Morgan Stanley Raises $2.5 Billion for Real Estate

"April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley, seeking profits amid the decline in real estate values, raised an additional $2.5 billion for a global property fund that will invest part of its assets in U.S. mortgage debt.

About half of the new money in the Special Situations Fund III will be spent in the U.S., Spain and the U.K., as well as other developed markets in Europe and Asia, said John Carrafiell, joint global head of real estate investing for Morgan Stanley. The rest will be invested in emerging markets.

Morgan Stanley, like Blackstone Group LP and Lone Star Funds, is raising money to take advantage of a drop in asset prices following the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market. The second-biggest U.S. securities firm plans to invest $30 million to $100 million of equity per investment, mainly in commercial property assets including offices, hotels, stores and industrial buildings. "
Full Article by Hui-yong Yu


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Mortgage Applications Fall

According to a weekly survey conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage application volume fell by 14.2% for the week ending 04/18/2008. The main force driving the decrease is most likely the recent increase in interest rates. Fixed rates increased approximately 25 basis points. Refinance application volume was hit the hardest, suffering a 20% decline and purchase applications were the least affected, with a 6.4% decline.
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Altus Oklahoma New Home Builder Still Strong Dispite Housing Market
April 23, 2008
Dallas, TX (WiredPRNews.com) —

Full Article
In the onslaught of the crumbling housing market crisis that has frightened many home buyers, Sheryl Homes Inc., a new home builder in Altus, Oklahoma is not deterred and even more than that, they have expanded and rolled out a new addition of homes.

For over 25 years, Ron and Sheryl Willingham have made a living out of helping familes finally obtain they dream home they have always wanted. Sheryl Homes Inc. is one of the finest home builders in the state of Oklahoma within close proximity to Altus Air Force Base. With a strong foundation of business and real estate ventures and a keen knowledge of the area as residents, the Willinghams strive to provide top notch customer service from start to finish of the home buying process. Having recently expanded their addition called Laurel Homes 7th, the company states that buyers can enjoy “a custom home at a custom price.”

In keeping everything local, Sheryl Homes Inc derives the most value and the best price for all contractor work assuring that buyers will not have to pay inflated prices for haphazard work. According to the Sheryl Homes website, “We create ‘Quality Homes with A Personal Touch’ by using local contractors and purchasing materials locally whenever possible. Most contractors have been a part of our team for an average of five or more years, with many over 10 years of service. We use the same contractor teams on each home to ensure accuracy and consistency of quality.”

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Market Snapshot---Lawton, Oklahoma

Lawton Real Estate Market update

Active Lisings---------1046

New Construction-----147

Pending Contracts-----514

Sold in April-----------125

Months of Inventory---8.5

Avg List Price-----$122,729

Days on Market--------135

Avg Sold Price-----$119,572

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Edmond, Oklahoma in CNN Money's Top 100 Places To Live

CNNMoney.com's 100 Best Places to Live and Launch 2008---Full Article

CNNMoney.com recently ranked Edmond Oklahoma in the top 100 places to live. Cities that made the top 100 "combine a great business environment with alluring leisure offerings. We looked at economic conditions such as local taxes rates alongside natural beauty - and easy access to museums, hungry gamefish, and more." (Direct quote from article)

Edmond ranked 93rd and is the only Oklahoma city to make the list. Edmond is a relatively new community in north Oklahoma City that has some of the most luxurious new homes in Oklahoma.

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Oklahoma Real Estate--Safe Market

WASHINGTON, April 08, 2008 -

Existing-Home Sales to Stablize Before Upturn in Second Half of 2008-- Full Article from NAR Pressroom.


According to a recent forecast by the National Association of Realtors, Oklahoma Real Estate can expect steady growth in 2008. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, noted that there will continue to be wide variations in regional housing market conditions. “Some parts of the country that can expect improvement include the Northeastern region and the oil-patch states of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas,” he said.


Yun's national predictions are positive, overall. “Existing home sales could start to show a sustained increase within a few months, unless there are some additional economic problems or excessive inflationary pressure,” he said. “We’re looking for essentially stable sales in the near term, before higher mortgage loan limits translate into more sales in high-cost markets. The wider access to affordable credit should increase sales activity notably this summer as pent-up demand begins to be met.”


Existing-home sales are likely to rise from an annual pace of 4.9 million in the first quarter to 5.9 million in the fourth quarter. With relatively weak activity in the first part of the year, existing-home sales for all of 2008 are forecast at 5.39 million, increasing 6.6 percent to 5.74 million in 2009.
“Exceptionally weak home sales related to jumbo loans problems will depress home prices in the first half of the year, but steady liquidity improvements in the conforming jumbo-loan market will help prices recover in the second half of the year,” Yun said. The aggregate existing-home price will probably ease by 1.4 percent to a median of $215,800 for all of 2008 before rising 3.7 percent to $223,800 next year.


New-home sales are projected to fall 25.7 percent to 576,000 in 2008 before rising 4.6 percent to 602,000 next year. Housing starts, including multifamily units, are estimated to drop 26.3 percent to 999,000 this year, and slip another 0.5 percent to 994,000 in 2009. The median new-home price will probably fall 3.6 percent to $238,400 in 2008, and then rise 4.0 percent next year to $247,800.

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Buying in a Slow Real Estate Market---Silver Lining

Real Estate in Oklahoma covers a very wide price and value spectrum, from $1 million + homes in the Gaillardia addition in Edmond, to $25,000 "fixer-uppers" in South OKC.

Typically, during a hot market when properties are getting multiple offers and some are even contracting at above asking price, buyers tend to be a little less discriminating and spend a little less time researching the property and the neighborhood. This is fine from the seller's perspective, but here are a few issues that this can cause on the buyer's side:

Buyers will ignore or not even look for maintainence issues

Buyers will tend to offer full asking price from the start

Buyers will not be able to tell what neighborhoods typically perform better than others

From the Seller's perspective in a hot market:

Sellers usually won't accept any offer below asking price

Sellers are much more resistant to fixing things

Sellers generally won't accept extended contracts.

Now, what does all this point to?

A buyer who acquires property during a slow market:

Is much more likely to be able to get a bargain price

Has a much better chance to talk the Seller into fixing things

Is more likely to take the time to identify the items that need to be fixed in the first place

Will most likely get a more affordable Homeowner's Insurance policy

Is more likely to be able to identify neighborhoods that sell slower or faster than others.

In all, buying in a depressed market is more likely to lead to acquiring a better quality property in a better quality neighborhood that will be easier to sell later on if necessary.

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Foreclosures and Short Sales

Oklahoma real estate markets have been a lot more protected compared with many other areas of the country, but there are still many more foreclosed properties in Oklahoma than there have been in recent years. With a cooling real estate market and with rising foreclosures comes opportunity for investors to pick up investment properties at bargain prices by making use of short sales.

Basically, a short sale is the bank or mortgage company settling for less than the actual mortgage balance owed to avoid having to foreclose on the property. Foreclosure is a moderately expensive proposition for the entity that holds the mortgage note, so they are motivated to discount what is owed on the property to avoid this. In general, in a depressed real estate market, the lender will be more likely to give a larger discount just to settle the deal. The original property owner is able to get out from under the mortgage and avoid having a foreclosure go on their credit report, the bank or mortgage company is able to avoid the cost of the foreclosure process and recoup a significant percentage of the original loan, and investors are able to get a bargain property.

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Homes in Lawton, Oklahoma

Homes in Lawton, Oklahoma and Oklahoma homes for sale in general have not suffered the radical swings in value that many markets across the nation have. While homes in Lawton have experienced healthy appreciation in recent years, they have not experienced the massive upward swings that real estate markets in Denver, Miami and L.A. have. Consequently, now that the market has cooled, the Oklahoma real estate market has not plummeted, because it was not over-valued in the first place. Without a doubt, fewer new homes are being built as compared to three years ago, and loan standards are much different, but there is still a healthy volume of homes being sold in Lawton, Oklahoma City and in various other Oklahoma Real Estate markets.

Lawton is set to receive an influx of military personel being re-stationed to Fort Sill in accordance to the BRAC(Base Re-alignment and Closure) plan that Congress enacted to streamline the nation's military bases. This means that Lawton will get somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 new soldiers. While not all of them will immediately buy homes, a significant number of them will and this will provide a long anticipated booste to Lawton's housing market.

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Real Estate Resource--Lawton, Oklahoma

A valuable resource for people looking for Homes in Lawton, Oklahoma can be found online at www.liveinlawtonoklahoma.com. This site is a resource page for buyers and sellers that provides preferred Realtor information, access to current listings, access to local mortgage providers and to local insurance companies. In addition, this site provides links to Lawton Public Schools and to the City of Lawton's website, so potential buyers can research important aspects of their new city.

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Real Estate Market Snapshot--Lawton, OK

The Lawton Real Estate Market has been stable relative to many other market segments across the country. While the market in general and home values in particular are not quite what they were two years ago, Lawton has not experienced the dramatic value decreases that markets such as Denver, Miami and L.A. have.

Here is a snapshot of the Lawton Real Estate Market as of April 1st, 2008:

Active Listings------1060

New Construction----150

Pending---------------510

Sold Last Month------124

Sold Last 6 Months---745

Months of Inventory--8.5

Average List Price----$122,604

Average Sold Price----$119,461

Homes are still being sold in Lawton despite the crisis in the mortgage market, and at a fairly stable rate compared to many real estate markets.

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New Service for New Construction

Construction site cleanup can be a headache for new home builders. Any builder can tell you that a huge amount of debris is generated during the construction of a new home. A number of Oklahoma Builders are solving this problem by outsourcing to Construction Site Solutions, a new Oklahoma company that specializes in construction debris removal. Outsourcing the debris removal makes for a more efficient construction process for the Builder. Builders have found their services to be very dependable, professional and fast.



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Wrapping Realtors--24/7 Mobile Advertising Medium

Realtors usually thrive on the latest advertising trends to stay competitive in the home sales market. An increasing number of Realtors are making use of Vehicle Wraps to advertise their expertise to potential home buyers and sellers.

Vehicle decals and wraps are a very effective method for a Realtor to advertise with. With a vehicle wrap, you have a mobile billboard that goes wherever you go, turns heads, and which is always broadcasting your message, 24/7.

Locally, the best company to use for vehicle wraps is That's A Wrap Graphics. Their services are dependable, fast, and affordable and their graphics capabilites are second to none.

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Insurance Can Kill Your Loan Approval

If the homeowner's insurance premium comes in higher than the loan officer estimated, it could kill the loan approval.

Let me outline a situation that happens all too often in the loan process; the customer has been pre-approved......the titlework is done........the appraisal has come in above the purchase price......everyone is just waiting on final approval and closing instructions. Then, out of the blue there are problems. The insurance is higher than the loan officer initially estimated in the loan application.

So what?
Here is why this can be a potentially huge problem:

The loan officer can only make a somewhat educated guess as to how much the insurance premium will be.

The debt to income ratio is affected by the insurance premium and if the premium comes in higher, the underwriting decision is invalidated and has to be re-run.

Debt ratio can be a huge issue; sometimes causing an otherwise clean deal to be either turned down or put in a different pricing tier---higher rates/larger down-payment

While it is true that the insurance premium is derived in a large part from the property itself, an equally important factor in deriving premium is the individual borrower's insurance score. In other words, I'll pay a different rate than you will to insure the same exact property for the same exact amount of coverage.

Why?

My consumer history is different from yours.

My credit history is different from yours

My claims history is different from yours.

What's the point?
The point is, until the loan officer or realtor or the customer gives an insurance agent the exact customer specific and property specific information, the premium the loan officer used to get the pre-approval is a guess. Which means the debt ratio is a guess, which means the pre-approval could be meaningless.

The pre-approval process is done by the loan officer, not by an insurance agent, so there is simply no way for the LO to know the true premium. Most LO's will overestimate the premium to protect against premium swings. A truly experienced LO will ask permission to get an insurance quote as well, or instruct the borrower to obtain one BEFORE issuing a mortgage pre-approval letter and BEFORE the deal goes to contract.

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