The game is a promotional gimmick for a new company that passes agents and mortgage brokers, and markets directly to consumers.

In-Deed, the new company, a “conveyance service,” claimed in a news release that from September to November last year some 531,000 sales fell through i, compared with 394,000 for the three months from December 2010 to February 2011. The firm claimed that in the last six months of 2011 it was more likely that a transaction would fail than succeed.

In-Deed said the failed transactions cost buyers an average of £5,500. As a result, the number of buyers who give up on purchasing after the first try more than doubled last year. Difficulties securing mortgage finance is a key factor, seriously aggravated by declining service standards among property professionals, according to the firm’s research. Legal issues were the culprit in one in eight cases (12 percent) with reports of incompetence, delays and mistakes by solicitors, and anger with the legal profession.

“Angry Buyers is a new online game where players can let off steam by firing estate agents and property lawyers out of a cannon for the chance to win their rent or mortgage paid for six months.,” Phil Spencer, a British television personality and property expert who has signed on with In-Deed. “With mortgage finance harder than ever to secure and poor service standards rife in estate agency and conveyancing, it’s no surprise that home buying is such a frustrating process.

To play the Angry Buyers game, visit http://www.in-deed.net/angry_buyers.

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Though it doesn’t cover quite cover the entire country, it still reports foreclosure cats from some 2200 counties. Obtaining, assembling and displaying that data is an expensive undertaking because it must access a variety of sources other than multiple listing services, which list fewer than 20 percent of foreclosures are listed. No one else comes close to the combination of coverage and credibility that has made RealtyTrac a household word in the past five years.

Like many subscription-based Web sites in the housing sector, times have not been good for RT. It has been cutting costs and personnel, and several months ago parted ways with its long-time public relations firm, Atomic Public Relations. The recent departure of Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s highly effective spokesman, added to the impression, whether true or not, that times are tough.

In fact, times will soon get even tougher in the foreclosure business. Though it’s hard to tell from today’s depressed home prices and still-healthy foreclosure inventories, delinquencies and defaults are down significantly on a year-over-year basis and will continue to decline barring another downturn in the economy. Tougher lending standards that were put in place beginning in 2007 are creating a growing pool of lower risk mortgages and borrowers less likely to default. Someday within the next several years, the Foreclosure Era will wind down. Never again should foreclosures reach the level of a million or more a year that we are still enduring.

In its news release yesterday, the new owner, Renovo Capital LLC, promised to provide the capital necessary to fund growth, nurture expansion into untapped areas of the market, and continue the company’s mission of dramatically improving the overall experience of transacting real estate.

“Moving forward, RealtyTrac will focus on expanding its data collection capabilities and footprint while constantly improving the user experience on the nation’s leading foreclosure website, www.realtytrac.com, and developing innovative new products to enhance RealtyTrac’s value proposition for individuals, investors and real estate professionals,” said the announcement.

These are excellent goals. We hope the new management’s priority list also includes a commitment to continue the special role RealtyTrac has played educating the nation about the foreclosure crisis. For a period several years, if not more, foreclosures will continue to play a major, though diminishing role, in the real estate economy. As much as ever, we will need RealtyTrac to help us through it.

That’s a 66 percent increase for independents in just one quarter.

“Contrary to overall MBA industry data in which estimated production volume declined, the average firm in our study of independents and subsidiaries experienced volume growth. The firms in our study were able to more quickly adjust to a purchase-focused mortgage market environment after a significantly refi-heavy fourth quarter of 2010,” said Marina Walsh, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Industry Analysis.

Walsh continued, “At the same time, secondary marketing gains improved as spreads between ten-year Treasuries and 30-year mortgage rates began to widen towards the end of the second quarter.”

Among the other key findings of MBA’s Quarterly Mortgage Bankers Performance Report are:

• Average production volume was $174 million per company in the second quarter of 2011, up from $164 million per company in the first quarter of 2011. The MBA estimate for overall quarterly industry origination volume was $290 billion in the second quarter of 2011, down from $302 billion in the first quarter of 2011.
• The refinance share of total originations, by dollar volume, for this sample of independent mortgage banks and subsidiaries was 36 percent in the second quarter of 2011, compared to 50 percent in the first quarter of 2011. The MBA estimate for overall industry refinancing share was 62 percent in the second quarter of 2011, down from 65 percent in the first quarter of 2011.
• The government share of total originations, by dollar volume, for this sample of independent mortgage banks and subsidiaries was 41 percent in the second quarter of 2011, compared to 37 percent in the first quarter of 2011. Average borrower FICO scores dropped to 729 in the second quarter of 2011 from 733 in the first quarter of 2011 and 737 in the fourth quarter of 2010.
• Average loan balances remained relatively constant at $197,039 in the second quarter of 2011, from $196,456 in the first quarter of 2011. However, on a repeater-company basis, average loan balances dropped to $195,347 in the second quarter from $198,590 in the first quarter.
• Measured in basis points, secondary marketing gains increased to 210 basis points in the second quarter of 2011, compared to 201 basis points in the first quarter of 2011. Secondary marketing gains rose to $4,006 per loan in the second quarter of 2011, from $3,827 per loan in the first quarter of 2011.

• Personnel expense slightly decreased to $3,561 per loan in the second quarter of 2011, compared to $3,640 per loan in the first quarter of 2011.
• Total production operating expenses - commissions, compensation, occupancy and equipment and other production expenses and corporate allocations - dropped to $5,644 per loan in the second quarter of 2011, compared to $5,837 per loan in the first quarter of 2011.”
• The “net cost to originate” slightly decreased to $3,513 per loan in the second quarter of 2011, from $3,540 per loan in the first quarter of 2011. The “net cost to originate” includes all production operating expenses and commissions minus all fee income, but excludes secondary marketing gains, capitalized servicing, servicing released premiums and warehouse interest spread.
• 70 percent of the firms in the study posted pre-tax net financial profits in the second quarter of 2011, compared to 63 percent in the first quarter of 2011.

Over 71 percent of the 310 companies that reported production data for the second quarter report were independent mortgage companies.

Real Estate Economy Watch Launches Today

New Site Tracks the Real Estate Economy

Washington, DC May 12, 2009- Reecon Advisors, Inc., an independent real estate economics and information company, today launched Real Estate Economy Watch (realestateconomywatch.com), a new Web site providing insight and intelligence on the residential real estate economy, property values and housing markets.

The site delivers more analysis, fresher insight, expanded data, and more timely commentary than was possible in the weekly Reecon Advisory Report, which the site replaces. Unlike the weekly publication, basic content on the Web site is available at no cost.  Real estate brokers, agents, home builders, mortgage lenders, property investors and other real estate professionals will find a wealth of information they can use, including real estate trends, the housing crisis, real estate investment, foreclosures, real estate consumers, economic indicators and indicators of the real estate recovery.

“Never has it been more challenging and more critical to understand the factors shaping the residential real estate markets.   Real Estate Economy Watch is designed to help real estate professionals, investors and consumers identify signs of recovery in the residential markets so that they can anticipate challenges and take advantage of opportunities,” said David Lereah, president of Reecon Advisors. The company was co-founded by David Lereah, former chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the Mortgage Bankers Association of America (MBA), and Steve Cook, a public relations professional, journalist and former NAR executive. Real Estate Economy Watch contains:

• Market Commentary. David Lereah offers his insights on the residential real estate marketplace, including how overall economic conditions, government crisis polices and the latest market developments affect real estate sales and property values;
• Real Estate Trends. The latest developments within the industry affecting values, sales and markets;
• Recovery Watch. Monitoring the recovery with the latest data, analysis and market insight;
• Housing Crisis. The latest from Washington on the economic  and housing crises and initiatives to address it;
• Foreclosure Situation. Insights into what to expect on the foreclosure front as the market struggles to recover;
• Investment Watch. Monitoring property investment activity and identifying local markets where opportunities exist;
• Consumer Watch. Analysis of consumer confidence and buying patterns in the residential markets;
• Indicators. An analysis of the most vital and current real estate and economic data compiled for easy reference; and
• Real Estate 101. Some basic lessons on how the real estate marketplace works.

Real Estate Economic Watch is published by Reecon Advisors, Inc., an independent real estate economy and information company providing insight, analysis and intelligence for the residential real estate marketplace.

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