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Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 PST
Free forum offers help to homeowners facing foreclosure :
<p>Nine months after its first sweep through California offering alternatives to foreclosure, the national lender coalition Hope Now is back with a foreclosure-prevention workshop in Sacramento on Thursday.</p>
<p>The free event will run from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Sacramento Convention Center, 1400 J St., organizers said Monday.</p>
<p>More than 14,000 Sacramento-area borrowers received mailed invitations in recent days, said Larry Gilmore, deputy director of the Hope Now Alliance. Ads are also running on area radio stations, he said.</p>
<p>"This is a very targeted effort," Gilmore said. "We are directly marketing to borrowers who are delinquent or at risk of becoming delinquent."</p>
<p>But anyone can attend.</p>
<p>The event, also sponsored by NeighborWorks America and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 90 Days of Hope task force, offers struggling borrowers a chance to meet face to face with representatives of 19 lending firms, or with nonprofit loan counselors, Gilmore said. The aim is to provide options that reduce the size of monthly payments enough to help keep borrowers in their homes.</p>
<p>Gilmore said he expects at least 500 borrowers to attend the six-hour event. It is the coalition's 28th workshop since early this year. Another is scheduled in Los Angeles on Saturday. In March, a total of about 1,000 borrowers attended workshops in Stockton, Anaheim and Riverside. Up to 65 percent received some sort of loan workout, Gilmore said.</p>
<p>Hope Now is a national alliance of lenders, loan servicers and nonprofit loan counselors formed a year ago to work out alternatives to foreclosures.</p>
<p>"In some cases borrowers can walk out with a solution. In others, borrowers can walk out with very specific steps over a short term that can lead them to expect a solution within a few weeks," he said.</p>
<p>Solutions commonly include frozen or lower interest rates and repayment plans.</p>
<p>Borrowers should bring evidence of their income, bills and expenses and a copy of their mortgage statement.</p>
<p>The event comes as big banks and the federal government increasingly turn to so-called loan modifications to bring borrowers' payments down to no more than 38 percent of their monthly income.</p>
<p>The event also provides a personal alternative to the frequent complaints of borrowers that lenders are hard to deal with by phone. Many seeking help still say they are subject to long waits, transfers and dropped calls.</p>
<p>"This is an effort to meet borrowers face to face. Borrowers can be more comfortable looking them in the eye," he said.</p>
<p>Nearly 30,000 borrowers have lost homes to foreclosure in the capital region since early 2007, according to MDA DataQuick. The statewide tally is nearly 275,000 in 23 months.</p>
<p>For more details: <a href="http://www.hopenow.com" target="_blank">www.hopenow.com</a>.</p>
Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST
Home Front: Improvement seen in forceclosure picture :
<p>Is the foreclosure phenomenon at last beginning to peak in California?</p>
<p>Home Front is hearing rumblings that October saw a "meaningful decline" in various foreclosure filings for the first time in two years. The familiar industry trackers – MDA DataQuick, ForeclosureRadar and Foreclosures.com – all acknowledge the change.</p>
<p>They've watched a steep drop in notices of default, those formal warnings issued when borrowers fall two or three months behind on payments. They've seen drops in the number of houses auctioned on the courthouse steps. They've watched the same for trustees deeds recorded with county offices as the final action of foreclosure.</p>
<p>What does it mean?</p>
<p>It's still early to speculate whether this might be the beginning of the end. No one wants to raise false hopes in a state that has already seen 275,000 households hand their keys back to the bank since January 2007.</p>
<p>Yet the immediate direction is clear. MDA DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage, said, "Trustees deeds in Sacramento, statewide, everywhere, are trending down from September to October. It's a meaningful decline."</p>
<p>Sean O'Toole, chief executive officer of ForeclosureRadar, said a 39 percent drop in the number of California homes auctioned on courthouse steps from September to October "was a huge drop, much more than anything we would have expected."</p>
<p>There were 14,042 auctions in October, compared with 23,049 in September, he said.</p>
<p>Alexis McGee, president of Foreclosures.com, reported a 22 percent drop nationally in October home repossessions compared with September. She said October's tally was the lowest since May.</p>
<p>"The nation's foreclosure free fall may be subsiding," she said recently. McGee's theory is that "efforts by lenders, banks, organizations and government entities to work with strapped homeowners to avoid foreclosures are beginning to pay off."</p>
<p>LePage and O'Toole have similar hunches.</p>
<p>"What we have seen over the last 60 days is a lot of announcements around foreclosure moratoriums and loan modification programs," said O'Toole. He also cited Senate Bill 1137, which makes lenders try harder to talk with California borrowers before foreclosing. That legislation prompted a noticeable slowdown in notices of default as early as September.</p>
<p>The good news, said O'Toole, is that the number of foreclosures may continue falling in the short run. The bad news is an abundance of new loan modifications could be pushing the foreclosure problem out three to five years.</p>
<p>"It's sort of like, 'let's put these people all in teaser rates and hope it goes away.' It's sort of a Hail Mary pass," he said.</p>
<p>Most people will clearly root for the first scenario. Home Front will watch and keep you posted on what develops.</p>
<p>One thing is for sure in mortgage lending: Foreclosing on families and evicting them during the holidays is a sure ticket to bad press.</p>
<p>Some think that's partly why U.S. mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have declared a holiday foreclosure moratorium.</p>
<p>The two said nobody gets the boot from Nov. 26 to Jan. 9.</p>
<p>But that's just 16,000 mortgages nationally. Locally, some borrowers are so far down the foreclosure road with lenders that it's too late. In Sacramento County, evictions continue with no pre-holiday lull in sight, said Sgt. Gary Shintaku of the Sheriff's Department Civil Division.</p>
<p>"One of our guys in the south county had nine evictions today, and four are for foreclosures," he said Tuesday.</p>
<p>Foreclosure evictions have leveled off north of the American River in recent months, Shintaku said. But south of the river in Sacramento County they're still rising slightly, he said.</p>
<p>"As we're coming to the holidays, it's still the same," he said, "the status quo."</p>
<p>Here's a news flash about the surge in Sacramento-area home sales since April: 2008 sales have already passed last year's 12-month total of 33,267.</p>
<p>The 2008 January through October tally: 33,961 sales of new and existing homes in Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties. That's according to MDA DataQuick.</p>
<p>This year's sales burst has 2008 resuming a normal pattern in which sales totals are higher than the previous year.</p>
<p>That was the case from 1995 through 2004.</p>
<p>In 2005, 2006 and 2007, sales were lower than the previous year.</p>
<p>It's safe to say that price cuts of 20 percent to 34 percent the past year – driven primarily by sales of banks repos – played a key role in the return to tradition.</p>
Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST
Homebuyers jump at falling mortgage rates :
<p>Stuart Stenhouse has been watching the housing market for some time. On Wednesday, lured by a plunge in mortgage rates, the 40-year-old Sacramentan jumped in.</p>
<p>"That's why I'm starting," Stenhouse said as he traipsed around Beazer Homes' Natomas Field development in a cold midday drizzle. He doubted he would buy immediately, but the lower rates prompted him to start looking at town homes in the low-$200,000 range.</p>
<p>Sacramento's troubled housing market, which has been gaining momentum for several months, got a new jolt this week. An $800 billion stimulus plan for the credit markets, unveiled Tuesday by the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department, sent fixed-rate mortgages tumbling as much as 1 percentage point.</p>
<p>Almost immediately, homebuyers with deals pending raced to lock in rates. Potential homebuyers called their agents and said they were ready to look in earnest. Homeowners took a fresh look at the refinance market.</p>
<p>It's unlikely this will cure all that ails the real estate market. It won't spell relief for homeowners who've fallen behind on their payments or can't refinance out of an expensive variable-rate mortgage because they owe more than their houses are worth.</p>
<p>Still, the move was seen as helpful. Alan Wagner, president of the Sacramento Association of Realtors, said the lower rates might help firm up the region's housing prices – which have continued to plummet even as the volume of sales has improved. At the very least, the rates will probably bring more buyers out of the woodwork, and soon.</p>
<p>"Where Friday is going to be Black Friday for retail people, it'll be a day for people to start looking for houses," said Wagner, an agent with Re/Max Gold in Elk Grove.</p>
<p>Jeff Tarbell of Comstock Mortgage, with offices in Sacramento and Roseville, said 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to around 5.375 percent. They had been something over 6 percent before the stimulus plan was announced.</p>
<p>This week's average mortgage rate of 5.97 percent was the lowest since the week of Oct. 9, when rates fell to 5.94 percent. Average rates have been below 6 percent 16 weeks this year, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. The year's low was 5.48 percent the week of Jan. 24; the high was 6.63 percent the week of July 24.</p>
<p>Tuesday's news overwhelmed computers at Comstock, and the banks where it places loans, as purchasers moved to take advantage.</p>
<p>"There was so much volume in such a short window of time, I would say probably our own system, and four or five of the big banks that we register loans with, went down or went into some sort of a tizzy," Tarbell said. It quieted Wednesday but was still busy.</p>
<p>One of Tarbell's clients, who's moving from the Bay Area, was about to lock in a $400,000 mortgage at 6 percent. He ended up borrowing at 5.625 percent. Savings: $161 a month.</p>
<p>The government plan includes $500 billion in new cash to buy up mortgage-backed securities, plus another $100 billion to buy debt securities issued by government-affiliated mortgage firms such as Freddie Mac.</p>
<p>Separately, $200 billion will be loaned to institutions that invest in securities backed by auto, credit-card and small-business loans.</p>
<p>By purchasing those securities, the government drives up their price. That drives down the securities' yield, which drives down the interest rates consumers pay.</p>
<p>The plan comes as the Sacramento housing market, one of the first in the country to collapse, is still struggling to find its footing. October marked the seventh straight month with higher sales, but prices are still falling off a cliff.</p>
<p>MDA DataQuick said Sacramento County median prices fell to $195,000 in October, a 35 percent drop from a year ago. Placer County's median of $320,000 was 21 percent below last year and 39 percent below the 2005 peak.</p>
<p>Moreover, the new-home market remains weak. Housing starts in greater Sacramento are down 34 percent this year, says the Construction Industry Research Board.</p>
<p>That means, at least for now, downward pressure on prices. "The buyers are out there looking for really good deals, and they're getting really good deals," said Patti Smith of Patti Smith Timberline Realty in Georgetown.</p>
<p>Lower rates will help, though. "We will see an increase in sales," said Kathryn Boyce with the Sacramento office of researcher Hanley Wood Market Intelligence. "People who were on the edge, who stopped looking because interest rates went up, will now want to jump back in quickly."</p>
<p>Steve Galster, co-owner of the Galster Group real estate firm in Fair Oaks, has a client who began looking at properties in September but then stopped, frightened that home values hadn't hit bottom. Despite nudging from Galster the past two months, the client wouldn't resume searching.</p>
<p>But when the interest rates fell, the client called Galster. "He's been watching things, and all of a sudden he says, 'Why not now?'" according to Galster.</p>
<p>The two are going house-hunting Saturday morning.</p>
Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST
Area's home prices slide faster than U.S. average :
<p>Sacramento-area home prices declined at nearly triple the national average during the past year, according to a new Loan Performance Home Price Index from First American CoreLogic.</p>
<p>The property research firm said September home prices in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties fell 28 percent from the same month in 2007. Nationally, September prices were down 11.2 percent from the previous September.</p>
<p>The firm tracks prices with a repeat sales index that measures hikes and declines for the same homes over time.</p>
<p>California led the nation with a yearlong price decline of 30 percent, First American CoreLogic reported. Prices have also fallen 25 percent in Nevada, 21 percent in Arizona, 17.5 percent in Florida and 14.3 percent in Hawaii.</p>
<p>Year-over-year prices fell 8.8 percent in Washington and 6.4 percent in Oregon, according to the tracking index.</p>
<p>Several states, including Texas, West Virginia, South Dakota, Missouri and Montana, reported slight price increases from September 2007 to September 2008.</p>
<p>– Jim Wasserman</p>
Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST
1,500 new homes, repos offered :
<p>More than 1,500 new and foreclosed homes will go on the auction block in coming weeks in Northern California, as banks and builders try to clear inventory by year's end.</p>
<p>But it's hardly a seasonal trend. All year, auctions have played a growing role in a historic foreclosure crisis.</p>
<p>Auctions still represent a small percentage of bank repossession sales. But since their first major local appearance at Cal Expo in June 2007, they have sold thousands of homes and billions of dollars in real estate. Some home builders have also turned to auctioneers to sell condos or remaining homes in a particular project.</p>
<p>There are more to come.</p>
<p>"The fact is, many people got loans they could not afford in any way," said Rick Weinberg, spokesman for Irvine-based auction giant Real Estate Disposition Corp. "If they're forced out, that house will be on the market and it will go to somebody else."</p>
<p>REDC will hold its fifth auction of 2008 at Cal Expo on Dec. 6. Bidding is to start on 275 homes from the Sacramento and Fairfield metro areas at 9:30 a.m. Other auctions this year have sold condos in Elk Grove and model homes in Woodland and Roseville.</p>
<p>REDC claims 3,156 home sales this year in Sacramento, the Bay Area and the Highway 99 corridor from Stockton to Visalia. Nationally, REDC reports it made 16,454 U.S. home sales this year, already four times last year's 4,103 homes.</p>
<p>In December, REDC will put up for auction 1,288 Northern California homes during a five-day marathon. Leonard Green, a Sacramento real estate broker who works the multiday events, said most bidders are investors, and "a lot of them follow us from town to town."</p>
<p>Two regional auctions are scheduled today.</p>
<p>In San Ramon, Boston-based Accelerated Marketing Partners will auction 150 new homes. Most are in the Bay Area. But bids are also being taken on homes in Copperopolis and a custom ski-in luxury home in Kirkwood. The opening bid for the latter: $2.45 million.</p>
<p>Ken Stevens, the firm's West Coast chief executive officer, said, "Most of our sellers are developers who are trying to appease their banks and pay down their construction loans to a manageable form."</p>
<p>Most buyers, he said, want new houses with builder warranties instead of a bank-owned "as-is" home.</p>
<p>Southern California's Zetabid is also auctioning 80 Sacramento- and Stockton-area bank repos in Stockton today.</p>
<p>Such events have various styles of bidding and fees paid by buyers or sellers. Some have an unpublished price, the minimum a bank will accept. Others declare a minimum bid and accept any amount above it. Some allow online bidding.</p>
<p>"What these really are are bank marketing events," said Sean O'Toole, owner of ForeclosureRadar, a foreclosure tracking firm in Contra Costa County. "The idea is to create excitement and hype around these properties to deliver a better price to the bank than they would get with a traditional sale through a Realtor."</p>
<p>California has seen nearly 275,000 foreclosures since the beginning of 2007, according to MDA DataQuick of La Jolla. Nearly 30,000 have been in Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties.</p>
<p>Amid such numbers, bank repos dominate home sales throughout California. They accounted for two-thirds of October sales in Sacramento County. That has sent some builders scurrying to auctioneers.</p>
<p>"Most builders look at auctions as a great way to sell a lot of inventory in one day," said Rhett Winchell, president of Kennedy Wilson Auction Group, based in Beverly Hills.</p>
<p>The firm will auction 37 Meadowood Village condos in Dixon on Dec. 14.</p>
<p>"It's been quite a busy year," said Winchell. "We've been all over the U.S."</p>
<p>Prices in Dixon? Bidding starts at $70,000, he said.</p>
Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST
Freddie, Fannie to forgo holiday foreclosures :
<p>Federal mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae announced Thursday they will suspend about 16,000 scheduled foreclosures nationwide during the holiday season.</p>
<p>Details weren't available about the number of affected borrowers in the Sacramento region and California. The temporary suspension applies to borrowers who are 90 days or more behind on payments.</p>
<p>The mortgage firms said they will suspend foreclosures from Nov. 26 through Jan. 9. Executives said the move would give certainty to affected borrowers during the holidays and provide more time to gear up new loan modification programs.</p>
<p>Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae said affected households will be contacted about the temporary suspensions. The temporary ban applies only to homes that are occupied.</p>
<p>The two firms, which were seized by the federal government in September, hold about 20 percent of the nation's delinquent loans.</p>
<p>– Jim Wassermann@sacbee.com</a>.</p>
Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST
Sacramento County median home price falls to $195,000 :
<p>How low can this go?</p>
<p>October home sales blew through another barrier in the Sacramento County real estate market, as the median sales price fell below $200,000 for the first time since April 2002.</p>
<p>The reverse breakthrough – back to $195,000 – came exactly one year after the county's median sales price for new and existing homes combined fell below $300,000, according to MDA DataQuick statistics released Thursday. The median is that point at which half cost more and half cost less.</p>
<p>Three years of falling home values have now pushed median sales prices below $200,000 in three counties: Sacramento, Yuba and Sutter. Six years ago, news reports pointed to fast-rising sales prices in those counties "shattering" the $200,000 barrier.</p>
<p>The silver lining to the reversal of fortune: another strong month of home sales across the Sacramento region.</p>
<p>"I think the quest for a bargain has overpowered concerns about the economy and where the housing market might be next year," said MDA DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage.</p>
<p>DataQuick reported that 4,201 homes changed hands in Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties. That was down from 4,369 sales in September.</p>
<p>October again broadened the momentum of a year that has seen seven straight months of sales higher than the same months of 2007. The strong performance also showed that buyers stayed in the game despite warnings of possible economic collapse by prominent Washington, D.C., officials throughout September. That's when buyers initiated the contracts that led to most of October's closings.</p>
<p>The sales burst – equaling levels last seen in the area in early 2006 – flies in the face of continued reports of banks refusing to lend, said Folsom real estate agent Mark Solich.</p>
<p>"If you have good credit and full documentation, the money is there," he said.</p>
<p>Statistics show 1,709 more closings last month than during October 2007.</p>
<p>Bank repossessions again accounted for the majority of home purchases, especially in Sacramento County, the largest sector of the region's real estate market. DataQuick said two-thirds of the county's sales involved bank repos.</p>
<p>"The bad news is there's a lot of foreclosures in the market. The good news is they're selling," said Pat Shea, Sacramento regional manager for Prudential California Realty. "Teachers, policemen, nurses – they can all buy houses now."</p>
<p>Analysts saw similar patterns in Los Angeles and the Bay Area as foreclosures have mounted across California. DataQuick said 51 percent of Southern California's October sales were bank repos. It was 45 percent in the Bay Area.</p>
<p>DataQuick's October highlights for new and existing homes combined:</p>
<p>• Sacramento County's $195,000 median price is 34.9 percent below October 2007 and 49.6 percent below its August 2005 high of $387,000.</p>
<p>• Placer County's $320,000 median sales price was 20.5 percent below the same time last year. The median is now 39 percent below the December 2005 high of $525,000.</p>
<p>• El Dorado County's $388,000 median is down 7.1 percent from a year ago. The county's sales price has slipped 27 percent from the March 2006 peak of $531,250.</p>
<p>• Yolo County's $279,750 median price is down 22.8 percent from October 2007. It slipped below $300,000 in September for the first time since January 2004. The county's median sales price is now 41 percent below the November 2005 high of $474,000.</p>
<p>• Yuba County's $175,000 median price in October was 34.5 percent below a year ago. It dipped below $200,000 in March for the first time since January 2004. The median price in the county has fallen 50.2 percent since its November 2005 high of $351,500.</p>
<p>• Sutter County's October median price was $183,000, down 29.7 percent from the same time last year. It dipped below $200,000 in May, August and September, a level not seen since January 2004. The county's median home price is now 46 percent below the December 2005 peak of $339,000.</p>
<p>• Nevada County's median price was $365,000, down 18.9 percent from last year. The price has fallen 27.1 percent from an October 2005 high of $501,000.</p>
<p>• Amador County saw October's median price dip to $250,000, down 27.5 percent from the same month in 2007. The median has fallen 41.2 percent from the May 2006 high of $425,000.</p>
<p>The number of homes for sale in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties also continued to fall in October. Sacramento-based TrendGraphix counted 10,879 for-sale signs in the four-county area. One in four are foreclosed properties.</p>
<p>Mike Lyon, head of Sacramento's Lyon Real Estate, attributed the falling inventory to "sellers giving up in a foreclosure-dominated market."</p>
Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST
Home Front: Seniors get aid in staying in touch :
<p>The time is here when can you live 3,000 miles from your mom and get a text message if she's not out of bed by noon.</p>
<p>And if your aging dad forgets to open the medicine box to take his heart pills, that's another digital alert on your cell phone, BlackBerry or laptop.</p>
<p>If this sounds far-fetched, you haven't seen the newest real estate phenomenon in Roseville. It's a national demonstration home for advances in housing elder generations. The single-story house, opened Oct. 23 at Eskaton Village off Blue Oaks Boulevard, is a glimpse of what might happen when 70 million baby boomers hit their 70s and 80s.</p>
<p>"Three hundred-some people have toured this house," said Sheri Peifer, vice president with Carmichael-based Eskaton Senior Residences and Services. It's a daily pilgrimage of architects, home builders, technology insiders and elder-care professionals. Visitors came this week from Florida, Georgia and Oregon. The 1,850-square-foot house is a joint venture with Roseville builder Lakemont Homes.</p>
<p>Most people associate 40-year-old Eskaton with assisted living. But its demonstration house is a pitch to the design and building industry for what's possible now in standard senior housing. The new in-home technology on display helps seniors with what they want most: to stay in their own house as long as possible.</p>
<p>So think fitness centers for the brain instead of biceps. (A special computer designed with help from the UCLA Center on Aging offers memory exercises to ward off dementia). Or picture in-home blood pressure checks on a wireless device that sends results to nurses. Webcams offer personal medical consultations without an office visit. (Intel's new touchscreen Health Guide device asks: "How are you feeling today?" If not so good, it suggests what to do before it turns into trouble).</p>
<p>The remote monitoring, however, is most interesting to children of aging parents. A "Grand Care" digital system "allows seniors to live at home and offers family members peace of mind they're doing fine," said Kathy Hatten, an Eskaton guide who takes people on tours through the house.</p>
<p>Sensors that look like computer mice and detect motion can be placed throughout the home. If motion falls to an unusually low level – suggesting a fall or medical problem – alerts are sent to children or others who may be down the street or across the country.</p>
<p>This two-bedroom, two-bath house, however, is not just about technology. It also contains small touches you never think about when you're younger. The air filter is near the floor instead of in the ceiling. Doors are 36 inches wide to accommodate wheelchairs. There are no steps to trip on. Shelves are low and electrical sockets are high.</p>
<p>The demonstration house is intended to attract builder interest in an "Eskaton Certified" home program.</p>
<p>One thing is for sure about baby boomers. They don't like to think about life after their current status as "active adults." But if Roseville's new demonstration house is any indicator, that stage, too, will have its perks. Information: <a href="http://www.eskaton.org" target="_blank">www.eskaton.org</a>.</p>
<p><h3>Workshop targets foreclosures</h3></p>
<p>This entire year has been a series of foreclosure prevention workshops. But the big one is coming now.</p>
<p>Hope Now, the national alliance of mortgage lenders and nonprofit loan counselors, will be in Sacramento on Thursday, Dec. 4. The free event is scheduled from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Sacramento Convention Center on J Street.</p>
<p>Details are still sketchy. But these events bring mortgage workout specialists from up to 20 financial institutions to talk with troubled borrowers.</p>
<p>John Jelavich, vice president for homeownership preservation initiative at Walnut Creek-based PMI Group Inc., said his firm will mail invitations to borrowers with loans backed by the firm's mortgage insurance. Lenders, too, may be mailing invitations, he said.</p>
<p>More information is at <a href="http://www.hopenow.com" target="_blank">www.hopenow.com</a> or (888) 995-HOPE (4673).</p>
<p><h3>Mortgage rates fall with economy</h3></p>
<p>Mortgage interest rates, meanwhile, are hovering near the 6 percent mark again. The weekly Freddie Mac survey showed rates for 30-year fixed-rate loans averaging 6.04 percent this week. That's down from last week's 6.14 percent, and off dramatically from a high of 6.46 percent three weeks ago. The firm's economists credit a slowing economy for bringing rates down.</p>
<p>The financial Web site Bankrate.com showed similar overnight results for mortgage rates. Bankrate on Thursday reported a national average of 6.05 percent.</p>
Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST
Rancho Cordova wrestles with affordable housing :
<p>Less crime, cleaner streets, bike lanes – the quality of life in Rancho Cordova has dramatically improved for most residents since the city incorporated just five years ago, city leaders and residents say.</p>
<p>But advocates and some officials fear Rancho Cordova is in danger of effectively becoming two cities – the haves vs. the have-nots – as the City Council looks to strip an affordable housing requirement from the city's plans.</p>
<p>It is the most explosive in a series of moves affecting low- to moderate-income residents, including last year's restrictions on thrift shops and the council's vote Monday to criminalize picking through trash bins and scavenging for recyclables from the trash.</p>
<p>The move to cut an affordable housing requirement could divide the city between affluent neighborhoods south of Highway 50 – where large tracts of land are waiting to be developed – and north of the highway, where working-class and poor residents are more likely to live, affordable housing advocates say.</p>
<p>"They decimated any commitment on their part to build affordable housing," said Shamus Roller, the Sacramento Housing Alliance's executive director. "Rancho Cordova does have some revitalization issues, but they're basically making two communities."</p>
<p>This year, Rancho Cordova is required to update its "housing element" – a plan laying out housing policy for five years. All jurisdictions are required to submit a housing element to the state's Department of Housing and Community Development.</p>
<p>Under its original plan, which the city adopted after incorporating in 2003, Rancho Cordova had required 10 percent of new residential units to be affordable. But in a 3-2 vote earlier this month, the City Council went against city staff's recommendation and decided to drop the 10 percent requirement from the plan the city will submit for state approval.</p>
<p>Mayor Linda Budge supported dropping the 10 percent requirement, which she said is an impediment to development in this rough economy.</p>
<p>"It gets us beyond today's current economic climate," Budge said at the council's Nov. 3 meeting.</p>
<p>Councilman Ken Cooley, however, in an interview called that a "false argument."</p>
<p>When there's a clear standard, developers know what to expect and will factor the cost into the price they're willing to pay for land. Neighboring communities like Folsom have an even higher requirement of 15 percent, he said.</p>
<p>"I just think it will produce more well-rounded communities," Cooley said.</p>
<p>If Rancho Cordova does drop the 10 percent requirement, it doesn't mean the city will stop building affordable housing, said Curt Haven, economic development director.</p>
<p>Officials have talked about passing an ordinance separate from the plan the city will submit to the state.</p>
<p>That ordinance could lay out a more flexible approach to affordable housing, including provisions that would allow developers to donate land and pay fees in lieu of housing. It also could offer incentives for projects that create mixed-income developments, Haven said.</p>
<p>But Cooley said ambiguity and a lack of definitive requirements would undermine any efforts to build affordable housing.</p>
<p>"When you drop the requirement, you'll have a thousand reasons why it doesn't make sense to do it now, or you'll defer it," he said.</p>
<p>The debate over affordable housing in Rancho Cordova could have significant long-term implications for the city, which is one of the few areas in the region with land available for development. The 32-square-mile city is only about half developed.</p>
<p>"They have a lot of growth coming potentially in the next 10 years," said Valerie Feldman, acting managing attorney for the Legal Services of Northern California. "What it might mean unfortunately in the long-term is there will be a Rancho Cordova that looks very lopsided."</p>
<p>Officials say there are still affordable homes and rental apartments in Rancho Cordova, as compared to surrounding areas. But some advocates see the council's effort to drop the affordable housing requirement from the city's plans as part of a larger pattern where the city has improved neighborhoods at the expense of low-income and working-class residents.</p>
<p>"There has been sort of a hostility expressed or a feeling we'd like to be a different Rancho than we are in some respects," Cooley said.</p>
<p>Last year, the council put restrictions on thrift shops and check-cashing businesses. Then, this week, the council voted to make it illegal for people to pick through the garbage or scavenge for recyclables in trash bins.</p>
<p>"I'm speechless. It's ridiculous to criminalize poverty," said Joan Burke, advocacy director for Sacramento Loaves & Fishes, an organization that works with homeless people. "They're spending their time to make laws criminalizing people who are poor and desperate."</p>
<p>The new ordinance prohibits people from going through trash and recycling bins and allows police and code enforcement officers to issue a $100 fine on first-time offenders. Repeat offenders in a 12-month period can be prosecuted for a misdemeanor, which could carry a maximum penalty of $1,000 and six months in jail.</p>
<p>Adam Lindgren, the city attorney, defended the ordinance, which the City Council said would keep the city clean and protect against identity theft.</p>
<p>"This is aimed at taking garbage off the streets and off the sidewalks," Lindgren said. "This is not aimed at taking nickels and dimes out of the pockets of needy people."</p>
<p>Several residents praised the city's efforts to improve neighborhoods. Kevin Jenkins has lived in the area since 2000 and is now a member of the Lincoln Village Neighborhood Association.</p>
<p>"The transformation of the quality of life in our neighborhood has been absolutely amazing," Jenkins said.</p>
<p>It will, however, be a challenge balancing community development with programs to help the city's low- to middle-income residents, he added.</p>
<p>"You don't want to see us become a Gold River," Jenkins said referring to a nearby affluent enclave. "There are some legitimate concerns."</p>
<p>City officials are currently refining the housing element to reflect the changes the council voted on earlier this month. The council will discuss the matter at its Dec. 15 meeting. If approved, the city will send the plan to the state.</p>
Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 PST
Free workshop to offer help with mortgages :
<p>Homeowners struggling with their mortgages are invited to a free workshop today at which they may be able to meet with lenders.</p>
<p>The event, 2 to 8 p.m. in Pannell Meadowview Community Center, 2450 Meadowview Road, is being organized by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency and Sacramento City Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell.</p>
<p>Homeowners facing or already in default or fore-closure are encouraged to attend if they have loans with Bank of America, Chase, Countrywide, IndyMac Bank, Wachovia, Washington Mutual or Wells Fargo.</p>
<p>They need to bring loan documents and financial information, such as pay stubs and bank statements, to verify their income so the lenders can determine if they're eligible for a loan modification.</p>
<p>– Sandy Louey</p>
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