Missy's Real Estate News

Negative Equity Mortgage Report

According to First American CoreLogic’s most recent negative equity report more than 11.3 million--24 percent--of all residential properties with mortgages, were in negative equity at the end of the fourth quarter of 2009, up from 10.7 million and 23 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2009. An additional 2.3 million mortgages were approaching negative equity at the end of last year, meaning they had less than five percent equity. Together, negative equity and near-negative equity mortgages accounted for nearly 29 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide.

Negative equity continues to be concentrated in five states: Nevada, the highest at 70 percent of all of its mortgaged properties underwater, followed by Arizona (51 percent), Florida (48 percent), Michigan (39 percent) and California (35 percent). Among the top five states, the average negative equity share was 42 percent, compared to 15 percent for the remaining 45 states. In numerical terms, California (2.4 million) and Florida (2.2 million) had the largest number of negative equity mortgages accounting for 4.6 million, or 41 percent, of all negative equity loans.
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The net increase in the number of negative equity borrowers in Q4 2009 was 620,000, with the largest
percentage increases occurring in Nevada, Georgia and Arizona. Among the states with the highest negative equity shares, California had the smallest increase in the negative equity share, which only rose 0.4 percent to 35.1 percent. In numerical terms, Florida had the largest increase in the number of negative equity borrowers rising by more than 141,000, followed by Georgia (65,000) and Illinois (55,000).

The rise in negative equity is closely tied to increases in pre-foreclosure activity and is a major factor in changing homeowners’ default behavior. Once negative equity exceeds 25 percent, or the mortgage balance is $70,000 higher than the current property values, owners begin to default with the same propensity as investors.

The aggregate dollar value of negative equity was $801 billion, up $55 billion from $746 billion in Q3 2009. The average negative equity for an underwater borrower in Q4 was -$70,700, up from -$69,700 in Q3 2009. The segment of borrowers that are 25 percent or more in negative equity account for over $660 billion in aggregate negative equity.

Of the over 47 million homeowners with a mortgage, the average loan to value ratio (LTV) is 70 percent. More than 23 million, or 49 percent of all homeowners with a mortgage, have at least 25 percent equity in their home and over 12 million have at least 50 percent equity in their home.

"Copyright National Association of REALTORS®, Reprinted with permission."

Sioux Falls Plumbing Retrofit Rebate Programs

March 5, 11:04 AMSioux Falls Home Improvement ExaminerPenny Nickols

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Residential and non-residential customers of Sioux Falls Utilities can take advantage of the following Plumbing Retrofit Rebate Programs.

NOTE: New construction does not qualify for these rebate programs because the purpose is to conserve water by replacing old and inefficient devices.

Clothes Washer Rebate
After completing a residential application or a non-residential application, providing a sales receipt, and completing an inspection, receive up to $125 for purchasing and installing a qualifying clothes washer to replace an older model.


Toilet Rebate
After completing a residential application or a non-residential application providing a sales receipt, and completing an inspection, receive up to $75 (residential) or $50 (non-residential) for purchasing and installing a new toilet to replace a model manufactured before 1992 (look inside the tank for the date stamp). Residential rebates for replacing additional toilets are $60 for the second one and $50 for others.

Irrigation Rebates
Rain Sensors:
After completing a residential application or a non-residential application, providing a sales receipt, and completing an inspection, receive up to $50 for purchasing and installing a rain sensor to an existing irrigation system. Rebates for additional rain sensors are $35.

System Timers:
After completing a residential application or a non-residential application, providing a sales receipt, and completing an inspection, receive up to $80 for purchasing and installing a qualifying timer with additional functionality to an existing irrigation system. Rebates for additional timers are $65.

For more information, contact the Sioux Falls Public Works Administration from 8:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Address: 224 West Ninth Street (first floor of City Hall), Sioux Falls, SD 57117-7402
Phone: 605-367-8600

A special day of shopping, art and entertainment downtown! Enjoy a full day and evening of culture and activity. Visit a variety of retailers, artist venues and fabulous restaurants, plus music and drinks at all your favorite hot spots!  The weather should be accommodating so come out and enjoy the day in lovely downtown Sioux Falls.  It is a great time to explore and find out what’s new.

In March we are teaming up area artists with your favorite retail and entertainment locations for a culturally rich and interactive downtown experience. And don’t forget, you can RIDE THE TROLLEY for FREE between 5-9pm!

Check out info@dtsf.com for details  on they day full of events and participants as they develop.

Soccer...Finally Coming to a South Dakota School Near You!

It is about time that South Dakota schools are finally giving soccer it's due. South Dakota high schools received the go-ahead Wednesday to add soccer as a sanctioned sport for boys and girls starting in fall 2012.  The High School Activities Association board voted 8-0 to accept a report on how to implement the sport, and 5-3 on adding it beginning in the 2012-13 school year.

South Dakota is the very last state to add soccer to the schools!  While I understand the cost factor of adding another sport will impact the schools, it is the most popular sport in the world.  Look at the city of Sioux Falls and how much money it makes from the sport of soccer.  While I don't (unfortunately) have any numbers to validate my point, I would wager that the amount of money this city makes off soccer tournaments is significant.  Soccer fields are filling up the city and I am delighted for soccer to gets in rightful place in the South Dakota school systems.

• According to the Mortgage Bankers Association National Delinquency Survey, the foreclosure inventory rate for all loans at the end of the fourth quarter of 2009 was 4.58 percent.
• The change between the 3rd and the 4th quarter varied among states with some states showing decreases in the foreclosure inventory.
• The largest increases were in Montana and Louisiana, 13.6 and 10.0 percent respectively.
• The largest decreases in the foreclosure inventory were in Washington, California, and Virginia.
• On average across the nation, foreclosure inventories increased by about 4 percent. Total national inventory increased by 2.5 percent.

How Many Cars Do You Own?

I  found this to be an interesting tidbit of information.  It's always interesting to see the connections drawn as problems arise.

According to Realtor.org, "A study entitled “Location Efficiency and Mortgage Default”, the authors analyzed performance data on 40,000 mortgages in Chicago, Jacksonville, and San Francisco, and found that the probability of mortgage foreclosure increases as neighborhood vehicle ownership levels rise."

Makes one wonder what the next correlation will be!

 Households and Housing Units

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

  "Copyright National Association of REALTORS®, Reprinted with permission."

"The reason NAR concentrates on the median instead of the mean is because the mean value calculation has a limitation that can prevent it from reflecting an "average." In calculating home sales price statistics this limitation occurs when the sale price of one home varies greatly from the remainder of the homes. This can skew the average."

"To find a median value, one takes all of the values in the distribution, sorts in ascending order, lines them up and finds the middle value."