In conjunction with the Fed’s announcement today to pump $800 billion more into our financial markets, interest rates dropped almost a full percentage point before pulling back. Finally, some good news for home buyers thinking about getting into the market!

The California Association of Realtors (CAR) recently published parameters for loan modificatons offered by various institutions. Every program is different, and obviously every homeowner situation is different. But lenders are now beginning to reach out aggressively to contact homeowners with troubled or potentially troubled loans. They are:

• J.P. Morgan Chase/WaMu/EMC
• CitiMortgage
• Countrywide
• FannieMae/FreddieMac/FHA/Wells Fargo
• H4H (Hope for Homeowners)
• Indymac (FDIC)

The FDIC today unveiled a plan (see the plan here) to help about 2.2 million troubled loans from entering foreclosure. Acknowledgeing the massive scale of the mortgage crisis, and the “extremely slow” pace of current soluntions, FDIC chair Sheila Bair is floating this massive plan as a solution, but it would appear the plan isn’t meeting with support from within the current Bush administration. However, the Democrats appear more willing to consider proposals such as this plan the FDIC is putting forth. Stay tuned…!

The following was copied from a California Association of Realtors email this morning:

FHFA ANNOUNCES “NEW” CONFORMING LOAN LIMITS
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Friday announced that the “new” conforming loan limit for 2009 will remain at $417,000 for most areas in the U.S., unchanged since 2006. Loan limits for high-cost areas, including California, are capped at $625,500, down from the previous $729,750 limit. Loan limits for many areas of the state do not reach this lower threshold and are dramatically reduced from 2008. Read the rest of this article »

Fannie and Freddie’s announced their loan mod program yesterday. To be eligible, a homeowner must:

• have missed three or more payments;
• own and occupy the property as a primary residence;
• have not filed for bankruptcy;
• and be able to have their mortgage modified so their entire mortgage payment, including association dues, if applicable, is no more than 38 percent of their gross income.

The program is due to kick in December 15th.

The sold statistics are in for October and the number of homes sold in October is similar for each of the three cities to the numbers for September. Also, the asking price is very close to the selling price for each size home for Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo.

Citigroup joined JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, FDIC (IndyMac) and Wells Fargo (after it completes its purchase of Wachovia), in unilaterally attempting to do loan mods for about 500,000 homeowners who are holding about $20 billion in mortgages. Read the rest of this article »

The stats are in for single family homes and condos that have gone into escrow for October. In past months we’ve repeatedly said that Oxnard is white hot and the October pendings continue to show very strong sales activity.

September and October have seen a huge drop in foreclosure filings. The first step in the process is the filing of a Notice of Default (NOD) and these past 2 months have seen a 2/3 or more drop in filings. The first column is for the NOD, the second is for the Notice of Trustee Sale (when the auction is scheduled), and the last column is after it’s gone to sale (bank REO). There’s a huge political drive at the State and Federal level to stop foreclosures, and these numbers bear it out.

These numbers come from ForeclosureListService.com

Governor Schwarzenegger proposed yesterday a 90 day freeze for homeowners who have had a Notice of Default filed on their mortgage. Read the rest of this article »