Title Wise
The New Jersey Real Estate News You Can Use
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Greetings!
Homeowner equity soared again to over $200,000 for 62% of all homeowners holding a mortgage. In addition to the increase in equity, the number of mortgages in forbearance decreased nationwide. Stimulus checks went out on March 13th, and so did the plethora of scam artists.
Please feel free to email me at ralph@counsellorstitle.com if you have any questions or would like to follow up on any of this edition's articles.
Ralph Aponte
732.914.1400
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Inventory Shrinkage Prevails
Some of the reportage on the market characterizes the inventory shrinkage as a loss of new listings, rather than the voracious buyer appetite in this historic real estate market.
In one report, the journalist indicated that they discovered there were half as many homes for sale in February 2021 as there were in February 2020. I'm not sure why this is being reported this way, but this historic collapse of available inventory is nothing new since the beginning of 2020, even reaching back into 2019. Historically, the National Association of Realtors characterizes a healthy housing market as one which has a six-month supply of homes for sale. New Jersey has not had a six-month supply statewide for over a year, and in many counties over 2 years.
What occurred in 2020 with respect to the real estate market was a classic example of the domino effect: there was an initial pullback of buyers due to the outbreak of the virus in early 2020. But by May, the effect of that virus produced a different segment of buyers in addition to those buyers who were predisposed to be buying in the spring of 2020. There was already a tranche of first-time buyers prepared to enter the market. Up until the spring of 2020, first-time buyers were not aggressively entering the market. But when interest rates took a severe downturn in terms of rates, buyers from all sectors entered into the market, seeing an opportunity to not only purchase properties with reduced interest rates but also to migrate away from densely populated regions such as New York, California and even areas in New England and Pennsylvania.
No Pullback, Inventory Shortage, Increased Costs for Building Materials
With the buying spree that occurred starting in May 2020 through the end of the year, much of the available inventory has been sold, going from a 5-month supply to less than 2-month supply in under two years.
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Stimulus Email Scams
Was anybody on the roads this past weekend? A friend of mine alerted me to the reason why there was so much extraordinary traffic all over the roads. She explained to me that the stimulus checks got deposited into people's accounts on March 13th. That meant all that "funny money" was deposited into people's pockets and they were hot to spend it. But that's not the only thing that happened.
Many of you will discover that there will be an abundance of emails coming into your inbox telling you that you've earned extra dollars and received extra resources and check . Not that you would fall for any such foolish scams but there are probably going to be millions of scam emails sent out over the next week and a half to two weeks. Tell your friends don't fall for them because I know you won't.
There are even some reports of people receiving a debit card worth the amount of the stimulus check but it's always a good idea to confirm that it is a legitimate card from the government.
Just make sure there are two ways that the government is going to pass along those checks to you: either by direct deposit or by snail mail. Whatever you do, don't even bother opening up those emails. The scammers will see that you were interested and they'll continue to send emails, hoping that you'll fall for one of their ploys. Don't do it.
Masks aren't the only thing you need to stay safe in this pandemic season... a bit of common sense goes a very long way.
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Homeowner Equity Rises Over $1 Trillion
Year-over-year, US homeowner equity increased by over $1.5 trillion since the fourth quarter of 2019. This represents a 16.2% increase from the prior period. The increase in homeowner equity affected approximately 62% of all US properties.
Across the country, home prices have increased primarily by double digits and on average 9.2% domestically. This boosted the average home price to well over $300,000. The increase in home prices had a reciprocal effect of increasing the average homeowner equity, with those who were holding a mortgage to over $200,000, according to CoreLogic. In addition the surge of building, which includes home remodeling, also increased equity in homes across the nation.
Concomitantly, negative equity fell in the fourth quarter of 2020 by 8% from the third quarter of 2020, or 2.8% of all mortgaged properties. On an annual basis, negative equity across the country fell by 21%.
According to CoreLogic, the national aggregate value of negative equity was calculated to be $280.2 billion at the end of Q4 2020. This represents a decrease of $3.4 billion or 1.2% from the $283.6 billion in the third quarter of 2020.
In context, this represents a stark contrast to when negative equity hit 26% of all mortgaged properties in the United States back in Q4 2009.
Despite the pandemic, the US homeowner gained $26,300 on average in homeowner equity over the last 12 months.
Ironically, California, Idaho and Washington state all reported the largest increases in homeowner equity.
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Get This Month's Free Rental Planner Spreadsheet |
Rental Income Planner in Excel Spreadsheet
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A.S.A.P. Attorney Settlement Assistance Program
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Our real estate secretarial services are able to assist you in every aspect of the sale, purchase, refinance or loan closing process. We will directly communicate with all the parties involved in the transaction and coordinate and obtain all the items necessary to bring the matter to closing.
Our ASAP services can be individually customized to fit your needs. These services include:
- Documentation Preparation
- Disbursement of Funds
- Attendance at Closing
- HUD Preparation or
- Post-Closing Matters
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Our Commitment to Excellence |
Counsellors Title Agency wants to thank you for the opportunity to work with you and your clients to grow your business. Please feel free to click the link above or here to leave us a review on Google. We appreciate your business. |
Sales: Leading NJ title insurance agency seeks experienced licensed salespersons to help expand its market share throughout the entire state. Benefits include health insurance, 401k with an employer match, flexible spending account, expense account, & marketing support. Send resumes by fax: 732-914-8898 or ralph@counsellorstitle.com
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Free Online Title Insurance Calculator |
Counsellors Title Agency announced its updated Title Calculator for New Jersey home purchases & refinances at: Title Calculator
Loan officers, real estate agents and home buyers can find out how much title insurance will cost for purchases made in New Jersey.
Easy-To-Use Functionality
This online tool includes many of the endorsements involved in calculating the cost of a title policy in New Jersey. CTA's Title Calculator is a great tool for real estate salespersons, loan officers, attorneys and those who are buying or refinancing their home.
It calculates the cost of title insurance based upon the purchase price of the home, the loan amount, and the various endorsements that can accompany the loan. The calculator provides the user the scalability of selecting the various endorsements involved in the transaction.
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Handy Guide to Real Estate Sources |
Here are some of the most widely used governmental websites for the real estate industry.
I look forward to being of service to you, providing you with outstanding real-time information and some humor to make doing business a pleasure.
Sincerely,
Ralph
Ralph Aponte
Counsellors Title
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Counsellors Title Agency, Inc. specializes in providing title insurance, title search services and loan closing services serving attorneys, Realtors, banks and various mortgage companies throughout the State of New Jersey. CTA offers full search and insurance capabilities within all 21 counties of New Jersey for commercial, residential and new construction purchases in our Toms River, Freehold, Chatham, and Union locations.
CTA is equipped with the latest digital technologies to ensure a complete and timely transaction.
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Mr. Ralph Aponte
Our Office: 504 Hooper Avenue,
Toms River, NJ 08753
Phone Number: (732) 914-1400
Fax: 732-914-8898
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