Posts
Signs your home value could drop...
I "acquired" this article from a link on my MSN Homepage. I probably peruse 3 or 4 articles a day and dismiss most of them
I didn't dismiss this one because even though we have been somewhat insulated in Northern Colorado from massive foreclosues, we've had not "our share", but some.
And because we've had "some", there is "some" pertinent info hereunder...
4 signs your home value could drop
________________________________________
Even if you have a stable job and can pay your mortgage, your house might not be safe from a dip 'underwater.' Look around to see whether your house is at risk.
By SmartMoney
Despite signs that the real estate market is bottoming out, millions of homeowners are likely to find themselves in worse shape within the next two years.
Nearly half of the nation's 52 million mortgage borrowers will have negative equity by the end of the first quarter of 2011, up from the 14 million at the end of this year's first quarter, according to estimates in an Aug. 5 report by Deutsche Bank. With so many borrowers "underwater" -- or owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth -- the risk is high that they'll default and their homes will go into foreclosure, says Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. (Moody's Economy.com estimates that 17.5 million mortgage borrowers will be underwater by early 2010.)
Negative equity is the product of several factors. The most significant weight is the broad and persistent decline in home values. A Zillow.com index of home values fell 12.1% year-over-year during the second quarter, resulting in a total drop of 22.3% since the market peaked in mid-2006, according to an Aug. 11 report by the online real estate marketplace. Many buyers who bought their homes around the peak with a 20% down payment have lost that dollar amount.
"The continued decline of U.S. home prices will contribute to rapidly rising rates of negative equity," Karen Weaver, a Deutsche Bank research analyst, wrote in the report. "The most obvious implication is for mortgage defaults."
Current homeowners, or those shopping for a home and who are concerned that they'll end up underwater, should consider how long they expect to live in their homes. Being underwater doesn't affect homeowners unless they plan to sell, Zandi says.
Individuals who are staying put for at least the next five to seven years will likely recoup the lost value of their home, says Amy Bohutinsky, a Zillow.com spokeswoman. In addition, homeowners should refrain from borrowing against their mortgages, she says.
Those who find themselves underwater can turn to the federal Making Home Affordable plan, which can help you refinance or do a loan modification. You'll have to meet the eligibility requirements listed here.
Whether you're at risk for falling behind may have more to do with the economy and your neighborhood than your job, your credit or your income. Here are four warning signs that you're heading underwater.
Foreclosures in your neighborhood
The quickest way to end up underwater is to live in a neighborhood that's plagued by foreclosures.
When one home on your block goes into foreclosure, your home's value drops by 1%, Zandi says. But that isn't a one-to-one relationship. If two homes on a block go into foreclosure, your home's value will drop by more than 2%.
As homes go into foreclosure, they create a domino effect, lowering home values throughout a neighborhood in a cascade beyond homeowners' controlYou can find neighborhood foreclosure listings at MSN Real Estate.
Homes lingering on the market
When "For Sale" signs linger in a neighborhood for three or more months, that may mean buyers and sellers can't agree on a price. In that environment, homes are unlikely to sell unless the sellers lower their asking prices.
"The time on the market is always a good barometer of demand for homes and for the price homes are transacting at," Zandi says. "The longer it appears that neighbors are taking to sell their home the more likely it is they're not getting the price they want and that prices are falling."
Compare the time it took for homes to sell in your neighborhood three years ago versus today; if it's taking weeks or months longer to sell, the prices homes can fetch are dropping, Zandi says.
MSN Real Estate's home valuation tool includes time-on-market information.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The recession will end~Then What?
Ways to thrive after the recession
Have hard times inspired a newfound frugality in you? These steps will help make it last even after the economy improves.
By U.S. News & World Report
Americans have put themselves on a budget. They're spurning Caribbean vacations, $10 cocktails and designer coffees in favor of shoveling more money into savings accounts. In the first quarter of 2009, the personal savings rate hit 4.2%, its highest level since 1998. At the same time, consumer credit card debt fell by 6.5%. And in a recent survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), 57% of Americans said they're spending less than they were a year ago.
That moderation, it turns out, could outlast the recession, and most economists and consumer experts say that's a good thing. In the NFCC survey, about half the respondents who had reduced their spending said they would continue to spend less even if their financial situation improved. "The consumer has fundamentally changed," says Margot Bogue, associate director of brand planning for the advertising firm Cramer-Krasselt. The new "evolved consumer," she says, shops with more discipline and focuses on buying products with lasting value rather than just accumulating stuff.
To take advantage of that shift and thrive in the new, post-recession economy, consider making these changes:
1. Rethink your lifestyle. Veronica Neilan, a 25-year-old Brooklynite who recently completed a master's degree in forensic mental-health counseling, is considering moving back to her mother's house in New Hampshire while she looks for a job. She will soon need to start paying back the $113,000 in student loans she has accumulated over the past seven years. She's learned to ask for things such as pasta or gift certificates from relatives who are giving her presents, a move that keeps her food costs down. She rarely buys new clothes unless they are on sale or she can use a gift certificate, and when she needed a new television, she found one online being given away. Neilan says she expects her frugal behavior to stick. "I don't want to be the person who buys a house they can't afford," she says.
Robbie Blinkoff, principal anthropologist at Context-Based Research Group, a consulting firm that recently conducted interviews with consumers, says lifestyle overhauls like Neilan's are easier for younger consumers to adopt. "They're just learning habits about how to consume. It will last into the recovery," he says, just as the Great Depression turned many people who are now in their 80s and 90s into lifelong savers.
• Why you should outsource your chores now
2. Eliminate small expenses that add up. After Deborah Pont, 41, of Stonington, Conn., was laid off from her communications job at a large financial services firm in January, she dramatically reduced her budget: She stopped going out to dinner, shopping, vis iting expensive hair salons and getting her nails done. She also rediscovered grocery store coupons and started buying what's on sale. It was easy, in part because so many of her friends were making similar cutbacks. "Everybody else said, 'Let's not go out, let's not spend too much money,' so somebody would make dinner and we'd go to their house," Pont says.
What she discovered is that it's a relief not to feel pressure to spend so much. She has more time for things she enjoys, such as gardening and home improvement projects, and says she probably won't return to regular spa visits even after finding a new job.
Blinkoff says Pont's discovery is not uncommon. "People have kind of woken up, and they feel the things they consumed don't match who they are and their identity," he says.
3. Downsize -- permanently. Doreen Orion, 49, a psychiatrist and author of the memoir "Queen of the Road," also decided to turn a temporary exercise in minimalism int o a longer-term lifestyle. She initially cringed at the thought of leaving her dream house in Boulder, Colo., and her 200 pairs of shoes to go on a road trip with her husband. But at his insistence, they spent a year living in a 340-square-foot bus, camping throughout the country.
More from MSN Money and U.S. News & World Report
When the couple returned home to their luxe but hardworking lifestyle, they realized they were much happier with less. They calculated that, even though their 401k's had fallen in value, if they sold their home and lived in their bus while working occasionally, they could support themselves. Such a dramatic change, she says, "put a spark back into our lives. . . . We discovered there can be an upside to downsizing."
4. Get competitive about it. The recession inspired yoga studio owner Annie Mahon, 46, of Washington, D.C., to start a competition with her husband to see who could go longer without buying anything new. (They make exceptions for groceries, medicine and certain items for their four children.) Instead of curling up with catalogs that arrive in the mail, Mahon puts them directly into the recycling bin. "It feels great, because afterward, there's no residual feeling of, 'Oh, I wish I had gotten this.' So far, it doesn't feel like I'm missing anything. It feels like I'm gaining," she says. Wanting or craving things soaked up energy, Mahon adds. She estimated that, six weeks into the competition, she had saved at least $1,000.
5. Take advantage of the way retailers have changed. An advertising campaign touts that "summer costs less at Wal-Mart." One television spot features the simple pleasures of the season, including hot dogs, Popsicles and running through sprinklers. Target's "New Day" ad campaign, which ran from September through May, highlighted ways to save money: cutting hair at home, staying in for a movie night, biking to work.
Lena Michaud, a Target spokeswoman, says the company has seen sales increase for products that let people cut costs by staying home, including nail polish and hair color, single-serve coffee brewers and popcorn poppers. People also are making the most of what they already have. Michaud says Target's sales of scarves and fashion hats have gone up as customers freshen up old outfits with new accessories.
Video on MSN Money
"We are not bouncing back. The face of retail and consumption has been fundamentally changed," says Paco Underhill, author of "Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping." Even before the recession, there were too many stores, a problem that has started to self-correct through business bankruptcies and closings, such as Circuit City's. What's changed? "People are no longer celebrating how much they spend but how little they spend," says Underhill.
John Quelch, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School, says that although the length of the recession will determine just how long the newfound frugality lasts, up to 10% of consumers will change their behavior on a sustained basis. "Many of those changes will be in favor of reducing consumption and a simplified lifestyle," he says.
Although these consumers are still in the minority, there are enough of them to make retailers take note. "It's a huge shift in buying power," says Quelch. Because consumer spending makes up such a large portion of our economy (about 70% of gross domestic product), 10% of consumers also represents a huge dollar value.
Have hard times inspired a newfound frugality in you? These steps will help make it last even after the economy improves.
By U.S. News & World Report
Americans have put themselves on a budget. They're spurning Caribbean vacations, $10 cocktails and designer coffees in favor of shoveling more money into savings accounts. In the first quarter of 2009, the personal savings rate hit 4.2%, its highest level since 1998. At the same time, consumer credit card debt fell by 6.5%. And in a recent survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), 57% of Americans said they're spending less than they were a year ago.
That moderation, it turns out, could outlast the recession, and most economists and consumer experts say that's a good thing. In the NFCC survey, about half the respondents who had reduced their spending said they would continue to spend less even if their financial situation improved. "The consumer has fundamentally changed," says Margot Bogue, associate director of brand planning for the advertising firm Cramer-Krasselt. The new "evolved consumer," she says, shops with more discipline and focuses on buying products with lasting value rather than just accumulating stuff.
To take advantage of that shift and thrive in the new, post-recession economy, consider making these changes:
1. Rethink your lifestyle. Veronica Neilan, a 25-year-old Brooklynite who recently completed a master's degree in forensic mental-health counseling, is considering moving back to her mother's house in New Hampshire while she looks for a job. She will soon need to start paying back the $113,000 in student loans she has accumulated over the past seven years. She's learned to ask for things such as pasta or gift certificates from relatives who are giving her presents, a move that keeps her food costs down. She rarely buys new clothes unless they are on sale or she can use a gift certificate, and when she needed a new television, she found one online being given away. Neilan says she expects her frugal behavior to stick. "I don't want to be the person who buys a house they can't afford," she says.
Robbie Blinkoff, principal anthropologist at Context-Based Research Group, a consulting firm that recently conducted interviews with consumers, says lifestyle overhauls like Neilan's are easier for younger consumers to adopt. "They're just learning habits about how to consume. It will last into the recovery," he says, just as the Great Depression turned many people who are now in their 80s and 90s into lifelong savers.
• Why you should outsource your chores now
2. Eliminate small expenses that add up. After Deborah Pont, 41, of Stonington, Conn., was laid off from her communications job at a large financial services firm in January, she dramatically reduced her budget: She stopped going out to dinner, shopping, vis iting expensive hair salons and getting her nails done. She also rediscovered grocery store coupons and started buying what's on sale. It was easy, in part because so many of her friends were making similar cutbacks. "Everybody else said, 'Let's not go out, let's not spend too much money,' so somebody would make dinner and we'd go to their house," Pont says.
What she discovered is that it's a relief not to feel pressure to spend so much. She has more time for things she enjoys, such as gardening and home improvement projects, and says she probably won't return to regular spa visits even after finding a new job.
Blinkoff says Pont's discovery is not uncommon. "People have kind of woken up, and they feel the things they consumed don't match who they are and their identity," he says.
3. Downsize -- permanently. Doreen Orion, 49, a psychiatrist and author of the memoir "Queen of the Road," also decided to turn a temporary exercise in minimalism int o a longer-term lifestyle. She initially cringed at the thought of leaving her dream house in Boulder, Colo., and her 200 pairs of shoes to go on a road trip with her husband. But at his insistence, they spent a year living in a 340-square-foot bus, camping throughout the country.
More from MSN Money and U.S. News & World Report
When the couple returned home to their luxe but hardworking lifestyle, they realized they were much happier with less. They calculated that, even though their 401k's had fallen in value, if they sold their home and lived in their bus while working occasionally, they could support themselves. Such a dramatic change, she says, "put a spark back into our lives. . . . We discovered there can be an upside to downsizing."
4. Get competitive about it. The recession inspired yoga studio owner Annie Mahon, 46, of Washington, D.C., to start a competition with her husband to see who could go longer without buying anything new. (They make exceptions for groceries, medicine and certain items for their four children.) Instead of curling up with catalogs that arrive in the mail, Mahon puts them directly into the recycling bin. "It feels great, because afterward, there's no residual feeling of, 'Oh, I wish I had gotten this.' So far, it doesn't feel like I'm missing anything. It feels like I'm gaining," she says. Wanting or craving things soaked up energy, Mahon adds. She estimated that, six weeks into the competition, she had saved at least $1,000.
5. Take advantage of the way retailers have changed. An advertising campaign touts that "summer costs less at Wal-Mart." One television spot features the simple pleasures of the season, including hot dogs, Popsicles and running through sprinklers. Target's "New Day" ad campaign, which ran from September through May, highlighted ways to save money: cutting hair at home, staying in for a movie night, biking to work.
Lena Michaud, a Target spokeswoman, says the company has seen sales increase for products that let people cut costs by staying home, including nail polish and hair color, single-serve coffee brewers and popcorn poppers. People also are making the most of what they already have. Michaud says Target's sales of scarves and fashion hats have gone up as customers freshen up old outfits with new accessories.
Video on MSN Money
"We are not bouncing back. The face of retail and consumption has been fundamentally changed," says Paco Underhill, author of "Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping." Even before the recession, there were too many stores, a problem that has started to self-correct through business bankruptcies and closings, such as Circuit City's. What's changed? "People are no longer celebrating how much they spend but how little they spend," says Underhill.
John Quelch, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School, says that although the length of the recession will determine just how long the newfound frugality lasts, up to 10% of consumers will change their behavior on a sustained basis. "Many of those changes will be in favor of reducing consumption and a simplified lifestyle," he says.
Although these consumers are still in the minority, there are enough of them to make retailers take note. "It's a huge shift in buying power," says Quelch. Because consumer spending makes up such a large portion of our economy (about 70% of gross domestic product), 10% of consumers also represents a huge dollar value.
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