Issue link: http://dsnews.uberflip.com/i/1020584
60 Smaller than some. Second to none. ARE YOUR PENNSYLVANIA FORECLOSURES GETTING TO SHERIFF'S SALE IN 253 DAYS? IF NOT, WHY NOT? Richard M. Squire & Associates, LLC (SquireLaw) represents a broad array of lenders and servicers effectively protecting their rights as creditors. SquireLaw is a one-stop, "cradle to grave" shop specializing in residential and commercial mortgage foreclosures, bankruptcies, ejectments (evictions), litigation of contested files, mobile home repossessions, land installment contract defaults, and REO closings. Serving: Pennsylvania and New Jersey Richard M. Squire & Associates, LLC One Jenkintown Station, 115 West Avenue, Suite 104 Jenkintown, PA 19046 (215)886-8790 rsquire@squirelaw.com jhess@squirelaw.com (Client Relations Representative) ALL GOOD THINGS MUST ... A strong economy that drove the housing demand beyond the availability of supply defined the first half of 2018 for the industry, according to a Carrington Mortgage Holdings webinar hosted by Rick Sharga, EVP at Carrington. e presentation gave a mid-year snapshot of the housing market in 2018 while delving into the question of whether the market was headed for another bubble and foreclosure crisis. Looking at the foreclosure market, Carrington said the remnants of the foreclosure crisis were concentrated in a few states and fewer foreclosures were going to REO. Looking at the rest of the year, Sharga said the market could end the year with historically low levels of mortgage delinquencies. "However, we need to make sure that lenders don't get out over their skis again as it becomes more and more challenging to write loans in a relatively low refi market," he cautioned. "It's worth keeping an eye on the FHA portfolio also as their delinquency rates have gone up a bit even though they are at the low end of their historic rates." Sharga said the balance of 2018 looked like a mixed bag for the second half of the year. "e triple problems of limited inventory, home price appreciation, and rising rates are likely to keep existing home sales from being as strong as they should be," he said. "Prices are going to continue to rise as are interest rates." Carrington projected the 30-year fixed-rate loan rates to end 2018 at 5 percent and home prices to rise 5 to 6 percent by the end of the year. While the forecast projected existing home sales to end the year at around 5.5 million, it said new home sales would end at around 650,000. e webinar also delved into the question of whether the market was heading into an affordability crisis or a housing bubble again. Explaining the characteristics of a housing bubble, Sharga said prices rising beyond any rational explanation, followed by a plummet were classic symptoms of a housing bubble. Home price appreciation has significantly outpaced wage growth throughout the recovery from the Great Recession, and economists are beginning to identify multiple metro areas that have higher-than-average house price-to-income ratios, according to Carrington. Additionally, lending standards appear to be loosening. And even though market indicators did show signs of heating up, Sharga said that looking at all indicators as a whole, a bubble doesn't seem to be a likely possibility. "From my perspective, we're not in a housing bubble," Sharga said. "Prices can't continue to outpace wage growth by 2 to 3 times indefinitely. Although one-third of metros appear to be overpriced, on a national basis, home values are certainly not in bubble territory yet." Affordability too was better than it looked, though it has weakened.