It has been said that, next to divorce and the death of a family member, moving is among the most stressful experiences many people will have in their lifetime. Dealing with a bad moving company makes matters worse.

Federal lawmakers are cracking down on moving companies who try to hold home owners’ belongings hostage during a move — a scam that’s more common than many realize. Home owners will soon have more protection against this increasingly reported rip-off in the moving industry.

It usually involves a moving company providing a home owner with a lowball quote for a move. The mover then packs up the home owner’s belongings onto a truck and refuses to unload it until a higher fee is paid. Some unscrupulous moving companies are notorious for underestimating the weight of items they’ve been hired to transport and even resorting to extreme measures to squeeze a few extra dollars out of their customers — including holding everything a customer owns and cherishes essentially for ransom.

“Aside from being extorted for money, they may even damage your goods,” said Ada Vassilovski, vice president of online marketing and product management for Imagitas in Waltham, Mass., which operates MyMove.com, a resource offering advice for stress-free moves. “If you hire a mover to transport your goods across state lines and they hold your personal property hostage, you can appeal to the Department of Transportation and it now has the power to enforce fines,” she told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

President Barack Obama signed a law last month that will benefit people who think they have been scammed by a moving company. Beginning in October, movers who hold home owners’ items hostage can be fined by up to $10,000 a day, according to new rules imposed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an agency of the Department of Transportation. Starting in October 2014, new moving company owners will be mandated to pass tests on consumer protection and moving-cost estimates, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

“We are finally seeing recognition that movers holding people’s possessions hostage is a problem,” Vassilovski says. “I don’t think many people are aware of this being a problem, so it’s great this legislation is shining a light on it.”

The Better Business Bureau reports that among the 4,790 industries it monitors, moving companies are No. 10 on the list of those receiving the most consumer complaints. In 2011, the bureau received 1.2 million inquires and complaints against movers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, on the other hand, received 2,851 complaints that year. The federal agency only counts interstate moves, whereas the BBB data includes both interstate and intrastate moves. Movers used to be regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission, but in an effort to balance the federal budget, Congress eliminated that agency in 1995.

“This legislation will educate people that there is a problem,” Ms. Vassilovski said. “But if you are moving you need to do your homework to select a mover that is reputable and not chose one based on price alone.”

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For the third consecutive month, foreclosure filings dropped, sinking to their lowest level since July 2007, according to RealtyTrac’s April report on nationwide foreclosure activity.

Foreclosure activity, which includes default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions, fell 5 percent from March to April and were down 14 percent year-over-year.

“More distressed loans are being diverted into short sales rather than becoming completed foreclosures,” says Brandon Moore, CEO of RealtyTrac.

The drop in foreclosure activity was mixed, however.

“Rising foreclosure activity in many state and local markets in April was masked at the national level by sizable decreases in hard-hit foreclosure states like California, Arizona, and Nevada,” Moore said in a statement.

For example, in Nevada and Arizona, bank repossessions dropped about 70 percent and by more than 50 percent in California.

Meanwhile, in states like Florida, New Jersey, and Illinois, which require judicial review, foreclosure activity increased. New Jersey had the largest annual increase in foreclosure starts in April seeing a 180 percent jump.

In the 26 states that have a judicial foreclosure process, foreclosure activity was up 15 percent compared to April 2011.

Sean Heideman, Broker ~ Position Realty ~ 480-213-5251

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More home buyers may jump off the sidelines this spring as they get more urgent about purchasing a home, fearing that home price and mortgage rate increases are on the horizon.

Housing surveys in recent weeks have shown that more Americans are seeing now a great time to purchase a home. In the most recent survey, 73 percent of Americans say now is a good time to buy, according to the latest Fannie Mae Housing Survey conducted in March. That’s up from 70 percent in February who said it was a great time to buy.

“Conditions are coming together to encourage people to want to buy homes,” says Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s chief economist. “With an increasing share of consumers expecting higher mortgage rates and home prices over the next 12 months, some may feel that renting is becoming more costly and that home ownership is a more compelling housing choice.”

Indeed, more buyer urgency is evident in the market. Thirty-three percent of those surveyed by Fannie say they expect home prices soon to increase, which is the highest percentage in a year. What’s more, nearly 40 percent say they expect mortgage rates to rise in the next year too, which is also up from previous surveys. Coupled with that, 48 percent of Americans say they expect rents to continue to climb, and 44 percent say they expect their financial situation to improve in the next year.

Phoenix real estate prices have already started to increase, the number of transaction are close to the numbers experienced during the real estate boom and days-on-market are decreasing. Phoenix AZ real estate is hot and the rest of the country is expected to follow.

An improving economy is contributing to a gradual rebound in home prices across the country, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac’s 2012 Economic Outlook report, released Wednesday. But there is still a way to go in the road to recovery for the housing market, the report noted.

“The housing market is showing some signs of shaking off the depression-like conditions that have plagued it for much of the past few years,” according to the report. “As if awakening from hibernation, housing starts and home sales moved to higher levels of activity.”

In fact, the signs have prompted Freddie Mac to revise its forecast upwards for home sales and originations. One economic contributor that’s helping to stabilize housing: The drop in the unemployment rate to 8.3 percent, its lowest level in three years, according to the report.

“A variety of encouraging indicators suggest that the housing market may be feeling a nascent recovery … and more neighborhoods may see a stabilization in overall demand and housing values this spring,” says Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Median home sale prices are up, despite a slight drop in new and existing home sales, Freddie Mac reports. About a half of the increase in housing starts has been for construction of rental apartments in multi-unit buildings to meet the increasing demand, the report notes. New rental construction, at its current pace, is expected to reach its highest level since 2005.

“Housing starts continue to run below net household formations [and will allow for absorption of existing vacant homes],” according to the report.

Homes for sale in Phoenix have experienced an 8.9% increase in the average sales price due to buyers jumping into the market to try to get a good deal. We are seeing multiple offers on homes in Phoenix similar to what Phoenix experienced during the real estate boom. This is good news for the Phoenix real estate market.

This is very important news about the recent changes to FHA loans, the new FHA guidelines. Especially since 95% of new financing is being originated as FHA loans. The changes in mortgage insurance really wont impact borrowers as much. For example, on a $150,000 purchase, the monthly insurance payment will increase by $18.00 a month.

However, the following notice to the FHA loan requirements is going to knock out a lot people from the market. This is FHA’s solution to motivate borrowers to clean up their credit and negotiate payment plans.

Collection Accounts and Judgments:

Open collection accounts and judgments must be addressed in following ways:

If the total outstanding balance of all collection accounts is equal to or greater than $1,000 the borrower must resolve the accounts (e.g. entered into payment arrangements with a minimum of three months verified payments made as agreed in payment plan) or paid in full prior to closing. Documentation must be provided to show that each account was resolved or paid in full. Any payments arranged for the collections must be included in the calculation of the borrower’s debt-to-income ratios.

If the total outstanding balance of all collection accounts is less than $1,000, the borrower is not required to pay off the collection accounts as a condition of mortgage approval.

Note: Paying “down” of balances on collections to reduce the singular or cumulative balance to below $1,000, is not an acceptable resolution of accounts

Consumers seem to be growing more confident in the economy as retail sales for February posted their largest gain in five months, according to last week’s report from the Census Bureau. Retail and food services sales for the month hit $407.8 billion, an increase of 1.1 percent from January, and 6.5 percent over February 2011.

Total sales for the December 2011 through February 2012 period were up 6.4 percent from the same period a year ago. The December 2011 to January 2012 percent change was revised from 0.4 percent to 0.6 percent.

Retail trade sales were up 1.1 percent from January 2012 and 6.3 percent over last year. Key gains were experienced by dealers of building materials and garden equipment and supplies, whose sales were up 13.8 percent from February 2011, and gasoline stations, whose sales were up 10.3 percent from last year.

Phoenix Arizona retail sales increased 6.8% in January compared to year earlier levels. Maricopa County retail sales were up 5.8% for the same time period. While this is moderate given the extent of the decline during the recession, it is still respectable and should continue. Autos and light trucks continue to do well.

Prices certainly didn’t impact February’s sales, as last month’s consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.4 percent, according to numbers the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all-items index increased 2.9 percent before seasonal adjustment.

A key factor contributing to February’s CPI gains was the gasoline index, which rose sharply in February, accounting for over 80 percent of the change in the all-items index. The gasoline increase led to a 3.2 percent rise in the energy index despite a decline in the index for natural gas. The food index was unchanged in February, with the food-at-home index unchanged for the second month in a row as major grocery store food indexes were mixed.

Similarly, the producer price index for finished goods advanced 0.4 percent in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported. Finished goods prices rose 0.1 percent in January after a decrease of 0.1 percent in December. The increase in finished goods prices, like consumer prices, was led by energy. The index for finished energy goods moved up 1.3 percent, while prices for finished goods less foods and energy rose 0.2 percent.

Turning to employment, initial claims for jobless benefits by the newly unemployed placed in the week ending March 10 dropped to 351,000, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 365,000, according to last week’s report from the Employment Training Administration. The four-week moving average was 355,750, unchanged from the previous week’s revised average.

The Administration also reported last week that the total population of insured unemployed workers during the week ending March 3 dropped to 3,343,000, a decline of 81,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,424,000. The four-week moving average was 3,394,250, a decrease of 25,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,419,500.

This week’s financial headlines see a good bit of real estate news, kicking off tomorrow with housing starts and building permit totals for new homes in February from the Census Bureau. This will be followed Wednesday with February sales data for existing homes from the National Association of REALTORS®. Friday we’ll receive new home sales data for February from the Census Bureau.

More lenders are allowing home owners in default to stay-put in their homes longer–and even negotiating special arrangements with them, such as the lender paying the home insurance if the home owner pays the utility costs, The New York Times reports.

Why the postponement? Banks don’t want the cost of maintaining more homes on their books. Many municipalities are forcing banks to better maintain foreclosed homes, which has been adding to the costs.
By the end of January, more than 644,458 homes were under bank ownership. What’s more, about 710,725 are in the foreclosure process, awaiting to add to that number, according to data by RealtyTrac.

“Under normal circumstances, the banks would be able to cover the cost of maintenance, upkeep, and property taxes by just reselling the property, but these are desperate times, and banks are resorting to somewhat desperate measures in some cases,” Daren Blomquist, a vice president at RealtyTrac, told The New York Times. “It is more of a factor now because property values have come down and will not cover all these costs when the banks resell the property, if they can resell the property.”

In 2007, the average time it took to complete a foreclosure was four months. By the end of 2011, that has stretched to a year. In some states the slowdown is even more pronounced, such as in Florida where defaulting home owners often stay put for more than two years, or in New York in which foreclosures in 2007 once took 263 days to complete and in 2011 now average 1,019 days.

In Phoenix, Arizona, many homeowners are able to stay in their homes for 1 year or more before receiving the Arizona Notice of Foreclosure and then they still have 90 days before the trustee sale. Approximately half of all Arizona trustee sale are being postponed on any given day for one reason or another.