Sunday reading about real estate from the Los Angeles Times

Two interesting articles about real estate appeared in today's L.A. Times.  The first is "Helping your appraiser do the best job" and the link is here. The article begins, "Your home is on the market. You found buyers, a nice young couple just starting out, and they're sold on the home. But wait — there's one more person you have to sell: the appraiser." I'll say.  Elsewhere, the article discusses the need to give the appraiser good comparables.  The listing agent should supply these -- I always do for my listings.

The second article is "4 million homeowners climb out of negative equity" and the link is here.  Just as I been tellin' ya, eh? One of the more interesting points: "[With] 12.6% of mortgaged homes underwater, California has a lower overall negative rate than the national average (13.3%)." I would bet that L.A. County's rate is even lower.  No more short sales! Yay! 

Lenders are easing up on 2nd appraisals

For awhile this summer, just about every home in escrow underwent an "appraisal review" or even second appraisal. The banks didn't trust their own first appraisals in a declining market. This was problematic in that it added extra time to the escrow process, and of course, many homes were deemed over-priced that hadn't been considered so before.

Now, lenders are easing up. Yes, there are still lots of appraisal reviews, but that's happening as a final condition before loan funding, and usually don't involve an actual second appraisal. This is great news as it removes yet another stumbling block from the process. Oh, more great news: interest rates are back below 6%. I don't know how long they'll stay that way, though.