Evan and Richard of The Matteson Group review and discuss August 9-15th, 2010 in the real estate market in the Rockwall and Heath Texas areas.
Current Properties for Sale: 666 homes
Sales: 18
Sale Price to List Price: 94%
Average Days on Market: 85 days
Number of Showings: 420

For more info:
www.TheMattesonGroup.com
Coldwell Banker Apex, Realtors
214.405.3640
Your trusted real estate advisors providing a joy filled experience!
Tags: august 9-15 2010, heath texas, real estate update, rockwall texas
Dallas’ 75201 ZIP code includes the snazzy Arts District, some of the city’s tallest skyscrapers and a chunk of fashionable Uptown.
The area is also ground zero for North Texas mortgage fraud.
From 2005 to 2009, more than 13 percent of the home mortgages made in 75201 turned out to be fraudulent, according to a study done for The Dallas Morning News by researchers at CoreLogic.
In most cases, the fraud came when folks buying pricey condos lied about their income or identity. Or investors claimed they were going to live in the units when they really had no such plans.
Either way, it was illegal. And surprisingly common.
Almost a quarter of the homes foreclosed across the country in recent years show evidence of loan fraud. Other common tactics have included lying about employment, hiding debts or faking assets.
Besides central Dallas, the other hot spots for home loan shenanigans that CoreLogic found include the Fair Park area (75210), sections of South Dallas (75203 and 75216), the Collin County suburb of Prosper (75078) and far southeast Dallas (75253).
It shouldn’t be surprising that a number of buyers of high-rise condos in Uptown and downtown fibbed about how much money they earned.
And a significant number of the luxury condo acquisitions were made by investors who never moved into the units.
For all the D-FW area, CoreLogic estimates that less than a quarter of a percent of the home loans made during the five-year period were fraudulent. That works out to about 22 cents for every $100 in loans.
Compare that with the national average of 0.55 percent, or 55 cents out of $100, and the D-FW area looks pretty good.
And it’s chicken feed compared with Orlando, Fla., Miami, Atlanta and Detroit, where the rate of mortgage shams was more than three times the national average.
No Texas cities made CoreLogic’s list of the top 20 U.S. locations for home loan fraud.
Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, California and Georgia were the highest-ranking states for fraudulent mortgages.
To come up with its nationwide report, CoreLogic analyzed representative data from 80 million loan applications made from 2005 through 2009.
Researchers for the California-based housing data firm say mortgage fraud peaked in 2007.
At that time, almost 27 percent of the loans made in Dallas’ 75201 ZIP code were crooked. That was also the peak of the local home market.
“Our 2010 fraud index indicates that mortgage fraud risk is on the decline,” said CoreLogic senior vice president Tim Grace. “But with an estimated $14 billion in fraud losses experienced in 2009 alone, fraud is still a major issue for the mortgage industry.
“While the industry has done good work, there is evidence that fraud patterns are changing and becoming increasingly better hidden.”
But those shady home loans are hard to hide when they eventually wind up on the courthouse steps at foreclosure auction.
| Mortgage fraud hotspots | ||
| Ranked by the percentage of home loans with fraud, based on all mortgages made from 2005 to 2009: | ||
| ZIP code | City Fraudulent loans | |
| 75201 | Dallas | 13.04% |
| 75210 | Dallas | 3.08% |
| 75203 | Dallas | 1.32% |
| 75078 | Prosper | 1.18% |
| 75216 | Dallas | 0.99% |
| 75253 | Dallas | 0.97% |
| 76205 | Denton | 0.85% |
| 75224 | Dallas | 0.78% |
| 75244 | Dallas | 0.75% |
| 76259 | Ponder | 0.70% |
| D-FW area | 0.22% | |
| U.S. | 0.55% | |
| SOURCE: CoreLogic |
Source: Dallas Morning News
Tags: 752010, mortgage fraud, north texas
D-FW was one of 100 U.S. metropolitan areas that saw improved home prices from a year earlier, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. Median home sales prices in the area rose 2.1 percent in the second quarter from the same period the previous year, the Realtors said. That beat the nationwide increase of 1.5 percent.
And it was more than double North Texas’ first-quarter gain. Almost two-thirds of the U.S. markets that the Realtors track had year-over-year price rises at midyear. But analysts aren’t overselling the latest numbers, which are compared with the depths of the housing shakeout in 2009. “The recorded home prices in many markets were significantly depressed last year because of a large percentage of distressed homes sold at discount,” said Realtor economist Lawrence Yun.
“Now as more normal, nondistressed home sales are occurring, the median price in many areas is showing higher values,” he said. Sales of distressed homes still account for almost a third of U.S. purchases nationwide, according to the Realtors. An increase in the number of sales of higher-priced homes in some markets may also increase the median price, Yun said.
In the Dallas area, sales of homes in affluent neighborhoods are up sharply this year. Nationwide, prices were up for the first time since 2006 in the closely watched report. Some of the biggest second-quarter price increases were in California, which in recent years suffered huge residential value declines. Prices were up 36 percent in San Jose, 25 percent in San Francisco and 17.8 percent in Riverside. Prices were still falling in more than 50 areas, including Cumberland, Md., -15.4 percent, and Tucson, Ariz., -13.7 percent.
The D-FW area had the best quarter price performance among major Texas markets. Prices were up 1.3 percent in the Austin area. But median home sales prices fell 1 percent in Houston and were down 3.2 percent in San Antonio.
EXISTING HOME PRICE CHANGES
| Home prices in North Texas were up 2.1 percent in the second quarter of 2010 compared with a 1.5 percent nationwide increase. Median home price for each city for second quarter of 2010 and the percentage change from the same quarter of previous year. | ||
| BIGGEST INCREASES | ||
| Akron, Ohio | $119,700 | 36% |
| San Jose, Calif. | $630,000 | 26% |
| San Francisco | $591,200 | 25% |
| LARGEST DECLINES | ||
| Cumberland, Md. | $104,500 | -15.4% |
| Tucson, Ariz. | $150,200 | -13.7% |
| Beaumont, Texas | $120,700 | -12.9% |
| U.S. Median | $176,900 | 1.5% |
| MAJOR TEXAS CITIES | ||
| Austin | $196,600 | 1.3% |
| Corpus Christi | $135,500 | 1.6% |
| Dallas-Fort Worth | $134,700 | 2.1% |
| El Paso | $133,800 | 1.5% |
| Houston | $155,900 | -1% |
| San Antonio | $148,200 | -3.2% |
| SOURCE: National Association of Realtors | ||





Source: Dallas Morning News, NAR, MetroTex
Tags: Dallas Metroplex Housing Market, strong real estate market, strong texas economy
Evan and Richard of The Matteson Group review and discuss July 2010 in the real estate market in the Rockwall and Heath Texas areas.
Current Properties for Sale: 656 homes
Sales: 62
Sale Price to List Price: 95%
Average Days on Market: 93 days
Type of Market: Under $150k – Sellers | Over $150k – Buyers

For more info:
www.TheMattesonGroup.com
Coldwell Banker Apex, Realtors
214.405.3640
Your trusted real estate advisors providing a joy filled experience!
Tags: heath texas, july 2010 review, real estate update, rockwall texas
Recent Comments