Photo pinned by Te Castle.

Banks are also loosening loan-to-value ratios (LTV), which Capital Economics denotes “the clearest sign yet of an improvement in mortgage credit conditions.”  In contrast to a low of 74 percent reached in mid-2010, banks are now lending at 82 percent LTV.

This is good news and action that we hope sticks around for a while. Meanwhile home prices continue to drop according to the latest statistics from Case-Shiller.

Analysts were expecting a year-over-year drop in the range of 3.2 to 3.4 percent, holding constant with the annual declines reported for October of -3.2 percent for the 10-city composite and -3.4 percent for the 20-city measurement.

Eighteen cities’ annual returns were in negative territory in November. Detroit and Washington, D.C. were the only exceptions. At -11.8 percent, Atlanta continued to post the lowest annual results.

Realtors from around the country are reporting there is life in the housing market. That’s some good news!

All of the cities that made our list share one common factor: a relatively strong job market. “For real estate to do well you want to see two things: that incomes are growing rapidly like they are in a market like San Jose … and that the growth in jobs attracts other people to that market,” says Ingo Winzer, founder and president of Local Market Monitor. However, job growth should be looked at as a bullish housing indicator only if the unemployment rate is already relatively low — that suggests local companies are creating new jobs rather than rehiring for positions they cut during the recession.

If you live in Boston, Pittsburgh, Rochester, NY, Austin, Raleigh, or New Orleans, the news may be good for sellers in 2012.

Photo by monkeyatlarge.

This is why as I read the article about the new task force investigating mortgage fraud, I feel a little sense of relief.

After a year of talks aimed at a settlement with five big banks — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank and Ally Financial (formerly GMAC) — attorneys general in all 50 states this week have been are poring over the 100-page draft of a the $25 billion deal requiring bankers to commit to modify problem loans that they have been slow to do until now. Under the proposed terms, the banks would also agree to follow strict foreclosure guidelines and procedures and contribute as much as $5 billion to foreclosure relief programs.

I don’t believe for a minute that it will help my husband and me – Mr. & Mrs. Joe Average – but it does give me a sense of satisfaction that perhaps SOMEONE will be helped.

If these miscreants refuse to correct these conditions in a decent and acceptable manner, you can report them to the animal control department, the health department, and the district attorney’s office. In all likelihood, these complaints should motivate some form of positive response, and that will aid you in the marketing of your home. More importantly, it should help to eliminate a disgraceful condition for which there is no reasonable excuse.

Read the Inman News article for a creative solution another neighbor took!

On Friday, I was able to get all the players engaged so we can close on Tuesday. On Friday, Chase called again and left another message stating that if we didn’t close by the close of business on Tuesday they were selling the property on the courthouse steps first thing Wednesday morning. By this time, they have so frustrated all the players that attorneys in two different parts of the state, sellers and buyers in two different counties and me in another part of the state all agreed to cross the finish line at the last minute.

Congratulations on successfully closing a difficult short-sale!  Better luck with the next one.

However, some parents are paying mortgages for their kids.  Loan Shak presents you an info gallery by CNN Money,

“Most important, we provided the bulk of his down payment as a gift,” said Curtis, who works as a water quality inspector. “Because of our help, he qualified for the best interest rate, and his principal was substantially lower, both of which in turn made his monthly payments affordable.”

Mitch has a good job for a 27-year-old; he’s an engineer at FLIR Systems, a maker of night vision and infrared equipment. Still, he simply hasn’t had enough time to build up his savings. Without the $25,000 his parents came up with, he probably couldn’t have afforded the modest three-bedroom house he bought in suburban Portland.

Wow.  A $25,000 gift. Kudos to the parents who CAN do that!

“Hope You Will Love This Home as Much as We Did”
No, this was not the parting sentiment from seller to buyer at a happy closing. It was wistfully painted above the front door, surrounded by an artistic vine of leaves and flowers, of a bank-owned property I showed to some first-time buyers. We didn’t notice it until we were leaving, where it stopped us dead in our tracks. No one spoke for a long time as we resumed our places in the car for the ride to the next potential home.

It is so true that we all sometimes lead lives of quiet desperation.

First, after more than half a decade of handling our payments nearly perfectly — no delays in check-cashing to force late fees, as I had suffered under other institutions — on our penultimate payment, they somehow ignored the amount for which I had made out the check and cashed it for the monthly payment only, without the additional thousand of additional principal. A mistake? The probability of driving up our final payment by a couple of bucks a day made the coincidence of this “error” seem overly convenient to me. So I called the company (with three motives in mind — to complain about their deliberate error and get it corrected; to verify the final payment procedure and, after the “error” correction to determine the appropriate timing of our payoff; and to investigate our acquisition of the funds in our [currently rather hefty] escrow account).

That he spent forever getting through the voicemail barricades is another good reason to get mad! Ouch! Congratulations nevertheless, Mr. Burrow!

We just had a Short Sale buyer withdraw from a possible sale on this property and I now want to relaunch the listing in the MLS. But I’m locked out ! I immediately informed the sellers that I’m locked out and so are they ! They have authorized me to regain entry for me and for all future MLS activity. My next step is to enlist a locksmith to yet again change the locks so I can regain entry.

Of course the lender is just protecting its asset, as one commenter stated.  In the end, the agent was able to regain access because the property management gave him the code.  But this is another caution for people behind on their mortgage. Keep an open line of communication with your lender to possibly avoid this type of problem.