Brodie Stephens- Broker Associate Selling Homes in Folsom | Placerville | Pollock Pines | El Dorado Hills | Elk Grove | Roseville | Rocklin

Mercury News

The most likely first-time homeowners, young professionals and couples starting a family, won’t buy these days.  Or they can’t.  Or they already did during the housing boom.  And their absence helps explain why the housing industry is still depressed.

Read the full story
http://www.mercurynews.com/real-estate/ci_19440876

Two of the nation’s biggest lenders, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, are quietly modifying loans for tens of thousands of borrowers who have not asked for help but whom the banks deem to be at special risk.

Read the full story
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/business/03loans.html?_r=1&ref=realestate

By Darrell Smith
dvsmith@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Mar. 28, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 5B
Health care providers dominated the local list of employers with the most job advertisements in February, while registered nurses topped in-demand postings, according to new data from the state’s Employment Development Department.

Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health and Kaiser-Northern California held the top three spots, and Catholic Healthcare West and Health Net also dotted the top 10. Kaiser Permanente led the way with 259 ads.

Wells Fargo, Hewlett-Packard, staffing firms Allegis Group and Aerotek, and Blockbuster also made the list.

The EDD data showed registered nurses were most in demand, with 838 ads posted, followed by retail sales staff (407); supervisors and retail managers (364); customer service representatives (296); and computer systems analysts (284).

The numbers appear to back up recent employment trends and come as the state finally received welcome news on the job front.

California added 96,500 jobs in February, the largest single-month gain in 21 years, causing the state’s jobless rate to drop from 12.4 percent to 12.2 percent, according to state employment officials.

Sacramento payrolls added a more modest 1,400 jobs in February as the unemployment rate fell from 12.9 percent to 12.6 percent.

Health care hiring began picking up steam in late 2010 and the EDD report suggests that firms in the sector are making good on their hiring expectations.

Temporary hiring also remains strong as employers gear up for new projects; or remain wary of investing in full-time workers.

In total, about 40,000 job ads were posted in the Sacramento metropolitan area, officials said in the report.

The report, by the EDD’s Labor Market Information Division, and compiled by Help Wanted Online from the Conference Board and employment data provider Wanted Technologies, debuted Friday.
Employers filling jobs

Local employers appear to be coming through on promises of hiring, with one in three hiring to add staff and nearly 60 percent planning to hire in the second quarter, according to Sacramento employment firm Pacific Staffing.

The quarterly report on employment trends by Pacific Staffing released last week show that the hiring plans are nearly evenly split between hiring to replace current jobs and hiring that increases the workforce, said Rick Reed, a local market analyst who prepares the survey.

Employees appear more confident early in 2011, according to the survey. Four in 10 employers surveyed said they are concerned about retaining core employees.

Meanwhile, 21 percent of employers said they lost workers to other firms that offered more money. And one in three say workers are asking for raises as the economy begins to improve.

Even with signs that the regional economy is starting to pick up steam, a full 41 percent of companies surveyed said they do not plan to hire in the next three months.
Job Seekers group meets

Active Job Seekers of America’s Auburn networking group meets 8:40 a.m. to 9:40 a.m. Tuesday at Auburn Connections, 1919 Grass Valley Highway, Suite 10.

The weekly meeting provides networking, employment opportunities and support. Groups also meet in Folsom and Roseville.

For more information, visit www. activejobseekers.org.
Job-hunting questions?

Ask Terri Carpenter, one of our “Ask the Experts” writers who can answer your questions online.

As a veteran career counselor at the Sacramento Employment Training Agency, Carpenter has plenty of expertise in résumé writing, job-skills training and career counseling.

To post your question or to view some of her advice to other job seekers, go to: www.sacbee.com/ask.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

On October 1st, a new “Principal Reduction Alternative” (PRA) was added to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) which provides government incentives for lenders to reduce principal balances on loans as part of a modification.  To qualify for HAMP, a borrower must be spending more than 31% of their income to pay their debt. Previously, the program was designed to reduce this debt to income ratio to no more than 31%,  first, through an interest rate reduction; and then through a lengthening of the payback time on the loan, typically to 40 years.  If this didn’t do it, the borrower was typically rejected for the modification unless a lender was willing to make some other loan payment adjustment but generally this didn’t include principal reduction on the amount owed. The result was that only 4.5% of loans actually got modified under HAMP and for those that were modified, 60% later failed because either the property wasn’t worth the debt or the borrower had other financial difficulties. The new PRA was designed to improve this dismal result.

Under the new HAMP Guidelines creating PRA (Supplemental Directive 10-05), servicers are required to evaluate all HAMP-eligible loans where the loan balance is greater than 115% of the property’s fair market value to determine if a principal reduction is beneficial. If so, the servicers are encouraged to offer the principal reduction to the borrower although they are not required to do so. The reduction is “earned” over a three-year period and is initially treated as a PRA Forbearance. Each year (for three years) that the borrower is in good standing on their loan payments, one-third of the original PRA forbearance amount will be reduced. This reduced amount will be applied to their unpaid principal balance and, at the end of the three year period, the loan would only be 115% of the fair market value at the start.

To participate in PRA, borrowers must still meet HAMP’s basic requirements: 1) personal residence; 2) debt to income ration greater than 31%; 3) loan balance of $729,750 or less; 4) Mortgage originated prior to Jan 1, 2009; and 5) be facing a financial hardship. Further, PRA will not work with all loans. Loans made by Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), ie: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will not qualify.

The question now is whether this new Program will have any real effect or will it just be a lot of hype with little actual help for homeowners.  Amazingly enough, the first lender to announce participation was OneWest, the lender created to purchase the failed IndyMac from FDIC. As readers of this Blog are aware, the sweetheart deal which OneWest received from FDIC in the purchase appears to have provided a greater incentive for OneWest for foreclose instead of modifying or even cooperating with a short sale. However, as reported by Carrie Bay at www.DSNews.com, this adoption may signal a new direction for OneWest.  BofA and Wells Fargo have announced similar programs of their own although we’ve seen few actual principal reductions actually go into effect so far.

If you believe that you would qualify for the HAMP Principal Reduction Alternative, contact your lender right away. With the current uproar over defective foreclosures, lenders may be looking for avenues to increase their public image. The PRA may be just the ticket to benefit both borrowers and lenders. For more information, contact the HAMP Solution Center at support@hmpadmin.com or 1-866-939-4469.

The information presented in this Article is not to be taken as legal advice. Every person’s situation is different. If you are upside-down on your loan(s), and considering a modification, short sale, or letting it go to foreclosure, get competent legal advise in your State immediately so that you can determine your best options.

If you have specific questions about your liability in California or about short sales, foreclosure, or any legal issues, feel free to contact me at sjbeede@bpelaw.com. We offer a $200 flat fee consultation to evaluate your liabilities and strategize a resolution. This can be done in person or by phone. If interested, please call us at 916-966-2260.