll wonder how people searched for homes before smartphones existed. 

2. Zillow

Because of the ease of use of the Trulia app, I have placed it above Zillow. The breadth of information that Zillow offers on each listing, however, makes it a must-have for your home search.

Zillow includes a photo tour of the property, a sales history and an estimate of its current value.

Spoiler alert: for the Bay Area, at least, the price estimate is wildly under-valued. This fact somewhat diminishes the Schaedenfreude of discovering that seemingly every buyer in the past ten years has lost a small fortune. 

Zillow includes a handy “draw” feature which lets you swipe an area on the map that then displays the listings within that area. The app also claims to include “pre-market” properties—those which may be coming on to the market soon. This might be a great feature, though I never saw any such properties in the Bay Area. And I would have jumped at them.

If you love good house porn, Zillow is the app for you.

3. Redfin

Redfin is also very good. The app provides a simple, yet robust search interface. You can search by GPS, type in a city or street—or even an MLS number—and narrow these down across several search criteria. These can include price, square footage, year built, number of baths and much more. 

For me, Redfin’s best feature was letting me know if a house was already “pending”—meaning, an offer had been made. This saved me a great deal of time. 

Redfin also lets you check out homes that have recently sold and for how much. This turned out to be extremely helpful information and has aided my subsequent searches.

Note: Redfin appeared to have as many or more listings than either Trulia or Zillow, at least within the Bay Area. In my personal app tests, looking for sales data in other states yielded fewer results.

Location, Location, App

I sometimes tell people that there are so many apps that they need to download three great ones, no more, and focus. But that’s not quite true.

While I do highly recommend all of the apps above, there remains that nagging uncertainty that some awesome property is out there, ready to slip away if I don’t reach for an alternative. So here are several backups for the paranoid house-hunters out there (i.e., all of you):

1. Foreclosures Real Estate

In the Bay Area, at least, a shocking majority of houses for sale are, in fact, houses in foreclosure. It may be the same where you are searching.

This app lists foreclosures, short sales, HUD homes and auction properties. 

2. For Sale By Owner

This app claims to be the “only” one to provide properties that are exclusively for sale by owner. It contains over 30,000 listings. As most listings in other apps are taken from the MLS, this app clearly serves a purpose.

3. Realtor.com

A very well-designed app from the National Association of Realtors. Not surprisingly, it appears to contain as many listings as any of my top three. This app also provides better in-app data on schools.

That said, I found my top three easier to navigate, and their information better optimized for my iPhone’s screen. 

4. HomeSnap

This is a popular app that includes all the available MLS listings. Its claim to fame is that the app lets you take a picture of a house and—based on the GPS data embedded in the photo—get back the sales information on that property.

I have yet to use this feature.

5. Google Glass

If you’re one of the very few people possessing Google Glass, I am not, there are already real estate apps available for you. According to the New York Times, both Trulia and Zillow offer Google Glass apps.

6. Agents and Brokers

I found no compelling reason to choose a particular realtor’s app over any of those listed above.

Article source: http://readwrite.com/2013/07/02/real-estate-apps-from-android-to-zillow

Concerns about rising mortgage rates, which spiked in to the mid-4 percent range in just the past week, have dampened expectations for home price gains this summer. Analysts also worry that prices are rising too fast, far faster than income growth, and will soon price too many potential buyers out of the housing market.

“Today’s Case-Shiller numbers may reflect where the housing market has been in some of the frothier metros, but they are not indicative of where it’s headed,” said Zillow’s chief economist, Stan Humphries. “The housing market worm has turned over the past few weeks—inventory levels are beginning to show signs of easing, and mortgage interest rates are creeping up. Going forward, both of these factors will help mitigate extreme price spikes caused by very strong housing demand and very low housing supply.”

This latest report only tracks prices on a three-month moving average through the end of April, well before mortgage rates began their climb. Still, Blitzer contends that rising rates will not slow price gains.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100839986

Fewer Bay Area homeowners listed homes for sale in June than last the same month last year. 

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Housing inventory was down by more than 30 percent during the past year in the Bay Area, according to real estate website Zillow.

When comparing June of 2013 to June of 2012 in its database of listings, Zillow found there were fewer homes on the market in the San Francisco metro area, but nationwide, the number rose by 5.3 percent.

Zillow listed 4,528 total homes for sale in June of this year, down from 6,496 last year, in the San Francisco metropolitan area including San Francisco, Alameda, Marin, Contra Costa, and San Mateo counties.

In our market, having fewer homes for sale has pumped up prices and sparked bidding wars.

“Inventory will likely remain below year-ago levels for a while yet, as builders ramp up capacity and sellers wait to squeeze every drop of equity from their home before listing,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist.

Experts expect that with prices climbing up, more homeowners will list their properties for sale and prices will stabilize.

“Going forward, as this new supply makes its way to market, we expect the pace of home value appreciation to slow down from unsustainably high annual levels of 5 percent or above to more moderate levels closer to historic norms of 3 percent or 4 percent,” Humphries said.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/06/bay-area-housing-inventory-drops-by-30.html

(Read More: Short Supply Has Home Sales ‘Squeaking’ Out Gains)

While Humphries does not make the connection to rising bank repossessions in the report, his numbers do. They show inventory easing much more on the low end of the market, where distressed homes tend to be.

“The greatest year-over-year decreases in inventory were among more expensive homes, with the availability of top-tier and middle-tier properties each falling 15.7 percent year over year. The number of bottom-tier properties for sale on Zillow nationwide fell only 2.5 percent in early June compared to June 2012.”

As more bank-owned homes hit the market, inventories are likely to turn positive again in the near future.

—By CNBC’s Diana Olick. Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick or on Facebook at facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC.

Questions? Comments? RealtyCheck@cnbc.com

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100812845

The thriving tech industry in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley has improved the real estate market, spurring home sales and, consequently, home moves. San Francisco moving company McGuire Movers provides new tips to help buyers and sellers prepare for their moves.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) May 11, 2013

Thanks to the tech industry boom in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, the real estate market is experiencing a surge, spurring increased home sales in the area. This uptick in home sales will, in turn, drive more moves, a trend that moving companies, such as McGuire Movers, has already noted in recent months.

More home purchases mean more moving and storage activity for both home buyers and sellers. To help guide a seamless move, the experts at McGuire Movers explain the proper timeline for moving and provide the following tips.

The moving specialists at McGuire Movers recommend that as soon as home sellers put their property on the market, they should begin purchasing packing supplies. These packing supplies should include different-sized boxes, tape, labels, and padding. To help home movers determine how many boxes they should purchase, McGuire Movers has provided a free moving tool powered by online real estate database Zillow on their website. This tool gives an estimate of how many boxes people will need based on factors such as number of rooms and size of the house.

Next, every room in the house should be de-cluttered and cleaned. Decide what to keep, pack those items, and properly label the boxes. Mark any boxes with fragile items to reduce the chance of damage. Any unwanted items should be thrown away, donated to a charity, or sold in a garage sale.

If a moving company, such as McGuire Movers, is contracted, items in dressers, desks, and closets need not be removed. Leave the clothes you want to keep hanging in the closets so the movers can easily transfer them from the hangers directly into wardrobe boxes. For furniture such as dressers and desks, movers will wrap them with furniture blankets and move them with the contents inside. In this way, people can save time in packing and unpacking boxes and in the cost of buying unnecessary packing supplies.

With the tech industry in the San Francisco Bay Area fueling a rise in home sales and moves, tips like these can help buyers and sellers easily transition and settle into their new homes. To get more moving tips, contact the experts at McGuire Movers at (415)307-2002. McGuire Movers is an established moving company that can move both locally in the Bay Area and longer distances. Their movers are known for their friendly, fast service and take pride in understanding their customers’ moving needs.

About McGuire Movers

With a reputation as one of the most efficient San Francisco Bay Area moving companies, McGuire Movers offers complete and customized residential and office moving services, including packing, unpacking, moving boxes and supplies, and more.

They have the right experience and the proper equipment to make sure your move goes as smoothly and as easily as possible. They are full service residential movers, furniture movers and office movers dedicated to providing complete customer satisfaction, experience, professional expertise and great service for residential or office relocations, whether you are moving within the San Francisco Bay Area or beyond. For more information about McGuire Movers, visit http://www.mcguiremovers.com/ or call (415)307-2002.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebmoving-company/san-francisco/prweb10719741.htm

Article source: http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2013/05/11/mcguire-movers-shares-new-moving-advice-tech-industry-lifts-real-estate-market

(Read More: Housing’s Big Challenge: Student Debt)

Back in the mid-eighties and nineties, Americans spent nearly 20 percent of their median monthly incomes on their home loans—compared to just 12.5 percent today, according to Zillow.

The trouble is that wages have either stagnated or dropped at the same time that home values are rising. Pre-bubble, U.S. homebuyers spent 2.6 times their median annual incomes on the purchase price of a typical home, but now they are spending three times their incomes—meaning homes are 14.5 percent more expensive relative to income, according to Zillow. That is all made possible by government-subsidized, record low rates.

(Read More: Betting on the Home Builders as Housing Battles Back)

“The days of historically high levels of housing affordability are numbered,” said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries. “Current affordability is almost entirely dependent on low interest rates, and there’s no doubt that rates will begin to rise in the next few years.”

Rates will rise because the Federal Reserve will inevitably have to get out of the business of buying agency mortgage-backed securities, which currently drives down rates. This won’t happen immediately, but it will in the next two to three years.

Article source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100631625