RE: Timely Update!
Taking TARP funds a mistake
Ken Lewis, the CEO of Bank of America, says it was a mistake to take so much TARP money from the government and he wants to pay it back as fast as possible. Unfortunately, that will take a while. "It's going to be several quarters before we have the opportunity. If you had a window, you could pay some of it back, but not all of it back; we'd like to do that, at least." Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase have all received federal loans through the Troubled Asset Relief Program but the funding came with government involvement (and a few good tar and featherings) that the banking community has later regretted. That has made repaying the government funds a priority for many in the banking sector.
Signature Bank of New York announced that it would return the $120 million it received from the government just three months ago.
Renters can now buy
The U.S. housing market is in the worst downturn since the Great Depression, putting affordability, at least by some measures, at a record high right now. In a survey of 76 metropolitan area markets across the United States, a whopping 50 percent show that a person can buy a house for less than renting when considering the after-tax cost of homeownership. The National Association of Realtors' housing affordability index surged 13.6 percentage points in January to 166.8, the highest since tracking began in 1970.
Foreclosures spike again in February
It was starting to look like the problem was easing before January, when foreclosure starts declined to 69,000 in November from 77,000 in October and then dropped again to 56,000 in December. But in January the number of started foreclosures jumped to 217,000, and now February's numbers have leaped up again to 243,000. 87,000 homes were repossessed (foreclosures completed) by banks during February, a 28% jump from the 68,000 foreclosures completed in January. Since the mortgage meltdown hit in July 2007, 1,395,044 homes have been lost. In February, nearly 250,000 homeowners received either mortgage modifications or repayment plans from their lenders, according to Hope Now, the coalition of lenders, investors, and community advocacy groups put together by the Obama administration's foreclosure prevention initiative.
Fannie and Freddie release the inventory
This is HUGE. Fannie and Freddie are about to finally let loose of their REO properties… Did you know that 50% of REO in the USA is owned by Fannie and Freddie?
Long and short… it’s a good time to buy.
Hope this was insightful – Keeping you informed!
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