housing

Fraudulent loan activity declines in Michigan

Steve Carmody — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:13:16 +0000

Fraudulent loan activity declined slightly in Michigan at the end of last year.

Kroll Factual Data checks loan applications for phony buyers, attempts to misrepresent the value of homes and other fraudulent information.

Kroll president Rod Bazzani says there's been a surge in home loan refinancing, which may explain the decline. He says refinancing more than doubled last year.

Michigan's home foreclosure rate closer to the national average

Steve Carmody — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:38:00 +0000

Michigan’s home foreclosure rate is no longer among the nation’s worst.

Realty Trac reports Michigan ranked 16th in the nation in home foreclosures in March. That is a far cry from a few years ago when the state had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate.

Mary Townley is with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. She credits the authority’s “Step Forward” program for providing assistance to people at risk of losing their homes…

There is growing optimism in Michigan's home building industry

Steve Carmody — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:37:50 +0000

Michigan’s home builders are optimistic about the year ahead.

The recession walloped Michigan’s home building industry. Many builders went out of business. Others merged and focused on home remodeling.

But a new survey shows Michigan’s home builders are optimistic about getting back into the business of building new homes. They say pent up consumer demand, especially for more expensive homes ($200,000 to $800,000), is pushing up the Michigan Housing Index.

Several local cities rank high on a list of the best places to rent out single family homes

Steve Carmody — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 04:14:00 +0000

A new report finds three regional cities are good places to buy and rent out single family homes.

A new Realty Trac survey lists Detroit, Saginaw and Toledo among the 20 best markets in the country to own and rent single family homes. Florida cities dominate the rest of the list.

The top 20 are based on the markets with the most potential cash flow and capitalization rates on a 3-bedroom home.

Is rent affordable for Michigan's minimum wage workers? Group says 'no'

Mark Brush — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:23:08 +0000

The National Low Income Housing Coalition asked the question, "where in America can a low-wage worker afford a two bedroom apartment?"

Their answer:

"Nowhere"

That's "nowhere" assuming the renter is spending no more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs.

Ask any financial advisor and they'll tell you that's the general rule of thumb. It's called the 'housing cost burden.'

Detroit home sale prices continue to improve

Steve Carmody — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:38:40 +0000

Detroit’s real estate market posted some of the strongest price gains in the nation in 2012.

The just released S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index charts home sale prices in the nation’s twenty largest cities.

Detroit home sale prices rose more than 13 percent last year, the third highest percentage increase in the survey.

Craig Lazzara is the head of Index Investment Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices. He compiled the report. Lazzara says, despite the rise in prices, homes in Detroit are still selling for about what they did in 1997.

Michigan's home foreclosure rate has "plummeted" during the past two years

Steve Carmody — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 05:13:00 +0000

Michigan’s home foreclosure rate has "plummeted" during the past 24 months, according to a new report.

According to Realty Trac, home foreclosure activity in Michigan dropped about 23 percent last year compared to 2011 and 43 percent compared to 2010.

Daren Bloomquist is with Realty Trac. He says Michigan still has one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the nation.

Fights shut down low-income housing voucher event

The Associated Press — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 23:44:00 +0000

TAYLOR, Mich. (AP) - Fights in a line of several thousand people seeking applications to get on a waiting list for housing vouchers in a Detroit area community forced police to cancel the event.

The Taylor Housing Commission says Saturday in a release that upward of 4,000 people arrived ahead of the 9 a.m. start to get Section 8 voucher applications.

Some people began lining up Friday evening at the Taylor Human Services Building, southwest of Detroit.

The Detroit Free Press reports that four people were arrested for disorderly conduct.

Homeless Awareness Week

Kyle Norris — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 21:24:41 +0000

Homeless Awareness Week in Michigan is November 10-18. The idea is to highlight the causes of homelessness and the issues that homeless people face. There are events planned in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Port Huron, and other towns.

In Livingston County a group of people will live in their cars for 24 hours and eat only what they can buy with about $5 in food stamps, in order to raise awareness.

Report: Detroit's home foreclosure rate is moving down

Steve Carmody — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 05:00:01 +0000

Detroit’s home foreclosure rates are dropping.

Realty Trac reports Detroit now has the 39th highest home foreclosure rate in the country. That's a big change from a few years ago, when Detroit routinely ranked in the top ten.

In September, Detroit’s home foreclosure rate was at its lowest point since September, 2006.

Daren Bloomquist is with Realty Trac. He says Detroit’s foreclosure numbers are improving, but he says more than half of Wayne County homeowners are ‘underwater” on their mortgages.

Michigan's falling home foreclosure rate may reach a milestone soon

Steve Carmody — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:01:01 +0000

Michigan’s home foreclosure rate could soon reach a milestone.

A few years ago the state's foreclosure rate was near the top of the fifty state list.

But Daren Bloomquist with Realty Trac says the latest data shows Michigan is poised to drop out of the top ten, possibly by the end of the year.

"It’s still in that top ten…but it’s moving down," says Bloomquist, "(Michigan) had often been showing up in the top five over the last few years….now it’s moved down to number nine in September.”

"World's largest property auction," Wayne County finishes first round

Sarah Cwiek — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:42:58 +0000

Wayne County has finished the first round of what’s been called the "world's largest property auction."

The county is trying to get rid of more than 22,000 tax-foreclosed properties by auction. More than 20,000 of them are in Detroit.

But despite the glut of vacant properties, housing prices are headed up in certain areas of the city. Bob Dorsey is chief analytics-officer with F.N.C., which tracks housing prices nationwide every month.

"We've noticed that there are certain neighborhoods that have done extremely well, and others that have are still very flat or even declining," said Dorsey.

Dorsey said many investors see money in an expanding rental market in Detroit, and nationwide. Leaders in Detroit’s downtown and midtown areas say housing demand now out-paces supply there.

Foreclosure numbers tumble again in Michigan (but a September spike is possible)

Steve Carmody — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 05:01:01 +0000

Michigan’s home foreclosure rate continues to trend lower, but a spike in foreclosure filings may be coming this month.

August marked 22 straight months that Michigan’s year over year foreclosure numbers declined.

In fact, the number of foreclosure filings in Michigan in August fell 41 percent compared to August a year ago. Also, none of the 20 U.S. cities with the highest home foreclosure rates are located in Michigan.

But Daren Bloomquist with Realty Trac says there are signs that the trend may soon end.

Michigan's home foreclosure rate trends lower

Steve Carmody — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:44:22 +0000

Michigan’s falling home foreclosure rate reached a milestone last month.

But one analyst expects the second half of the year will see an uptick in homes being repossessed by banks.

Michigan's home foreclosure rate declines for 19th straight month

Steve Carmody — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 05:01:01 +0000

Michigan’s home foreclosure rate continues to fall dramatically.

Realty Trac reports today foreclosure filings in Michigan fell another 6% last month and are down more than 40% compared to a year ago.

“We’re getting close to now 2 years of a long-term downward trend in Michigan foreclosure activity,” says Daren Bloomquist, who is a Realty Trac vice president.