It's a good life!  Nancy White

The timing of the ad, titled, “Think You Can’t Get a Home Loan? Well Think Again. You May Be Pleasantly Surprised.,”aligns with the recent Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, and lets consumers know that: money is available for those who meet basic requirements; affordability has improved; rates are attractive; and inventory is plentiful.

In an exclusive interview with Alex Perriello, president & CEO of the Realogy Franchise Group, he said the ads aim to educate consumers who might be at the positive tipping point on buying a home.

“We want to educate the consumer with relevant facts about today’s real estate market,” he said.  “There are a lot of positives, and we feel that reinforcing the positives will help clarify things for consumers who are on the fence what to do in today’s market.  I travel a lot to real estate offices and I hear from a lot of our agents that buyers are out there, but that they are not sure what to do.  We felt that talking openly about the opportunities may help people to see that it is a good time to get into the market, and we believe it is.”

Perriello said there are three common misconceptions consumers have about the real estate market right now: people can’t get a loan: affordability is out of reach: and consumers should wait for rates to go lower.

“I was watching a news show last week after the Federal Reserve made its second rate cut on Tuesday, and the host of the program said, ‘I don’t know if it will help because you can’t get a mortgage.’  You hear this over and over again.  We want to set the record straight on that.  If you meet very basic requirements – you have a job for the past two years, you can make the payments, you plan to live in the property and you have a credit score that suggests you are responsible, you can get a mortgage. These are all reasonable requirements.”

He added that affordability today is better that it has been in almost three years, and that interest rates are now at 40-year historic lows, so people shouldn’t wait to buy.

At the same time, the chances of a house price decline rose in almost four out of five U.S. markets, according to a report released Tuesday by mortgage insurance firm PMI Group

Dallas and Fort Worth ranked dead last in PMI Group’s latest forecast of cities with the biggest chance for a home price shakeout.

Analysts with the California-based company estimate that Dallas-Fort Worth has less than 1 percent chance of marked home price drops in the next two years.

By comparison, cities in California, Nevada and Arizona have more than an 80 percent likelihood of falling residential values.

“We’re seeing an increasingly polarized market,” PMI economist David Berson said in a news release.

“The risk that home prices will be lower in two years has increased for many of the largest cities in the nation, although areas that saw only moderate home price gains during the 2002-to-2005 period still generally have low risk of price declines,” he said.

That’s certainly the case in Dallas-Fort Worth, where home price appreciation during the last five years has been a fraction of the national average.

“Because Texas did not participate in the double-digit home price gains in the first half of the decade, it doesn’t have to take the great pain of the areas that are compensating for that now,” Mr. Berson said in an interview.

Now that the housing sector is in a slump, home values in North Texas have been relatively flat while they are falling in m any other major U.S. cities.

In 2007, the median price of homes sold through the North Texas Realtors’ multiple listing service was up 1 percent in 2006.

Texas markets-including the D-FW area – were also less affected by investors who ran up prices in some cities, Mr. Berson said.

And most Texas cities are outpacing the rest of the country in overall economics, he said.

“The state economy is doing pretty well, and job growth is above the national average,” Mr. Berson said.

“It’s quite likely Texas will be doing better than the national average for the foreseeable future,” he said.

The D-FW area has gotten high marks in the PMI risk report before.

And other national surveys show that North Texas’ housing market is outperforming those in the rest of the country.

Even so, pre-owned home sales were down about 8 percent last year, and sales of new homes fell about 17 percent in 2007.

Foreclosure rates also continue to rise.

Analysts are therefore keeping a close eye on D-FW home prices for signs of deterioration.

“I can’t argue with the PMI risk assessment, but it doesn’t mean that it still couldn’t happen – just not as likely as elsewhere,” said Dr. James Gaines, an economist with Texas A&M University’s Real Estate Center.” So far, most Texas markets are doing well.

“The metroplex probably will do well to have positive overall appreciation, but pockets within the metroplex will have a rough time for a while.”

Indeed, Mr. Berson said, the Texas housing market isn’t bulletproof.

“There are no sure things,” he said.

“It’s possible that some parts of Texas will see some declines in the near term.”

But overall, the outlook for the local housing market is good, he said.

HOW RISKY IS THE HOUSING MARKET?

Markets with the most and the least risk of a home price decline, based on price appreciation, economic growth and affordability according to PMI Group, one of the country’s largest mortgage insurance firms.  An index of 100 means there is a 100 percent chance of home prices falling in the next two years.

MOST RISKY

Riverside, Calif.                                    94

Las Vegas                                            89

Phoenix                                                83

Santa Ana, Calif.                                  81

Los Angeles                                         79

LEAST RISKY         

Fort Worth                                           Less than 1

Dallas                                                   Less than 1

Pittsburgh                                             Less than 1

Houston                                               Less than 1

San Antonio                                         Less than 1

SOURCE:PMI Group

The website is: www.housingmarketfacts.com

                   The news surrounding the mortgage industry has certainly been a topic of conversation for the past six months.  In my thirty years of being in the industry, there have been a handful of times when the industry went through a cyclical downturn.  This downturn is, for the most part, a self-inflicted scenario which was caused by irrational lending parameters.  This strategy coupled with a normal economic downturn has created the scenario we now are hearing about everyday.

                   I have found that these times serve as "barometers" for our industry.  We now find out who is serious about serving, and who were the "pretenders" who were only in it for the money.  realtors and mortgage companies who had a "short-term" vision to their approach cannot handle these times.  The sevice-oriented businesses seem to always perform as good and maybe even better during these times.  These "shakedown" periods will only make the entire real estate and mortgage industry be even stronger as we get into the middle of 2008 and beyond.

                   THE NANCY WHITE TEAM and INTEGRITY MORTGAGE CORPORATION have a strong commitment to "MAKING HOMEBUYING DREAMS COME TRUE."  Their approach to their industry coupled with their lasting partnership is evidence that they are most interested in making sure every transaction is a "WIN-WIN-WIN."