This Week in (Greater Phoenix) Real Estate 10/12/2020

In this 20 minute video, Amber Kovarik and I discuss the latest on housing, lending, and the economy. We go into detail on forbearance, obstacles when purchasing after leaving a forbearance program, helping buyers get their offers accepted, delinquencies, unemployment, and supply & demand in real estate. Greater Phoenix has had a 17% appreciation over the past 12 months!

Delinquencies:

• The national non-current (the combination of delinquent and in foreclosure) is 7.2%
• AZ non-current rate is 5.7%. We have the 12^th best rate in the country. Idaho has the lowest non-current rate at 3.8% and Mississippi has the highest non-current rate at 11.7%. (Black Knight)
• 30-day delinquencies dropped in Q2 2020 indicating new delinquencies may have peaked. (Elliot Eisenberg)
• Through September 22, 88.9% of mortgages were paid, up from 88.6% in August. (Black Knight)

Exiting Forbearance:

In order for a borrower to leave forbearance they have to make 3 consecutive payments and come up with a plan with their servicer or lender on how they will pay back the forborne amount that was deferred while they were in forbearance. One thing that is very important for everyone to know is that forborne payments will be repaid, they are not forgiven.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently clarified that if a borrower missed a mortgage payment while in forbearance and did not make 3 timely, consecutive payments post-forbearance they are NOT eligible for new financing whether it is for a new purchase or refinance until 3 consecutive, timely, payments are made.

There are a number of ways a borrower can leave forbearance, not all of them require the owner to sell their property. Some of these options include:

• Utilizing a 401K in one of two ways.
  • Individuals are allowed to borrow from their 401K with the option of paying themselves back with interest, since it is a loan being paid back – essentially paying yourself back there are no penalties. Talk to your 401K administrator for details.
  • Through provisions of the CARES act an individual can also withdraw an amount of their 401K with no penalties. Again, talk to your 401K administrator for details.
• Permanent loan modification or refinance, after making 3 payments in a row, to something that allows borrowers to stay. Some scenarios include adding the forborne amount at the end of the loan, some pay a lump sum to get caught up, some offer payment plans to get caught back up.
• Rentals are in high demand with quickly appreciating values. What about moving out of the property and renting it out to make up the difference in payments.
• Sell and buy something more affordable, after 3 payments in a row have been made. Pay off the loan and get a new loan with more agreeable terms.
• Sell, pay off the loan and forborne amount and rent or move in with family.

Resources:

• Rental assistance is available through the Arizona Department of Housing website at https://www.saveourhomeaz.gov/self-assessment/
• The CFPB, FHFA, HUD, VA and USDA created a joint effort mortgage and rental assistance platform, for more information visit https://www.consumerfinance.gov/coronavirus/mortgage-and-housing-assistance/

Unemployment:

September’s numbers came out last Friday showing that our economy added 661,000 jobs. This was below expectations. They did revise up the total of new jobs from August though. The unemployment rate is now 7.9% and we have made up 11.5 million of the 22 million jobs lost, which is over 50%. (US Department of Labor)

Please share this with your colleagues and clients.

Copyright 2020 by Sarah Perkins