Developers to Bring on New Lots in 2013 in The Pikes Peak Region

Published by The Colorado Springs Business Journal | December 27 2012 | Written by Amanda Miller

New home construction heated up in 2012 and most in the industry expect that the building will continue into 2013.

The Pikes Peak Regional Building Department issued 2,022 single-family building permits in the first 10 months of the year. There were more single-family permits issued in El Paso County this year than in any other county in the state, according to a report from the Colorado Division of Housing. El Paso and Douglas counties accounted for a third of the 9,261 single-family building permits issued in the state through October.

It was a great year for Colorado Springs homebuilders, said John Bissett, CEO of JM Weston Homes and new president of the Colorado Springs Housing and Building Association.

“It was about 50 percent better than 2011,” Bissett said.

New home construction has been up across the country, he said, and it seems like the increased activity will continue, though 2013 is unlikely to climb another 50 percent ahead of 2012.

“The buying public has been sitting on the sidelines long enough,” Bissett said.

He said there has been pent-up demand and people are now coming out to buy new homes. Bissett said most of the activity has been in the lower and mid-range homes priced less than $300,000. That’s likely to continue, though Bissett said there could be increased interest in higher-priced homes as the market continues to improve.

“What you’ll see in 2013 that you haven’t seen for years will be developers working on bringing more lots online,” Bissett said.

He says it will start with Cordera, a luxury development on the northeast end of town, which is preparing to bring new lots online early in the new year. While developers will be finishing more lots, Bissett said he doesn’t expect to see developers breaking ground on any new communities in 2013.

“Developers are still pretty constrained in terms of obtaining financing,” Bissett said.

Read more on CSBJ.com: http://csbj.com/2012/12/27/developers-to-bring-on-new-lots-in-2013/

Gazette: COSprings Foreclosure Picture Continues to Brighten

Published by The Gazette | December 21 2012 | Written by Rich Laden

Colorado Springs-area foreclosure activity declined again in October — the latest in a series of positive signs for the local single-family housing market, a national report showed Thursday.

The Springs-area foreclosure rate — measured by the percentage of properties in some state of foreclosure — fell to 1.16 percent in October from 1.53 percent during the same month last year, according to CoreLogic, a California-based housing research firm. The local foreclosure rate has seen year-over-year declines each month since April 2011, the report showed.

Meanwhile, the percentage of properties with mortgages that were delinquent for 90 days or longer fell to 3.62 percent in October from 4.11 percent a year earlier. The delinquent rate also has been in a steady decline for much of the past two years.

“It’s on a track heading in the right direction,” said Joe Clement, owner of Re/Max Properties in Colorado Springs. “Now, is it going to stay that way? I don’t know.”

While foreclosure activity has waned, and home construction, sales and prices all have improved for much of 2012, Clement said he worries that federal spending cuts could lead to layoffs in the local defense industry. Likewise, he wonders if some employers will reduce payrolls to avoid mandates in the nation’s federal health care law.

Fewer jobs for a local economy where the unemployment has been above 9 percent for months will only hurt gains made this year in housing, Clement said.

“It seems like it’s on the mend, but I don’t think we’re fixed,” Clement said of the single-family housing market. “There are too many question marks about 2013.”

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/springs-148796-foreclosure-continues.html#ixzz2FizETA1a

NAR: More Real Estate Pros Optimistic About Home Values

Published by RealtorMag | December 18 2012 | In The Daily Real Estate News Section

More real estate professionals are optimistic about the direction of home prices, according to a fourth-quarter survey by HomeGain of more than 200 practitioners and brokers. 

Sixty-five percent of real estate professionals say they expect home values to rise in the next six months, up from 51 percent in the previous quarter.  In the fourth quarter of 2011, only 15 percent of practitioners said they expected home prices to rise. 

“We are seeing a continued increase in optimism about the direction of home prices,” says Louis Cammarosano, general manager of HomeGain. “Real estate agents expect the recent pick up in the real estate market to continue in the coming two years.”

Indeed, the optimism in home values increases even more the further the outlook: Seventy-nine percent of real estate professionals and 62 percent of home owners say home values will likely increase in the next two years, according to the survey. Eleven percent of real estate practitioners say they expect home values to fall in the next six months. 

Here are the 10 states where real estate professionals are most confident about rising home prices over the next six months: 

1. Idaho
2. Michigan
3. Arizona
4. Texas
5. Indiana
6. California
7. Florida
8. Virginia
9. North Carolina
10. Colorado

The following are the top states where homeowner confidence about home values over the next six months is highest: 

1. Arizona
2. Nevada
3. Texas
4. Colorado
5. Wisconsin
6. Washington
7. Michigan
8. Virginia
9. Massachusetts
10. Tennessee

Read more at: http://ow.ly/gcKHB

Gazette: Home Inventory Businesses Spring up After Waldo Canyon Fire

Published by The Gazette | December 16 2012 | Written by Rich Laden

MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE 

Pete Vieth measures a coffee table while Carrie Mitchell enters information on a laptop while documenting items Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, in a home in northeast Colorado Springs. The two are owners of Together We Stand Home Inventory.

Insurance companies have warned homeowners for years: Make an accurate record of your household contents, and keep it in a safe place in case of an emergency.

The advice has taken on special meaning for Colorado Springs-area residents after the Waldo Canyon fire destroyed nearly 350 Mountain Shadows homes in late June. Some residents of the northwest side neighborhood have spent months battling insurance companies to obtain satisfactory settlements.

The amount received in such settlements hinges, in large part, on what kind of information homeowners can provide to document the value of their contents. And insurance companies want detailed proof of value, not homeowners’ misty-eyed recollections of the items they lost.

That’s why at least two home inventory companies recently were launched in Colorado Springs, part of a growing industry that offers to record and document household contents for a price. In spite of the Waldo Canyon fire’s harsh reality, and warnings from the insurance industry, assembling inventories remains one of those chores that many busy homeowners put off.

“Their intentions are there, but it’s very, very time consuming,” Carrie Mitchell, owner of Together We Stand Home Inventory and Asset Management Group, said of homeowners.
Mitchell, who owned rental properties in Manitou Springs at the time of the fire, had tenants who were evacuated from their residences; she also had friends who were evacuated and stayed at her home. She and her partner in the company, Springs businessman Pete Vieth, had friends who lost everything.

In volunteering with Colorado Springs Together, the nonprofit assistance group that formed after the fire, Mitchell and Vieth talked with several fire victims, most of whom had failed to put together home inventories. They also heard harrowing testimonials from residents who suddenly had 15 minutes to evacuate as the fire approached.

“They spent the 15 minutes snapping pictures (of household contents) and video taping in a panic,” Vieth said.

The pair researched the home inventory industry over the next few months, spent hours talking with insurance company representatives and estate planners and conducted pilot home inventories. They did their first inventory in October.

Together We Stand uses digital photography and a software program to document a home’s contents — taking photos of appliances, electronics, furniture, jewelry, firearms, antiques and coin collections, among other items, while entering detailed descriptions of each item into a computer software program. Inventories start at $349, average about $500 and the final cost depends on how time they spend at a home and how detailed a homeowner wants to get..

“What we’ve learned from the insurance industry is that values that are done based on the homeowner’s self valuation are meaningless to insurance companies,” Vieth said. “What’s important to insurance companies is the photographs, the detail and documentation.”

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/companies-148508-insurance-homeowners.html#ixzz2FKSWCTIL

CNNMoney: There's a Home Price Recovery… but it's Really, Really Slow

Published by CNN Money | December 5 2012 | Written by Les Christie

...If Congress can't agree on a fiscal cliff deal, a recession is likely, and that would hit the housing recovery hard.

Photo: Forstein Blackwood APP / Getty Images

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Just about everybody agrees that the housing market is finally recovering -- but don't expect big price gains.

Nearly two-thirds of the nation's housing markets will see price declines for the year through next June, according to analytics firm Fiserv (FISV). Overall, the gains will be just 0.3%.

One big factor that could weigh on prices: The fiscal cliff.

If Congress can't agree on a deal to halt a series of tax increases and spending cuts, a recession is likely, and that would hit the housing recovery hard.

In addition, if the Bush-era tax cut on capital gains is allowed to expire -- allowing the rate to increase to 20% from 15% on Jan. 1 -- it would take a significant bite out of the profits high-end sellers would realize and give them less to spend on buying a new home, said Celia Chen, an economist and housing market analyst for Moody's Analytics.

"Even people who do have the resources to buy homes will be more nervous," she said.

But even if we avoid the fiscal cliff, there are other factors weighing on home prices.

In order to raise more tax revenue, Congress is considering putting a cap on the mortgage interest tax deduction, a key tax break aimed at encouraging homeownership -- mainly among the upper-middle class.

Most of the benefit of this deduction goes to wealthier households. Mortgage borrowers with incomes of $250,000 or more realize an average annual tax savings of $5,460, according to the Tax Policy Center. Meanwhile, those making less than $40,000 a year, save just $91.

Capping the deduction would discourage buyers from buying bigger, more expensive homes, said Chen.

But it's not just the high-end of the market that could get squeezed.

With Congress distracted by the fiscal cliff, there is a real chance that the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act of 2007 could expire come January 1. If the act were to lapse, struggling homeowners will have to start paying income taxes on the portion of their mortgage that is forgiven in a foreclosure, short sale or principal reduction.

That means homeowners will be on the hook for thousands of dollars in taxes that they likely can't afford. That will force more people who could have sought a less damaging alternative, like a short sale, to choose foreclosure instead.

Fiserv's estimates assume that about half of the fiscal cliff tax hikes and spending cuts will occur, said Stiff. The forecast does not take into account any change to the mortgage interest deduction. Should that deduction expire, Stiff said home prices might be even weaker over the short-term.

Home prices: Biggest winners and losers

These cities will see the biggest swings in home prices through the 12 months ending June 30, 2013, according to Fiserv's estimates.

City	Forecast change
Medford, Ore.	8.7%
Yuma, Ariz	6.2%
Syracuse, N.Y.	5.2%
Hagerstown, Md.	5.2%
Pittsfield, Ma	4.9%
Naples, Fla.	-7.6%
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.	-7%
Orlando, Fla.	-6.9%
San Jose, Calif.	-5.9%
Phoenix	-5.8%

Source: Fiserv

Fiserv expects home prices to start heating up again next fall. Between June 2013 and 2014, it expects prices to climb 3.4% and to continue to grow at an annual rate of about 3.3% over the five years through June 2017. 

To read more and see a video on CNNMoney about the affect of the fiscal cliff on the housing market, click here: http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/05/real_estate/housing-home-prices/index.html?section=money_realestate&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_realestate+%28Real+Estate%29

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